Plenty Missing from Canadian TV schedules

Just last month, CTV was bragging it had the “No. 1 new series of the season” with Missing, which hit a high of 1.8 million Canadian viewers in April.

Now Missing, along with many other U.S.network shows, are not just missing but finished. The Ashey Judd drama was cancelled along with almost two dozen other U.S.network offerings this past week in a thorough housecleaning.

What will replace them? All will be announced this coming week in New York at the annual network upfronts for advertisers.

Programming executives from CTV, Global and City, or rather Bell, Shaw and Rogers, are already in Los Angeles screening the 2012-13 offerings. Despite the fact that last season produced no game changers, very few successes and a whole lot of misses, expect the Canadian private networks to drop their usual $700 million acquiring American content to re-charge their schedules.

Last October, CTV was quick to put out a release bragging it had most of the new hits. Yet even The X Factor, seen as the next game changer, had to be a disappointment. One show CTV promoted the hell out of, Pan Am, is now grounded by ABC. The Disney network has also cancelled GCB, so CTV had a hole to fill Sundays at 10. Also cancelled off CTV’s roster is The Riverstarring Bruce Greenwood and Unforgettable, which did better at CTV than it did at CBS. CTV will also have to replace long running hits CSI: Miami and Desperate Housewives.

CTV’s plan to double pump The Voice in both fall and spring will also be a headache for CTV, already bouncing its talent search shows between the mother network and CTV Two. CTV had every reason to expect The Voice to soar over 2 million a week this spring, but the series has settled close to the one million mark as viewers finally seem to tire of all these talent search efforts.

A few shows CTV bragged early as the biggest hits of the year barely made the cut Stateside, including Whitney (bounced to Fridays on NBC’s new schedule) and Smash (now a back up series at NBC). CTV biggest import winner turned out to be Once Upon a Time.

Global had even worse luck trying to pick American winners last summer. Prime Suspect flopped early. Gone from their roster are every U.S. network show they announced at their last upfront, including  The Firm–a blow to the Toronto crew–A Gifted Man, The Finder, Awake, Are You There Chelsea, Ringer and a show that always did better in Canada, Harry’s Law.

City bought a lot of shows last fall and saw some biggies crash and burn. The Playboy Club lasted weeks. Alcatrazis gone, bad news for Vancouver’s TV biz. Terra Nova was an expensive flop.

City did gain some ground, however, with Revenge, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl and Don’t Trust the B—in Apartment 23.