As Murtz has no doubt aptly reported, yesterday we attended the Upfront presentation by CTV. For the Americans out there CTV is widely considered the number #1 national network in Canada.
The way it fills its primetime schedule is a mix of Canadian and American programming. It makes original shows, such as ‘Corner Gas’ and ‘W-Five’ but the bulk of its schedule comes from buying the Canadian rights to American shows. They buy shows that appear on ABC, FOX, CBS and NBC. Sorry The CW did not sell any shows to CTV this year.
Normally a Canadian show is expected to air the American show at the same time as the American network does, this is called simulcasting. This year CTV has boldly moved many of the shows it bought to other time slots and days. Since it owned the rights to ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘CSI’ and ‘The O.C.’ which all appear at 9p.m. on Thursdays it had to do some creative work with its schedule.
This decision might pay off because in some instances shows appear before they would in the U.S., such as ‘Grey’s’ and ‘O.C.’ However, in other cases shows appear days after the show would air in the U.S. ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,’ appears Sunday on CTV and Monday on NBC. There was no indication if CTV will show the episode a day early or six days late. ‘Let’s Rob’ and ’30 Rock’ appear Tuesday and Wednesday respectively in the U.S. but CTV has slotted them for Saturday. Just to name a few.
In many ways it would seem CTV bought shows they thought were promising regardless of when they appear in the U.S. This has given them what can easily be described as a “Dream Team” of shows on every night of the week in every time slot.
*new series appear in ALL CAPS
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 PM | Corner Gas THE CLASS |
Dancing With The Stars | Dancing With The Stars (results) |
| 9 PM | SMITH | Criminal Minds | Lost/JUSTICE |
| 10 PM | CSI: Miami | Law & Orders: SVU | CSI: New York |
| Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 PM | The O.C. | >W-Five | Cold Case | |
| 8 PM | Grey’s Anatomy | Ghost Whisperer | Crimetime Saturday(CSI repeats) | The Amazing Race |
| 9 PM | CSI | Close to Home | LET’S ROB 30 ROCK |
Desperate Housewives |
| 10 PM | ER | Law & Order | THE NINE | STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP |
Note: ‘Justice’ will start its run in August and be replaced by ‘Lost’ once its season starts and ‘Justice’ is off the air for the MLB playoffs. ‘Justice’ will run in the Wednesday 9 p.m. time slot whenever ‘Lost’ is not on air.
Don’t forget to check out Murtz’s report about what happened at the presentation.
