CTV will debut its two post-Corner Gas sitcoms, Hiccups and Dan for Mayor, March 1, 2010.  Hiccups, the Brent Butt/Nancy Robertson sitcom, will air at 8:00 PM ET/PT.  Dan for Mayor, Fred Ewanuick’s chance at sitcom notoriety, follows at 8:30 PM ET/PT.  The shows serve as lead-ins for Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory.

CTV’s scheduling of Hiccups and Dan for Mayor is quite logical.  I’m assuming middle-of-the-road humour for both shows, which isn’t a bad thing if either show does well.  At least Hiccups and Dan for Mayor are paired with the right shows on the right night.  Nice one, CTV.

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The Bridge will debut Friday, March 5, 2010 on CTV.  The two-hour debut will air 9:00 PM ET/PT, The Bridge settling into the 10:00 PM ET/PT hour March 12.  Battlestar Galactica‘s Aaron Douglas is the marquee name.  The Bridge is a police procedural told from the union leader’s perspective.

American partner CBS has not yet scheduled The Bridge.  There’s a website, but no airdate.  This has led to at least one article wondering when CBS will air this and 18 Flashpoint episodes.

I might watch The Bridge for URBMN, although cop dramas are to this era of television what westerns are to the early 1960s.  At least CTV’s airing the show.  The Bridge could be Flashpoint, or it could be The Unusuals.  I’ll only judge the show after it airs.

Cashing In, a series set around a casino and the First Nation community that houses it, will begin its second season March 2, 2010 on APTN.  The show will air 8:00 PM ET on APTN East, and 8:00 PM MT on APTN West.

Cashing In aired on APTN and Showcase in March 2009.  Showcase has bowed out of airing Cashing In‘s second season, leaving APTN to go it alone.  Cashing In‘s second season will have thirteen episodes, a luxury compared to last year’s six-episode run.

Cashing In‘s USP is that the aboriginals running the North Beach Casino are, by and large, financially successful.  This talking point formed the basis for an article in The Walrus.  Canada is weird this way.

Cashing In is well-shot and at least competently acted.  The main problem with the first season is that it tries to tell too many stories in too little time.  Cashing In doesn’t click like it should, given its premise.

Cashing In is mislabeled as “dramedy.”  From what I’ve seen of the show, it’s more-or-less light drama with a few comedic moments.  People just call Cashing In a dramedy due to its thirty-minute time slot.

The show has never been a must-watch for me, but Cashing In has the potential to be better in its second season.  If nothing else, Eric Schweig is good in both this and Blackstone.  He needs to be more exposed in Canada.

Cra$h & Burn (Showcase: premiered November 18, 9:00 PM ET/PT) bases itself around insurance claims adjuster Jimmy Burn (Luke Kirby), as he patrols Hamilton, Ontario‘s city streets.  The show is sold as “The Office meets The Sopranos,” according to show creator Malcolm MacRury.

I appreciate that Cra$h & Burn is set in the Hammer, but its high concept shouldn’t work.  Insurance isn’t normally seen as a sexy profession.  This is Showcase’s first hour-long drama, so Showcase’s reputation in this genre will be defined by how well C&B does.  It’s not a good start so far.

Cra$h & Burn‘s first episode is rather paint-by-numbers.  Luke Kirby is okay as Burn, a guy from the streets trying to make it in the world of insurance claims adjusting.  He’s about to be married, giving girlfriend Lucia Silva (Leela Savasta) a $2,000 diamond ring.

Burn might also lose his job at Protected Insurance in a round of cutbacks.  Yeah, like that’s going to happen in the first episode.  Burn’s chief antagonist is insurance fraud, personified in Cra$h & Burn by former Russian mobster Pavel Korkov (Steve Bacic).  Burn is the lone “good guy” in a cutthroat business, though Burn has help from mentor Walker Hearn (Clark Johnson).

Dan Duran is the Man From Protected, appearing in a fake commercial segment at the beginning of the show.  Duran doesn’t appear on the show very long, but he’s the best part of Cra$h & Burn.  C&B could be his most lucrative dramatic television gig since RoboCop.

