CBC ANNOUNCES 2020-21 ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING SLATE INCLUDING 1300 NEW HOURS FOR TELEVISION THIS FALL

May 27, 2020

CBC ANNOUNCES 2020-21 ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING SLATE

INCLUDING 1300 NEW HOURS FOR TELEVISION THIS FALL

 

CBC’s fall TV schedule offers 22 series and 1300 hours of new programming across all genres
Including documentary ENSLAVED from Samuel L. Jackson; basketball series ORANGEVILLE PREP; Canada/New Zealand thriller THE SOUNDS; international series WAR OF THE WORLDS;
 and Indigenous-led drama TRICKSTER, renewed for a second season ahead of its fall premiere  

 

Factual entertainment hits BATTLE OF THE BLADES and FAMILY FEUD CANADA set to return this fall

 

23 CBC original series renewed including CORONER, DRAGONS’ DEN, THE FIFTH ESTATE, FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES, THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW, HEARTLAND, KIM’S CONVENIENCE, MARKETPLACE, MURDOCH MYSTERIES, the 60th anniversary of THE NATURE OF THINGS, STILL STANDING, TALLBOYZ, THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES and WORKIN’ MOMS

 

New original series for winter include buddy cop drama LADY DICKS
 and factual show ARCTIC VETS 

 

New original CBC Podcasts this fall include RECALL: HOW TO START A REVOLUTION
highlighting the October Crisis of 1970 and investigative series BRAINWASHED,
 uncovering secret government experiments

 

May 27, 2020 – At CBC’s 2020 virtual upfront presentation today, Canada’s public broadcaster revealed its 2020-21 slate of original programming, led by a strong fall schedule featuring 1300 new hours for television spanning 22 new and returning series across all genres.

 

"These remarkable times have strengthened the truly unique role CBC serves as Canada's most-trusted media brand, with record audiences turning to us for news and entertainment on all platforms in recent months," said Barbara Williams, Executive Vice-President, CBC. "Looking ahead to fall and beyond, CBC is committed to serving Canadians across the country as no other broadcaster can by delivering distinct new programming and perspectives audiences won't find anywhere else. This includes both new and returning series and a confirmed fall schedule that responds to emerging trends for more entertainment and escapism, along with storytelling that offers inspiration, comfort and connection to others."

 

FALL 2020

CBC’s Fall 2020 schedule follows at the end of this announcement

 

NEW SERIES:

Photos from new titles can be found here.
 

ENSLAVED (6x60 Documentary, Associated Producers/A CBC Gem and documentary channel co-production with Epix in the United States) is a blue-chip documentary series led by Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici (The Naked Archaeologist) that charts the history of slavery through underwater archaeology. The series coincides with the 400-year anniversary of the first African brought to the New World as a slave, and will retrace the harrowing sea voyage that brought millions to a life of slavery. ENSLAVED is produced by Felix Golubev and Ric Bienstock and executive produced by Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Jackson, Eli Selden, Rob Lee, Simcha Jacobovici and Yaron Niski. International distribution by Fremantle.

 

ORANGEVILLE PREP (6x30 Factual, Orangeville Hoops Inc.) is a character-driven factual series that offers an inside look at the competitive, high-pressure world of basketball’s most successful preparatory program. Tucked away on farmland in Orangeville, Ontario lies the sport’s best kept secret - The Athlete Institute (AI). This high school basketball program has produced more Division 1 College and NBA players in the last five years than any other program in the world. 

 

THE SOUNDS (8x60 Drama, Canada/New Zealand co-production, Shaftesbury and South Pacific Pictures) is a striking take on the relationship-driven thriller. Welcome to Pelorus Sounds, New Zealand – the sleepy settlement where nothing, including the visiting Cabbotts, is quite what it seems. Grieving wives, cheating husbands, epic embezzlement and historic crime all collide to weave a complicated web stretching through the Sounds’ hidden valleys and deep waters. Created by New Zealand-based author Sarah-Kate Lynch and directed by Peter Stebbings (Frankie Drake Mysteries, The Disappearance), the series stars Rachelle Lefevre (Mary Kills People, Under the Dome) as Maggie Cabbott and Matt Whelan (Narcos, The Luminaries) as Tom Cabbott. 

