Extraordinary Canadians Honored with Original Series

TORONTO: OMNI Television, The Biography Channel and Citytv are honoring Canada’s most outstanding individuals with the 12-part original biographical series Extraordinary Canadians.

The series will air Sundays on Citytv, starting October 23, and on The Biography Channel, airing Saturdays and premiering October 29. It will also air in Mandarin, Hindi and Italian on OMNI Television in spring 2012.

The series features celebrated writers chronicling the life of a great Canadian who has inspired them, such as Glenn Gould, Emily Carr, Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Lord Beaverbrook. The series is adapted from a best-selling Penguin Canada book series. Extraordinary Canadians was funded by OMNI Television and The Biography Channel, divisions of Rogers Broadcasting.

"As a Canadian over the air multilingual broadcaster we are proud to make this home grown educational series also accessible to OMNI Television’s language audiences and play a significant role in the acculturation of Canadian ethno-cultural viewers,” said Madeline Ziniak, the national VP of OMNI Television.

"This remarkable series has been over five years in the making," added PMA Productions producer Kenneth Hirsch. "There has been nothing quite like it before—a collection of biographies conceived simultaneously for books, television, print, and digital media. We have teamed up with the country’s most talented creators to craft a television series that will remain relevant for years to come. Rogers Media has proven the ideal broadcast partner—and I am thrilled to present this dramatic and engaging take on our recent history, in multiple languages, to Canadians across the country."