Fall 2015 New Shows - Canadian Network Acquisitions

[lostjon]

Updated 6/11/2015

The Canadian upfronts were held over the past couple of weeks. Here is what the big three media giants (Bell, Shaw and Rogers) have picked up for their conventiional TV fall lineups. CHCH, who routinely selects U.S. network shows to fill part of their primetime lineup also made their upfront presentation.

For their full lineups, check out the latest threads on each network's respective forums.

Among the highlights:

Global
- Supergirl Mondays at 8:00pm in November (s-CBS)
- Heroes Reborn Thursdays at 8:00pm (s-NBC), pushing Bones to post-release Sundays 10:00pm
- The Simpsons is only show from FOX's Sunday lineup; all other animated sitcoms moving to City
- Containment (The CW), Shades of Blue (NBC), Chicago Med (NBC) among midseason additions
- Canadian broadcaster for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert weeknights at 11:35pm (s-CBS)

City
- Empire in pre-release Wednesdays at 8:00pm
- Thursday Night Football moving over from Sportsnet (until November)
- Rogers Hometown Hockey moving to Sportsnet in favor of FOX comedy lineup on Sundays (except for The SImpsons)
- Scandal dropped in favor of all-comedy lineup on Thursdays in November
- Nightly strip broadcasts of 2 Broke Girls/Two and a Half Men added to Sundays 10:00pm
- First-time Canadian broadcasts for sitcoms Undateable (NBC) and The Last Man on Earth (FOX)
- Rush Hour (CBS), Bordertown (FOX), Little Big Shots (NBC) and The Guide to Surviving Life (FOX) added for midseason

CTV / CTV Two
- Sleepy Hollow added to CTV Two
- Key acquisitions for fall include Blindspot (NBC), Quantico (ABC), Code Black (CBS) and Blood & Oil (ABC)
- Midseason offerings are DC's Legends of Tomorrow (The CW), The Catch (ABC) and Lucifer (FOX)
- Variety show Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris picked up for CTV Two
- Following scheduling changes at ABC, CTV Sunday lineup will consist of two new shows - Blood & Oil and Quantico
- CSI: Cyber gets Tuesday 10pm slot, Saving Hope on Thursdays 9pm
- Big Bang Theory and Goldbergs are only sitcoms across both channels, no new sitcoms acquired

CHCH
- New Canadian home for season 4 of Nashville - Wednesday 10:00pm (s-ABC)
- Acquired new FOX drama Rosewood
- Added NBC's Dateline Saturday Night Mystery series to complement returning newsmagazine shows 20/20, 48 Hours and 60 Minutes
- Supernatural returning to lineup Wednesday nights in simulcast with The CW
- Returning shows include The Originals, Last Man Standing and The Pinkertons

Shows picked up (outside of conventional television):
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (The CW) for Showcase (Shaw Media)

[lostjon]

Now that the fall schedules have been announced for CTV/CTV Two, Global, City and CHCH, what follows are the list of shows from the American broadcast networks that have been passed over and/or dropped by Canadian channels so far:

NEW FALL SHOWS
Dr. Ken (ABC) - Friday 8:30pm
The Player (NBC) - Thursday 10:00pm
Wicked City (ABC) - Tuesday 10:00pm

Coincidentally, two of the three shows are produced by Sony Pictures Television, and they happen to be the only shows from that production studio that were picked up to series for the 2015-16 season. Dr. Ken is a multi-camera sitcom and co-production between Sony and ABC Studios, starring Ken Jeong, well known for his roles in Community and The Hangover movies. The Player (starring Wesley Snipes) comes from Davis Entertainment, who is also behind hit series The Blacklist. Based on recent history, Global would acquire the rights to shows from the Sony package as a result of their output deals, unless that came to an end this year, or both of those shows left plenty more to be desired and ended up drawing little to no interest for the major Canadian networks in the meantime.

Over the last few years, the studio has produced few hit shows such as The Blacklist and The Goldbergs, along with The Night Shift as all shows are heading into their third seasons, It also has that one show that has shifted between cancellation and renewal, Unforgettable, which will move to A&E for its fourth season. Not so fortunate in recent years for Sony are the shows Battle Creek and Marry Me from this past season, along with the sitcoms Bad Teacher, The Michael J Fox Show, Welcome to the Family and Us & Them (which never made it to air), plus the drama Rake the previous one before.

Wicked City comes from ABC Studios, whose shows usually go first to Bell Media, or alternatively to Rogers for the network of City stations. The show was initially planned to air midseason, but the premiere has been moved to Tuesday nights at 10 beginning in late October, following ABC's decision to move newcomer Quantico to Sundays at 10. At this point, there's no room for CTV to air in that timeslot, as they have CSI: Cyber. CTV Two could make room for it once the variety show Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris ends its short run, although that will only be a week later following the premiere. If not those channels, then maybe over to specialty channels Bravo or M3 - of course, it would be without the simsub privileges but actually suitable given the content that has been deemed questionable for conventional television. As for City, they've given up the 10:00pm hour to comedy reruns, but on occasion will reserve one night of the week for network shows to air in simulcast (i.e. Hannibal). It could make for an interesting pairing of anthology series on Tuesday nights, having a comedy-horror musical series (Scream Queens) with a true crime procedural series like Wicked City.


