VisionTV Slates New & Returning Series

TORONTO: VisionTV is bringing back a host of comedy and drama titles for its fall lineup, and has also added new original factual offerings, all geared to viewers 45-plus.

For 2009-2010, VisionTV will refresh its weeknight British comedy block with new titles, while continuing to offer classic hour-long dramas such as Murder, She Wrote and Quantum Leap. Contemporary dramas Doc Martin and McLeod’s Daughters will also return with new episodes. The Naked Archaeologist will see a new season in 2010, while The Waltons takes a Monday to Friday slot starting September 14. The Best of British Comedy also will hold a weekday slot.

VisionTV will be devoting even more of its grid to movies this season. New titles to air include The Manchurian Candidate, Gentleman’s Agreement, The Searchers, The Verdict, The Nativity Story and Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York.

New to the network is the talk series Unscripted, which kicks off on September 14. The show will feature some of the entertainment world’s most iconic figures talking about their lives and careers. Crazy for Love is a 13-part doc series that looks at what happens when two people from different faiths and cultures fall in love. Sex + Religion follows in a similar vein, looking at how the major religions try to reconcile sexuality with the love of god. New episodes of ideaCity are to premiere in 2010. Further titles on the VisionTV roster include Beasts of the Bible, premiering in time for Easter 2010; The Standard, a current-affairs program launching September 21; and The Beachcombers, a long-running family drama that kicks off September 14.

Mark Prasuhn, the COO for VisionTV’s parent company, S-VOX, said, "VisionTV offers a unique and well balanced schedule. Our comedies, dramas and feature films explore questions of moral choice and human nature in an entertaining, engaging way, while our original factual productions examine Canada’s diversity of spiritual beliefs. We are confident that VisionTV will succeed in building on last season’s ratings growth."