CBC is out to improve the lives of Canadians, one healthy choice at a time.

Starting this January, the public broadcaster is embarking on a multi-platform campaign called Live Right Now, an initiative to promote healthier living for Canadians.

The centrepiece of the campaign is a new 10-part reality show the network has created called Village on a Diet (pictured), debuting Monday Jan 3 at 9 p.m. The show follows a team of health practitioners who set out to reform the unhealthy ways of the residents of Taylor, BC. The program debuted yesterday morning to an audience of media buyers and advertisers as the network unveiled its winter programming slate.

The start of Village on a Diet also marks the start of the Live Right Now platform. Like the network’s previous, One Million Acts of Green campaign, the initiative aims to bring Canadians into the CBC’s fold via its media properties.

Although it will involve CBC, CBC.ca and CBC Radio One, social media will be the main driver for public engagement, CBC presenter George Stroumboulopolous told the assembled audience at the (very healthy) lunchtime presentation following the upfronts.

“This is mainly an online campaign; this is about social media,” he said, adding that Live Right Now marks the largest-ever social media endeavor the CBC has undertaken.

The pubcaster also unveiled its fall schedule yesterday, with several new shows including Village, a new half-hour “action comedy” Insecurity, premiering Tuesday Jan. 4 at 8:30 p.m.; Make the Politicians Work, a five-part series airing in January (the pilot aired Sept. 2009); and Pillars of the Earth, a miniseries based on the best-selling Ken Follet novel that will air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. starting Jan. 4.

Returning to the Ceeb’s programming lineup this winter are 18 to Life and Little Mosque on the Prairie at on Mondays at 8 and 8:30 p.m., respectively (which is a fairly competitive timeslot) and Republic of Doyle on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m., which delivered steady ratings for the network last fall, averaging 750,000 viewers (2+) per episode.

In an interview following the upfront, Kirstine Stewart, GM, CBC English Television, said the broadcaster has rebounded in the past two years, and the public’s confidence is allowing it to be increasingly bold with its programming.

“We had to rebuild a relationship with the Canadian public, and we’re getting there with these shows,” she said. “Now that we have that trust, I think can take the audience further.”

With files from Craig MacBride. From Media in Canada.