So far there have been no Hiccups on the road to Brent Butt, Nancy Robertson and Fred Ewanuick continuing their TV careers.
But Canadian viewers will have to be patient and wait until the 2010-11 season to see them again.
CTV and A made several broadcasting announcements yesterday, primarily relating to the 2009-10 campaign. But included on the docket for 2010-11 is Butt's new series Hiccups, which features himself and Robertson, as well as Ewanuick's new series Dan for Mayor.
Butt, of course, was the creator of Corner Gas, the highly successful Canadian sitcom that wrapped up this past spring after six seasons on CTV. Butt played Brent and Robertson -- Butt's real-life wife -- played Wanda in Corner Gas, while Ewanuick played Hank.
For Hiccups, the main star/supporting star roles have been reversed. Robertson plays a children's author with anger issues, while Butt plays her hapless "life coach."
"I'm really excited about starting work on Hiccups," Butt said yesterday. "I loved writing the character of Millie Upton (Robertson), this kind of nutty children's author, and then when I saw Nancy bring her to life on screen, she was hilarious.
"My original plan was to have someone else play the part of Stan, her useless life coach, but the network thought we'd be good together and pushed me to reconsider. So I started rewriting the script with myself in mind, and now I can't wait to get into it.
"I know one thing: It's going to be a hell of a lot of fun."
Dan for Mayor, meanwhile, comes from the creative team of Mark Farrell, Paul Mather and Kevin White. Ewanuick stars as a 30-something bartender who runs for mayor of his home town.
"CTV gave us the good news (on Monday)," Ewanuick said yesterday. "Shooting the pilot went very well and I'm proud of the end result. The cast clicked pretty quickly, and they don't seem to hate me, so that's a good thing.
"I'm really happy to get another opportunity to work with Mark, Paul and Kevin as well. Each one of those guys at one point was the show-runner for Corner Gas.
"Getting another go on CTV is fantastic. I'm not sure what I did to be so lucky, but I'm pretty grateful for it."
As far as the fall of 2009 is concerned, CTV is adding two new American shows to its crowded lineup: A daytime health-and-wellness series called The Dr. Oz Show (a spinoff from The Oprah Winfrey Show), as well as The Vampire Diaries (from the CW network).
A, meanwhile, is adding five new American programs to its sked: Flash Forward, which is about people who see glimpses of the future (ABC); Hank with Kelsey Grammer (ABC); The Middle with Patricia Heaton (ABC); The Beautiful Life with Mischa Barton (CW); and Eastwick -- based on the 1987 Jack Nicholson film The Witches of Eastwick -- with Paul Gross and Rebecca Romijn (ABC).
Also, CTV has signed on for a second season of Spectacle ... Elvis Costello with.
All of CTV's 2009-10 programming, both homegrown and imported, will have to be worked around the massive broadcast undertaking that is the Vancouver Olympics next February.
