Corner Gas
Broadcaster: CTV
Production company: Prairie Pants Productions
Producers: Brent Butt, Mark Farrell, Paul Mather, David Storey, Virginia Thompson
Overall nominations: 1
Cast: Brent Butt, Gabrielle Miller, Tara Spencer-Nairn,
Eric Peterson, Janet Wright
Storyline: Residents of Dog River, SK, get gassed up at Brent LeRoy’s corner gas station and dish up the gossip at The Ruby café. Brent (Butt) and Lacey (Miller) continue to dance around their strange attraction after last season’s Grey Cup smooch as season three of the hit show gets underway, and while old hands Oscar (Peterson) and Emma (Wright) may have finally tied the knot, kicking the needlepoint habit is proving as hard for Emma as kicking java is for Brent.

Brent Butt knew he had a winner on his hands when Corner Gas outdrew Hockey Night in Canada, but he couldn’t have predicted an International Emmy nom, a couple of Leos and season three’s Sept. 19 debut episode that was watched by 1.5 million. Despite five noms last year, including the ensemble cast category, CG’s only other nom is in the interactive category. But with Trailer Park Boys off the radar this could be the year for Canada’s highest-rated scripted series.

History Bites
Broadcaster: History Television
Production company: S&S Productions
Producers: Rick Green, David C. Smith
Overall nominations: 2
Cast: Rick Green, Ron Pardo, Janet Van De Graaff,
Bob Bainborough, Teresa Pavlinek
Storyline: Rick Green continues into season five, turning the dial back on history and spinning pop TV into the service of education. The skit comedy concept airs out the mothballs of history and its chorus of dead white guys by mingling today’s television celebrities with historical figures pre-boob tube.

While there are many of us out in TV land who must admit to having once confused History Bites with, say, the Canadian Heritage Moment you see before a feature – the voyageurs or the guy who created Winnie the Pooh come to mind – history will never be the same once you’ve seen an episode like ‘The Politics of Puffy Pants,’ where the gang from Seinfeld hang and talk about nothing in French Revolution Paris, or ‘Never Been Kissed,’ where Christian theologians brawl on Live with Regis and Kelly.

Puppets Who Kill
Broadcaster: Comedy Network
Production company: PWK Productions
Producers: John Pattison, Marianne Culbert, John Leitch, Shawn Alex Thompson
Overall nominations: 5
Puppeteers: Bob Martin, Bruce Hunter, Gordon Robertson, James Rankin
Storyline: Four criminal puppets determined to make it in the real world live in a halfway house monitored by their social worker (Dan Redican). Residents include Bill, the ventriloquist’s dummy; psychotic ex-child star Rocko, the con-dog; Buttons, the nympho bear; and Cuddles, the kick-ass comfort toy.

Nominated for the third year in a row as best comedy series, PWK has a three-season total of 14 noms and has taken Geminis in the writing and directing categories. With shows like ‘Dan and the Bird Flu’ and ‘The CBC Is Killing Again,’ it’s not hard to see why the anti-Muppets have managed a die-hard cult following. Guilty pleasures include drop-in appearances by Gordon Pinsent as an unsavory CBC executive, Fabrizio Filippo (Lives of the Saints), Sheila McCarthy as a bitter letter carrier and Tanya Kim (eTalk Daily).

The Newsroom
Broadcaster: CBC
Production company: 100 Percent Film & Television
Producer: Ken Finkleman
Overall nominations: 2
Cast: Ken Finkleman, Karen Hines, Matt Watts,
Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, Douglas Bell, Peter Keleghan
Storyline: The farewell tour for the committed and neurotic Newsroom gang sees news director Findlay (Finkleman) getting sucked into campaigning for a shot at the eternal glory of an Order of Canada, media baron Conrad Scott visiting for some gristly steak, and some spitballing for a big story idea to make them all wealthy sitcom writers.

Finkleman may have checked out of The Newsroom to start on new mini Hotel for CBC (with an ensemble cast of more than 100), but the defunct show continues a healthy afterlife on the awards circuit. After wins at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards and another International Emmy nom, the series looks to continue the run at the Gems. In fact, best comedy is the only major Gemini category it has yet to win.

This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Broadcaster: CBC
Production company: Alliance Atlantis
Producers: Michael Donovan, Geoff D’Eon, Mark Farrell, Jack Kellum, Susan MacDonald, Jenipher Ritchie, Greg Thomey
Overall nominations: 3
Cast: Cathy Jones, Gavin Crawford, Mark Critch,
Shaun Majumder, Greg Thomey
Storyline: Season 12 began with George W. Bush’s attack ad against John Kerry, continued with a cleverly adroit ad campaign for The Greatest Canadian and teen correspondent Mark Jackson’s (Crawford) stalking of the Mulroney clan, and finished in fine form with the NHL lockout-themed ‘Sports Beat’ and an interview with Amazing Race winner Chip McAllister about his most recent relapse.

The dual role of flag-bearer of Canadian satiric comedy and piss-taker of the establishment is a demanding job, but 22 Minutes has been up to the task for more than a dozen years (the 13th season kicked off Oct. 28). The sketch show was thought to have run its course when Rick Mercer and Mary Walsh moved on (Mercer is now on his own Rick Mercer Reports and Walsh headed to Newfoundland for some Hatching, Matching & Dispatching), but perhaps fuelled by the injection of new blood at CBC’s other sketch-comedy king, Royal Canadian Air Farce (Craig Lauzon and Alan Park), it’s somehow managed to stay funny and relevant.

PLAYBACK PREDICTS THE WINNER
Corner Gas : MD, DD, MH, MR
The Newsroom : MHS
Puppets Who Kill : SD