YOU won’t find the CBC on a multimillion-dollar spending spree for U.S. product, but this year’s fall lineup has media buyers lauding the pubcaster for the breadth of its primetime offerings, from returning comedy to new reality and family fare.

Notable in the recent presentation of the CBC’s fall lineup, however, was the absence of new comedies, and only two new drama series – the Alberta-set Heartland from Olympia Films and Seven24 Films, which fills the Sunday family hour, and Irish/Canadian copro The Tudors, a sex-filled drama documenting the life of a young Henry VIII. The series, coproduced by Peace Arch Entertainment, is currently airing in the U.S. on Showtime.

Although the CBC says it will announce more homegrown shows in late fall, the current grid is peppered with factual entertainment, including the new half-hour reality series Who Do You Think You Are? and No Opportunity Wasted, from Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, which will follow CBC’s original comedy hit Little Mosque on the Prairie. Mosque, which debuted halfway through the season in January, saw its second-season order increase from eight to 20 episodes.

Comedy Tuesday remains strong, with staple The Rick Mercer Report followed by This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The lone adult drama series, Intelligence, returns with 12 new episodes, moving to Mondays, where it will follow the second run of the reality Dragon’s Den.

CBC sports programming will continue to be anchored for at least seven more years by Hockey Night in Canada, with the FIFA U-20 World Cup of soccer on the way and the inaugural season of the Toronto FC already on the schedule. The net also announced eight regular season Toronto Blue Jays games this season, with up to 30 games next year.

Playback asked three prominent media buyers for their take on the pubcaster’s fall lineup.

KIM DOUGHERTY
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF BROADCAST, OMD TORONTO

The direction: As much as it looks like they’ve got a lot of new shows, they really don’t. They’re trying to stick with their tried and trues and use their anchors like fifth estate, Mercer, The Hour and Air Farce. Those aren’t going anywhere and they’re really important to them in marketplace.

What they’re trying to do is put more variety into their schedule and come up with things that are different for CBC. They’ll use that [strategy] to get out of their rut. They need to do that and question their schedule. They can’t rely on Rick Mercer and Air Farce for the rest of their lives.

The move away from drama: They can’t compete against the big boys, but there’s no reason why you can’t have a little comedy in the world. And you’ll find that a half-hour comedy will draw people in much quicker than a full-on drama if you just don’t have the time to watch it.

The Tudors: [laughs] It’s an interesting concept. But I have to look at all the grids. And when I think about Tuesday night, it’s going to have a tough time [against Global’s House and CTV’s Dancing With the Stars].

The grid: This year it is not about the shows specifically or how good they are. They’re going to do well based on where they’re placed. It’s all going to be what their competition in the timeslot is, because there are some great shows out there.

The Monday night lineup, apart from the Fashion File, actually works for them. Dragon’s Den into Intelligence is a flow thing, and that we like. But they’re going up against Heroes – so it’s not going to go well. It’s going to be a challenge.

They always do well with Just For Laughs, and that can stay where it is [on Tuesday]. Little Mosque is excellent, and they [are, of course, bringing] that back. Leading into No Opportunity Wasted should help it, but my concern is that people will watch it expecting the typical reality show. And that’s not what it is. It’s about personal growth, and not competition against other teams.

I love that they brought The Nature of Things back. I think it’s fantastic, and it’s your alternative. People know it and remember it from when they were younger.

The return of family night: Excellent. Disney is the lead-in and it totally reminds me of when I was a kid. I love it. And I even told Global, ‘You have to change what you have on the schedule, because it wouldn’t be able to compete with this.’

Family is so important on Sunday nights. My kids actually chose to watch a movie last night on the CBC. They loved it. My daughter said this morning, ‘What number is CBC on the dial?’

Multiplatform delivery: It’s very important. I think all of the [broadcasters] are going to be getting into it. CTV picked up Gossip Girl (a drama skewing younger than The O.C.) from the U.S. that has a huge Internet component, and you’re going to see a lot of that this year from CanWest and CTV.

