Following are the nominees for Best Dramatic Miniseries:

* Australia’s ABC has bought season two (26 x 11) of the CG toon Planet Sketch and the entire run (71 x 30) of The Halifax Film Company’s preschooler Poko, following deals with Decode Entertainment. Decode also sold seasons one and two, respectively, of its live-action series Naturally, Sadie and Radio Free Roscoe, and the toons Delilah & Julius and Naughty Naughty Pets, to air on the kids block of ABC and ABC 2.

* Martin Markle is Alliance Atlantis’ new production executive for Life Network and National Geographic Channel, having left as executive in charge of production of children’s and youth programming at CBC.

Across the nine major news categories, the CBC claimed 31 Gemini nominations out of a possible 39 (up from 27 in 2005), including sweeps in best direction, best news magazine segment and best host. CBC’s the fifth estate, with nine noms, has more than double the next-highest broadcaster total – Global’s four noms – while Citytv avoided being shut out for a second straight year with a pair of noms, for newscast and best reportage. CBC’s dominance was largely unaffected by the surprise absence of CTV News.

The brass at Global Television hope that shifting this year’s Gemini Awards gala to Vancouver from Toronto will provide just the fresh start the national show needs.

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Kids is getting a state-of-the-art movie theater thanks to the efforts of filmmaker and ad exec Barry Avrich (The Last Mogul).

It seems that, lately, most talk surrounding the Gemini Awards is dominated by debate over voting systems, the politics behind the scenes, and how the show could be made more effective. And before I jump back into the fray myself, let’s not lose sight of the point of the whole thing – to salute excellent work in Canadian TV.

Bell Globemedia’s proposed purchase of CHUM would be a friendly takeover. Wording in the Sept. 18 issue may have left readers with a different impression.

Paul Gross and his partners at Whizbang Films are getting back into politics, and plan to deliver a sequel to their 2004 thriller H2O to CBC in time for the 2007/08 season.

Scriptwriter Jefferson Lewis (Mon amie Max) says adapting Emotional Arithmetic for the big screen was very daunting. The story follows three people who are separated by the Nazis during World War Two, to be reunited some 35 years later, and comes from the novel by the late Matt Cohen, a close friend of Lewis’.

Quebec actress-cum-filmmaker Carole Laure (CQ2) is shooting her latest feature, La Capture, in Montreal until Oct. 21.

The France/Canada copro Steak is expected to wrap on Oct. 14, ending six weeks in Montreal. Directed by Quentin Dupieux (Nonfilm), the sci-fi comedy is set in 2016, when facelifts are performed on most of the population. Popular French comedy team Eric et Ramzy star as two wannabe gangsters who hope the surgery will get them into exclusive gang clubs.