New Originals for Family Channel & Playhouse Disney Canada

June 9, 2009 World Screen
BANFF: Family Channel and Playhouse Disney in Canada have commissioned six new and returning Canadian original productions, including the half-hour comedy Baxter from Shaftesbury Films. 
 
Baxter is among the new comedies for Family Channel, alongside Angel on Campus from Temple Street Productions. Baxter is a 13×30-minute live-action comedy series that follows Baxter McNab (Evan Williams, Degrassi: The Next Generation) and his friends on their journey through the unique world of Kingfield School of the Arts, where they discover that the secret to surviving and thriving in high school is each other. Angel on Campus, a 13×30-minute series, is a live-action comedy about a 16-year-old angel-in-training (Demetrius Joyette, The Latest Buzz, Roxy Hunter), who has been sent to earth to get his wings.
 
These join new seasons of returning series such as the second season of Connor Undercover from Heroic Film Company/Shaftesbury Films and the third season of Overruled! from Shaftesbury Films.
 
Playhouse Disney Canada has commissioned two new animated series for younger audiences, Stella and Sam from Radical Sheep Productions and Justin Time from Guru Studio. Stella and Sam focuses on the relationship between inquisitive but shy 5-year-old Sam and his outgoing big sister Stella. Justin Time is an animated series that follows the adventures of Justin, his imaginary sidekick Zepi, and his friend Olive, who find out that discovery and learning have a place in every time period, and that true friendship is timeless.
 
These join the previously announced new seasons of The Secret World of Benjamin Bear from Amberwood Entertainment and Franny’s Feet from DECODE Entertainment. Production begins in Toronto for all series in late summer/fall 2009, with broadcast premieres slated for 2010 and 2011.

"We have an incredibly rich slate of projects that we are putting into production this fall and look forward to working with some of Canada’s leading producers of live-action comedies and animation over the next year to build on Family’s already strong lineup of kids’ programming," said Kevin Wright, the senior VP of programming for Astral Television Networks. "Canadian programs always rate exceptionally well on Family Channel and we are confident that the new series coming to our network in 2010 and 2011 will continue this trend of highly successful Canadian kids’ programming."