{"id":913796,"date":"2026-06-18T18:14:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/how-crave-approaches-original-canadian-programming-like-heated-rivalry\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T18:14:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T23:14:44","slug":"how-crave-approaches-original-canadian-programming-like-heated-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/how-crave-approaches-original-canadian-programming-like-heated-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"How Crave approaches original Canadian programming like Heated Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For the past several months,\u00a0Heated Rivalry<\/em> has been all the rage in the TV space.<\/p>\n

Crave\u2019s Canadian sports romance series garnered rave reviews and huge audiences worldwide for the steamy love story between rival hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. The second season is set to begin production this summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But of course, that\u2019s far from the only Canadian series in the works, especially from Crave. At its latest Upfront event, Bell confirmed that a total of 118 original titles<\/a> (including 56 French-language projects<\/a>) are coming as part of its 2026-2027 slate. This includes Meatballs<\/em>, a new raunchy comedy series starring\u00a0Heated Rivalry<\/em>\u2018s Robbie C.K.; Cats in the Plateau<\/em>, a new Montreal-set comedy series from Jared Keeso (Letterkenny<\/em>, the upcoming\u00a0I Kill the Bear<\/em>); I\u2019m Not Here to Hurt You\u00a0<\/em>from Canada\u2019s David Shore (The Good Doctor<\/em>);\u00a0The Littlest Hobo\u00a0<\/em>(a live-action drama based on the eponymous Canadian classic from Vancouver-born Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg);\u00a0and a new season of Big Brother Canada<\/em> (taking over from previous network Global) hosted by\u00a0The Social<\/em>\u2018s Andrea Bain.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

Andrea Bain, host of Big Brother Canada. (Image credit: Bell Media)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

To learn more about Bell\u2019s wider programming slate, MobileSyrup <\/em>sat down with Bell\u2019s Justin Stockman, VP of content development & programming, and Carlyn Klebuc, general manager of original programming. They talked about some of this new Canadian programming, what they look for among the many content pitches they receive, how the success of Heated Rivalry\u00a0<\/em>has informed their greenlighting process and how to best uplift Canadian media.<\/p>\n

With all of that Upfront news, what are some of the particular highlights that stand out to you?<\/h3>\n

Justin Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>I think broad strokes, this is our most exciting slate of announcements we\u2019ve had in a very long time. We\u2019re taking a lot of big swings. We\u2019ve got a lot of really exciting programs that are attached to interesting creatives, whether in front of the camera, behind the camera, that I think really shows that we mean business, and we\u2019re here to be a big player. So I think that the whole list of announcements together really showcases that.<\/p>\n

One of the announcements is you\u2019re taking on Big Brother Canada.<\/em> What was the impetus for wanting to add that to your content portfolio?<\/h3>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>With Big Brother, and I\u2019ll also say with Saturday Night Live<\/em>, in both cases we saw those franchises as being both a broadcast opportunity, but also a streaming opportunity. And in their previous home, they didn\u2019t have the same streaming opportunity that they will with us. So when they were up for renewal, we made a move to get both those franchises, because we think they\u2019ll do really. Obviously, we\u2019ll get good ratings when we have them on CTV, but we think they\u2019ll have a great life on Crave afterwards, like with Big Brother<\/em>. We see Love Island<\/em>, The Traitors \u2014<\/em>\u00a0all these types of programs are really performing well in streaming, and I think Big Brother<\/em> will do excellent there outside of the folks that want to tune in and watch it live when it\u2019s on broadcast. Then we had the opportunity to bring back Big Brother Canada<\/em>, which was always a massive hit when it was on our competitor\u2019s [networks]. It hurt us. [laughs] But I think there was an economic challenge. It\u2019s a very expensive show to produce, and we had an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Carlyn Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>Canadians love to see themselves on screen and in these big format shows, and our Quebec colleagues have been commissioning Big Brother Celebrity<\/em> for multiple seasons. So we have the house, we have the expertise, and we think we\u2019ve set this up, with shooting this in Montreal with the current production team, to be a repeated year-over-year success.<\/p>\n

