News

The bill for the U.S. TV writers' strike finally arrived. In this country, we'll barely feel the pinch. Viewers will experience some changes in the weeks ahead, but any reduction in service will seem less pronounced on Canadian screens, where the winter forecast includes both frantic U.S.-network strike programming and worthy homegrown programs. Think of it as having the best of both worlds.

As predicted, it took a little more than two months for the standoff between networks and TV writers – which began two months ago today – to grind production south of the border to a halt. American broadcasters have already run out of fresh product, or are about to. From the TV season launched last fall, Fox has held back a few episodes of House, but otherwise, that's it.

After this weekend, no more Desperate Housewives; and already gone are Heroes, CSI: Miami and pretty much every other prime-time show. In a select few cases, the time slots will be filled with mid-season replacements written before the strike. In most cases, however, viewers can expect a solid wall of repeats.

Canadian television, on the other hand, appears to be rebooting itself. Much like the wise ant, broadcasters here have planned for the long, cold winter. “It's important to stay nimble in these situations,” says Susanne Boyce, president of programming for CTV. “The strike has forced broadcasters to become more innovative. The key for us is to keep a balanced schedule, and give viewers new reasons to hang out with us.”

There's scarce indication of the strike on CTV's midwinter schedule, which kicks off with roughly 200 hours of new programming this month. The CTV lineup includes the comeback of three TV heavyweights already in the can – Medium (Jan. 7), American Idol (Jan. 15) and Lost (Jan. 31) – and new episodes of the popular Canadian series Corner Gas and Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Also in the near future, CTV will debut three of the most closely watched launches from U.S. networks in this strike-ravaged campaign: ABC's Dancing with the Stars spinoff, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann (Jan. 7); the reality-show lie-detector entry The Moment of Truth (Jan. 23); and the drama Eli Stone (Jan. 31).

As with Nip/Tuck and The Sopranos, CTV will again reach into the vault of U.S. cable television in the months ahead, too: The network has procured broadcast rights to the red-hot series Mad Men, which aired last fall on AMC. “Here in Canada, we have the advantage of being able to look at cable or other networks,” says Boyce. “We can cherry-pick programming.”

Similarly, the writer's strike doesn't seem to have dimmed the broadcast picture over at Global. “It hasn't affected us yet,” says Barb Williams, senior vice-president of programming and production. “The fall season played out pretty much how we expected. Of course, the lineup looks a little different heading into this next phase, but we have a strong schedule, and some of our biggest shows are back. We knew what was coming.”

Besides the launch of the new ABC prime-time soap Cashmere Mafia (Jan. 6) and the Canadian-made drama The Guard (about the Canadian Coast Guard's search-and-rescue team), Global's January roster is highlighted by the return of proven U.S. network performers that were waiting to see the light of day – most notably, Survivor (Jan. 16), still the mother ship of all reality shows, and a regular Top 5 show in Canada.

Also back on Global: NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice (Jan. 3) and a moved-up edition of CBS's Big Brother, airing some time next month. “Big Brother has always been a summer show, so we're hoping it will find a new audience this winter,” says Williams.

Even with such new arrivals south of the border, the American networks will have a lot of hours to fill every day. So expect scores of rebroadcasts of U.S. series in the months to come; the CSI library alone could sustain a channel.

That prime-time sameness could nudge many rerun-weary viewers toward the CBC, the Canadian network likely to reap the most benefits from the writers' strike.

“We're hoping to take advantage of it, to be frank,” says Kirstine Layfield, executive director of network programming for CBC Television. “It gives our shows a better chance because we're not launching in such a competitive marketplace. We were always planning to launch things fresh in January anyway, which we did last year.”

Last year at this time, CBC had very good fortune with the launch of Little Mosque on the Prairie.

This January, the network is rolling out no fewer than four ambitious new contenders: The Border (Jan. 7); jPod, based on the Douglas Coupland novel (Jan. 8); the sitcom Sophie (Jan. 9); and the hockey soap MVP (Jan. 11).

So far, any panicky reaction to the writer's strike by U.S. networks has been limited to the fourth-place NBC making a great public deal of giving rebates – rumoured to be in the ballpark of a half-million dollars for some advertisers – as compensation for low-rated programming in the early days of the strike. The fledgling CW network followed suit soon after, but the other networks have yet to do so.

On this side of the border, meanwhile, the potential for advertising revenue remains quite healthy. “There's been a strong interest in our new shows,” says CBC's Layfield. At CTV, says Boyce, “The ad community is still talking positively. We're Canadian, so if the weather doesn't get us down, we can survive a writer's strike.”

Unless, of course, the strike stretches into the warmer months.

The only recent glimmer of hope for avoiding that was this week's return of the late-night talk-show hosts. But beyond that, both sides remains entrenched — and two deadline dates loom large.

The first comes next month. In any normal TV year, February would bring the coming-out party of announcements of next fall's pilot season. And May would usually bring the up-fronts in New York, when the networks announce their actual fall schedules.

But if the dispute isn't settled in the next few weeks, there may not be a next TV season. Even in Canada, that's causing concern. “It's ruining my sleep,” admits an exasperated Williams.

“This strike has been so unpredictable. You can try to plan ahead, but you're not really certain what you're planning for. We're taking things one week at a time.”