FLORENCE NG
VP BROADCAST INVESTMENTS, ZENITH OPTIMEDIA

The new direction: The CBC has always provided alternatives. If you’re looking at This Hour Has 22 Minutes or Air Farce. These are things that they excel in – counter-programming. I don’t know how young Little Mosque skews, but they are taking advantage of the current political situation or people’s interest level. That show has got global acclaim in terms of its [foreign sales]. That’s a good endorsement as far as Canadian content is concerned.

The move away from drama: They started it when they introduced The Hour. George is not what you’d consider a regular CBC personality. That seems to signal that you should expect a change from CBC. The trend is reality, so they brought in Dragon’s Den and reality programming in which people can participate. This will probably generate a higher interest level and awareness.

They’re shifting the emphasis. People always associate the CBC with an older-skewed audience. So to make a change, they have to reflect that in their program production.

The Tudors: People are raving about The Tudors simply because of the clip [at the upfront]. It still has to have the story, but it ran in the States and it got very good reviews. But you can’t just rely on one show. In order to have a successful year they have to make sure they maintain the same high standard with the other programs.

Again, the key is to grow the audience. People are not really aware that the CBC has all this alternate programming.

The grid: They’re bringing back the series that were successful last season. And hopefully with Phil [Keoghan] hosting No Opportunity Wasted, it’s going to bring in more viewers. Typical with CBC, and one good thing, is they’re bringing back hockey – which is their centerpiece. It’s really important that they have this property.

The majority of people still look at the CBC as it was years ago. They’ve been evolving, and I think it’s extremely important – I know they’ve been doing a lot promotion – but they need to get younger-skewed programming. You have to draw these younger audiences to your programs. At the end of the day, a show is not going to be of any importance to us if it’s not delivering any audience.

Multiplatform delivery: Everyone is doing it. The one thing that makes [the CBC] a little different from the rest of the broadcasters is they produce Canadian programs. As a result, it really gives them the opportunity for integration.

The CBC will be in a much better position to offer [multi-platform] to advertisers than the other Canadian broadcasters… because the majority of the shows are U.S. programming.

SCOTT STEWART
MANAGER OF BROADCAST BUYING, GENESIS MEDIA

The new direction: In terms of the corporate objective, maintaining year-over-year audience is how they’re going at it. They’re sticking to this tried-and-true programming. Their approach is conservative, [but] they understand their position in the market.

At the end of the day, it’s nice to see [some Cancon]. There isn’t enough of it. We’ve had the debates about integration and product placements, but Canada’s predominantly a simulcaster. When I see homegrown opportunities, I’ll keep my eye on them. There are a few good Canadian products out there, and I’m not saying Degrassi just because I grew up on it.

Little Mosque: Last year it was a real shocker. We’ve seen success in shows like Corner Gas, in particular in its originating markets. You never know. It’s good to see.

No Opportunity Wasted following Little Mosque: It comes down to a couple of things – one in terms of trying to own a night. It may be a good place for them. They’ll never own a night with their current audience deliveries, but it’ll be a good packed lineup in Wednesdays.

The Tudors: I think it’s good. It shows moves in the right direction in terms of refreshing a pretty conservative schedule. You’re looking at very conservative audience growth shares, but it makes sense to the upcoming schedule.

The return of Intelligence: It is what it is. The problem in the market right now is that CTV is sitting on 16 of the top 20 shows against the adult [demographic]. So there’s not a lot of movement. There are only so many new productions and hours of viewing to go around. In the last several years, the primetime lineup across the board has been replenished with good shows. Primetime viewing is up because the programming is better, which makes it a tougher nut to crack [for CBC].

The grid: We haven’t seen anything really dramatic, but they’re investing in homegrown product. This year’s CBC fall lineup looks better and somewhat stronger than we’ve seen in previous years, where we’ve seen no innovation. It’s a step in the right direction.

And we can’t forget that they’re a Crown organization. So they won’t be going down to L.A. and bidding on untested programming that may last five episodes.

There are a few comebacks that I’m happy to see, but I’m not expecting anything major or huge cleaves in [anyone’s] schedule.

I like a lot of their programming – not just from a business standpoint, but as a viewer as well. With a company like that, momentum is slow, but looking good.

The return of family night: There’s always good equity in Disney. It’s tough to say. I thought the introduction of their Sunday night movies was a really good strategic move, especially with some of the titles they’ve been carrying.

-With files from Marise Strauss