Montreal: Quebec’s conventional French-language television networks are introducing up to 20 new shows in primetime this fall and winter.

Highlights include 13 new episodes of the Avanti Cine Video sitcom La Petite Vie on Radio-Canada, the new Louis Saia (Les Boys) sitcom Histoires de Filles on tva, and a blast of adapted Fox-dominated action and animation series on Television Quatre Saisons including Xena, Stargate SG1, The X-Files, Hercules and King of the Hill.

Tele-Quebec has repositioned itself for the new season as a specialty channel a la pbs and a&e with a virtually all-new program schedule.

Talk and games at TVA

tva’s leading weeknight primetime sked opens with the zany game show Piment Fort, starring Normand Brathwaite, and closes with the late-night talk show Le Poing J, hosted by Julie Snyder.

New on the tva schedule this year is the ‘girl talk’ sitcom Histoires de Filles from Saia, cowriter of the hugely popular stage play Broue and the hit feature film Les Boys, and Km/Heure, an Andre Dubois sitcom about the trials of a single dad, starring Michel Barrette and Gildor Roy.

Drama programming, imported and domestic, on tva this fall includes the Guy Fournier teleroman Ent’ Cadieux; the miniseries L’Odyssee; Alerte a Malibu, starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson; Beverly Hills 90210; Salle d’Urgence (er); Melrose Place, slated for Mondays at 8 p.m.; and two highly rated Quebec teleromans, Point de Mire’s Les Machos and tva’s Le Retour, starring Angele Coutu, Julien Poulin and Rita Lafontaine.

Drama highlights on Thursday include the innovative Sovimage fashion-world drama series Diva, the moving Match tv/Neofilm series Ces Enfants d’Ailleurs from award-winning director Andre Melancon, and Juliette Pomerleau, a new Rose Films series from director Claude Fournier based on the Yves Beauchemin best-selling novel.

tva is also programming the Suzanne Aubry/Louise Pelletier teleroman Sauve qui peut, the big-budget Punch International canine parody Un Monde de Chiens, and two Canadian action series – Fireworks Entertainment’s Nikita, starring Peta Wilson and local fav Roy Dupuis, and Telescene Film Group’s Sirens.

Top audience draws returning this season on tva include the adventure game show Fort Boyard and j.e., an investigative magazine with an average network audience of over one million.

Major drama investment at SRC

More than half of the new shows for ’98/99 have been licensed by src. Highlights include Caserne 24, a sitcom set in a fire station from veteran screenwriter Fernand Dansereau; Catherine, another new sitcom, starring the venerable Dominique Michel; a karaoke-based variety/game show called La Fureur; and Lingo, a new game show imported from Europe where language skills spell fun.

src has made an unprecedented investment in drama for the new season. Headliner premieres include two Avanti series, La Petite Vie and Radio; the sda crime drama Omerta iii, voted best drama series by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television last season; the Point de Mire drama anthology Jamais sans Amour from writer Janette Bertrand; the Rejean Tremblay newsroom drama Reseaux from Emergence International; and the Productions Videofilms immigrant saga Le Polock from director Robert Menard.

Returning shows include such popular teleromans as Victor-Levy Beaulieu’s Bouscotte and 4 et demi, last season’s best teleroman; La Part des Anges; Maman Cherie, starring Janine Sutto, Martin Drainville and Remy Girard; and the top-rated early-evening soap Virginie.

The excellent and well-sponsored sex-sketch comedy Un Gars, une Fille, starring Guy A. Lepage and Sylvie Leonard, is also back, while top talk-show host Patrick L’Ecuyer returns Thursday nights with L’Ecuyer, a unique one-hour blend of flaky humor, music and insightful interviews.

src’s impressive public affairs/ information lineup includes the science show Decouverte, the investigative Enjeux, and the consumer affairs program La Facture with host Gilles Gougeon.

Local shows featured at TQS

The tqs schedule features a flurry of locally produced entertainment and comedy magazines, movies, sports and news.

Acquisitions include an adapted magazine show with highlight inserts from Life Against Death, Blazing Infernos and Natural Disasters, the mca tv series Xena, mgm’s La Portre des Etoiles (Stargate SG1), Fox’s Henri pis sa gang (King of the Hill), Ten Thirteen Productions’ Aux Frontiers du Reel (The X-Files), and the Renaissance/Universal one-hour pre-history action series Hercules.

Sunday, Thursday and Saturday are movie nights on tqs, with The Quest, Sargeant Bilko, Rumble in the Bronx and Christian Duguay’s Screamers among the highlights. The late-night Saturday soft-porn showcase Cinema Bleu Nuit includes two new Emmanuelle adventures in bold 3D relief, with tqs promoting the programs with handout 3D glasses ‘for optimum viewing enjoyment.’

tqs has a variety of Quebec-produced comedy on ‘Comedy Tuesdays,’ including Coscient’s Dieu Recoit, with ‘God’ on tap talking (down) to the invited showbiz guests, and two Sogestalt shows — Y sont pas plus fous que nous autres, a ‘crazy therapy’ concept with top comic Yvon Deschamps, and La Croisiere en folie, a Carnival cruise-ship concept featuring more local comics.

Pram-Quebec’s Mechant Malade, where stars stick it to ordinary stressed-out people, returns this fall, while Black-out au Lion d’Or is a new ‘politically incorrect’ audience debate/talk show from Productions Carrefour. Also new on tqs is Drague-Moi, a Kaboum!-produced game show where singles meet their match.

Other key tqs entries this fall include Ostar’s Coroner, based on files from the coroner’s office, trade publisher Info-Presse’s first foray into tv; Planete Pub, a fast-paced look at the advertising world; Sexe et confidences, a tqs-produced sex therapy talk show with popular host Louise-Andree Saulnier; the weekday Coscient news parody show La Fin du Monde; and the weekday Avanti/Serdy cultural mag Coup de coeur.

Public affairs style programs with an edge include Ostar’s ‘hidden camera’ style magazine Acces Interdit and the weekly Trinome crime report magazine Metier Policier.

tqs and Molstar are teaming up to produce between 30 to 40 Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators hockey matches. They alternate Wednesday evenings with movies.