NEW MIDSEASON SHOWS

Coach (NBC)
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (CBS)
Crowded (NBC)
The Family (ABC)
The Frankenstein Code (FOX)
Game of SIlence (NBC)
Hot & Bothered (NBC)
Of Kings & Prophets (ABC)
The Real O'Neals (ABC)
Superstore (NBC)
Uncle Buck (ABC)
The X-Files (FOX)
You, Me and the End of the World (NBC)

Granted, not all of these shows were going to land a Canadian broadcaster at this stage early on, as it will all depend on what their schedules will look like a few months from now.

But there are a few that I thought were no-brainers, like the Criminal Minds spin-off, which would have gone to Bell Media for CTV, since they already carry the original one - perhaps they're waiting until a later time to announce it officially. Same goes for The X-Files - I figured Global would have made an announcement but are probably holding off until midseason as well.

Of Kings & Prophets was originally scheduled for Sunday nights this fall but has been pulled as various changes are set to be made - usually not a promising sign. Some are saying that it could be one of the first shows to get cancelled before even making it to air.


RETURNING SHOWS without a confirmed Canadian broadcaster (conventional and/or specialty)

Beyond the Tank (ABC) - Tuesday 10:00pm (for four weeks starting Sept. 29)
Given that it is a spin-off of Shark Tank, this could have gone to Bell Media, but there's no room on CTV or CTV Two's schedule at the moment. Next guess would be specialty channel BNN, where they have aired encores and reruns of Shark Tank. Even M3, considering how they have continued to move away from music-related programming and added more reality shows.

Fresh Off the Boat (ABC) - Tuesday 8:30pm
Did not have a Canadian broadcaster for its first season, no surprise it will stay that way for season 2. Plus, no simsub privileges here with The Flash on CTV, NCIS on Global, and the two FOX sitcoms on City, not to mention The Voice already on CTV Two. CHCH will likely be airing movies on Tuesdays as they have no shows to simsub on the evening. UPDATE: Streaming video-on-demand service shomi has just acquired exclusive Canadian rights for the first season of 13 episodes, effective July 3. Refer to this link here

Galavant (ABC) - Midseason
Much like Fresh Off the Boat. The first season aired back in January while Once Upon a Time went on an extended break, but consisted of back-to-back episodes for four straight weeks, all while award shows and the NFL playoffs were taking place at the same time. No room on CTV, perhaps City thanks to their new Sunday block, and in the event that some of the Sunday FOX shows are on reruns. To be determined later in the season.

Scandal (ABC) - Thursday 9:00pm
Quite the major development and surprising to some. Despite being a hit show in the U.S. and being a part of the Shondaland franchise (home to Grey's Anatomy and new hit series How to Get Away with Murder), four seasons in simulcast on City was not even enough for the show to gain the same status here in Canada, and it has been officially dropped. References to the show have been removed from CIty's website. Previous seasons of the show are available on Shomi, leading to speculation that it could be exclusive to that service or picked up by a specialty channel down the road.
UPDATE: Following the season premiere on September 24, new episodes for Season 5 are available for viewing on Netflix in Canada the following morning after broadcast.

Undercover Boss (CBS) - Midseason
The show's previous rights belonged to Bell Media and recent episodes aired last summer on CTV Two. Encores and reruns from the first seasons previously aired on Corus specialty channels including the W Network.

Unofficially added to this list are American Crime (ABC), Secrets and Lies (ABC) and The Odd Couple (CBS). All shows aired on CTV this season. While there is no mention of the two ABC shows on the CTV page in Bell Media's Ad Sales website, there is nothing to confirm that these shows have been dropped from CTV. The Odd Couple continues to air in reruns this summer and is listed on Bell Media's website, but no indication for midseason 2016. That being said, I would expect all three shows to return to CTV at some point, barring any scheduling conflicts over the course of the next year.


RETURNING SHOWS with a confirmed Canadian broadcaster (after being dropped last season)

Dancing with the Stars (ABC) - Monday 8:00pm
For the first time in the show's history as the show celebrated its 10th anniversary for its 20th season, it was not shown on a Canadian network and left on the shelf. Bell Media has not dropped the Canadian rights to the show - it will air this fall Sunday nights on CTV Two in post-release, presumably Monday nights in simulcast on M3 as was the case last year.

Nashville (ABC) - Wednesday 10:00pm
Rights from the third season were picked up by Corus Entertainment for Telelatino, who also aired the first two seasons. It has been confirmed that season four has been picked up by Channel Zero and will air on CHCH.

Supernatural (The CW) - Wednesday 9:00pm
Though not dropped entirely from Canadian airwaves, it was not on last fall's schedule for CHCH, who carried the show during the previous four seasons. It was later picked up by M3, which initially aired the first episodes of the season almost a week after The CW. Eventually, they caught up and started airing the episodes in simulcast by midseason through to the season finale. It also aired OTA on Vancouver station Joytv, whose primetime lineup consisted of other shows that were airing on CHCH, including The Originals and Last Man Standing.