Warning: spoilers.

Showcase’s reboot has its good and bad points.  While Showcase has gained positive publicity with the announcement of the Pure Pwnage television show, it also has a bad habit of stockpiling shows.  The Foundation (Showcase: premieres September 13, 10:40 PM ET/PT and September 16, 9:00 PM ET/PT) is one such show, originally set to debut last season.

The Foundation has a strong pedigree.  Co-creator/executive producer/director/writer Michael Dowse is responsible for FUBAR and It’s All Gone Pete Tong.  Mike Wilmot, a constant in Dowse’s films, is a decent standup comic.  The premise – not-for-profit charity run by dumbass failed real estate developer – should birth the mirth.

The Foundation is the first Canadian show I’ve seen in a while that does exactly what it says on the tin – nothing more, nothing less.  It’s a black comedy with an unsympathetic antagonist in Michael Valmont-Selkirk (Wilmot), a man who likes to profit from charitable works.

Valmont-Selkirk is a dunce about ideas more complex than enriching himself, which is where Chief Financial Officer Barry Anderson (Martin Sims) comes in.  Executive Vice President Cynthia Dollard (Rebecca Northan) is the token competent at the Selkirk Foundation, initially in the dark about the charity’s true motives.

Sylvie Boucher stands out as Marnie Mathers, The R.J. Selkirk Foundation’s well-meaning chief spokeswoman.  She is revealed in the first episode to have multiple sclerosis, of which she is in the early stages.  It’s hard to escape the fact that The Foundation uses Boucher’s character for laughs, but the show isn’t making fun of MS.  Mathers is merely a pawn in Valmont-Selkirk’s game.

The Foundation‘s first episode revolves around a girl named Chara (Juliette Gosselin), the dying cripple of the moment.  She suffers from necrotizing glomerulonephritis, although Valmont-Selkirk and company dumb this down to “super bad kidneys.”  Chara wants to meet Apollo (Paul J. Spence), a “rock opera” star.  His rock opera looks like The Phantom of the Opera, if it had robots and sexy girls.

By the end of the episode, Apollo has become The R.J. Selkirk Foundation’s new spokesman, a way to get Mathers to switch jobs and make the Selkirk Foundation more salable.  I admit I’m spoiling parts of “The Face of Hope,” but Apollo’s a recurring character, so what can you do.

CBC.ca oversells The Foundation as “the funniest thing to hit Canadian TV since we met Ricky, Julian and Bubbles.”  It isn’t.  If Hotbox has taught me anything, other than how liking a show people hate fucks with my credibility, it’s that the oversell doesn’t work.

Don’t get me wrong, The Foundation is a worthy show.  Compared to recent Showcase offerings, it’s great.  Improving on Cashing In, the third season of Paradise Falls (gah) and G-Spot is not much of an accomplishment, but there’s no reason for Showcase to promote The Foundation as weakly as it has so far.  Who schedules a season of five episodes, anyway?

The Foundation has its weak spots – Apollo isn’t much of a character, and the show can stand to be more outrageous than it already is.  All the same, I’m interested to see how the show’s next four episodes play out.  I’ve a feeling The Foundation is not long for this world.  Prove me wrong, Showcase!

I don’t plan to do posts for each Canadian cable channel.  It isn’t worth it and there are a handful of channels I actually watch.  Some channels, like Teletoon, haven’t finalized their fall schedules.  Since I’m not of the target market for HGTV Canada or the Food Network, those channels will not be talked about.

If the show’s on a Canwest property, it will be rerun on seven different channels within three months regardless of the channel’s target market.  Expect to see Beastmaster on History Television within a year.

I will mainly focus on channels I have an interest in which contain adult-oriented programming.  It’s a bonus if the channels show more than one new Canadian series a year.  I refuse to believe anyone actually watches MovieTime.

---

The Movie Network/Movie Central | The Movie Network/Movie Central’s 2009-10 original show slate doesn’t read as good as 2008-09′s.  An announced third season of Durham County is a little weird given that the second season debuts July 13.  As for The Phantom, it doesn’t seem TMN/MC quality somehow.  It’s a four-hour miniseries featuring an underrated comics character, but I doubt The Phantom would be on TMN/MC if the company producing it (Muse Entertainment) hadn’t produced Durham County.

The show that appeals to me the most is Living in Your Car.  A former corporate executive/ex-con teaches ethics courses under a court order.  It’s the sort of show that, with good writing, should allow for great comedy.  Meet Phil Fitz reads like a belated Canadian version of Minder.  Bloodletting and The Pillars of the Earth do nothing for me.

Mind you, I’m talking about shows that don’t air until later this year or in 2010.  I can see TMN/MC continuing its quality streak, as it has a history of successful launches and shows with strong fanbases.  TMN/MC’s premium cable duopoly helps.  Super Channel’s flailing in the wind right now, so the duopoly isn’t much threatened.

---

Showcase | The Foundation was meant to debut in 2008-09 but was pushed back.  This show is the brainchild of FUBAR and It’s All Gone Pete Tong director Michael Dowse.  FUBAR/It’s All Gone Pete Tong‘s Mike Wilmot is Michael Valmont-Selkirk, the corrupt “Executive Director for Life” of a charitable organization.

The Foundation reads like an interesting show.  It has the talent, a solid premise and a…five-episode first season.  Ah well, at least it’s out, provided Canwest executives don’t see a bunny hop along a coffee table and decide to give it a development deal.

I’m not too worked up about Crash & Burn and Shattered.  Crash & Burn (formerly Lawyers, Guns and Money) has ZOS: Zone of Separation showrunner Malcolm MacRury behind it and Shattered stars Callum Keith Rennie, but I’m reserving judgment on the three shows until they debut.  I’m baffled by Showcase’s heavier dramatic focus this year.

I’m also not fond of Showcase’s new logo and mission statement.  The Canwest press bumf says “an unprecedented number of off-pay movie premieres, the best collection of popular network series and breakout cable dramas.”  I hope that doesn’t mean Showcase will become TVtropolis’ dramatic big sister, full of Bones, House M.D. and assorted CanCon filler.

Showcase has its share of CanCon filler now – Beastmaster reruns, oh boy! – but it has served Canadian comedy relatively well.  Showcase has always been one of Alliance Atlantis’/Canwest’s better cable channels.  I hope the channel doesn’t turn crap due to the rebranding, but I’m unconvinced based on Canwest’s track record.

---

TVtropolis | Jonathan Torrens’ show, TV with TV’s Jonathan Torrens, could be good – he’s had success with Trailer Park Boys and Jonovision, so his ultra-generic “make fun of television for 22 minutes” show concept could amount to something.  E! managed to make a brand out of The Soup, so precedent is on Torrens’ side.

As for Switch (a pop culture panel show) and Killer Comebacks (Hollywood stars making comebacks), TVtropolis’ filler show traditions are maintained.  Mind you, shows like Once a Thief are creeping into TVtropolis’ schedules, so TVtropolis is becoming more watchable.

It’s a far cry from the days when TVtropolis was called Prime and appealed to seniors, but North of 60 reruns > Naked Fashion.  Remember the days when MovieTime was called Lonestar and aired westerns?  Those wacky Canwest properties, you never know what they’ll become next.  They’re like Pokémon.  Gotta rebrand’em all!