A scene from the new CBC show "Village on a Diet."The Canadian Press
With few spaces to fill in its prime-time lineup, CBC laid out its 2011 winter schedule Thursday, introducing just three new shows - a comedy called Insecurity, a reality series, Village on a Diet, and the eight-part historical drama, The Pillars of the Earth, which aired last summer on The Movie Network and Movie Central.
In an auditorium at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, guests were asked to don 3-D glasses to watch veteran actor Gordon Pinsent (who plays the Archbishop of Canterbury in The Pillars of the Earth) deliver a tongue-in-cheek 3-D tutorial to help hammer home "the depth and breadth of what the CBC is offering this season."
Then Republic of Doyle's creator and lead actor, Allan Hawco introduced the January lineup, which features the second season of his Newfoundland-based series, as well as the family comedy 18 to Life, Little Mosque on the Prairie, the reality show Dragons' Den, and the Alberta-based drama, Heartland.
None in 3-D, but CBC did announce that it would be airing two NHL games in 3-D this season: the Montreal-Toronto game on Dec. 11, and the Heritage Classic, held in Calgary, on Feb. 20.
In recent months, the public broadcaster has taken some heat from Canada's production community, who say they've pitched several new, one-hour drama series to the public network, with none yet to be picked up.
On Thursday, Kirstine Stewart, interim executive vice-president CBC English TV services - who is filling the role of the recently departed Richard Stursberg - vowed to keep looking for "an engaging, complex drama that garners audience.
"People have viewed the CBC as a pendulum that swings quite widely from programming that is quite niche to ones that chase numbers. We have been striving for a balance," said Stewart, who noted the CBC has "built back audience the past four years."
"Sometimes we can be a victim of our own success in that we have shows like Being Erica and Republic of Doyle which have an engaged, returning audience," she said. "We still live in a world where there are only so many hours in prime time, and I feel that an important part of being a public broadcaster is to represent a variety of programs and genres in the time most Canadians are available to tune in."
The action-comedy Insecurity is about a hapless group of spies who unwittingly keep Canada a safer place. Shot in Regina (which is dressed up to represent Ottawa), the cast includes Natalie Lisinska, William DeVry and Remy Girard.
The weight-loss reality show Village on a Diet is a 10-part dare to the townspeople of Taylor, B.C., who have to lose one tonne of collective weight in three months. Stewart said the series is part of network-wide campaign, called Live Better Lives, "to give Canadians the tools and information to live healthier and longer."
The Pillars of the Earth, based on Ken Follett's 1989 bestselling book, is the $50-million Canadian-German co-production which features an international cast including Canadians Pinsent, Donald Sutherland and Alison Pill.
When first approached to take part in the epic drama, Pinsent said he turned them down. "They asked me to play Henry the first but he dies immediately in Budapest so I said no, because I wanted to make it to Vienna," said the wily 80-year-old. "Then they called back and offered the part of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I said does he go to Vienna? They said yes. So I signed up and made it to the Austrian capital.."
Also in various stages of production at the CBC is a miniseries John A: Birth of a Country (about our first prime minister); an adaptation of Stephen Leacock's collection of short stories Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town; Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes; and a TV movie based on Salman Rushdie's novel, Midnight's Children.