The specially channels under the Alliance Atlantis umbrella have revealed their plans for the coming fall season, putting foul-mouthed cowboys, second-hand goaltenders and genealogists into primetime. Highlights of the lineup, all times Eastern, include:

Showcase

The half-hour hockey comedy Rent-A-Goalie from executive producer Chris Szarka debuts Oct. 1 at 9:30 p.m. – following the plum Sunday night slot of Trailer Park Boys.

Szarka professes to be a Trailer Park fan, but says his show has more of a family feel. It centers on a gang of freelance goaltenders who hire themselves out for minor-league games.

‘The program should appeal to the same 18-34 male demographic as Trailer Park Boys, but our screeners showed that women also liked the show, because [lead character] Cake has a love interest and relationships are interwoven into the program,’ says Szarka.

Eight episodes, with a budget of $400,000 each, have been completed. Ten more are in development in anticipation that the show by Toronto-based Georgian and RAG-TV will be renewed.

The show is set not only at the hockey rink but also at an Italian café, where the dressing room culture is contrasted with the suave coffee set. Hockey greats such as Phil Esposito and Darryl Sittler make cameos.

Rent-A-Goalie will follow repeats of Trailer Park Boys, 10 new episodes of which won’t air until spring.

Thirteen all-new episodes of Kenny vs Spenny begin Thursday, Oct. 19 at 9:30 p.m., while Naked Josh has been cancelled, though it will continue in reruns.

Showcase is also keeping its 10 p.m. timeslot campaign, pushing new seasons of Rescue Me, Weeds, The L Word and Six Feet Under. It has also picked up G-Spot – by Serendipity Point Films and Barna-Alper Productions, previously seen on The Movie Network and Movie Central – and the British crime drama Life on Mars.

Food Network

Oct. 3 will see the premiere of Heat at 10 p.m. The 13 x 30 reality from Toronto’s General Purpose Pictures takes viewers into the kitchen of renowned chef Mark McEwan, owner of the North 44 and Bymark restaurants in Toronto. The Tuesday night show goes behind the scenes, as McEwan and his employees prepare food for the rich and famous, and organize corporate dinners, private parties and stadium-style events. Scott Clark McNeil is exec producer.

History Television

Ancestors in the Attic – a modern-day look at the genealogy of Canadians by Primitive Entertainment in Toronto – is an example of new programming aimed at drawing a younger audience to the often older-skewed History.

‘We have been working for some years on various shows to really try to get the message out to our audience that History is not black-and-white, old archival documentaries. It’s modern programming,’ says AAC’s EVP of content Norm Bolen, citing Ancestors and the just-acquired U.S. program Deadwood as examples.

Ancestors is meant to be ‘feisty, and to appeal to a wide range of ages,’ says producer Dugald Maudsley. ‘The music that we’ve got is very current and hip. The way that we tell history is very contemporary.

‘In a way, genealogy and family history are a great vehicle to tell people stories in the present day, but it also gives us a launching pad to delve into Canadian history as it relates to their stories.’

Each of the 15 x 30 episodes features three segments. One, for example, tells the story of a 1931 Ford Roadster and its seven owners. Ancestors combines in-studio panels and discussions with pre-shot footage and airs on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. beginning Oct. 18.

‘Many of the genealogy programs that I’ve seen are a little bit dry and a tad on the earnest side. But our program is quite irreverent. We do it with a fair amount of cheekiness,’ notes Maudsley.

HGTV

The 13 x 30 The Big Flip examines how many houses can be fixed up and sold in 12 months, and reflects AAC’s continued emphasis on real estate-based programming and the web. The show, exec produced by Linda McEwan of Smashing Pictures in Toronto, airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. starting Oct. 5.

‘We have had a lot of success on HGTV with real estate programs.’ says Bolen. ‘Real estate is hot and there is a lot of online real estate activity going on, and we are going to bolster our online content related to our real estate shows. The Big Flip plays on that.’

The Big Flip will have a site on HGTV.ca that will be supported by tie-in advertising that is still in development.

Also on HGTV, new seasons of Holmes on Homes and Designer Guys return in October. Design to Win has been cancelled but will continue in reruns.

Life Network

No new titles are coming to Life this fall, although Making It Big has been redone as a completely new show, says Bolen, though he declined to provide further details. ‘You’ll have to wait and see,’ he says.

The reality show by Vancouver’s Fourth Floor Productions previously pitted three people from creative industries against each other in a bid to be mentored by an expert in their field. It returns with 13 hour-long episodes Monday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m.

www.allianceatlantis.com