More Bright Blue Skies Ahead at #BellMediaUpfront, as Exec Justin Stockman Takes Stock of the Compelling New Shows For 2023/24

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The good stuff just kept coming at #BellMediaUpfront! There was a gala presentation in Toronto, another victory celebration (CTV has been Canada’s most-watched network for 22 consecutive seasons), and a series of major announcements, including the late-breaking news that CTV has acquired the upcoming return of Gordon Ramsay’s KITCHEN NIGHTMARES after nearly a decade off the air. As Bell Media set the stage for the coming 2023/24 programming season, there was also a massive development in daytime TV, with the exciting news that Mary Berg will host THE GOOD STUFF WITH MARY BERG, premiering this fall on CTV. “I just want to help fill people’s lives up with a little bit of, literally, the good stuff,” Berg said. “You can maybe learn something, maybe we’re going to try something new, and I’m going to be with you the whole time. Because I want to try new stuff too!” Speaking of new stuff, Justin Stockman, VP, Content Development & Programming, wanted to make one specific point very clear on #BellMediaUpfront day. “One thing I would like to stress is that our fall schedule is all there,” Stockman said. “Despite the writers’ strike in the U.S., our fall schedule is solid. Everything that we’re saying is on this fall, will be on in the fall. There are no punts, it’s all really there. We’ve chosen to be transparent with our advertisers, and not hope and dream that we’re going to have these shows. We’ve only put shows in the fall lineup that are going to be on. And we’re going to be No. 1 again, for sure.” Taking a wider look at what’s coming up, not merely in the fall but throughout the entire 2023/24 season, Stockman shared his thoughts on some of the key originals and acquisitions for Bell Media:   ORIGINALS THE GOOD STUFF WITH MARY BERG STOCKMAN: “Everyone who has ever met Mary Berg immediately says, ‘what else can we do with this person?’ She’s just so magnetic. If THE MARILYN DENIS SHOW could have gone on for a few more years, that would have been great too. The ratings were good. And these types of shows just do really well for clients and viewers. It’s like variety in the daytime. But when we knew we were going to have to find a new daytime host, Mary Berg was the first name that everyone said. She’s authentically excited about so many things. So it won’t just be about food. Food is clearly the thing she’s known for, but I think with whatever’s thrown at her in this new daytime show, her enthusiasm will carry through. From when she was a contestant on MASTERCHEF CANADA, to her cooking-at-home shows which have done quite well for us, and then hosting CROSS COUNTRY CAKE OFF, we’ve always been saying, ‘what else can we do with Mary, let’s keep building her as a star.’ We all sort of thought this might happen one day. And it has.” THE TRAITORS: CANADA STOCKMAN: “This is just one of those things that seems to be super hot right now. The three existing English-language versions (U.S., U.K., and Australia) are currently on Crave, and everybody who knows what my job is wants to talk to me about THE TRAITORS. ‘Are you watching? Which version do you like best?’ We had the opportunity to do English and French versions together, which is a great benefit, and it’ll be ready for us in September, which we’re thrilled about. It quickly went from an idea we were all talking about behind the scenes, to immediately going into casting. And we’re following the U.S. lead for our English version, where about half the cast are everyday people with regular jobs, and the other half are cast from other reality TV shows. They’re people who have done really well on other shows where they had to be sort of conniving. So we’re going to go for that formula, which we think will really work for CTV. Because we’ve had enough well-known reality folks in Canada over the years, from shows that we produce, or even shows that other people produce, we think we can fill out half the cast with some familiar faces. We’re shooting it in Québec, we have a location. The whole team is rallying and very excited to have a Canadian version of something that’s very buzzy right now.” THE TAKE BACK STOCKMAN: “This is a one-off that we’re testing as a special over the holidays, because we think the format is really strong for the holiday season. We could hit ‘go’ and make it into a series at some point later. It was inspired during COVID, but I don’t think any of the things we’re doing are specifically COVID-related. The idea is that, for whatever reason or circumstance, you had a big moment in your life that had to be postponed or canceled. And this is your chance to do it