CBC pulled back the curtain on its ’04/05 season late last month, unveiling a new lineup heavy with specials and minis but light on new domestic or scripted series. The net is hoping that its ratings – set to swell over the summer thanks to the Stanley Cup playoffs, the federal election and the Olympics – will carry over into the fall, where the reality-ish series The Greatest Canadian and Making the Cut, playing to news and sports fans, respectively, will launch the new season while dominating the early primetime schedule.

‘Are we happy that a Canadian team made the finals?’ quipped programming czar Slawko Klymkiw, getting a laugh from the crowd. Game one of the Calgary/Tampa Bay series drew more than three million viewers to the Ceeb. ‘We hope this momentum will carry viewers through the season.’

Greatest Canadian, a sort of history lesson crossed with the voting process of CTV’s Canadian Idol, has, like Idol, been split into two one-hours, airing every Monday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. Making the Cut, a 13 x 60 shot at the big leagues for six would-be hockey pros, bridges the gap on Tuesdays. CBC has been taking nominations for Greatest Canadian since early spring, while also trolling for unsigned hockey players. Greatest is made in-house; Making the Cut comes from Network Productions in Vancouver.

CBC hopes a spirited debate over this country’s greatest icon (Trudeau? Rocket Richard? Mr. Dressup?) will galvanize and excite viewers, much like its Canada: A People’s History did in 2000. People’s History frontman Mark Starowicz exec produces with Susan Dando. The show’s format was bought from the BBC.

Making the Cut, meanwhile, is aimed at pretty much every man who ever dreamed of playing in the NHL. ‘And there’s a lot of them,’ says Klymkiw. ‘It’s a sport that’s close to our soul and close to a lot of young men. So we think these two will hit a chord with Canadians.’

Of course ‘reality’ is not the word they use on Front Street. Klymkiw says both shows are more in keeping with CBC’s tradition of documentary programming and are extensions of its current ‘high-impact’ programming, a category that also includes the Ottawa-shot political thriller H2O, biopics about Shania Twain and Tommy Douglas, and the mini Sex Traffic, a copro by Halifax’s Big Motion Pictures and the U.K.’s Channel 4 about the global flesh trade. Traffic looks well positioned to mimic the success of last season’s immigration opus Human Cargo, and stars the ever-reliable Wendy Crewson. Klymkiw says the net needs to run one or two high-impact shows per month to drive ratings.

The fall and summer also include a number of big Hollywood films. The CRTC recently reversed a ban that had barred foreign films from the net, opening the door to blockbusters such as Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and the second Harry Potter movie. CBC has been criticized for running U.S. movies, but Klymkiw insists they are fair game.

A host of drama specials are due, including another Beachcombers MOW, another North of 60 mystery and some Brit product including a four-hour mini about Mary Queen of Scots and The Hamburg Cell, an MOW about some of the 9/11 terrorists. Meanwhile, Montreal’s Cine Tele-Action will see its four-hour wartime drama Il Duce Canadese go to air.

The new series are hard to find, although Canadian Film Centre alum Brad Peyton (Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl) and producer Fred Fuchs (The Godfather Part 3, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) have what could be a standout new title with their What It’s Like Being Alone, a stop-motion animated show about weird children stuck in a very creepy orphanage. The net will also test a new sitcom, Ciao Bella, on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Produced by Montreal’s Cirrus Communications (Temps Dur), it centers on a young woman with mixed feelings about her roots in Little Italy.

Funnyman Colin Mochrie also has two new titles. Pending funding, he’ll star with his wife Debra McGrath in the pilot Getting Along Famously, a comedy about showbiz, and will co-front a tribute to Disney theme parks with his son Luke. The Magical Gathering looks suspiciously like an hour-long commercial for Disney but, says Klymkiw, grew out of talks stemming from the shared anniversaries of that company and CBC.

‘We said why not have a celebration of Canadian talent, by Disney, as one of CBC’s biggest partners? The trade-off is we shot it in their park,’ Klymkiw explains.

As previously announced, the Ceeb has also promoted the long-running Brit soap Coronation Street to primetime, airing four nights a week at 7:30 p.m.

The hit Rick Mercer’s Monday Report has been pushed to 9 p.m. that night, making room for Greatest Canadian. Its former follow-ups The Newsroom and This is Wonderland will be back in 2005. Wonderland will move to Tuesdays, while Newsroom has not been slotted.

CBC is again following a schedule of five mini-seasons – opening with event shows in the fall, followed with drama debuts, then holiday programming. Comedy and new series will bow in the new year, segueing to the NHL playoffs, assuming they’re not derailed by a strike.

-www.cbc.ca