Canada’s CBC unveils 40+ originals line-up & FAST expansion

Bones Of Crows

Canadian public broadcaster CBC has unveiled a programming line-up of more than 40 new and returning original series for the 2023-2024 season, while also expanding its FAST offering with the launch of two new channels and extending the contract of CEO Catherine Tait.

The FAST channel CBC Comedy will feature CBC sitcoms, sketch shows and stand up specials, including current titles such as Run In The Burbs, Son Of A Critch and Sort Of, as well as popular titles like Schitt’s Creek and Kim’s Convenience. CBC News BC will meanwhile offer local news on the biggest stories of the day from the west coast of the country. Both FAST channels will launch in the fall.

The pubcaster has also revealed that Tait is to remain president and CEO until January 2025 after extending her existing term by 18 months. The exec’s five-year term, which began in 2018, was due to end next month.

“Her leadership over the past five years has been critical to positioning the public broadcaster for the future at a time of accelerated change in the news and media sectors in Canada,” said Michael Goldbloom, chair of CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors.

Blackberry

Comedy & drama expansion

CBC has ordered new original comedy series One More Time, a workplace sitcom from standup comedian D.J. Demers and showrunner Jessie Gabe, which will debut in winter 2024.

Produced by Counterfeit Pictures, the 13 x 30-minute series follows a fictionalized and heightened version of D.J. (played by Demers) as the hearing-impaired manager of a second-hand sporting goods store, and the team of “hard-working” employees he leads.

The show will join a line-up alongside returning titles Sort Of, Run The Burbs, Son Of A Critch, The New Wave Of Standup and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Meanwhile, on the drama front, Blackberry, a 3 x 60-minute series from Rhombus Media and Zapruder Films, will launch in fall 2023.

Directed by Matt Johnson, the series follows the story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the two men who charted the course of the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone. Co-written by Johnson and Matthew Miller and adapted from the book Losing the Signal by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff. the series stars Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton and Johnson.

Also coming to CBC in fall 2023 is Bones Of Crows, a 5 x 60-minute drama from Marie Clements Media, Screen Siren Pictures and Grana Productions.

Written, directed and produced by Marie Clements, the series follows Cree musical prodigy Aline Spears (played throughout her life by Summer Testawich, Grace Dove, and Carla Rae), who is removed from her family home and forced into Canada’s residential school system, alongside her siblings, where they are plunged into a struggle for survival.

Allegiance, from Lark Productions, which will launch in winter 2024, is a 10 x 60-minute series following rookie cop Sabrina Singh, who is proud to uphold her family’s tradition of serving in the police and military. But when her father, the Minister of Public Safety, is arrested on terror charges, Sabrina finds herself caught between her loyalties to her job, her family and her country.

The show hails from creator Anar Ali amd showrunners Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern, with international distribution by Universal International Studios.

Wild Cards is also coming to CBC in winter 2024, hailing from Piller/Segan, Blink 49 and Front Street Pictures. The 10 x 60-minute series is a crime procedural with a comedic twist that follows the unlikely duo of a gruff, sardonic cop and a bubbly, clever con woman.

The creative team includes creator Michael Konyves, exec producer Shawn Piller, head writer Noelle Carbone and pilot director James Genn.

These new shows join returning titles including Moonshine, Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries and SkyMed.

Amanda Parris

Fact-ent & documentaries

New factual entertainment series, The Great Canadian Pottery Throwdown, will land on CBC in winter 2024. Produced by Frantic Films, the 8 x 60-minute series sees ten of Canada’s most talented potters competing to be crowned best at the wheel. The Great Pottery Throwdown is an original British format created and owned by Love Productions, who also devised and produce The Great British Baking Show.

Returning fact-ent titles include Race Against The Tide, Dragons’ Den, Family Feud Canada, The Great Canadian Baking Show, Still Standing, Best In Miniature, Bollywed, Push, Stuff The British Stole and Canada’s Ultimate Challenge.

New documentaries coming to CBC, meanwhile include Black Life: Untold Stories, from Studio 112 in association with Northwood Entertainment and Ugly Duck Productions. Premiering in fall 2023, the 8 x 60-minute series reframes the rich and complex histories of Black experiences in Canada, dispelling commonly accepted myths and celebrating the many contributions of Black Canadians.

Swan Song, also premiering in fall 2023, is a character-driven series following Karen Kain’s final year with the National Ballet of Canada, as she steps into the role of director for the first time with a monumental new production of Swan Lake. The 4 x 60-minute series is produced by Visitor Media, Mercury Films and Quiet Ghost.

Tell Our Story, meanwhile, is a 4 x 60-minute series from Terre Innue, shares the experiences of the 11 First Peoples in Quebec, Canada — Abenaki, Anishnabe, Atikamekw, Cree of Eeyou Istchee, Innu, Inuit, Mi’gmaq, Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk), Naskapi, Wendat, and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet).

For The Culture With Amanda Parris, coming in winter 2024, is a docuseries fronted by writer, executive producer and host Parris to who tackles “urgent and provocative” conversations that centre on Blackness and Black people.

Also returning to CBC are The Passionate Eye and The Nature Of Things.

How To Fail As A Popstar

CBC Gem & kids originals

New originals heading to on-demand platform CBC Gem, meanwhile, include The Bannocking, a 6 x 10-minute series from Bad Bannock Productions about journalism student, Ellen Bear, who returns home to uncover the truth about the abandoned residential school, but chaos ensues when residents of Bent Creek First Nations begin to show bizarre and violent behaviour.

How To Fail As A Popstar, an 8 x 15-minute series from Sphere Media, is an adaptation of Vivek Shraya’s play and book of the same name, following a young queer brown boy, growing up in Edmonton trying to achieve pop stardom and what went right and wrong along the way.

LoCo Motion Pictures’ 6 x 15-minute series, I Hate People, People Hate Me, will premiere in fall 2023. The offbeat comedy explores queer identity in a time when queerness has not only been mainstreamed, but commodified.

Returning CBC Gem originals include Zarqa and Farm Crime.

Meanwhile, new CBC Kids shows include animated pre-school series Mini-Jon And Mini-Maple from Happy Camper Media and based on the books by Alex A, and Dylan’s Playtime Adventures, from Story Media Group and Brown Bag Films.

International shows picked up by CBC include comedy-drama Dreaming Whilst Black, the second season of Ten Year Old Tim and the fourth season of Das Boot. Other new and returning acquisitions incude Victoria, Animal Control, Crime Scene Kitchen, Belgravia and Miss Scarlet & The Duke.