A-Channel fall lineup returns to its traditional program mix

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This article was published 05/06/2003 (8342 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a bold foray last season into mainstream U.S.-network dramas, comedies and reality shows, A-Channel will retreat to its traditional mix of movies and syndicated series in 2003-04.

Craig Media’s Winnipeg-based A-Channel will air just four U.S. network series next season, including just one — ABC’s reality franchise The Bachelor/Bachelorette — from a major American broadcaster.

Three others — the WB’s Everwood and 7th Heaven and UPN’s Enterprise — are from the minor U.S. networks that are not widely available in Canada.

In addition, A-Channel will simulcast ABC’s Monday Night Football and will air several Canadian-made reality shows, syndicated series and specialty-network offerings in prime-time. The local broadcaster will also double the number of Prime Ticket Movies in its lineup from two to four.

Last year, A-Channel’s fall lineup included several major U.S.-network titles, including The King of Queens, Yes, Dear, girls club, JAG, The Guardian, MDs, Providence and Robbery Homicide Division. The 2003-04 schedule, unveiled this week in Toronto, represents a return to the more frugal programming strategy that has been Craig Media’s game plan for most of MTN/A-Channel’s history.

Each weeknight on A-Channel will begin with syndicated episodes of The Simpsons and Friends. The rest of Monday night will belong to Monday Night Football, while Tuesday’s schedule will include a movie and the Canadian-produced drama Just Cause, which airs in the U.S. on the Christian-based PAX network. Just Cause follows the exploits of a woman who serves five years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit and then becomes a lawyer in order to prevent others from suffering a similar fate.

On Wednesday, A-Channel will air The Bachelor and/or The Bachelorette, Enterprise and the long-running syndicated cop/reality series To Serve and Protect. Thursday’s lineup includes a movie and the PAX series Body & Soul, which stars Peter Strauss and Larissa Laskin as a pair of Ohio doctors with opposing views on alternative medical practices.

Friday’s schedule includes a movie and 1-800-Missing, a Canadian-made drama about a girl with psychic powers who helps an FBI agent solve missing-person cases. A-Channel’s Saturday lineup features a trio of syndicated reality shows — Break Out, a Canadian series that takes fans inside the music business, Exchanging Vows, which follows couples through the process of planning their weddings, and Hooked Up, a dating show from the producers of Canada’s version of Popstars.

On Sundays, A-Channel will air 7th Heaven, Everwood and a Prime Ticket Movie.

In addition to the major changes in its prime-time schedule, A-Channel will also completely overhaul its daytime lineup for 2003-04. Craig Media has acquired the rights to three of the most-heavily-hyped talk shows in syndicated daytime programming — The Wayne Brady Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Sharon Osbourne Show — and will broadcast all three daily along with such other titles as Health on the Line, Design For Living, This Small Space, MTV Select and Celebrity Justice.

A-Channel News @ Breakfast and The Big Breakfast will continue to anchor the weekday-morning schedule.

The major changes to A-Channel’s schedule coincide with Craig Media’s launch of Toronto’s new local station Toronto 1, and the unveiling of the company’s new western-themed specialty channel, Stampede.

Craig’s other digital-specialty channels include MTV Canada, MTV2 and TVLand.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca