In 2004, CTV built on the success it enjoyed in 2003, and the credit in large part goes to Susanne Boyce, CTV’s president of programming and chair of the CTV Media Group, whose U.S. acquisitions, Canadian commissions and promotion of both have put the broadcaster ahead of the competition.

Boyce is quick to credit diverse creative teams at CTV for the net’s success.

‘I love that at CTV we try to create an environment that encourages participation from all kinds of areas,’ she says. ‘We’ve got the programming group mixed with promotions and communications. We have a roundtable approach where drama, comedy, talk, daytime and all our groups sit around one table. We try to mix people up and so far it’s really generating amazing results.’

Humility aside, Boyce has not only taken the network to the top of the ratings, but has also commissioned homegrown hits such as laugher Corner Gas, the highest-rated Canadian-produced comedy or drama series in this broadcast year, and Canadian Idol, the most-watched English-Canadian series ever. In 2004, the network also boasted Canada’s most-watched program, CSI, and the highest-rated new series, CSI: NY. By the end of the year, CTV had solidified its number-one ranking and Boyce emerged as the clear choice for Playback’s Person of the Year.

‘In general terms, CTV is on a huge upswing,’ says Dennis Dinga, media buyer for M2 Universal. ‘How long is that high going to last? By the looks of it, quite a long time. They’ve been on a roll for years now.’ He says that roll started right around the time Boyce became president of programming, in 2001.

According to 2+ numbers from BBM, in the 52 weeks ending June 6, 2004, CTV had seven of the top 10 programs in the country, and all six dramas in the top 20. Over the summer season (June 7 to Aug. 8), 18 of the top 20 programs in the country were on CTV. And from Sept. 13 to Dec. 12, CTV held eight of the top 10 and 16 of the top 20 programs.

When Boyce took over the reins in 2001, the divide between Global and CTV was far less pronounced than it is today. But by 2003, CTV had emerged as the definite leader, and by the end of 2004, the net had solidified its top position with a combination of breakout hits from the U.S. and domestic successes.

In the 52 weeks ending June 6, 2004, BBM reported that CTV’s average primetime audience was approximately 1.17 million, marking a 59% lead over Global’s average of 738,000. Over the same time period, Nielsen Media Research reported a 54% lead for CTV.

Boyce began her career at BCTV in Vancouver in 1973. She has worked at the CBC as program director for Newsworld, senior producer of Midday and senior editor of The Journal. She joined CTV in 1995 as director of production and development and was SVP programming from 1997 to 2001, after which she assumed her current post.

Since then, CTV’s ratings have skyrocketed. The net’s average audience has grown 37% since June 2001, in no small part due to key acquisitions, including The Sopranos, The O.C., American Idol and The Amazing Race.

While Dinga concedes that it’s impossible to predict with any certainty which American shows are going to end up being hits in Canada, he also says a good programmer who conducts the right kind of research will have a better chance of picking the winners.

‘[Boyce] is doing all her homework. She’s doing everything she needs to do in order to make the right choice,’ he says.

Between Sept. 13 and Dec. 12, 2004, Desperate Housewives, a primetime drama about a randy group of suburban women trying to piece together the mystery behind a friend’s suicide, has generated average audiences of more than two million viewers. Close behind is the drama Lost, focusing on a group of plane-crash survivors on a deserted island, which attracted an average audience of 1.6 million viewers between Sept. 13 and Dec. 12. On top of these new hits, CTV continues to attract big audiences with CSI, which drew a fall average of more than three million viewers and has spun off the highly successful CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. And if that cop franchise isn’t enough, how about Law & Order and its spin-offs SVU and Criminal Intent, all of which are regular fixtures among the top 20 shows?

Although a well-informed choice, Lost, for one, was still a bit of a gamble. Industry buzz had already proclaimed the ‘death of drama,’ and show creator and executive producer J.J. Abrams’ previous series Alias and Felicity, although critically acclaimed, did not generate hit ratings. Nonetheless, after talking with Abrams at a party during the L.A. screenings, Boyce says she was attracted by the pedigree of his work and his enthusiasm for the show.

In addition to making wise acquisitions, CTV has also enjoyed some good fortune this year – who could have predicted that brainiac contestant Ken Jennings would increase Jeopardy’s audience from an average 1.4 million between June 7 and Aug. 8 to the 2.1 million Canadians who tuned in when he played his last match? But Dinga says that overall, the net is doing a much better job of buying programming than the competition.

‘CTV is doing all the right things,’ he says. ‘It’s picking the right U.S. top primetime programming. Plus, its Canadian productions, what [CTV is] doing on our own soil, is good as well.’

More Canadians than ever are watching domestically produced fare on CTV. From among the thousands of program pitches that the net receives yearly (5,500 in 2004 alone), Boyce and CTV’s development teams have commissioned homegrown hits Corner Gas, Canadian Idol and Degrassi: The Next Generation.

‘We’ve been working really hard to have our Canadian programming stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the American [shows],’ says Boyce.

When making Canadian hits, Boyce says you have to be willing to take risks on projects you believe in. She looks for shows with great writing that the producers and development teams are passionate about, such as The Eleventh Hour, which, although not a big ratings winner, has received more than its share of critical kudos. Corner Gas, on the other hand, seems to have it all.

When the first season of Corner Gas debuted Jan. 22, 2004 to 1.15 million viewers, series producer Virginia Thompson was shocked, but says that Boyce acted as though she knew it would happen all along.

‘What’s great about [Boyce] is that she believes Canadian television should get two or three million viewers,’ says Thompson. ‘It’s a great attitude for Canadian television and it’s what the industry needs. We need broadcasters who will get behind their shows, and production teams who will promote the hell out of Canadian shows and position them well in the lineup.’

By the end of its first season, Corner Gas was attracting an average 1.26 million viewers, and summer reruns of season one attracted an average audience of nearly one million. Season two of Corner Gas debuted Oct. 6, drawing an audience of 1.53 million viewers, 34% higher than the season-one premiere, and its fall average was 1.5 million viewers.

CTV’s other homegrown smash, the pop star-maker Canadian Idol, averages more than two million viewers, making it the most-watched English-Canadian TV series ever. At first the show was perceived as a big gamble.

‘Canadian Idol is definitely a show that was set up to fail because people could compare it to the U.S. show or the British,’ says Boyce.

Nevertheless, Canadian Idol continued to generate record-breaking audiences in its second season during the summer of 2004, enjoying a 21% jump in audience over 2003.

Insight Productions’ John Brunton, who produces Idol as well as the Juno Awards for CTV, says that Boyce’s passion for live TV and her own experience as a producer helped give Idol the staying power it has exhibited.

‘I’ve always been a risk taker, and [Boyce] supports that risk taking,’ he says.

A willingness to take risks on Canadian shows has also helped Degrassi: TNG build its ratings, by approaching difficult and potentially controversial subject matter. The Oct. 12 episode, which touched on the issues of bullying and school shootings, attracted 930,000 Canadian viewers. The show averaged 670,000 viewers in its third season.

‘CTV has really started to take over [as the market’s best place] to showcase Canadian dramas and comedies,’ says Stephen Stohn of Toronto’s Epitome Pictures, which produces Degrassi.

When Stohn and producing partner Linda Schuyler were first considering a reincarnation of Degrassi, he says it was largely encouragement from Boyce that led to the production of TNG, which, in addition to generating big audiences in Canada, has also become the number-one teen show on specialty Noggin in the U.S.

Boyce says it’s important to use the network’s current hits as promotional tools for its up-and-coming ones, a tactic she used to launch Epitome’s latest series, Instant Star. A two-episode preview of the series, about a teenaged girl who wins an Idol-type contest, drew an average audience of over one million viewers when it aired directly after Idol’s season two finale, and series star Alexz Johnson made an appearance on Idol to introduce the show. Instant Star’s regular season begins Jan. 23.

So, with yet another potential Canuck hit on its hands, CTV is more than well-positioned heading into 2005. And for producers thinking of pitching a show to the country’s top broadcaster, don’t listen to cynics forecasting the death of drama. Boyce doesn’t, and her advice to producers is to always pitch the passion project. After all, it’s her own passion for programming that has helped CTV stay ahead of the competition.

-www.ctv.ca