 

TRICKSTER (6x60 Drama, Streel Films and Sienna Films) is based on the best-selling novel Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson, with CBC confirming today that it has been renewed for a second season. Starring newcomer Joel Oulette, this unique series is created by award-winning filmmaker Michelle Latimer (RISE, Nuuca) and Tony Elliott (Orphan Black), and directed by  Latimer. Oulette plays Jared, an Indigenous teen struggling to keep his dysfunctional family above water, holding down an after-school job and selling ecstasy to support his partying mom, Maggie (Crystle Lightning), who self-medicates an undiagnosed mental illness, and his unemployable dad, Phil (Craig Lauzon) and his new girlfriend. But when Jared starts seeing strange things — talking ravens, doppelgängers, skin monsters— his already chaotic life is turned upside down. Additional cast includes Kalani Queypo (Jamestown), Anna Lambe (The Grizzlies), Joel Thomas Hynes (Little Dog), Gail Maurice (Cardinal) and Georgina Lightning (Blackstone).

 

WAR OF THE WORLDS (8x60 Drama, UK/France, Urban Myth Films in association with StudioCanal and Fox Networks Group), CBC will offer the exclusive Canadian premiere of this new series written and created by BAFTA award-winner Howard Overman (Misfits, Crazyhead, Merlin), based on the timeless story by H.G. Wells and starring Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey), and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People). When astronomers detect a transmission from another galaxy, it is definitive proof of intelligent extraterrestrial life. Further contact comes quickly, and within days, mankind is all but wiped out by a devastating attack; pockets of humanity are left in an eerily deserted world.

 

SERIES RETURNING THIS FALL:

 

Following its remergence on the ice last year that reached over 1.5 million Canadians each episode, the factual hit will return this fall.**

  • CATASTROPHE (Seasons 3 and 4, UK) Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s acclaimed comedy about the strange business of marriage and parenthood continues with new seasons. 
  • DRAGONS’ DEN (Season 15, CBC)
  • FAMILY FEUD CANADA (Season 2, Zone 3/Fremantle)

Following its inaugural season that reached 2.6 million viewers each week with a nightly average audience of over half a million including 30 percent in the key 25-54 demo, the hit series hosted by Gerry Dee is confirmed to return four nights per week this fall with 104 new episodes as a nationwide virtual search for new Canadian families now begins.***

WINTER 2021 

NEW SERIES:

LADY DICKS (10x60 Drama, Cameron Pictures) is a fun and honest portrayal of two radically different female detectives in their early 40s. The buddy cop drama series follows Guns and Gangs detective, Samantha (Meredith MacNeill, Baroness von Sketch Show) and Drug Squad detective, Kelly (Adrienne C. Moore, Orange is the New Black), who by day are true action heroes in their own particular way: skilled, tough, determined, and ruthless. But by night, they’re both grappling with loneliness, dysfunctional families, screwed-up love lives, and a sense that their professional ambitions may not be totally in line with their personal needs. Their friendship could help to balance each other out, if only they didn’t drive one another utterly insane. LADY DICKS is co-created by Tassie Cameron (Mary Kills People, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue, The Robber Bride) and Sherry White (Little Dog, Frontier, Ten Days in the Valley, Rookie Blue).

ARCTIC VETS (10x30 Factual, eOne) takes viewers up close with the remarkable wildlife that inhabits Canada’s frozen north and the team of veterinarians that works tirelessly to keep them safe. With around 40 patients per week, no two days are the same for the team at Assiniboine Park Arctic Animal Hospital in Manitoba. From muskox to seals, wolverines to reindeer, treating Arctic animals is often dangerous, but always rewarding. Whether they’re performing life-saving surgery on a polar bear, or tending to a snowy owl with a broken wing, the mission of the vet team is the same - save the lives of sick and injured Arctic species. 

