Lisa White
Broadcast Group Director
TBWA Chiat/Day
The truth is out there – but it has moved to Sunday night.
That’s right, in one of the biggest news developments of the new season, Mulder and Scully of The X-Files have experienced a Fox abduction that has transported them from Friday at 9 p.m. to the Sunday movie-of-the-week 9 p.m. time slot.
Meanwhile, producer/writer Chris Carter is expanding his supernatural abilities to bring us a Friday night replacement, Millennium.
The series stars Lance Henriksen as a brilliant, retired fbi agent with the uncanny psychic ability to enter the minds of homicidal psychopaths.
Global has followed suit with Fox, moving The X-Files to Sunday and picking up Millennium in simulcast Friday at 9 p.m.
It should stand on its own, now that viewers have become intrigued with dark, intense dramas.
Going back to 8 p.m., cbc station cblt leads with Canadian Biography, showcasing the lives of prominent Canadians.
chch is testing the waters with a new romantic drama, Relativity, pre-released from abc. The story: Isabel falls for Leo, a man she meets travelling in Rome. The catch: she’s already engaged to family favorite Everett.
Relativity offers a counterbalance to the realism of Unsolved Mysteries (ctv/Baton station cfto), the silliness of Family Matters (abc) and the quirkiness of Speaker’s Corner (Citytv).
cbs, meanwhile, is launching a new family comedy at 8:30.
Everybody Loves Raymond stars standup comic Ray Romano as a dad facing the challenges of raising a young family in the ’90s.
It will prevail on the u.s. schedule as an alternative to Fox’s Unsolved Mysteries and abc’s new Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, but will not fare so well in Toronto as Buffalo spill (WIVB Buffalo).
The 8 p.m. winners will be Relativity, focusing on the female skew, and Biography for the discriminating viewer.
The 9-11 p.m. time period offers a variety of program selections.
cfto and Citytv whet appetites for blockbuster movies, while cbc introduces CBC Presents as a platform to showcase great programs from around the world.
These are up against some tough competition within the first hour, both from Millennium and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which features Scott Bakula’s return to series television.
The show, which airs at 9 p.m. on chch, simulcast with cbs, is a romantic action/thriller starring Bakula as a top detection and protection agent who meets up with Mrs. Smith, a beautiful and mysterious freelance spy.
Sparks fly as they try to integrate their professional and personal lives.
The 9 p.m. winner will be a toss-up between Millennium (male) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (female). cfto and/or Citytv may pull viewers away if good titles are consistently scheduled.
The infamous 20/20 is back at 10 p.m. on Global (simulcast with abc), featuring Hugh Downs, Barbara Walters and the racier, edgier style that of late has helped bring younger audiences into this time period.
In direct competition is cbc’s The National, with Peter Mansbridge.
Last but not least, we have the return of Don Johnson in Nash Bridges at 10 p.m. on chch. Nash made its debut on cbs in March, and now has an official place on Friday night.
Not as fashion-conscious as Miami Vice, though walking a similar police beat, the show stars Johnson as a detective battling crime on the mean streets of San Francisco (and struggling to develop a stronger relationship with his teenage daughter).
Cheech Marin plays his partner, and Annette O’Toole is cast as one of his ex-wives.
It’s a miss up against Hugh and Barbara, and chances are slim that viewers will flip from a good movie on cfto or Citytv for this.
