CBC-TV's cancelled legal drama This Is Wonderland led the nominees for the 21st Gemini Awards, the annual celebration of excellence in English Canadian television.

Wonderland, which ran for three seasons but was cancelled earlier this year, received 12 nominations, including best dramatic series.

Cara Pifko, as defence lawyer Alice De Raey, gets swarmed by homeless men on an episode of This is Wonderland. Though the legal drama was cancelled this spring, the show scored a leading 14 Gemini Award nominations Tuesday.
(CBC)

The show, which starred Cara Pifko as a young defence lawyer at the Old City Hall courts in Toronto, had been hailed for its insightful writing and for avoiding the traditional legal show format.

Following with 10 nominations is the Movie Network series ReGenesis, a drama that revolves around scientists in a fictional biotechnology lab.

ReGenesis was nominated for best direction, musical score, visual effects, actor and actress.

Michael Therriault has been nominated for best actor in his role as Tommy Douglas in Prairie Giant, a controversial miniseries.

It is competing for best dramatic series with another Movie Network offering, Slings & Arrows, as well as This is Wonderland, Moccasin Flats and Terminal City.

Wonderland earned acting honours in 2005 for stars Cara Pifko and Michael Riley, but CBC cancelled the series this spring saying it hadn't earned high enough ratings.

For 2006, it has nominations for best dramatic series, best writing, direction, casting and several nominations for its acting talent.

"The message at the end of the day is that this is a quality show," said academy chair Paul Gratton.

"What jurors look for in nominating a show is not necessarily what a network looks for in deciding to cancel a program."

Prairie Giant nominated

Another controversial CBC offering, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, is named for best miniseries, competing with Human Trafficking, a Citytv series about the international sex trade, and Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making, another CBC miniseries about the early years of the former prime minister.

Prairie Giant drew complaints about inaccuracy from students of Saskatchewan history and from the family of former premier James Gardiner, who claimed that his portrayal was unrealistically harsh. CBC has agreed not to show the series again, but that didn't stop it earning nine Gemini nominations.

Perennial favourite Corner Gas is nominated for best comedy series, along with CBC's The Rick Mercer Report, History Bites: Mother Britain, Jeff Ltd., Showcase's homage to lad one-upmanship Kenny vs. Spenny and Naked Josh.

CBC-TV's investigative journalism newsmagazine The Fifth Estate and its specials earned 12 nominations. CBC hosts and reporters dominated the best anchor and best reporting categories after CTV decided not to enter its talent or programs in the news categories.

Two CBC hosts, The National's Peter Mansbridge and Norma Lee MacLeod of CBC News at Six have been nominated for best news anchor, against Kevin Newman of Global National News.

The category for best host or interviewer for a general interest talk program has Kim Cattrall of Sexual Intelligence and Simcha Jacobovici of The Naked Archeologist competing against Steve Paikin of Studio 2 and two CBC hosts, Evan Solomon and George Stroumboulopoulous, who is frontman for The Hour, the Newsworld program that is moving to the main network this fall.

Other leading nominees include CTV's made-for-TV movie One Dead Indian, which was based on the Peter Edwards book One Dead Indian: The Premier, The Police and the Ipperwash Crisis, Ken Finkleman's darkly funny six-part CBC-TV series At the Hotel, and the acclaimed theatre satire Slings & Arrows. Each received four nominations.

Best TV movies

Intelligence, the West Coast crime drama from Vancouver's Chris Haddock, is named for best TV movie, along with Heyday!, Hunt for Justice: The Louise Arbour Story, One Dead Indian, and Terry, about Canadian hero Terry Fox. 

At the Hotel, Wonderland and ReGenesis also earned multiple nominations in the best acting categories.

Mark McKinney of Slings & Arrows, Peter Outbridge of ReGenesis, Nicholas Campbell of Da Vinci's City Hall and Nigel Bennett of At the Hotel are named for best actor in a continuing leading role.

Martha Burns of Slings & Arrows, Martha Henry of At the Hotel, Erin Karpluk of Godiva's, Andrea Menard of Moccasin Flats and Wonderland 's Pifko are nominated for best actress in a continuing role.

Outerbridge earned a second acting nomination for his role in the Bravo murder mystery Under the Dragon's Tail.

Competing against him for best actor in a drama or mini-series were Tony Nardi of Il Duce Canadese, Ian Tracey of Intelligence, Michael Therriault of Prairie Giant, Shawn Ashmore of Terry, and Tom McCamus of Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story.

Nominations for best actress in a drama or miniseries are Klea Scott of Intelligence, Wendy Crewson of The Man Who Lost Himself, Joanne Kelly in Playing House, Michèle-Barbara Pelletier in Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making and Victoria Snow in Waking Up Wally.

Geminis move west

This year, the Gemini Awards galas will be split into four nights. The majority of the awards will be presented over three nights in Toronto, from Oct. 16-18. The Gemini Awards broadcast gala will follow on Nov. 4 in Richmond, B.C. — the first time the event will be held outside of Toronto.

"We're hoping to build excitement and reflect the fact that quality programming is coming from all regions of the country," Gratton said.

Gratton says the Geminis hope to generate the same kind of interest as the Junos, the awards for Canadian music, which have used a similar strategy of choosing a different host city every year.

The final gala evening of awards for television drama will broadcast on Global Television.

Most of the voting is by members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, but viewers are being encouraged to vote online this year in two categories — best lifestyle host and best website for a television program.

Viewers' choice voting helps determine the top five in the best host category and the top 10 in best website.