Toronto – CTV announced on May 23 it has acquired the most-buzzed about and sought-after new programmes of the season for its 2014/15 primetime schedule following the conclusion of the L.A. Screenings. Immediately strengthening Canada’s most-watched network for the 13th year in a row are 11 newly acquired series including the three must-have dramas from the market, Batman back-story drama Gotham, the latest addictive series from hit-maker Shonda Rhimes How To Get Away With Murder, and Arrow companion The Flash.
CTV also secured new Captain America spin-off Marvel’s Agent Carter, cyber-crime procedural CSI: Cyber, Oscar winner John Ridley’s new TV drama American Crime, murder thriller Secrets and Lies, fantastical crime procedural Forever, cop dramedy The Mysteries of Laura, family comedy The McCarthys, and an updated The Odd Couple starring Matthew Perry. The new series, along with CTV and CTV Two’s 2014/15 primetime schedules, will be presented at the #CTVUpfront on June 5 in Toronto.
“We were very impressed the quality of programming at the Screenings this year, and feel confident we’ve come home with the best TV programmes available,” said Phil King, President of CTV, Sports, and Entertainment Programming. “Drama was particularly strong this year, and we’re thrilled to have picked up addictive, plot-twisting series like How To Get Away With Murder, immersive, event-driven shows like American Crime and Secrets and Lies, as well as fantastical and heroic programmes like Gotham, The Flash, and Marvel’s Agent Carterthat follow in the same vein as this year’s #1 new series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The McCarthys was the funniest comedy we saw and is a great addition to our schedule, while Matthew Perry nails Oscar Madison in the revamp of The Odd Couple.”
CTV’s new series hail from some of the most acclaimed television producers and showrunners in the U.S. including Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy); the Arrow creative team of executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, and director David Nutter; Emmy Award-winner Jerry Bruckheimer (The Amazing Race); Anthony Zuiker (CSI); Stan Lee (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.); Bruno Heller (The Mentalist), and Oscar winner John Ridley, the producer and writer of the Oscar and Golden Globe Award-winning film 12 Years A Slave.
The series also feature an impressive roster of stars including Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee Viola Davis (The Help), Oscar nominee and Golden Globe Award winner Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Oscar and Golden Globe Award winner Timothy Hutton (Leverage), Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee Patricia Arquette (Medium), Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee Juliette Lewis (The Firm), Oscar nominee Judd Hirsch (Damages), as well as Ryan Phillippe (Damages), Debra Messing (Smash), Jada Pinkett Smith (Hawthorne), Laurie Metcalf (The Big Bang Theory), Ben McKenzie (Southland), Joey McIntyre (Boston Public), Matthew Perry (Go On), and Captain America’s Hayley Atwell.
CTV’s New 2014/15 Acquired Series:
AMERICAN CRIME (Mid-Season)
Written, directed, and produced by John Ridley, the producer and writer of the Oscar and Golden Globe Award-winning film 12 Years A Slave, and starring Oscar nominee and Golden Globe Award-winner Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) and Oscar and Golden Globe Award winner Timothy Hutton (Leverage), American Crime follows a young couple in Modesto, California, who were attacked in their home. Matt Skokie, a war vet, was killed, and his wife, Lily, is unconscious, barely hanging on. Both sets of parents are at her bedside hoping for a miracle while four suspects are about to be arrested. The case sends shock waves into the community stirring up tensions across racial lines – from the point of view of the victims.
CSI: CYBER (Mid-Season)
CSI: Cyber stars Emmy Award-winner Patricia Arquette (Medium) in a drama inspired by the advanced technological work of real-life CyberPsychologist Mary Aiken. Special Agent Avery Ryan (Arquette) heads the Cyber Crime Division of the FBI, a unit at the forefront of solving illegal activities that start in the mind, live online, and play out in the real world. She also knows firsthand how today’s technology allows people to hide in the shadows of the Internet and commit serious crimes of global proportion. While other agents search for criminals in dark homes and alleys, Ryan searches the “dark net,” a place deep in the bowels of the Web where criminals are anonymous, money is untraceable, and where everything is for sale with just a keystroke. Emmy Award-winner Ann Donahue (CSI), Carol Mendelsohn (CSI), Anthony Zuiker (CSI), and Emmy Award-winners Jerry Bruckheimer (The Amazing Race), and Jonathan Littman (The Amazing Race) are executive producers for CBS Television Studios.
