Alliance Atlantis unveiled fall schedule highlights for its 13 specialty channels Tuesday — while simultaneously boasting about record audiences for the channels during the past winter and spring seasons.

The company secured four of the top 10 spots for specialties in the adults 25-54 demo — with HGTV at number four, History at number five, Showcase at seventh and the Food Network at tenth — and five of the top 10 spots for digital specialties, with Showcase Action at second place, National Geographic at third, Showcase Diva at fifth and Discovery Health Channel jointly at ninth.

Notable new premieres for the Alliance Atlantis fall schedules — exclusives in Canada — include TNT’s Saving Grace and The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle on Showcase; the doc series Lost Worlds on History; and Jamie Oliver’s Chef on Food. Original homegrown series will include Project Runway Canada and Home Heist on HGTV. Other highlights include:

HGTV: The home and garden net’s fall plans will focus on new design, décor, real estate and renovation programs and specials — with 10 new original and international series and 21 returning shows, such as Holmes on Homes (Oct. 4), design inc. (Oct. 2), Designer Guys (Oct. 2) and Disaster DIY (Oct. 4).

A new ‘first-timers’ programming block will be home to the new series Marriage Under Construction (Oct. 1), along with new seasons of Property Virgins and Home to Stay. The net’s big show is the much-hyped 26-part original series Home Heist, which puts Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan (How Not To Decorate) to work spreading their gospel of ‘decorative beautification’ in Canada. The show premieres on October 2.

Showcase: The channel’s 10pm time-slot will serve up new programs such as The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (Sept. 2), starring Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous), and Saving Grace, the new drama with Holly Hunter as a cynical police detective. It’s set for Mondays starting Aug. 27.

Other returning shows include Rescue Me with Denis Leary (Aug. 28, with streaming episodes at Showcase.ca), Weeds (Oct. 10), The L Word (Aug. 30), and the irreverent comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Nov. 4).

Slice: The first official fall schedule of the ‘guilty pleasures’ channel for women includes 10 new and returning shows. The big newbies include The List, which puts host Liza Fromer to the task of helping people accomplish their dreams. The channel also has big hopes for Project Runway Canada and big-time style icon Iman, who will rule over 12 designers competing to win $100,000, their own fashion line and a feature spread in a fashion mag. Project Runway Canada premieres October 8.

History Television: The fall schedule includes new documentary series including Trapped (Sept. 8), which revisits some of the greatest disasters in history; Go Deep (Sept. 11), an exploration into our oceans’ depths; and Extreme Rescue (Oct. 20), which offers insight into the high-risk rescues that have made headlines all over the world.

The channel’s biggest initiative is the 13-part series Lost Worlds, which re-creates past civilizations and ancient sites using CGI. It premieres Oct. 1.

Food Network: The nosh net premieres Jamie Oliver’s series Chef, which garnered acclaim from British critics, on Oct. 21. Three new original series will launch in the first week of October: The Main (Oct. 1), hosted by Anthony Sedlak, Fink (Oct. 2), a doc series focusing on visionary culinary arts teacher Paul Finkelstein, and Chef School (Oct. 2), which looks into one of Canada’s most prestigious culinary schools.

From Media in Canada