Global takes page from CTV, imports gritty HBO mini-series

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This article was published 06/06/2002 (8551 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — The mobsters did it for CTV. Can the soldiers do the same for Global Television?

Taking a page from the CTV playbook that brought the edgy, profane HBO drama The Sopranos to conventional prime-time TV, Global’s fall schedule will include the gritty and violent Tom Hanks-produced HBO mini-series Band of Brothers.

The 10-part series, based on the like-titled book by Stephen Ambrose, follows the exploits of the men of Easy Company, a division of the U.S. Army’s Airborne Division that fought its way from Normandy to Berlin during the Second World War. The $125-million (US) series earned best movie/mini-series honours at this year’s Golden Globes and American Film Institute Awards.

Like The Sopranos did on CTV, Band of Brothers will be broadcast uncut and unedited. The series will air at 10 p.m. on Sundays, beginning in September, with warnings about its violent content included before and during each episode.

“Band of Brothers is a story about war… and war is a very violent thing,” said Doug Hoover, Global’s senior vice-president of programming and promotion. “It is very realistically depicted, and to alter the program in any way would not do it justice.

“Band of Brothers is a very prestigious and a very important program for us.”

During a teleconference announcement yesterday, Global executives unveiled a 2002-03 lineup filled with 14 high-profile U.S.-network shows, more than 30 Canadian-made documentaries and just one returning distinctly Canadian drama.

Among the new imports in Global’s fall schedule are a couple of nostalgic offerings — American Dreams, which follows a Philadelphia family during the early-’60s era of American Bandstand, and Do Over, which sees a dissatisfied 30-something salesman given the chance to revisit his high-school years and see if he can make things turn out differently.

The roster of new comedies also includes Good Morning Miami, a series from the creators of Will & Grace which stars Mark Feuerstein as a TV producer hired to overhaul a low-rated TV morning show, The Grubbs, a dysfunctional-family sitcom starring Randy Quaid and Carol Kane, and Hidden Hills, a spicy series about couples living in not-so-sleepy suburbia.

Kelsey Grammer’s production company will contribute In-Laws, which stars Jean Smart and Dennis Farina in the tale of a newly married couple whose economic struggles force them to move in with her parents, and the team behind CBS’s nondescript Yes, Dear will provide Still Standing, which stars Jami Gertz and Mark Addy as a working-class Chicago couple trying to maintain some semblance of sanity while raising three children.

Global’s list of made-in-the-U.S.A dramas includes the inevitable mix of cop shows — Without a Trace, which follows the FBI’s missing-persons squad, and Hack, which features a disgraced ex-cop turned taxi driver (David Morse) who continues to solve crimes with the help of a friend on the force (Andre Braugher) — lawyer shows — Girls’ Club, a David E. Kelly series about three young female attorneys who live and work together in San Francisco — and doctor shows — Presidio Med, a series from ER producer John Wells which stars Blythe Danner and Dana Delany as physicians who run a medical clinic in San Francisco.

The new imports that don’t fall into the three most familiar drama categories are Dinotopia, a spinoff of ABC’s ambitious series-ending mini-series, and Firefly, a futuristic adventure from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon.

After deciding early this year not to develop any new homegrown scripted shows, Global is left with Blue Murder — minus original series star Maria Del Mar — as its lone distinctly Canadian series. Two other returning series — Andromeda and Mutant X — also qualify as Canadian because they’re shot here.

Global execs are continuing to emphasize less-expensive, non-scripted forms of programming, despite the fact the U.S. networks have clearly begun to move away from the reality trend.

“We think that reality programs are still going to be here to stay,” said Loren Mawhinney, Global’s vice-president of Canadian programming.

Leading Global’s list of homegrown documentaries is Cirque du Soleil, a 13-part series that follows the famed Quebec circus troupe as it prepares its new touring show, Varekai.

The network will also add a third installment of Popstars, this time focusing on the search for a solo singing star, along with some new single-episode documentaries, including Spirit of the Game, which follows six aboriginal athletes from B.C. as they prepare for this summer’s North American Indigenous Games in Winnipeg.

Among the biographical documentaries in Global’s 2002-03 lineup are The Power and the Glory, which chronicles the exploits of Montreal’s powerful Molson family, A Hero to Me, in which the granddaughter of First World War ace Billy Bishop examines her family’s place in Canadian history, and First Son: The Portraits of C.D. Hoy, which examines the life and work of the celebrated Chinese-Canadian portrait photographer.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca