From far and wide, O Canada, we'll watch U.S. TV

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Hugh Laurie stars as Dr. Gregory House on Global Monday nights. (FOX)

Oh, Canada, prime time is set for thee.

With the first week of June behind us, all of this country's major TV broadcasters have announced their fall schedule plans -- three privately owned networks whose lineups are, once again, almost completely filled with imported U.S.-network shows, and the public broadcaster, which is taking a steady-as-she-goes approach to programming its almost-all-homegrown fare.

Here is a head start on the prime-time handicapping -- a night-by-night look at what the 2010-11 TV season will bring on CTV, Global, Citytv and CBC:

(new titles in bold):

SUNDAY:

CBC: Wonderful World of Disney, Heartland, Battle of the Blades, Debbie Travis: All For One

CTV: Undercover Boss, The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, CSI: Miami

Global: Ice Pilots: NWT, The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, American Dad, Brothers & Sisters

Citytv: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Conviction Kitchen, Murdoch Mysteries

ADVANTAGE: CTV's lineup is solid but ancient; CBC gets the edge based on Battle of the Blades' unexpectedly huge first-year popularity.

MONDAY:

CBC: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Battle of the Blades (results), Men With Brooms, Just For Laughs

CTV: Dancing With the Stars, Castle

Global: House, Lonestar, Hawaii Five-O

Citytv: How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, The Event, Chase

ADVANTAGE: Global, because House still has some jump in its step, and Hawaii Five-O is generating lots of early buzz.

TUESDAY:

CBC: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Being Erica

CTV: No Ordinary Family, Dancing With the Stars (results), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Global: Glee, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife

Citytv: The Biggest Loser, Parenthood

ADVANTAGE: Whether by good planning or just plain dumb luck, Global has back-to-back-to-back simulcasts of the U.S. networks' hottest rookie hits from 2009-10.

WEDNESDAY:

CBC: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dragons' Den, The Tudors

CTV: So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Los Angeles

Global: Survivor: Nicaragua, NCIS, Lie To Me

Citytv: Undercovers, Modern Family, Cougar Town, The Whole Truth

ADVANTAGE: Citytv's got two strong sophomore comedies and two promising new titles, but Global gets the edge based on Survivor's crazy Canuck popularity and two reliable veteran shows. CTV adds the new CBS legal drama The Defenders after Dance ends its summer/fall run.

THURSDAY:

CBC: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The Nature of Things, Doc Zone

CTV: The Big Bang Theory, So You Think You Can Dance Canada (results), Grey's Anatomy, The Mentalist

Global: Bones, The Office, Outsourced, Love Bites

Citytv: Community, 30 Rock, Fringe, Law & Order: UK

ADVANTAGE: CTV, based on the strength of its imported dramas and the fact it will premiere the much-hyped William Shatner sitcom $#*! My Dad Says after Dance finishes its summer/fall run.

FRIDAY:

CBC: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The Ron James Show, Rick Mercer Report (repeat), The Fifth Estate

CTV: Human Target, CSI: NY, Blue Bloods

Global: 90210, Shattered, Outlaw

Citytv: Hell's Kitchen, Survivorman, Mantracker

ADVANTAGE: CTV, with two solid returning dramas and a promising newcomer, starring Tom Selleck as the patriarch of a family of New York City cops.

SATURDAY:

CBC: Hockey Night in Canada

CTV: Crimetime Saturday (repeats x3)

Global: Saturday Night Movie

Citytv: Glenn Martin DDS, Out There with Melissa DiMarco, Saturday Movie

ADVANTAGE: On a night that has long since been abandoned by commercial networks as a destination for new programming, the People's Network gets the nod for maintaining its puck-obsessed Saturday-night institution.

ASSESSMENT: Despite CTV's continuing dominance in Canada's TV ratings (it had seven of the top 10 shows in the just-completed prime-time season), 2010-11 looks like a year in which Global might put a dent in CTV's crown. If sophomore series like NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife can grow into legitimate hits while well-worn dramas like Desperate Housewives and the CSI stable continue to decline, we might feel the ground begin to shift.

CBC got solid performances last season from Blades and the still-growing Dragons' Den, but only moderate returns from Being Erica's second season and The Ron James Show's rookie year. Expectations are modest, at best, for the shot-in-Winnipeg curling sitcom Men With Brooms and Debbie Travis's reality-TV search for hometown heroes.

Will there be a clear winner in 2010-11? Well, the one thing that's certain, despite all the carrying on about saving Canadian TV this past year, is that this country's commercial broadcasters continue to pin pretty much all their hopes to the shows they buy in that foreign nation to the south.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 5, 2010 C3