Seth Rogen attended the 79th Cannes Film Festival in France on May 14th.Sarah Maysonier/Reuters
Bell Media’s Crave is building on the blockbuster success of Heat Rivalry in an unexpected way: a reboot of the can-con classic about runaway dogs.
The live-action reimagining of The Littlest Hobo, the television series about the empathetic and strong German shepherd that originally aired on CTV from 1979 to 1985, is the first scripted project resulting from a partnership between Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Gray Pictures, Lionsgate Canada, and the Canadian streaming service announced in December 2024.
It’s the most star-studded and surprising new show in a packed lineup of original and acquired content that Bell Media announced Thursday and is pitching to advertisers in its first annual upfront since the smash hit of “Heated Rivalry.”
The international impact of Jacob Tierney’s hockey drama hasn’t changed the company’s path, but rather has given management confidence that the company is already on the right path by making a “significant shift,” according to Justin Stockman, vice president of global content.
“We were pretty actively talking about wanting to make a big hit internationally. We wanted to work with some of the most talented Canadians and repatriate them,” Stockman says.
“The heated rivalry helped prove our point in a very big way.”
“’Little Hobo’ was a foundational show of our childhood,” Rogen and Goldberg, creators of the most recent Emmy-winning Apple TV comedy “The Studio,” said in a statement.
“We are thrilled to be working with our partners at Crave to bring this back to a new generation.”
Casting, production and premiere details for Littlest Hobo will be announced at a later date.
CBC’s new TV lineup includes workplace comedy starring Samantha Bee and hockey drama from PK Saban
On Thursday, Bell Media also touted recent signings with returning Canadians. David Shore is a London, Ont.-born showrunner behind such American medical procedural hits as House and The Good Doctor.
Shore will reunite with actor Freddie Highmore, who starred in The Good Doctor, in Crave’s new crime drama I’m Not Here to Hurt You. Produced by Blink49 Studios, it is Bell Media’s first co-commission with Sony Pictures Television.
Another original drama announced is “The Hidden Keys,” an adaptation of the novel by Giller Prize-winning author Andre Alexis.
But Crave had its most consistent success in scripted entertainment before the comedy Heated Rivalry, and the streamer isn’t moving away from that field.
Meatballs is a new series inspired by the 1979 comedy about a mediocre summer camp that launched director Ivan Reitman’s career and showed Bill Murray a potential star.
lobby goalkeeperHenry Wu/Provided
Robbie GK, the fiery star who played Kip in Rivals, will lead the cast of this mini-film version and bring an enthusiastic audience with it.
Meanwhile, “Bulges” is a series by Hamilton’s sketch collective “The Desert” depicting a Hooters-style restaurant staffed by men.
and Frantic Films’ Salty, a female buddy comedy about two ocean-dwelling millennial mermaids who must find love before their birthday or turn into squid.
“We’re growing new viewers with ‘Meatballs’ and ‘Salty,'” said Karlin Klebak, general manager of original programming, noting that Crave has been fixated on male-biased comedies since “Letterkenny.”
Other newly announced Crave comedies include Cats in the Plateau, another show from Letterkenny creator Jared Keeso about a Montreal garbage man who starts a gang. “I Can’t Save You,” by Jennifer Podemski, Amber Daniels, and Shelley McKay, tells the story of a single mother living in Winnipeg’s North End who discovers stand-up comedy. and “The Golden Mile,” a workplace comedy about strip mall security guards from Joyce Wong and Brian Keith Etheridge.
Comedies “The Office Movers,” “Shoresy” and “Super Team Canada” are all returning for new seasons (though “The Trades” is not). And previously announced “Slo Pitch” (an Elliot Page “PageBoy” production) and “I Kill the Bear” (another Keyso show) are finally scheduled to air on Crave in late 2026.
Another area where Bell Media is leaning into the success of its pre-heated rivals is reality television.
Big Brother Canada was canceled by Global after its 12th season in 2024, but is scheduled to return in the summer of 2027 on CTV and Crave.
Crave has been very successful in finding efficiencies by catering to audiences in both official languages. And that’s what allowed Big Brother Canada to come back. “Our French colleagues produce Big Brother celebrities, so we have a Big Brother house,” Stockman says. “We can find more sustainable production models.”
The model is also behind Advent Calendar, Crave’s English version of French holiday-themed dating show Le Calendrier de l’Avent. The original version was in the top five on Crave throughout its run in December last year, and also attracted a loyal UK audience who watched it with subtitles.
Temptations Under the Sun, an English-language complement to the French-language reality show, will finally air for the first time this summer after being pulled from Crave’s schedule a week before it was scheduled to air last winter. “Creatively, we needed more time to get the show right,” Kleback says.
The Crave show announced Thursday won’t necessarily premiere next year. First announced at the last Bell Media Upfront, Yaga, an adaptation of Cat Sandler’s folklore-inspired play, is scheduled to open at Crave by the end of 2026.
Crave is currently the fourth-largest streaming service in Canada, and Stockman said he believes it will move up to third place next year.
Regarding the HBO content seen on the Canadian streamer, Stockman said the deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, which is in the process of being acquired by Bell Media and Paramount, is a “long-term deal.”
“Crave will continue to be the home for HBO and HBO Max programming in Canada,” he says.
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