THE FLASH
From the Arrow creative team including Golden Globe Award-nominee and executive producer Greg Berlanti, executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, and EMMY and Critics Choice Award-winner and director David Nutter, The Flash is a fast-paced super hero drama that follows the high-speed adventures of the Fastest Man Alive. The action drama follows Central City Police scientist Barry Allen (Grant Gustin, Arrow), an everyday guy with the heart of a hero and the genuine desire to help others. Standing still emotionally since the day his mother was murdered (and his father unjustly jailed for the crime), Barry was taken in as a child by the investigating Detective West (Jesse L. Martin, Law & Order) and raised in a cop’s home alongside West’s super smart daughter Iris (Candice Patton, The Game). But when an unexpected and devastating accident at the S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator facility strikes Barry, he finds himself suddenly charged with the incredible power to move at super speeds. While Barry has always been a hero in his soul, his newfound powers have finally given him the ability to act like one.
FOREVER
What would you do if you had all the time in the world? From executive producer and writer Matt Miller (Chuck) and executive producers Dan Lin (The LEGO Movie) and Jennifer Gwartz (Veronica Mars), Forever follows Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd, Fantastic Four), a star New York City medical examiner on his journey to answer that looming question. You see, Henry has a bit of a vested interest in studying the dead: He is immortal and only his best friend and confidant, Abe (Judd Hirsch, Damages), full of life at age 75, knows Henry’s secret. Henry, who hasn’t aged at all since the clock stopped 200 years ago, has managed to discreetly move around without anyone finding out his affliction, but that task becomes increasingly difficult when he meets NYPD detective Jo Martinez (Alana De La Garza, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit). Recently widowed, Jo finds herself fascinated by Henry after learning he was the sole survivor of a horrific train crash – and his knowledge proves extremely helpful to her in solving crimes. By flashing between the past and present each week, the layers of Henry’s long and colourful life begin to peel away and viewers will glimpse what it’s like to live Forever.
GOTHAM
Before there was Batman, there was Gotham. Everyone knows the name Commissioner Gordon. He is one of the crime world’s greatest foes, a man whose reputation is synonymous with law and order. But what is known of Gordon’s story and his rise from rookie detective to Police Commissioner? What did it take to navigate the multiple layers of corruption that secretly ruled Gotham City, the spawning ground of the world’s most iconic villains? And what circumstances created them – the larger-than-life personas who would become Catwoman, The Penguin, The Riddler, Two-Face, and The Joker? Gotham is an origin story of the great DC Comics Super-Villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. With Ben McKenzie (Southland) in the key role as Detective James Gordon, Gothamalso stars Jada Pinkett Smith (Hawthorne) and Donal Logue (Law & Order: Special Victims Unti). Executive producers are Primetime Emmy Award-nominee Danny Cannon (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Bruno Heller (The Mentalist), and John Stephens (Gossip Girl).
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER
The brilliant, charismatic and seductive Professor Annalise Keating (Viola Davis, The Help) gets entangled with four law students from her class, How To Get Away With Murder. Little do they know that they will have to apply what they learned to real life, in this masterful, sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, executive producers ofGrey’s Anatomy and Scandal. Billy Brown (Criminal Minds, Hostages), Alfred Enoch (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), Jack Falahee (Twisted), Katie Findlay (The Carrie Diaries), Aja Naomi King (Black Box), Matt McGorry (Orange is the new Black), newcomer Karla Souza, Charlie Weber (90210), and Liza Weil (Scandal) also star. Written by executive producer Peter Nowalk (Grey’s Anatomy), How To Get Away With Murder is executive-produced by Rhimes and Beers, and directed by Michael Offer (Gang Related).
MARVEL’S AGENT CARTER (Mid-Season)
Starring Captain America’s Hayley Atwell, Marvel’s Agent Carter follows the story of Peggy Carter. It’s 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalised when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark, all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America in the wake of losing the love of her life – Steve Rogers. Inspired by the feature filmsCaptain America: The First Avenger, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, along with the short Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter. Written by Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, executive producers are Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas (Law & Order Special Victims Unit), Christopher Markus, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, and Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Chris Dingess (Chaos), and Alan Fine, Joe Quesada, Stan Lee, and Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).
