CTV doubles down with Young Sheldon
Bell Media-owned network announces fall and winter schedule, including the return of Roseanne and not one, but two, mutant superhero franchises
It’s been a mystery to some critics why The Big Bang Theory — about the lives of a bunch of uber-geeks — remains the most-watched English-language show on the planet. Or why Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon, is Hollywood’s best-paid television actor, accord- ing to Forbes.
But the reality is, the audience for critically acclaimed shows like Breaking Bad amounts to a rounding error compared to the Big Bang audience — which remains the top show in Canada even as it heads into an 11th season.
So it’s no surprise that CTV is doubling down on the strategy with Young Sheldon, the prequel to The Big Bang Theory.
Young Sheldon (Iain Armitage, Big Little Lies), follows 9-year-old child prodigy Sheldon Cooper living with his very normal family in Texas and going to high school. The Chuck Lorre production, narrated by Parsons, is on the slate for the CTV fall and winter schedule. Purchased with the deep pockets of Bell Media, it has hit written all over it.
The media conglomerate, owners of broadcaster CTV, unveiled their fall and winter slate on Wednesday.
“When I was in Los Angeles I basically watched CNN every day and I saw all the craziness,” said Bell Media president Randy Lennox in an interview. “We were very specific in our strategy. We are living in an era of Trump and a lot of chaos and I think people have had enough of it. We are putting together a very familyfriendly slate. It’s old school. But I think people want normalcy.”
Lennox pointed to the success of the CTV family drama This Is Us as an indicator that audiences are craving a more wholesome connection. “For every action, there is a reaction, and we’re seeing it played out.”
CTV is not shy to mention that it has been the most-watched network in Canada for 16 years in a row. That has largely been as a result of expensive American imports. And the broadcaster is doubling down on that strategy, too: When in doubt, have not one but two Marvel mutant superhero franchises — The Inhumans and The Gifted.
The Inhumans (originally slated to be a film and now starring Anso Mount from Hell on Wheels) follows a royal family of superfolks, first introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four before starring in their own comic book. The Gifted (Stephen Moyer, True Blood) is a more conventional mutant series, where the parents of two children with unusual talents find they have to keep their family on the run to escape capture.
The CTV schedule also sees the return of comic Roseanne Barr to television with the revived Roseanne. It was a groundbreaking sitcom about blue-collar America when it debuted in the ’90s; now the Conner family returns right on time for the Trump era.
Original Canadian CTV productions include The Disappearance, a six-part thriller about the disappearance of a10-year-old boy on his birthday. The limited series stars Peter Coyote ( E.T.) as retired judge and prosecutor Henry Sullivan and Aden Young ( Rectify) as his son; it was created by the Montréal-based writing team of Normand Daneau and Geneviève Simard.
Other shows slated for a fall or winter debut on CTV include:
Me, Myself and I, a comedy looking at a man’s life over 50 years.
Two dramas by Shonda Rhimes: The legal thriller For The People and a untitled Grey’s Anatomy spinoff looking at a group of firefighters.
Canadian showrunner David Shore ( House) returns to TV with the medical drama The Good Doctor.
Showrunner Tassie Cameron ( Rookie Blue) helms thriller series Ten Days in The Valley, starring Kyra Sedgwick.
Jason Ritter (son of John Ritter) stars in the religious-themed fantasy The Gospel of Kevin.
“We are putting together a very family-friendly slate. It’s old school.” RANDY LENNOX BELL MEDIA PRESIDENT