again, with a bunch of experts to make it extreme, and make it bigger than it ever would have been the first time around. It could be something like, for example, some people retired during the pandemic, and they literally just turned their computer off and went to their living room – that was their retirement party. Or people missed milestone birthday celebrations for various reasons. So the concept is that this is your chance to go big, and really do it right.” THE RP4 HOSTED BY RUSSELL PETERS STOCKMAN: “We’ve been doing the Just For Laughs comedy specials for a while, so we wanted to mix it up and just try to give them something a little bit extra. Instead of four different specials with a different person as the anchor for each special, we decided, let’s make Russell the anchor of everything, so that there’s a familiar face. It’s almost like it’s his comedy show, where he’s introducing the roster – it’s like Russell and friends, I guess you could think of it that way. It’s all captured at JFL, with a lot of big names in front of live audiences.” RUSSELL PETERS (documentary) STOCKMAN: “This one has been in the works for a while. We’re doing sort of the life story of Russell. He’s also on ROAST BATTLE CANADA, along with the JFL specials, so we have a lot of Russell Peters in our life right now. Russell is one of the biggest stars in the English Canadian star system, and we have a great relationship with him, so we’re doing as much as we can.” REGINALD THE VAMPIRE STOCKMAN: “A lot of people haven’t seen this in Canada, so we’re taking over the Canadian rights, and coming on board in a meaningful way to make it an original production for its second season. It’s going to be a good anchor for CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Jacob Batalon, who plays the title character, is a familiar face because he’s also the best friend (Ned) in the Spider-Man movies. I think it’ll do really well for us.” THE DESSERT STOCKMAN: “This is a sketch comedy show that was pitched to us by Shane Cunningham, who we’ve worked with before and is one of the three main people on the show, with Max Kerman (ARKELLS) as one of the executive producers, and then Bruce McCulloch agreed to come on board as an executive producer. Bruce got really involved, and literally worked with them on every step, to make sure it’s as funny as it can be. He really earned his credit as executive producer. He has been taking them under his wing, and pushing it big time. This is going to be one of those word-of-mouth shows, because it’s super strange, in a good way. It’s going to be for a certain crowd, but those people will definitely find it. I’m not sure how to promote it, but I’ve watched all the episodes, and it’s really funny.” THE OPTIMIST’S GUIDE TO THE PLANET WITH NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU STOCKMAN: “This is an environmental series that came to us as a co-production opportunity. It’s a familiar face to Crave viewers (Coster-Waldau played Jaime Lannister in HBO’s GAME OF THRONES), but talking about environmental issues.” THE OFFICE MOVERS STOCKMAN: “This is a scripted comedy with 4YE, Jae and Trey, who we’ve been working with forever. They used to do this for a living, working as office movers. I don’t know when, because they’re still young! But at some point, they were office movers, and it’s basically all the stuff that happens in that type of job, but really from their own lives. They’re just so naturally funny. They’ve had such a huge career on YouTube, and they’ve done everything on their own before – write, produce, direct, edit. So we’re excited to give them a crew and more resources to see what they can do.” THE TRADES STOCKMAN: “It’s what you might expect from the people who brought you TRAILER PARK BOYS. It’s basically a workplace comedy, but everyone’s a little rough around the edges, and it’s a little crude. It’s as if the TRAILER PARK BOYS did a workplace comedy.” DON’T EVEN STOCKMAN: “This is in pre-production right now, they’re just casting it, and it’s super cool. I’ve read the scripts. It takes place in Winnipeg, and it’s a coming-of-age 1990s story. So for a lot of our viewers who came of age in the ’90s, it’s all the music, and the style, and everyone’s just hanging out, killing time, not sure what to do with themselves, and all the things that come from that.”   