WGN fills up on Canadian “Corner Gas”
TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) – Canadian broadcaster CTV Inc. on Friday cracked the U.S. market by selling “Corner Gas,” Canada’s top homegrown sitcom, to Superstation WGN.
Under the two-year deal Tribune Broadcasting’s Superstation WGN will air four seasons of “Corner Gas,” an ensemble comedy set in the fictional prairie town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. The 88 episodes will be available in around 70 million homes via cable or satellite beginning in 2007.
The deal marks a coup for CTV, which fully financed the first two seasons of the series with no government subsidies. CTV then bankrolled the third and fourth seasons of “Corner Gas” with the Comedy Network.
Terms of the deal with Superstation WGN were not disclosed, but CTV will split the proceeds of the U.S. distribution deal with the series’ producers, Prairie Pants Productions.
“Corner Gas” has consistently been the top-rated comedy on Canadian TV, beating out American competition and pulling in an average of around 1.5 million viewers weekly.
The series was created by Canadian comic Brent Butt, David Storey and Virginia Thompson. The ensemble cast includes Butt, veteran Canadian actors Eric Peterson Janet Wright, Cavan Cunningham, Gabrielle Miller and Fred Ewanuick.
Canadian-originated dramas have long aired in the U.S. market on cable channels. But homegrown sitcoms breaking through south of the border have been rarities, despite the prominence of Canadian standup and sketch comedy talent working in New York City and Los Angeles.
“Trailer Park Boys,” a comedy about low life in a Halifax trailer park, earlier became a cult classic on BBC America after bowing on Showcase in Canada.
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