The main problem with Cra$h & Burn is that, despite ganking from The Sopranos and The Office, the show is relatively tame.  This is Showcase, the home of Kenny vs. Spenny, Trailer Park Boys, Paradise Falls and other near-the-knuckle fare.  Cra$h & Burn should be pushing harder than it is, considering the channel.

Cra$h & Burn has a bit of simulated sex, some swearing, and even projectile vomiting, but it’s farfetched.  The show’s a throwback to 1990s lightweight Canadian dramas, Due South with more peeing.  Shit, pair Burn with a straight-laced Mountie and his wolf-husky hybrid, and you’d have Due South.

Cra$h & Burn has the potential to rise above a mediocre pilot.  The show’s not going to last if it’s constant Burn Against Corruption.  Not every drama in this country needs to be Intelligence, but Cra$h & Burn could be a little less cartoonish.  At least it’s not The Listener, which is hardly an endorsement.

APTN will debut two dramatic series pilots, Blackstone and The Time Traveler, on November 24, 2009.  Blackstone will air at 9:00 PM, The Time Traveler at 10:00 PM across the three time zones APTN reaches.  APTN HD will also screen the two pilots, starting at 9:00 PM ET.

I actually want to see The Time Traveler.  The show bigs up its 14-member crew and “indie” approach, so The Time Traveler can’t be accused of wasting its budget.  This is show creator Richard Story’s first foray into television, after two feature films (Some Letters to a Young Poet, Echo Lake) and over seventy shorts.

Blackstone is about First Nations reserve corruption.  I’m surprised there’s a show on APTN tackling aboriginal politics, as APTN usually airs dramedies and variety shows.  It’s about time a show like Blackstone was on APTN, even if it is a pilot.

Hopefully, both Blackstone and The Time Traveler are good enough to make series.  While I’m reserving judgment on the pilots until they air, APTN could use at least one hour-long dramatic series.  Maybe one of the shows will be as successful as Rabbit Fall, but I’m not holding my breath.

Sanctuary (SPACE: network debut October 9, 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT; Syfy: second-season premiere October 9, 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT) has trod a long road to get to basic cable in Canada.  It comes to SPACE this season from The Movie Network.  Tracing the show back to its source, Sanctuary originated as a web series.  Sanctuary is on Syfy in America, currently one of Canada’s best-known exports.

Hell, Sanctuary was even nominated for a technical Emmy this year.  At this point, star/executive producer Amanda Tapping can write her own ticket.  Diversifying from Stargate Atlantis will do that to you.

At first glance, Sanctuary is Torchwood with intelligent cryptids, or “Abnormals,” in place of aliens.  The 150-something Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) is a non-glib, female Jack Harkness.  Werewolves and vampires feature, since they’re kinda neat.

I don’t call Sanctuary an own-brand Torchwood, even though this is the first episode of Sanctuary I’ve seen.  Frankly, the show’s more Primeval than Torchwood.  Sanctuary needs LGBT themes to be even close to Torchwood.

The acting, as is so often the case in Canada, ranges from good to bad.  Agam Darshi is surprisingly tolerable as new girl Kate Freelander.  Christopher Heyerdahl is uneven as Abnormal jack-of-all-trades Bigfoot, yet excellent as space-time hopper/ex-serial killer John Druitt.

On the flip side, Jonathon Young annoys me in his recurring role as half-vampire/inventor/smart-ass Nikola Tesla.  Young is given a few one-liners and a flippant attitude, a character archetype played straight.  Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins) and Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) are generic and uninteresting characters, even granting Foss’ werewolfism.  Compared to Magnus, Foss and Zimmerman seem like warm bodies attached to subplots.

Amanda Tapping’s British accent fluctuates over the course of “End of Nights (Part One).”  At the same time, Tapping is better than Torchwood‘s John Barrowman in that she’s more forceful and believable as the head of a clandestine organization.  They’re all business, no lesbian kissing down at The Sanctuary.

Sanctuary hovers around the upper echelon of SPACE’s offerings.  It’s better than Primeval, which is like saying that mild nausea is better than having your face run over by a motorcycle.  Sanctuary isn’t better than Rabbit Fall (there, I said it) or Watchmen: The Motion Comic, but it’s not bad.  It’s too easy for a show on SPACE to eclipse the heights of Total Recall 2070, Defying Gravity and Star Trek: Voyager.

The main problem with Sanctuary is that it’s no better than competent.  It’s a campy show that isn’t overly ambitious.  Sanctuary isn’t insultingly bad, like Tripping the Rift, but “End of Nights (Part One)” doesn’t make me want to check out Sanctuary‘s first season.

Sanctuary looks fairly cheap, with much Vancouver location shooting.  I actually prefer the unreal look of the CGI to the very real shots of darkened corridors, bannisters and dilapidated-looking buildings.  I tend not to care about a sci-fi show’s special effects unless they’re Adventures of Sinbad levels of inept, but Sanctuary looks chintzier than it actually is.

Sanctuary makes for a good time filler, but there’s not much to the show beyond this.  ”End of Nights (Part One)” is all bla bla Cabal, bla bla Abnormals, plus a poorly-realized car chase.  I might watch another episode of the show to see if I’m missing something, but Sanctuary isn’t sucking me in at this time.

Stargate Universe (SPACE: two-hour premiere October 2, 9:00 PM ET; in regular timeslot starting October 9, 10:00 PM ET) surely needs no explanation.  Stargate is the pre-eminent science fiction franchise of the 2000s.  Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis have ensured that the franchise will be a syndication staple for at least a decade, so why not add another chapter to its history?  It’s the thinking that has birthed Stargate Universe, as profitable franchises can be flogged for as many spinoffs as they can bear.

I am not impressed with the first part of “Air.”  It starts off well, with people being launched out of a Stargate and onto an abandoned Ancient spaceship.  That remains the strongest visual for me after watching the show’s first two hours, which means “Air” has blown its load in its first five minutes.  The first hour, despite a well-made battle sequence, is boring overall.

Eli Wallace (David Blue) is a nerd stereotype – lives with his mother, obsessive gamer, dumpy-looking.  Eli solves a riddle encoded into the Prometheus video game.  After Eli disbelieves that the Stargate Program wants anything to do with him, he is sent to the George Hammond battlecruiser and coerced into helping it.  Eli’s an ascended fanboy played straight.

Sure, Eli went to MIT, but I can’t believe Stargate Universe actually goes this route with a character.  Blue does what he can with the material he’s given, but his character is not overly convincing.  There is no reason to get behind Eli Wallace until the second hour, when he’s shown as overeager and naïve as regards military protocol.  Eli’s not as annoying on second viewing, but he’s in danger of becoming Wesley Crusher.

Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) is either a Dr. Gregory House-type genius or the downfall of The Icarus Project, the Stargate Program being fond of ominous names.  Carlyle anchors the show, and is its obvious star.

Rush does have his tender moments, yet he’s usually detached from all but his work.  If someone accidentally dies on his watch, so be it.  Rush has the potential to be an interesting character, more due to Carlyle’s acting than anything else.  In lesser hands, Rush would be the stock misanthropic genius, although he does seem cribbed from House M.D.

Stargate Universe feels like a gestalt of borrowed plots and characters from Popular Shows, even when it’s not trying to be.  The first part of Stargate Universe is Sliders all over again.  Instead of Quinn Mallory and company making a second jump before completing the first, the Stargate fucks up before it can dial the ninth chevron to Earth.

Parallel dimensions are replaced by Red Dwarf, I mean a decaying Ancient spaceship.  SGU takes the Lost tack of telling its story in both flashbacks and real time.  Eli Wallace is a variant of The Last Starfighter.  References to prior Stargate shows are a given.

Somehow, Stargate Universe is meant to be edgy as Stargate military personnel shag in the first hour.  Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper spend so much time proving how unlike the previous Stargate series SGU is – hey kids! fucking! – that original storytelling is placed on the back burner.  I almost expect a statue of Seshat to figure in the show’s mythology.

