CBC is placing its bets on longer-running comedy and reality series this fall, unveiling a schedule Tuesday at its Toronto headquarters that, though short on drama, network execs hope will continue efforts to turn around the third-placed public broadcaster.

‘We’ve never had so many long-running series before because the strategy was to make a lot of miniseries and movies… we’ve moved away from that,’ said CBC programming boss Kirstine Layfield, in an interview with Playback Daily after the upfront presentation.

The 2007/08 schedule is highlighted by factual entertainment including new half-hour reality series Who Do You Think You Are?, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. ET, and No Opportunity Wasted, from Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan, which got the plum 8:30 p.m. Wednesday timeslot following CBC’s homegrown 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.

Tuesdays at 8 p.m. will see the return of comedy staples The Rick Mercer Report at 8 p.m. followed by This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Layfield says the success of scheduling Mercer and 22 Minutes together shows that viewers still enjoy television on a real-time basis despite the growing popularity of PVRs. ‘There are still things we can do in scheduling to keep people coming back,’ she notes.

The net is playing it safe with scripted shows, putting up no new dramatic comedies and only two new homegrown dramas — the Alberta-set Heartland from Olympia Films and Seven24 Films, which fills the Sunday 7 p.m. family hour, and the Irish-Canadian copro The Tudors, a sex-filled historical drama documenting the life of a young Henry VIII. The series, produced on this side by Peace Arch Entertainment, is currently airing in the U.S. on Showtime.

Intelligence, meanwhile, returns with 12 new episodes, moving to Mondays at 9 p.m., where it will follow the second run of the reality Dragon’s Den.

The Ceeb has also picked up the BBC sci-fi Torchwood, which replaces the cancelled hospital-drama Jozi-H Fridays at 9 p.m. ET.

‘Drama is always the hardest one to crack,’ Layfield admits, adding that she and her team are focusing on areas that do well for the Ceeb, including sketch comedy, factual entertainment and news. ‘It’s not all about drama – it’s about dramatic stories, and you can find drama in sports, documentaries… everywhere.’

The lone miniseries on CBC’s schedule is the Galafilm production St. Urbain’s Horseman, based on the novel by Mordecai Richler, and starring David Julian Hirsh (Naked Josh).

The long-running U.K. soap Coronation Street also returns to CBC weeknights (at 7 p.m.), along with The Hour, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, Canadian Antiques Roadshow, and CBC News favorites the fifth estate and Marketplace.

CBC sports programming will continue to be anchored by Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights, while soccer fans can look forward to the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the inaugural season of the Toronto FC. The net also announced Tuesday that it will broadcast eight regular season Toronto Blue Jays games this summer, and up to 30 games next year.