I was reading an interview with you<\/a>, Justin, where you mentioned something around 1,000 pitches that Bell receives for original content per year, and you greenlight about 65. What are some of the things you look for when you\u2019re looking to make those ultimate approvals?<\/h3>\n
\n

\"Yaga\"<\/p>\n

Yaga is a Crave mystery-thriller starring Canadian actors Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, Clark Backo and Hudson Williams.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s a good question. I would say, first of all, our development team is looking for: is there a unique take? If we could go buy it, it\u2019s easier to buy a show than it is to make a show. And so, if we could go to the marketplace and buy this show, I don\u2019t know why we would make it. And so, we\u2019re really looking for big swings that will, again, sort of give the market something new they don\u2019t have, or has a new take on an idea that\u2019s interesting and sort of will cut through. Or if there\u2019s interesting talent attached, whether it\u2019s a writer or on-screen talent that we want to work with that we think could do something new for us that they haven\u2019t done before.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how you sort of make it through that first filter, and then when it comes to the wider programming team of deciding what to greenlight, it\u2019s all those things. Through the development, do they actually deliver on all those things we hoped would happen, and then is it producible? Can we actually get the money together, and can it be made to whatever the vision of the show is? And do we have other things like that in the pipeline right now that would still stand out? And then it\u2019s a go.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>We don\u2019t want to put anything in development that we don\u2019t think has a path to greenlight.<\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes, we don\u2019t want to say no very often after that first initial no if it doesn\u2019t make it to development, so we really hope if it makes its development pipeline, it\u2019ll get to greenlight. They often don\u2019t, but that\u2019ll be because it just didn\u2019t come together creatively during that period, or something has changed and now there\u2019s a show just like it that\u2019s come in, or all sorts of other factors that might happen.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:<\/strong> The only thing I would add is Canada\u2019s such a large, diverse country. There are so many different audiences, and we have so many channels, platforms, and mouths to feed to here. So we have a lot of opportunity to feed those different audiences and those different channels and platforms. So while it\u2019s correct that we\u2019re looking for something that\u2019s interesting and cuts through, and we\u2019re looking for great, it\u2019s different in each case. We\u2019re really trying to to satisfy all those various audiences.<\/p>\n

To that point, there\u2019s so many different kinds of things that could constitute a \u201cCanadian story.\u201d How do you land on what seems like a good fit for what Canadians might want to see when you\u2019re sort of greenlighting those types of projects?<\/h3>\n
\n

\"Sullivan's<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Morgan Kohan and Chad Michael Murray star in the Nova Scotia-set drama Sullivan\u2019s Crossing. (Image credit: CTV)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>There\u2019s some stuff where there\u2019s the obvious, like hockey. [laughs] We know there\u2019s a built-in audience for hockey, but I think it\u2019s one of those things that you just feel, as a Canadian, it\u2019s difficult to define, sometimes, what Canadian culture is. But we\u2019re Canadian. We know it. We experience it. We live it. And we know what we<\/em> want to watch. And our audiences tell us through their ratings of programs what they want to watch. So we\u2019re trying to figure that out.<\/p>\n

We do definitely do some shows that we call our \u201cBig C\u201d Canadian shows that we are feeding just to Canadians. I think Letterkenny<\/em> and Shoresy<\/em>\u00a0were a good example of that originally. As it turns out, the world loved them, but something like Canada\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> or Big Brother Canada<\/em>, that\u2019s really for the Canadian audience. And then our other programming, we want to make sure, yes, it serves that Canadian audience first, but is it likely that it\u2019s going to travel and serve international audiences? So we look at programming in all different ways with different strategies, too.<\/p>\n

