The Border has been cancelled by CBC after three seasons.  Etan Vlessing first mentioned the cancellation through The Hollywood Reporter on February 26.

CBC scheduled the third season of The Border after Doc Zone.  Doc Zone is a perpetually low-rated documentary block.  It’s a weak lead-in, despite Doc Zone being one of the most underrated hours on CBC.

The Border has never attracted great ratings.  An average of 700,000 viewers is decent for CBC, but The Border has never been a breakout hit.  This isn’t like CBC killing jPod or Wild Roses, now.

As for Republic of Doyle, the ratings are decent enough for renewal.  The show has dipped to around 500,000-600,000 viewers by now, but so has 18 to Life.  RoD‘s where The Border was two seasons ago.

As a result of Republic of Doyle‘s renewal, Shaftesbury Films’ Tangled will not make series.  Sarah Wayne Callies and Leslie Hope are in the pilot, at least according to an EW.com interview.

Callies is best known for her role as Dr. Sara Tancredi on Prison Break (2005-09.)  Hope is best known as Teri Bauer on Fox ratings behemoth 24 (2001-  .)  Hope also played Lisa Cohen on ABC’s short-lived Line of Fire (2003-04.)

I suspect Tangled will be tossed into a June timeslot of doom, a fate met by most unsold CBC pilots.  I’d rather see Jack Bauer’s dead wife and Dr. Tancredi‘s severed head than a Leah McLaren biopic.  Wouldn’t you?

I honestly don’t understand the hype for Republic of Doyle (CBC: premiered January 6, 2010, 9:00 PM ET/PT.)  Newfoundland is capable of televisual greatness.  Unfortunately, CBC never greenlighted Town Beat!, so hard cheese.

The biggest problem with Republic of Doyle is that Newfoundland is ancillary to the show’s plot.  RoD is a generic mismatched-partners detective drama, the two “buddies” here being Jake Doyle (Allan Hawco) and his father Malachy (Sean McGinley.)  They fight with each other and solve crimes.

With a rewrite or two, Republic of Doyle can be set anywhere in Canada.  Why is the antidote to quirky comedy ensembles (hi, Gullage’s) this generic thing?  It’s nice to see a Newfoundland show not conform to “Lard tunderin’” stereotypes, but it’s like Republic of Doyle balances one extreme with another.  Maybe I’m missing out on RoD‘s subtleties.  I don’t know.

Allan Hawco is Republic of Doyle‘s co-creator, star and showrunner, but Hawco doesn’t carry the show much.  He runs around, jumps off rooftops and threatens to electrocute bad guys with a hairdryer, but Sean McGinley’s the straight man knocking down Hawco’s pins.  McGinley doesn’t do much, yet is more appealing without even trying.  There’s a Shaun Majumder guest role, since this is Canada and familiarity is the status quo.

Republic of Doyle becomes more exciting in the second half, although by “exciting” I mean “not as boring.”  Republic of Doyle‘s first episode doesn’t interest me in its characters, showing off its Newfie credentials before going through detective-show motions.

Excuses have been made for Republic of Doyle – the production was troubled, it’s a light dramedy, it’s a throwback to The Rockford Files and so forth.

All I care about is whether I can identify with Republic of Doyle, and I can’t.  It’s too contrived at this point.  When a show reminds me of SCTV‘s “Magnum, P.E.I.,” that’s not a good sign.  I hope Republic of Doyle can find its way, but Newfoundland deserves better.

I know, CBC’s midseason 2010 lineup is day-old news by now.  Weirdly enough, the news is still current.  Odd, that.  Program highlights from CBC’s Winter 2010 schedule:

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New Shows

Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town | Tuesday, January 12: 9:00 PM
18 to Life | Monday, January 4: 8:00 PM
Republic of Doyle | Wednesday, January 6: 9:00 PM
Best Recipes Ever | Monday, January 4: 3:00 PM (weekdays)

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Miscellany

The Border will end its current season January 7 and 14 in the Thursday 9:00 PM timeslot.  Doc Zone will move to The Border‘s Thursday timeslot starting January 21.  Frankly, I like Doc Zone much better than The Border.

Marketplace will debut its 37th season Fridays at 8:30 PM, after a rerun of Tuesday’s Rick Mercer Report.  The Nature of Things will move to Thursdays at 8:00 PM by January 7.  Steven and Chris will return with new episodes, starting January 4 at 2:00 PM.

There will be a few specials.  Test the Nation: IQ will air Sunday, January 24 at 8:00 PM.  Gordon and Leah Pinsent’s Love Letters will air in the timeslot the following week.  Keep Your Head Up Kid: The Don Cherry Story, a miniseries, will air March 28 and 29 at 8:00 PM.

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CBC’s midseason prime time shows sound better than usual, in that I don’t automatically hate any of them.  There’s no sure-to-fail idea like MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives or The One.  There’s no surefire hit, but not everything on CBC can be Dragons’ Den or…ugh…Battle of the Blades.

I “love” the comments at CBC.ca’s site.  Life with Derek is a “never heard of canadian drama”?  Life with Derek was on Disney Channel for four seasons, and that’s in the Hannah Montana/Jonas/Wizards of Waverly Place hypermarketing-to-tweens era.  What an obscure show.

Also, nothing’s good on CBC Television save hockey, Canadian content is shit, yammer yammer yammer.

The trailer for 18 to Life isn’t that bad.  It’s certainly more engaging than Little Mosque on the Prairie.  Peter Keleghan plays his patented WASPy Dumbass^™ character, but 18 to Life doesn’t seem forced like Republic of Doyle.  Watch some trailers and judge for yourself.