 

SERIES SET TO RETURN THIS WINTER:

 


KIDS PROGRAMMING 

New original series for kids on CBC Kids and CBC Gem this upcoming year include:
 

  • REMY & BOO (Industrial Brothers/Boat Rocker, in association with Radio-Canada, 52x11 - Fall 2020), an animated preschool series about a unique friendship between an adventurous little girl and a squishy pink robot called Boo.
  • DINO RANCH (Industrial Brothers/Boat Rocker, 52x11 - 2021), an action-packed animated preschool series that follows the Cassidy family as they tackle life in a fantastical “pre-westoric” setting where dinosaurs still roam.
  • GARY’S MAGIC FORT (CBC Kids, 13x11 - Spring 2021), a welcoming enchanted pillow fort where CBC Kids’ host Gary the Unicorn plays with his friends.

 

CBC PODCASTS

 

CBC Podcasts, Canada’s #1 podcaster with more than 100 titles and millions of downloads each month, will offer a diverse range of new original podcast storytelling this fall including:

 

  • RECALL: HOW TO START A REVOLUTION (September) Hosted by Geoff Turner (CBC Radio’s On Drugs), this historical deep dive will reveal stories from the FLQ October Crisis of 1970 through the voices of those who lived it. 
  • SICKBOY (September) Hosted by friends Brian Stever, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor MacGillivary, SICKBOY is hilarious, insightful and determined to break down the stigma associated with illness and disease. Taking the lead from Jeremie's life-long battle with Cystic Fibrosis, the boys understand that sometimes the best way to deal with illness, disease and life is simply to laugh.
  • TONY HO (September) Award-winning sketch troupe Tony Ho (Miguel Rivas, Roger Bainbridge and Adam Niebergall) takes listeners on a darkly comedic journey with bite-sized narrative sketches that explore the nature of human relationships. 
  • BRAINWASHED (October) This multi-part series hosted by Michelle Shephard looks into the MK-Ultra in Montreal and how the CIA and Canadian government were involved in secret experiments to find out whether people’s brains could be rewired and controlled. 
  • UNCOVER: NYGARD (November) The investigative series brings to the fore the stories of numerous women who have accused Canadian multimillionaire Peter Nygard of being allegedly involved in sex trafficking and sexual assault. 

CBC FALL 2020 SCHEDULE

CBC’s Fall 2020 broadcast and streaming schedule on CBC TV and CBC Gem is as follows:

(For Newfoundland and Labrador, please add one half-hour for all times)

 

MONDAYS

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*

8 PM – THE SOUNDS *New Drama Series*

9 PM – PURE *Season 2*

10 PM – THE NATIONAL

 

TUESDAYS

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*

8 PM – STILL STANDING *Season 6*/ JUST FOR LAUGHS 

8:30 PM – THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES *Season 28*/ JUST FOR LAUGHS

9 PM – BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW *Season 5 - Finale Season*

9:30 PM - CATASTROPHE *Seasons 3 and 4*/ HA!IFAX COMEDY FEST

10 PM – THE NATIONAL

 

WEDNESDAYS

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*

8 PM – WAR OF THE WORLDS *Exclusive Canadian Premiere*

9 PM – TRICKSTER *New Drama Series*

10 PM – THE NATIONAL

 

THURSDAYS

7:30 PM – FAMILY FEUD CANADA *Season 2*

8 PM – BATTLE OF THE BLADES *Season 6*

9 PM – DRAGONS’ DEN *Season 15* 

10 PM – THE NATIONAL

 

FRIDAYS

8 PM – MARKETPLACE *Season 48*

8:30 PM – YOU CAN’T ASK THAT *Season 2*/ ORANGEVILLE PREP *New Factual Series*

9 PM – THE NATURE OF THINGS *Season 60* 

10 PM – THE NATIONAL

 

SATURDAYS

Afternoon – ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES *Season 6* 

 

SUNDAYS

Afternoon – ROAD TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES *Season 6*

8 PM – THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW *Season 10*

9 PM – ENSLAVED *New Documentary Series*

10 PM – THE NATIONAL

 

**Source: Numeris TV Meter, Sept. 19 - Oct. 31, 2019, CBC Total, P2+, Thurs 8:00pm, Total Canada, AMA, generated by InfoSys+TVZ

*** Source: Numeris TV Meter, Dec. 16, 2019 - Apr. 3, 2020, CBC Total, M-Th 7:30-8:30pm, Total Canada, AMA, generated by InfoSys+TV 

 

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For more information, contact: 

Tanya Koivusalo – publicist, CBC, tanya.koivusalo@cbc.ca, 416-205-8638

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