The second part of “Air” is better, as less time is spent focusing on Wesley – er, ah, Eli – and more of the main characters get airtime.  Louis Ferreira is a standout as Colonel Everett Young, who is situated as Rush’s dramatic opposite.  He isn’t in “Air” for a long time due to his being badly wounded, but I can at least emotionally invest in his character.

Senator Alan Armstrong (Christopher McDonald) and his daughter Chloe (Elyse Levesque) are given meaty roles, although Alan’s role is limited to sacrificing his life as he prolongs Destiny’s life support systems.  The Senator is not evil, though he does resort to pulling out a gun in the second hour of “Air.”  His character, in the end, is there for sacrifice and to define Chloe’s backstory.

Stargate Universe takes from more successful shows and wads everything it can into the Stargate mold.  I can understand the move to “edgier” storylines – a franchise can’t cater to the same fans forever, lest the show find its inner Rick Berman and go shit.

At the same time, Stargate Universe is a reboot of a reboot.  In addition, Wright and Cooper were responsible for Stargate‘s initial reboot.  While I’ll give SGU time to find itself, Wright and Cooper should have handed the reins to someone else.

Maybe a Robert Smigel-helmed Stargate series?  Think about it: wormholes, the X-Presidents, Doug Dale in a major role.  Damn it, this has to happen.  For the good of television, this needs to happen.  Until then, I’ll put Stargate Universe on the back burner.

Warning: mild spoilers.

Defying Gravity (CTV/’A’/ABC, two-hour premiere August 2, 9:00 PM ET/PT; in regular timeslot starting August 9, 10:00 PM ET/PT on CTV/ABC; premieres August 7, 8:00 PM ET on SPACE) is an anomaly in the world of prime-time Canadian content.  The creator of the show, James D. Parriott, has run or co-run shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Sons of Anarchy and Ugly Betty.  He created Misfits of Science, Voyagers! and Forever Knight, so his sci-fi credentials are solid.

Michael Edelstein, meanwhile, was one of the original Desperate Housewives executive producers.  Less excitingly, he executive-produced Hope & Faith and Threat Matrix.

On the Canadian side, Omni Film Productions has produced such shows as The Odyssey, Edgemont, Alice, I Think and Robson Arms.  Defying Gravity is not as Canadian as The Listener, but it’s not quite an American show filmed in Vancouver to save money.  On the sliding scale of CanCon, Defying Gravity floats near the middle.

Defying Gravity has been publicized by Parriott as Grey’s Anatomy in space, which has birthed a million unfunny Grey’s Astronomy jokes.  The show also takes a strip off Virtuality‘s “reality show in space” concept.  It’s an attempt to make science fiction appeal more to women, or at least that’s the excuse offered.

The excuse is insulting.  Defying Gravity tries to balance sci-fi with relationship drama.  Big deal.  Doctor Who, Being Human and Torchwood do it.  Any space opera worth shit is about compelling characters mixed with exciting action.  Sadly, Defying Gravity doesn’t hit the ground running, due to its insanely slow pace and familiar characters.

Maddux Donner (Ron Livingston) narrates the series, he of the “left crewmembers to die and needs to atone” backstory.  Zoe Barnes (Laura Harris) is carrying Donner’s baby – maybe – after a one-night stand, and could be gay.  Ted Shaw (Malik Yoba) is married to Eve Weller-Shaw (Karen LeBlanc), yet had a pre-launch affair with Jen Crane (Christina Cox).

Nadia Schilling (Florentine Lahme) is competing with Zoe for Donner’s affections.  Ajay Sharma (Zahf Paroo) goes batshit insane in the first half of the pilot despite being the most psychologically stable of the Antares crew, and so on, and so forth.

Livingston makes for an entertaining Donner, while Malik Yoba is decent as Shaw.  Dylan Taylor’s character, the geeky porn enthusiast Steve Wassenfelder, could be the dark horse of the ensemble given time.  If nothing else, the main characters are engaging in the way that The Listener‘s Craig Olejnik wasn’t.

The main problem with Defying Gravity‘s pilot is that the science fiction and soap opera elements are not blended in very well.  The crew’s backstories are a little too pat and the show is too earnest to be “sexy.”  Defying Gravity isn’t actively horrible, but it’s obviously picking and mixing genres in an attempt to chart its path.

