Ice gold: CBC fall season bets on Battle of the Blades and Men With Brooms

Ice gold: CBC fall season bets on Battle of the Blades and Men With Brooms

Doesn't get much better than Domi in hot pink (Image: CBC)

No one is surprised that Battle of the Blades, the reality show that turns loutish hockey players into pairs figure skating pros, has been signed up for a second season—Ron MacLean and Kurt Browning are set to host and so far NHLers Theo Fleury and Russ Courtnall are in. Last year, the show reached 1.7 million viewers, making it a huge success for the CBC. But the Ceeb is also betting on a second ice-level sport for its fall schedule, a TV adaptation of Paul Gross’ 2002 film, Men With Brooms.

Could it be that the Vancouver Olympics (and hottie Canuck curler Cheryl Bernard) have finally made the sport cool? Gross will write and produce some of the half-hour comedy in addition to narrating and starring as Chris Cutter, the character he played in the film, in several episodes—we all know how much Gross enjoys writing for himself. Both shows premiere on Monday, September 26.

Reality shows, comedies on CBC-TV fall lineup [CBC]
Theo Fleury joins second season of Battle of the Blades [Toronto Star]
CBC Fall Preview: Q&A with the cast of Men With Brooms [National Post]
CBC Fall Preview: Kurt Browning talks Season 2 of Battle of the Blades [National Post]