With 16 shows in the top 20 most-watched conventional programs for the 2014/15 season, and a number of returning shows, CTV didn’t have many adjustments to make heading into this year’s L.A. Screenings.
As previously announced, the channel picked up a total of four new shows for CTV’s fall season, and has placed them on three nights throughout the week.
Kicking off the new programming is Blindspot on Monday at 9 p.m., airing out of simulcast. The drama, which will have Gotham as a lead-in, is about a “Jane Doe” found in Times Square naked with no memory, but a series of cryptic tattoos on her body.
Airing Wednesdays following Criminal Minds is new medical drama Code Black in simulcast with the U.S. The show, which airs at 10 p.m., stars The Newsroom‘s Marcia Gay Harden as an L.A. country hospital doctor training a group of new doctors in her aggressive style of medicine.
Once Upon a Time is being followed by two new dramas on Sunday night: Blood and Oil and Quantico, both airing in simulcast. Blood and Oil, formerly called Oil during the U.S. upfronts, stars Don Johnson as a ruthless tycoon who forces two newcomers to the city, played by Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl) and Rebecca Rittenhouse (Philadelphia), who dream of striking it rich after the biggest oil discovery in American history. Quantico follows a group of recruits at the FBI Quantico Base for training, with one of them suspected of plotting the biggest attack on New York City since 9/11.
CTV Two has picked up two new programs, airing Best Night Ever with Neil Patrick Harris in simulcast on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. It follows Reign at 9 p.m. And the third season of Sleepy Hollow moves to CTV Two from Global, airing Thursdays at 9 p.m., with The Vampire Diaries leading in.
Bell Media execs went into the L.A. Screenings knowing what they tested out last year had worked well for CTV and aimed to build upon last year’s success, said Mike Cosentino, SVP programming at CTV Networks.
“We realized going in to the L.A. Screenings that we had a fantastic year – we got younger, we got bigger, we increased our share of the top 20, so we were hitting all of our goals. The goal coming into this year was to try to build on those strengths,” Cosentino told Playback Daily.
As such, one strategy the broadcaster is deploying again this year is keeping the 8 p.m. slot as a prime co-viewing opportunity. This year, shows set to air in the 8 p.m. slot across the week are Gotham, The Flash, Arrow and The Amazing Race, along with The Big Bang Theory and The Goldbergs on Thursday nights, leading into more action-focused series at 9 p.m. such as Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Blindspot.
On the Canadian original programming side, CTV will bow the fourth season of Saving Hope this fall on Thursday at 9 p.m. – a slot Cosentino says the broadcaster protected in order to maintain Saving Hope‘s momentum. “We actively stayed away from acquiring any show for Thursday at 9,” he said.
Other Canadian series confirmed to be returning to the channel either this summer or mid-season 2015/16 include drama Motive, formats The Amazing Race Canada and MasterChef Canada and news magazine W5.
This past year also marked the first time Bell Media commissioned an original series for CraveTV, Letterkenney Problems. Cosentino said there are no “immediate” plans to launch another original Crave series, but expects more to be commissioned in the future.
– from Media in Canada, with files from Julianna Cummins