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A CBC star got the biggest hand yesterday at CTV's not-so-star-studded 2006-07 upfront in Toronto.
Brian Williams, for over 30 years the voice of CBC's Olympic broadcasts, is jumping to the private network when his contract runs out at the end of this year. Williams will anchor CTV's coverage of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 summer Games in London.
Williams told the crowd that leading a new Olympic broadcast team was "the opportunity of a lifetime." He got a big hand from the advertising community who filled the Hummingbird Centre. Stealing the CBC veteran was the big "gotcha" of the event.
The second biggest reaction was given up to B.J. and Tyler, those cheery hippies from The Amazing Race, who tossed candy into the front rows. Victor Garber, the Alias dad who stars in the new courtroom drama Justice, also took a bow along with two castmates.
Beyond that there wasn't even one Desperate Housewife at the event. Jeopardy's Alex Trebek, James Pickens Jr. from Grey's Anatomy and Canadian Kelly Rowan from The O.C. were the other name imports. Ben Mulroney and the Canadian Idol judges waved to the crowd, as did Corner Gas' Brent Butt and about 45 kids from Degrassi.
CTV boss Ivan Fecan and programming chief Susanne Boyce did their usual schtick, appearing in a taped bit on a giant screen. The pair were speared together with a giant pole and wheeled into the Seattle Grace O.R. (Boyce later confirmed that the bit was shot on the actual Grey's Anatomy set in L.A.). Grey's Chandra Wilson (Miranda) checked their hearts but found nothing. (Explanation: They're TV executives.)
Various charts and graphs demonstrated CTV's total dominance of the Canadian television landscape (although they slipped from 18 to 17 of the Top 20 Canadian shows last season). Few predicted Criminal Minds would be the highest rated rookie last September, it was proclaimed. Even CTV execs didn't predict it -- they originally didn't have it on their schedule.
It was also announced that CTV will air Season Six of The Sopranos -- the latest 12 episodes that ended Sunday -- this September on consecutive nights. They'll use this Sopranos mini-series like an Olympics to promote the hell out of their fall.
A lot was made about new media extensions of CTV programming content. Basically, you can download episodes of your favourite CTV shows on iPods and cellphones. The phrase "mobisodes" was floated, although so was CBS boss Les Moonves' quip that "a bad show doesn't get better on a two-inch screen."
The big question going into yesterday's upfront was where CTV would put their new buzz show Studio 60 From The Sunset Strip. NBC settled on a Tuesday at 10 slot for the new Matthew Perry/Amanda Peet series. CTV will pre-release it a day, Sundays at 10 p.m., giving it a Desperate Housewives lead-in.
That's where they had tremendous success simulcasting Grey's Anatomy this past season. ABC has moved that to Thursdays at 9 opposite CBS powerhouse CSI.
CTV is leaving CSI where it is and moving Grey's Anatomy to 8 p.m. Thursday.
If you're not going to simulcast them anyway, why wouldn't you leave Grey's Anatomy -- the perfect companion to female-skewing Desperate Housewives -- where viewers are used to finding it, Sundays at 10? "It seemed like a fun idea" to switch it, Boyce offered later. What she didn't say was there's more ad revenue at stake on Thursdays, especially from movie companies anxious to juice that weekend's box office, and Grey's Anatomy was evidently seen as money in the bank.
Global, which announces its schedule tomorrow, will likely counter Sundays at 10 with the new ABC drama Brothers And Sisters, starring Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths. A better follow out of Desperate Housewives, Global could win the battle of the rookies if they can convince enough viewers to change the channel.