Global Television surprised many when it announced it would be airing the Gemini Awards for the first time. But will a new broadcast home for Canada’s TV awards mean better ratings, or is the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television simply shuffling the deck?

Barbara Williams, SVP of programming and production at CanWest MediaWorks, which oversees Global, has put Entertainment Tonight Canada on red-carpet control in the buildup to her network’s awards telecast, looking to use more star wattage than ever to light up the industry’s annual dress-up ball on Saturday, Nov. 19.

‘Stars are the best entry in. That’s where the public gravitates most easily in our celebrity-driven culture,’ Williams says of making the Geminis sexier this year.

Of course, showcasing Canadian actors as eye candy and icons to generate buzz around the Geminis has been attempted before, but to declining viewership. According to the Academy, in its heyday, the Geminis used to attract nearly one million viewers, but in recent years, with a lack of high-profile frontrunners in the varied juried categories, that number has dwindled to 200,000 to 300,000. Effectively, the event has become primarily an industry celebration.

Now Global, which picked up the Gems when CBC bowed out after having produced the broadcast every year except 1989 (when it was on CTV), says it wants to right the ship, as it looks long-term to help build and sustain an English-Canadian star system.

‘Our approach is around the celebrities, around the stars themselves, and around the fun and excitement and color that surrounds the event,’ says Zev Shalev, executive producer of ET Canada. He is currently planning up-close-and-personal pre-telecast coverage.

Lynn Harvey returns this year as the Gemini Awards producer after last year introducing a host-less awards show with a string of comedy skits. She promises more continuity than change for this year’s show.

‘We’re going to celebrate the greatest Canadian television of the year. The difference this year is the 20th anniversary show will also celebrate the stories of the past two decades,’ she says.

The Academy is also sticking with the same traditional venue for the Geminis, the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto, and the same time of year.

But change does seem afoot when organizers hint at not only including past stars of Canadian TV in the proceedings, but also wooing high-profile Canadian actors from hit U.S. series, many of which air on CTV, CHUM and CanWest stations.

‘No matter where they are, they remain patriotic,’ Shalev says of Canadians working stateside or elsewhere. ‘They remain supportive of the Canadian product.’

There was no word at press time on who might be lured back home to participate in Canada’s TV awards, but the possibility of satellite feeds to beam ex-pat actors in L.A. into Canadian homes remains a possibility.

Global’s personality-driven focus for the Geminis marks a departure from past years, when homegrown shows, rather than their stars, enjoyed pride of place in the Geminis competition and telecast. This was especially so with the CBC, which proved reluctant to market its own series’ talent as stars, treating them instead as adjuncts to the network’s unique public broadcast offerings.

The irony of ET Canada and Global (which received 14 nominations overall) hyping talent mostly from the CBC (more than 200 noms) in the pre-Geminis telecast is not lost on CanWest MediaWorks executives.

‘There has been a reluctance in the [English] Canadian industry to build a star system. In some ways, people really don’t want them to overshadow the production or the network that is airing them,’ Shalev notes.

After unveiling the Gemini nominations on ET Canada, CanWest MediaWorks is promoting the upcoming awards show on its Global and CH channels, not least during broadcasts of U.S. primetime series, when viewership peaks.

Meanwhile, other broadcasters are participating in this year’s show to varying degrees.

CBC has announced plans to air Global’s gala broadcast in a second window, and is producing a 20th anniversary special to air on Nov. 17. Elsewhere, Rogers Television will televise the first two industry-focused nights of the Geminis, Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting is running Gemini promotions and CTV is among several premier sponsors.

Gemini organizers are managing expectations, however, when it comes to viewership for the upcoming Geminis telecast, insisting that turning around low ratings for Canada’s TV awards will take time.

‘Last year’s show was a good show. We’re looking to build on that success. But at the end of the day, this for us isn’t only about ratings,’ says Williams.

She adds that Global felt obliged to help build the Canadian industry. ‘Ninety-nine times out of 100 [broadcasters] are all trying to beat each other into the ground, but once a year we need to come together.’

www.canada.com/globaltv