The Eleventh Hour dodged a bullet this month when CTV unveiled its ‘biggest dramatic slate ever’ for the 2003/04 season. The troubled series will be renewed and retooled for the coming year, slated to air alongside two new dramatic series, a host of minis and MOWs, and new cycles of both Cold Squad and Degrassi: The Next Generation. CTV senior VP, dramatic programming and development, Bill Mustos announced the order at this month’s CFTPA conference in Ottawa.

‘It just felt like the right thing to do – to give [Eleventh Hour] another chance,’ says Mustos. ‘Even though the numbers were disappointing, we had tremendous viewer response to the show that was overwhelmingly positive.’ Season one brought in poor ratings – well below 500,000 per week – and many had predicted that the series, which follows the adventures of investigative TV reporters, would be canned. Mustos says season two will have a quicker pace and more emotional stories.

Broadcasters have been under fire over the past year, taking blame for a severe drop in homemade English-language dramatic programming. Five such programs made it to air in 2002, down from 12 in 1999. CTV hopes to counter this with its new order.

CTV also ordered a new 13 x 30 anthology series, Keys Cut Here, from B.C.’s Water Street Pictures, and picked up all 22 one-hours of Sue Thomas F.B. Eye, which the network co-financed with U.S.-based PAX TV (see Ontario Scene, p. 15). Sue Thomas will soon air as a mid-season replacement.

ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell cheered the CTV order, calling it a ‘step in the right direction’ for his union’s ongoing campaign to boost Canadian TV drama. ‘But we’re still looking for Global and CBC to come forward. We’re hopeful that they will match this announcement.’

Waddell added that the half-hour anthology series Keys Cut Here is both good news and bad news. A rotating cast means more work for more actors, but anthologies have a hard time winning viewers and half-hours often get bumped and rescheduled, he warns.

The remaining minis and MOWs are:

* Crazy Canucks, a ski adventure by Alberta Filmworks

* Friend of the Family, a thriller about the notorious ‘Cottage Killer’ from Bright Lights Productions and Sammat Entertainment

* Playing House, a romantic comedy from Alliance Atlantis Communications

* Lie with Me, a think piece about rape and sexual politics from Sarrazin Couture Entertainment and Wishmaker Entertainment

* North of Hope, from Shaftesbury Films and Alberta Filmworks

* Prom Queen, Tapestry Pictures’ story of gay Catholic teen Marc Hall

* Spirit Bear, also from Tapestry

* Selling Innocence, by Alberta’s ImagiNation Productions and Quebec’s Cite-Amerique

* Lives of the Saints, two two-hours with Sophia Loren by Capri Films and Italy’s Mediatrade

* The Man Who Lost Himself, the true story of football player Terry Evanshen’s struggle with a brain injury, again by Sarrazin Couture

All but three of the new projects need CTF funding to make it to air, says Mustos, but it remains unclear how these shows will measure up against CTF’s new and puzzling Broadcaster Priorities system, which ranks programs based on the broadcaster’s previous use of the fund, and replaces the ‘Visibly Canadian’ system. ‘We’re still working on it, if you can believe that,’ says Mustos. ‘It’s extraordinarily complex.’

Lives of Saints, Spirit Bear and The Man Who Lost Himself will forgo the fund and instead draw cash from the BCE Benefits Fund. CTV hopes that by ‘unshackling’ creative teams from potentially restrictive regulations it can turn out better TV. Those programs will also be easier to schedule and sell to advertisers.

‘We’re feeling less and less like we the broadcasters are in control of our own schedules,’ says Mustos, ‘because the decisions are really being made by the funding agencies.’

-www.ctv.ca