Fugget About It is the first show greenlit under the auspices of the Teletoon Pilot Project.  As per the press release, Fugget About It will be showrun by Jeff Abugov, writer and/or producer for shows like Two and a Half Men, Grace Under Fire, Roseanne, Caroline in the City and That’s So Raven.  Fugget About It is scheduled to debut for the Fall 2012-13 season.

Fugget About It is focused on teenaged nobody Petey Falcone.  His father Jimmy was once the head of a large crime syndicate, but Jimmy just couldn’t whack his Uncle Cheech.  The Falcones are now in witness protection, living in Regina, Saskatchewan as the MacDougalls.

I still don’t understand this choice, even after a few hours.  I get that 9 Story Entertainment has a prior relationship with Corus Entertainment, having made the upcoming Almost Naked Animals for YTV.  Teletoon aired another 9 Story property, Best Ed, in 2008.  Does anyone remember Best Ed?  Exactly my point.

Seriously, Teletoon, is this the best you can do?  I thought Angora Napkin, Dunce Bucket, Ninjamaica, Nerdland and Space Knights Go! would be greenlit before Fugget About It.  The show’s premise – Mafiosi in small-city Canada – isn’t unworkable, but I don’t understand what Teletoon sees in it.

I think this is a bad decision by Teletoon.  If Teletoon had greenlit Angora Napkin or Ninjamaica first, I would have been fine with the Teletoon Pilot Project, but Fugget About It?  I already have.

The Movie Network and Movie Central will debut Skins, the North American version of the E4 teen series, on January 17, 2011.  Skins will air at 9:00 PM PT on Movie Central, while The Movie Network will screen the series at 10:00 PM ET.

Stars of the show are James Newman (Tony), Eleanor Zichy (Eura), Rachel Thevenard (Michelle), Britne Oldford (Cadie), Jesse Carere (Chris), Daniel Flaherty (Stanley), Sofia Black-D’Elia (Tea), Ron Mustafaa (Abbud) and Camille Cresencia-Mills (Daisy.)  Skins co-creator Brian Elsley showruns the format portover, while Call Me Fitz‘s Scott Smith and Testees‘ Samir Rehem direct.

I realize the first two pieces are from last week, but news has been slow lately.  CTV announced two pilots and a series order on Thursday, December 9.  The two hour-long CTV pilots are Saving Hope, a medical drama set in Toronto, and Stay with Me, about a lawyer/stay-at-home mother.  Ilana Frank’s Thump Inc. is behind Saving Hope, while Sarrazin Couture Entertainment is behind Stay with Me.

In addition, CTV and MuchMusic have ordered six one-hour episodes of Epitome Pictures’ Highland Gardens, a show about young Canadians trying to make it in Hollywood.  Epitome Pictures is best known for Degrassi: the Next Generation/Degrassi and Instant Star.  The showrunner is Martin Gero, a man best known for Stargate Atlantis, Young People Fucking and HBO’s Bored to Death.

I can safely say I am not interested in the two CTV pilots.  As someone commented at TV, Eh?, they read like St. Elsewhere and The Good Wife.

Highland Gardens sounds similarly generic, but Gero could make something out of the premise.  Likewise, Malcolm MacRury’s attached to Saving Hope, which probably means Cra$h & Burn is dead in the water.

I’m not going to complain about the three new projects, given that they won’t make air until at least the 2011-12 season, but CTV isn’t much for originality.  At least CTV’s not ripping off $#*! My Dad Says yet.

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CityTV’s midseason slate includes the second season of My RONA Home (Sunday, April 3, 2011: 9:00 PM ET) and the fourth season of Murdoch Mysteries (Wednesday, March 16, 2011: 10:00 PM ET.)  Airdates and times are, of course, subject to change.

CityTV’s midseason is stuffed full of American shows and Law & Order: UK.  I don’t want to dog CityTV, but when did it become the most conservative networklet in Canadian television?  Most of the prime-time schedule consists of NBC and ABC shows not nailed down by Shaw Media or CTV.  Murdoch Mysteries is being rerun in two different timeslots.

I’m not going to blame Rogers entirely for the channel rot, as CityTV has been on a slow, steady decline since the tail end of the CHUM Television era.  At the same time…My RONA Home and Out There with Melissa DiMarco reruns?!  I honestly can’t believe we’ve come to this point.

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CTV will debut one show in the beginning of January.  The Marilyn Denis Show‘s first episode will air Monday, January 10, 2011, at 10:00 AM ET/PT.  In addition, The Listener‘s second season will premiere Friday, January 28, 2011, at 8:00 PM ET/PT.

Flashpoint has a “mid-season premiere,” which is a fancy way of saying holiday specials are over for another year.  The show returns Tuesday, January 4, 2011, at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

Not to be outdone in the CanCon department, Global has…given a second window to Haven.  The first-season premiere airs Friday, January 21, 2011, at 9:00 PM ET/PT.  Yes.  One show, and it’s imported from Showcase.

Seriously, news like this makes me wonder why the hell I do URBMN.  I understand the limitations of Canadian television, but Canadian content laws need to be tightened up when networks like Global and CityTV whittle the CanCon stick down to a shiv.  This country is just now inching to the point where our shows are becoming Americanized.

Meanwhile, Shaw Media is continuing the Canwest practice of slapping a show across five or six channels.  It boggles the mind.  Oh, well.  Enjoy Bob’s Burgers and Winter Wipeout.

I can’t say much about CityTV’s Mark Dailey (1953-2010) that hasn’t already been said: transplanted American, crime reporter, news anchor, voiceover actor, Toronto television mainstay, sometime truck driver.  Dailey died December 6, 2010 of cancer at the age of 57.

Perhaps Dailey’s greatest achievement was as CityTV’s longtime announcer.  Few announcers are as synonymous with Canadian channels as Dailey was with CityTV.  Dailey regularly took the piss out of the shows and films CityTV would screen at any given time.  ”CityTV…everywhere” is one of Canadian television’s great catchphrases.

The best way to eulogize Dailey is with a few clips, featuring him in his element.  I don’t even care that this is a Toronto-centric story.  Dailey was to CityTV what, say, Bob Boving was to CBC Television from 1985-2002.  You might not have known his name, but you knew his voice – the difference, of course, being that Bob Boving wouldn’t have panned Happy Gilmore or The Raccoons on-air.  CityTV didn’t care much for reverence back in the bad ol’ days.

Space Knights Go! (Teletoon: daCapo Productions/Big Hug Productions/Fatkat Animation, 2009) is one of those rare Teletoon Pilot Project shows directly connected to the man behind the curtain, in this case Loogaroo owner Gene Fowler.  Fowler is a frequent commenter on Canadian Animation Resources.  I’ve even e-mailed Fowler regarding Space Knights Go!‘s development.

Fowler was the owner of Fatkat Animation, a studio that went bankrupt twice in its ten-year history before becoming Loogaroo.  I’m sure Fowler reads URBMN from time to time, or else he wouldn’t have left a comment on an article which has nothing to do with him.

At the same time, I’m reviewing Space Knights Go!, not Fowler’s business practices and online demeanour.  I don’t know what it’s like at Fatkat/Loogaroo.  I’m also sure Fowler can’t resist any sort of publicity, so here’s the review.