CBC is sticking with what works this fall, revealing a schedule Monday that is virtually unchanged from last year, with execs looking to build on the network’s success for the 2008/09 season.

‘We’ve probably had our best year in a decade,’ CBC EVP of English services Richard Stursberg told the audience at the net’s upfront presentation in Toronto, adding that the new lineup is comprised of ‘strong’ shows that Canadians want to watch.

In all, four homegrown drama series will return for their sophomore seasons on CBC. Following its strong mid-season debut, action-drama The Border moves to the more competitive fall, though it will stay in the Monday 9 p.m. timeslot left vacant by the cancelled Intelligence. Sophie, which also bowed just a few months ago, returns with 18 new episodes Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m., following the fourth season of Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Also back is the sexy Henry VIII drama The Tudors, an Ireland/Canada copro starring Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, which settles into its former Tuesday 9 p.m. slot, airing after reliable comedies Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Alberta-based family drama Heartland returns for its 18-ep second season, filling the Sunday 7 p.m. family hour.

CBC programming boss Kirstine Layfield says the network is ‘on a roll’ with its returning shows, which she adds will be both difficult and easy to promote.

‘On the one hand, you don’t have the buzz of a new [show] coming out, but then you also have established stars and stories,’ she told Playback Daily following the presentation. Layfield adds that because of early renewals for Mosque, Border and Sophie, producers were able to end the shows on cliffhangers, which should also draw back viewers.

The Ceeb will look to promote its fall season around the Beijing Summer Olympics, which Layfield sees as an opportunity to reach a different audience.

Other shows returning this fall include news standby the fifth estate, The Nature of Things and the third outing of reality Dragon’s Den — featuring a new ‘dragon’ in energy exec W. Brett Wilson — while the last season of Air Farce Live will air Fridays at 8 p.m.

CBC also has two U.S. game shows. One is Wheel of Fortune, which formerly aired on Global, and will now run on the Ceeb weekdays at 5:30 p.m. The other is Jeopardy!, which the net took over from CTV late last year, and will air weekdays at 7:30 p.m., ousting Marketplace, which is set to return in 2009. ‘Over a million viewers watched Jeopardy! on CTV, so we’re hoping to get some of those [eyeballs] that will help bring people to our 8 p.m. timeslot,’ noted Layfield, who added that revenue from both of these shows ‘will allow us to put more money back into the Canadian programming the CBC is so proud of.’

Among MOWs and miniseries, CBC is hoping the TV movie Céline, from Toronto’s Barna-Alper Productions, about the rise to fame of Quebec-born singing star Céline Dion, will draw the kind of ratings this fall that Shania: A Life in Eight Albums did in 2005. Shania nabbed 1.2 million viewers, though a date has not been set for Céline. As well, the Ceeb will air Everest, starring Jason Priestley and William Shatner, and documentaries including The Bush Years and India Reborn.

In November, CBC is set to announce its winter schedule, which is expected to include two new series: The Wild Roses and The Session.
With files from Terry Poulton