THE McCARTHYS
THE McCARTHYS is a multi-camera comedy about a loud, sports-crazed Boston family whose somewhat athletically challenged son, Ronny (Tyler Ritter, Stuck On You), is chosen by his father to be his assistant high school basketball coach, much to the surprise of his more qualified siblings. Ronny wants nothing more than to move away, join the singles scene and find a partner. His distraught mother, Marjorie (Laurie Metcalf, The Big Bang Theory), is not upset that her favourite son is gay, but that he wants to leave Boston and his family. Ronny’s plans change, however, when his politically incorrect and outspoken father, Arthur (Jack McGee, Common Law), stuns everyone with his choice for an assistant. Touched by his father’s offer, Ronny embarks on a completely different future – and he can be sure that his loving, tight-knit family is going to have a very vocal opinion about it. Jimmy Dunn (Stuck on You), Joey McIntyre (Boston Public), and Kelen Coleman (Men At Work) also star. Brian Gallivan (Happy Endings), Mike Sikowitz (Rules of Engagement), Will Gluck (Friends With Benefits), and Andy Ackerman (Seinfeld) are the executive producers for Sony Pictures Television in association with CBS Television Studios. Emmy Award-winner Andy Ackerman (Whitney) directed the pilot.
THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA
Emmy Award-winner Debra Messing (Smash) stars in The Mysteries of Laura as Laura Diamond, an extraordinarily gifted New York City police detective and extremely overrun mother of 6-year-old twin boys — aka “the monsters.” Laura often throws off suspects by her dishevelled demeanour, and her attention to detail and stellar hunches always pays off with an arrest (even if she does have oatmeal stuck in her hair). In contrast, she is usually one or two steps behind in her home life, manoeuvring pre-school politics a little less deftly than those of the precinct, without much help from her soon-to-be ex-husband, Jake (Josh Lucas,Glory Road), a rogue charmer and police lieutenant she may still be in love with who is always upbeat but often unavailable due to his “police work” – something that is about to really complicate things. The Mysteries of Laura showcases what it means for Laura to be a working mom while always getting her man – er, suspect. The Mysteries of Laura is based on the original series created by Carlos Vila and Javier Holgado for Boomerang TV and TVE1 Spain, and is from executive producers Greg Berlanti (Arrow), Jeff Rake (Boston Legal), McG (Supernatural), and Aaron Kaplan (Chasing Life).
THE ODD COUPLE (Mid-Season)
THE ODD COUPLE stars Matthew Perry (Go On) as endearing slob Oscar Madison, and Thomas Lennon (We’re The Millers) as uptight neat freak Felix Unger, two former college buddies who become unlikely roommates after the demise of their marriages. It’s not long after Oscar lets Felix move in that Oscar fears he’s made a monumental mistake. However, despite how exasperated they make each other, these mismatched friends agree they can help each other move on from their divorces and somehow make this crazy living arrangement work. Wendell Pierce (Treme) and Lindsay Sloane (Weeds) also star. Perry, Emmy Award-winner Joe Keenan (Glee), Bob Daily (DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), Sarah Timberman (Unforgettable), Carl Beverly (Unforgettable), Eric Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men), and Kim Tannenbaum (Two and a Half Men) are executive producers for CBS Television Studios.
SECRETS AND LIES (Mid-Season)
Ben Garner (Ryan Phillippe, Damages) is about to go from Good Samaritan to murder suspect, after he discovers the body of his neighbour’s young son in the woods. As Detective Andrea Cornell (Juliette Lewis, The Firm) digs for the truth, the secrets and lies of this town come to the surface and no one is above suspicion. Ben’s family’s life will be turned upside down as he sets out on a complicated journey to prove his innocence in this thriller mystery from writer Barbie Kligman (The Vampire Diaries) based on the original Australian series of the same name. Executive producers are Kligman, Aaron Kaplan (The Mysteries of Laura), Tracey Robertson (The Strange Calls), and Nathan Mayfield (The Strange Calls).