On the subject of very popular international audiences:\u00a0Heated Rivalry.<\/em> With the big success of that, how has that informed your approach going forward in terms of the types of projects that you\u2019re looking for?<\/h3>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>I think it more just reinforced that the path we were on is the right path, where we wanted to take bigger swings, we wanted to have global impact with what we were doing, we wanted the world to realize that Canadian Canadian series are premium and can be high quality, and this isn\u2019t just where you come to shoot series because it\u2019s cheaper. And how do we elevate all these Canadian creatives that are known around the world that left because they want to work on bigger budgets? Come work with us and we\u2019ll figure out how to get the money together. And so I think Heated Rivalry<\/em> proved our point, really, at the right time, but we were already on this path. So I think all these announcements we\u2019re making really show how many swings we\u2019re taking, and all the interesting talent we can work with that we can draw in to work with us to make these big Canadian series.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:<\/strong> Our originals are a key part of our strategy. That\u2019s how we differentiate ourselves on our platforms and channels, and we see originals really as drivers, and they are there in the top 10. They are selling around the world, so they are a really key part of our overall programming strategy.<\/p>\n

Out of all the pitches you get, how many steamy sports stories are you getting now?<\/h3>\n
\n

\"Heated<\/p>\n

Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Canada\u2019s Hudson Williams) in Heated Rivalry. (Image credit: Crave)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Everyone:\u00a0<\/strong>[laughs]<\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>Some people are lacking in imagination. [laughs] So we do get a lot of queer and sports [pitches]. Yeah, we\u2019ve got that covered. We\u2019re good.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>But we\u2019ve been doing sports-adjacent programming for many, many years.<\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>Slo Pitch<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is a queer softball show.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>A lot of documentaries\u2026 The Rebuild<\/em> [Montreal Canadiens docuseries] incredibly successful. We\u2019re doing a new one with Jay Baruchel called Blood on the Ice<\/em>, just looking at Canadian culture and why do these gentle Canadians love a hockey fight so much. And then Balls Deep<\/em> is another new one that we\u2019re doing, which is sexy, queer, beach volleyball players.<\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>Maybe secretly queer.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>Secretly queer? The secret\u2019s going to be out soon!<\/p>\n

Everyone:\u00a0<\/strong>[laughs]<\/p>\n

I saw you mention in an interview<\/a>, Carlyn, that we\u2019re sort of in the \u201cGolden Age of Canadian TV\u2026\u201d<\/h3>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>Should I regret saying that? [laughs]<\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s continuing!<\/p>\n

No, absolutely. And Crave is helping to usher that in a lot of ways. And Carlyn mentioned the need to have \u201cour own storytelling.\u201d How do you think we can holistically continue to push for all of that, in addition to the content that Crave is producing?<\/h3>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>I think all boats rise. I think Heated Rivalry<\/em> has had an effect that there is a little bit more competition. I think everybody\u2019s challenged to get the most money that on screen work with the best creators. And like you said, Justin, just to show that our our content is shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. content and is exciting around the world. So I feel personally like the pressure is on to keep delivering. We\u2019re excited about Yaga<\/em><\/a> [a Canadian mystery thriller starring Schitt\u2019s Creek<\/em>\u2018s Noah Reid] as one of our next big shows to come out. That is very well-written, very well-executed, with some really amazing talent attached, and it\u2019s just about continuing to deliver high quality, premium content to all our various audiences.<\/p>\n

I do a lot of Canadian content coverage in general, and specifically, in the video game space. Something I\u2019ve noticed is that lot of people don\u2019t really know just how much amazing Canadian content is made here, whether that is on the video game side, the movie side, TV side, etc. So, obviously, outside of continuing to produce this content, how do we \u2014 on a more holistic level, not necessarily just Bell \u2014 better promote this sort of thing so people know that this content is being made here, it\u2019s inherently Canadian, that sort of thing?<\/h3>\n
\n

\"Letterkenny<\/p>\n

Jared Keeso created and stars in Letterkenny, which ended in 2023 but led to the ongoing spin-off Shoresy. (Image credit: Crave)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s been a couple years now where we\u2019re beating that drum of we make great [content] and reminding people of who all these Canadians are that maybe forgot we\u2019re Canadians that are making shows for them. We\u2019re still on the journey, we\u2019re working through it. But I think the whole industry will benefit the more that people realize how strong we actually already are. And we want a flywheel effect, where the stronger we get just creates more opportunity. And so you\u2019ll see on Crave, we never bury any of our Canadian content. We spend a lot of money on these shows. [laughs] So if we take the time to make a show, greenlight, it\u2019s always featured very prominently to ensure that audiences know it\u2019s a Crave original and that it\u2019s ours and we made it for them. And so we always feature that super prominently. I think the addition of our top 10 in Crave has been really helpful, because we don\u2019t really manipulate the top 10. It\u2019s real data, and you can see how much of the Canadian shows are breaking through and showing up in the top 10.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>Heated Rivalry<\/em>,\u00a0Sullivan\u2019s Crossing\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, Heated Rivalry\u00a0<\/em>is back in the top 10 this week. Sullivan\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>was in there. So I think the top 10 is another way that we\u2019re reinforcing that these Crave originals that are being created for Canadians are actually performing, and \u201chey, Canada, other Canadians are watching this Canadian thing, you should watch it, too.\u201d And it helps really reinforce that what we\u2019re doing has impact.<\/p>\n

Klebuc:\u00a0<\/strong>And ensuring that our brand stays on our content when it travels, too. That hasn\u2019t always been easy and it\u2019s something that we\u2019re making a priority.<\/p>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>All these awards that\u00a0Heated Rivalry\u00a0<\/em>is winning around the world, Crave is associated with in every case, which I think really is going to help the industry overall.<\/p>\n

You often hear when you talk to creatives that Canadian content that\u2019s set in Canada isn\u2019t necessarily \u201ccommercial.\u201d But obviously for a long time, Bell has been producing titles like Letterkenny<\/em> and Heated Rivalry<\/em>, and even something like Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie <\/em>that Bell was involved with is such a Toronto movie\u2026<\/h3>\n
\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol as fictionalized versions of themselves in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. (Image credit: Elevation Pictures)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>This building [Bell Media Studios] is in like half of the scenes!<\/p>\n

We see stuff like that that resonates with people everywhere. So as you\u2019re having conversations with counterparts around the world who maybe still have that sort of mindview, how do you push back against it and show that what Canadians are making will resonate with everyone, even if it is set in Toronto or set in Montreal, or wherever?<\/h3>\n

Stockman:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s one project at a time. I think each one will prove the next one more true. Obviously, Heated Rivalry<\/em> gave us a little extra boost where we were already making progress, but you can see with our list of announcements. Like the David Shore, Freddie Highmore series with Sony, that\u2019s them taking a big leap with us to create a show that doesn\u2019t have a U.S. buyer yet, but we\u2019re going to invest our money together, make it here with David Shore, one of the best-known showrunners in the world who happens to be Canadian. And re-teaming with Freddie Highmore \u2014 they made a pretty big show together [The Good Doctor<\/em>]. So we know they can do it. But then trusting us to shepherd this through, and to deliver them separately, we\u2019re both taking a little risk, but I think it\u2019s pretty calculated risk. And that project, I\u2019m sure, will be successful, and it will then lead to more like that with maybe other studios. And so it\u2019ll be one or two things at a time, to just sort of keep snowballing as we go.<\/p>\n

\n

This interview has been edited for language, clarity and length.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bradly Shankar
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past several months,\u00a0Heated Rivalry has been all the rage in the TV space. Crave\u2019s Canadian sports romance series garnered rave reviews and huge audiences worldwide for the steamy love story between rival hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov. The second season is set to begin production this summer. But of course, that\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":913797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38384,45037],"tags":[17521,21721],"class_list":["post-913796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-approaches","category-crave","tag-approaches","tag-crave"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}