Vancouver: West Coast entrants successfully moving on to the swimsuit part of the contest – otherwise known as the eip phase of the Canadian Television Fund sweepstakes – include some newcomers among the renewals.

Bob the Butler is an mow for wic by Rampage Entertainment, a Vancouver production company that has until now shunned the government funding agencies.

Local writer Dennis Foon, meanwhile, is the creator of cbc mow Society’s Child, a drama about a girl with Rett syndrome, a debilitating gene-based disease.

The Comedy Network will be getting a new sketch series. Glen Lougheed, Edward Pighian and Kelsey Kirvan – the producers behind last year’s Slightly Bent for Comedy and heads of Slightly Bent Entertainment – will oversee the as yet unnamed 13-part sketch comedy show. Production goes this summer.

Peace Arch Entertainment has the green light for The Agency – a rare Canadian sitcom – destined for Global. It’s about a talent agency and has Seinfeld writing talent behind it.

Returning productions include Da Vinci’s Inquest (episodes 27-39), Cold Squad (40-59), Edgemont Road (14-26), Skullduggery (7-19) and These Arms of Mine (7-13). Returning kids shows include Scoop & Doozie (53-65) and What About Mimi? (14-26).

On the variety side, Avanti Pictures is capturing a one-hour piece of dance called ice: beyond cool, by Vancouver choreographer Judith Marcuse. Run as a commercial-free, 60-minute program, ice is inspired by teens and suicide.

Lighter fare is the six-part series The Improv Comedy Games (P.S. Films) for cbc – a project that owes a lot to What’s My Line?.

On a titles basis alone, b.c. claims 16% (14 of 86) of the English-language production getting lfp money.

*Ageless and evergreen

Peace Arch is also going ahead with The Immortal, a 22-episode syndicated series and a coproduction with London, Eng.-based Studio Eight Productions’ Jamie Brown (who is also producing The Gateway, a feature by Ogden Gavanski).

Lorenzo Lamas stars in this Matrix/Highlander/X-Files hybrid that goes to camera May 1.

Peace Arch is handling North American distribution, while international sales are being handled by Los Angeles-based Hilltop Entertainment. The series will debut this fall.

This summer, Peace Arch will have at least three series that it owns in production: The Agency, First Wave and The Immortal.

*More pilots

Tony Danza is the boss of Homewood pi, a pilot for cbs. Production on the one-hour comedy – a story about a retired cop who becomes a private investigator – runs March 29 to April 11.

* Futuristic Day One is a pilot for Regency Entertainment and wb. The hour-long, action-adventure series featuring Brad Johnson (Always) and Susan Ward (Sunset Beach) is about a group of train passengers who have to build a new world. Production runs to April 6.

* Columbia TriStar’s syndicated Electra’s Guy stars Carmen Electra and Shawn Christian (Beverly Hills 90210) in a series about a troublesome spy who is replaced by a robot spy (Electra, of course). Production on the presentation wrapped four days of work March 28.

*Export-orama

U.S. independent feature Out of Pocket stars Jennifer Beals (Flashdance) and Holt McCallany (Wasteland, Three Kings) and is about a female parole officer who falls in love with her male parolee. Danger ensues. Production continues until April 8

Meanwhile, the Vancouver office of Dufferin Gate is line producing another mow for Showtime – this time it’s Holiday Heart. Cast includes Ving Rhames and Alfre Woodard in a story about a drag queen who begins caring for a young girl whose mother is battling a drug addiction.

Written by Cheryl West from her own play, Holiday Heart will be directed by Robert Townsend. Jane Rosenthal, Brad Epstein and Robert DeNiro serve as executive producers.

*Double bill

North Face, an action-adventure mow set in the mountains, wraps shooting April 28 and features Antonio Sabato Jr. in the lead. Heidi Noelle Lenhart (Au Pair) and Jurgen Prochnow costar. Shavick Entertainment is the line producer and Al Simmonds directs. Fox Family Channel will air the show.

Shavick and Fox Family are also involved in the mow The Man Who Used to Be Me, a fantasy-mystery story about a man who travels back in time to help his younger self solve a murder. Production wraps April 24. William Devane (Knots Landing) and Rob Estes (Melrose Place) star and Jeffrey Woolnough (Stargate, Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict) directs.

*Check your facts, ma’am

Once in a Blue Moon – a $2-million to $3-million feature from Vancouver’s Sodona Entertainment – wrapped 21 days of production March 26 and stars Isabella Hoffman (Beggars & Choosers), James Wilder (Murder One), Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Erin Gray (Buck Rogers).

Directed by Gill Shilton, Blue Moon is about a female reporter who, while believing a male murder suspect is wrongly accused, perjures herself in court only to find out that maybe she’s mistaken. The film, which will be delivered as a theatrical release, is funded through u.s. and Canadian presales and investment.

*Road signs

Local driving aficionados Ted Laturnus and Tony Whitney bring their Siskel and Ebert-style of car reviews back to the small screen for another go.

Driver’s Seat, which was previously known as Inside Track, which was previously known as Driver’s Seat, will air on Global and in syndication.

Twenty-two half-hours wrap production this month, with former bbc alumnus Veeno Dewan at the helm.