ACQUISITIONS TRACKER STOCKMAN: “This one feels like a surefire, network, blueprint, perfect hit. It stars Justin Hartley, and we really think it’s going to work. There’s a serialized story underneath it that they unwrap as the season goes on, but that’s alongside a case of the week, as he’s tracking down a different person. There’s definitely a trend right now for blending serialized and procedural elements, so you still get your case of the week, but the arcs that go over several episodes seem to be meatier than in past years.” HIGH POTENTIAL STOCKMAN: “There’s also a trend toward a little more lightness with many of the new procedurals we’ve seen. I wouldn’t quite call them dramedies, but they’re close. Sort of the same formula as one of our shows from last season, WILL TRENT, where it’s serious subject matter, but he’s a quirky guy, and they find a way to make it feel light and approachable, and not too dark. This one stars Kaitlin Olson, and there are definitely comedic elements to it. While almost every procedural usually has a murder, or some sort of health crisis, or something serious every week, there’s also an air of lightness here, with plenty of comedic breaks. Maybe that’s what people want right now as they’re looking for a break from life. Maybe they don’t want to have a super heavy serious show all the time when they’re doing their lean-back viewing.” SNAKE OIL STOCKMAN: “We were interested in this just based on the description, and the fact that David Spade is the host. The concept sounds basically like SHARK TANK, but some things are lies, and you have to figure out what the real product is, and what the fake product is. David Spade seems to be the perfect person for it.” RESCUE HI-SURF STOCKMAN: “They have a pilot written and a season outline that took us through all the various character developments, and the types of cases they’ll be covering. They haven’t cast it yet. I believe that’s all happening soon. The writers’ strike obviously has delayed things a little bit in this case. But it’s John Wells, it’s Hawaii, and it seems as if it’s ‘elevated BAYWATCH.’ So we’re in.” THE KILLING KIND STOCKMAN: “This is definitely a thriller, very serialized. We saw the first episode and we all were really desperate to see the second. It’s that good, with super twists and turns. Is he the villain or the hero? I think it will really suck people in.” JAMIE OLIVER: COOKING FOR LESS STOCKMAN: “This seems like a good idea for the times, when everyone’s a little bit broke. Jamie Oliver always comes up with a good twist for whatever is happening in the now, and this is no exception. For example, when everyone first got into organic and healthy food, he was right on top of it. He’s always sort of plugged into the zeitgeist. And as always, we’re relying on his charm.”   PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED PROJECTS 299 QUEEN STREET WEST STOCKMAN: “I think this is going to be a bit of a moment. As exciting as it sounds on paper, it’s even more exciting when you see it. The director, Sean Menard, really captured it. The entire documentary is just footage. It’s just two hours of clips of MuchMusic, weaved together with voiceovers from all the people, like the DJs and the management who made it happen. It tells such a great compelling story about a moment in time that would be hard to repeat. In terms of nostalgia for Canadians, this is going to do really well for us. It covers 20 years of Much, so it’ll capture a large number of people. And it’s done really positively. I used to work for Much, and my pet peeve is always when you find someone who’s about my age, or a little older, they’re always complaining about how the classic era of MuchMusic was so cool, so why did it go away? It’s almost talked about in a negative light, as in, why didn’t it continue that way? Well, because something called the Internet came along, so everyone calm down. It couldn’t continue that way. So the doc is done in a really beautiful way, where it sort of says, this was a magical moment that probably couldn’t have happened at any other time. And it just happened to be in Canada, because of the conditions within the broadcasting system in Canada at that time.” LATE BLOOMER STOCKMAN: “We’re really looking forward to this one, which is coming early next year, with Jasmeet Raina, who’s known as Jus Reign. We had been trying to do something with him since 2016, trying to court him into a TV show, and he finally wrote this, based on his own life, but fictionalized. What is it like to be a YouTuber who’s now almost 30? It’s a snapshot of what it’s like to be him at this point in his life, and he’s so funny. He’s the most relatable guy you’ll ever meet. I just think it’s truly authentic, because he was involved every step of the way. Again, he’s a YouTuber, who had to do everything on his own, but now he has a crew working for him, and he has stepped into that role really well. This has been a passion project for seven years, and it’s finally coming. I’m really excited. Some of my team who have seen some of it have been blown away. They’re editing it right now, it’s coming together.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv