Small screen, big names

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/06/2013 (4503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Global is touting big comebacks in its fall and winter lineup, as stars Michael J. Fox, James Spader, Blair Underwood and Sean Hayes return to the small screen with new ventures.

Shaw Media — which runs Global, as well as a raft of specialty channels including History, Showcase and Slice — is announcing 11 new dramas and seven new comedies for its main network.

They include Hayes’ single dad sitcom Sean Saves the World, Spader’s FBI thriller The Blacklist, Underwood’s cop show reboot Ironside and the family comedy The Michael J. Fox Show, said to be inspired by the Back to the Future star’s personal life.

“Michael J. Fox for us was just a huge, huge, huge win,” Shaw Media’s content boss Barbara Williams said at a news conference June 5 that outlined its biggest new properties. “This takes him right back to his comedic roots.”

Other new fall dramas include the sci-fi adventure Almost Human, about a cop teamed up with a synthetic android in the year 2048; the sultry Dracula, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role; and the fantasy thriller Sleepy Hollow, a modern-day retelling of the classic tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman.

Other fresh fall sitcoms include the Will Arnett project The Millers, Tony Shalhoub and Jerry O’Connell’s dating comedy We Are Men and the culture-clash comedy Welcome to the Family.

And mid-season will feature the highly anticipated return of Kiefer Sutherland as super spy Jack Bauer in a 12-episode run called 24: Live Another Day.

Other mid-season highlights include the Chicago Fire spinoff Chicago PD, Crossbones, starring John Malkovich as the legendary pirate Blackbeard; Rake, featuring Greg Kinnear as a criminal defence lawyer; and the Canadian medical drama Remedy.

New mid-season comedies include About a Boy, starring Minnie Driver as a single mom raising her 11-year-old son, and the homegrown sitcom Working the Engels, about a “ne’er-do-well family” forced to take over their father’s legal business.

On the daytime side, music and movie star Queen Latifah joins the roster with her new talk show The Queen Latifah Show, featuring musical performances and celebrity guests. But it won’t just be about famous people, the rapper-turned-business woman said, noting she was eager to find remarkable unknowns who have made a big difference in their communities.

“It’s not just the A-list celebrity,” she said. “For me, the dream guest is the everyday people who are amazing.”

Williams touted big names helming new projects on Shaw’s specialty channels as well, including Alan Thicke in the Slice reality show In the Thicke of It. The winter series will centre on the former Growing Pains star, his wife and three children.

Rebecca Romijn stars in the Showcase police drama King & Maxwell, Julia Ormond toplines Lifetime’s fall series Witches of East End and Rob Lowe plays President John F. Kennedy in National Geographic Channel’s fall two-hour docu-drama Killing Kennedy.

Returning Slice series include Big Brother Canada, Mob Wives, and Real Housewives of New Jersey, Beverly Hills, Atlanta, New York and Miami. But the Real Housewives of Vancouver will not be back while Shaw reconsiders cast and possibly location, said Williams.

Over on Food Network Canada, Top Chef Canada will return for more culinary competition, while Chopped Canada debuts in winter 2014 with host Dean McDermott. Also new is Cutthroat Kitchen, Guy & Rachael’s Kids Cook-Off and Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, featuring music superstar and cookbook author Trisha Yearwood.