At the same time, Defying Gravity tries for more dramatic depth than the pilot can handle.  A Ganesa figure, placed on the Antares by Sharma at the end of the pilot’s first half, is obvious symbolism.  Defying Gravity is playing the field, attempting to be plausible sci-fi while dealing in “who fucked whom” tales.

The second half of the pilot is better-handled than the first.  There is some sex, but Defying Gravity keeps the focus on non-sexual relationships between the Antares crew.  That’s what I find interesting about the series.  I don’t care about the libido-killing HALOS suits or the attempts to ape Lost.  Gimmicks like that won’t ensure the show’s success.  Well-written characters will.

As it is, Defying Gravity is ABC’s Greatest Hits in Space.  I actually think ABC is doing the right thing in giving the show an early August timeslot, as the show could blow up right as the fall season hits its stride.  Parriott has his DNA all over ABC, so the network’s going to give him some attention.

If Defying Gravity fails, big deal.  Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy are still going concerns, although Ugly Betty is on life-support at this point.  Canadian television can still pin its Yank-baiting hopes on The Bridge and Copper, since cop procedurals are as numerous as copies of Super Mario Bros. 3.  As for Edelstein…eh, maybe he’ll revive Brandy and Mr. Whiskers as a sex-filled romp.  It couldn’t be worse than Wipeout.

The airing of “The Next Doctor” by SPACE marked the end of CBC Television’s involvement in Doctor Who.

CBC’s treatment of the property is a story in extremes.  It started off well – an April 5, 2005 debut, strong publicity, co-production credit and a generally enjoyable set of stories starring Christopher Eccleston.  The 2004-05 NHL lockout destroyed a dependable revenue stream, so CBC had to hype something.

By the end of season four, CBC was mangling the hell out of season finale “Journey’s End.”  Prior to this, CBC had shunted second-season Christmas special “The Runaway Bride” to a midnight time slot the night of the third-season premiere.

Granted, Doctor Who‘s fourth season had good stories counteracted by an annoying companion in Donna Noble (Catherine Tate.)  You still had a great Doctor in David Tennant, whose run winds down with “Planet of the Dead” (SPACE: July 25, 9:00 PM ET), the first of four 2009 specials.

I look at “Planet of the Dead” like I do “Stones of Blood.”  ”Planet of the Dead” is familiar enough to be enjoyable, but it’s second-rate.  Alien variants of Earth animals (flies, stingrays) are appropriated as aliens.  UNIT plies its trade, mostly shooting at things and acting militant.

Lady Christina de Souza (Michelle Ryan) is this episode’s companion, a cat burglar and walking archetype.  UNIT scientist Malcolm Taylor (a very annoying Lee Evans) literally screams Doctor fanboy, a Whizz Kid for the new generation.  Carmen (Ellen Thomas), a black woman with psychic powers, acts portentous as she furthers the plot along.  The use of Dubai as a backdrop reminds me of the eighteen thousand times a quarry stood in for an “alien world.”

David Tennant looks like he’s going through his usual frenzied motions.  Michelle Ryan is watchable as a companion, which means very little as she’s the one-shot guest star of the moment.  Not one moment of “Planet of the Dead” is new or clever, the first 2009 special acting as filler.  The heavy stuff will be saved for Christmas, what with The Doctor dying and all.

Don’t get me wrong, “Planet of the Dead” is fun.  If there’s one thing to say about Russell T. Davies, his episodes can be as fun as Terrance Dicks’.  Sadly, Davies has fallen into the Futurama trap of choosing an underwhelming story at a time when the specials should feel, well, special. Time will tell if upcoming special “Waters of Mars” becomes the Doctor Who equivalent of Beast with a Billion Backs.

If new Doctor Who half-asses its ersatz fifth season by spinning its wheels and heavily referencing itself, then the best-ever case will have been made for giving Steven Moffat the show at the end of 2009.  There’s no excuse for “Planet of the Dead” to be Doctor Who at its laziest.