TORONTO -- Three spanking new Canadian series and four U.S. imports will be added to the fall prime-time lineup of CTV, which, despite industry concerns over a shortfall of support funding, boasts that 2003-2004 will be its "most ambitious homegrown bundle ever." The network's splashy season launch event at a downtown theatre yesterday was attended by network sponsors as well as surprise guest stars Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, recent winner and runner-up respectively of the hit American Idol talent series last month. CTV plans to air not only the next instalment of American Idol this fall, but also its new Canadian Idol run-off over the summer, beginning next Monday.

"We're fiercely proud of CTV's ever-expanding slate of Canadian programming," said programming president Susanne Boyce, in unveiling a lineup described as CTV's "biggest single-season commitment to Canadian programming ever."

Ivan Fecan, president of Bell Globemedia, CTV's parent company, gushed that the network was "solidly entrenched" as No. 1 in all age demographics.

"I just can't say enough. Forgive me. We've been waiting a long time for this and I really like the sound of it. No. 1! One more time, No. 1! Music to my ears."

The launch news was also preceded by a parody music video in which 15-year-old Tara Keith belted out Some People Wait a Lifetime for a Season Like This.

But while The Eleventh Hour, CTV's critically acclaimed but low-rated drama series, returns for a second year -- along with season seven of the forensics cop series Cold Squad and Degrassi: The Next Generation -- the only new domestic series is an anthology drama from the West Coast called Keys Cut Here which, like The Eleventh Hour, barely scraped together sufficient funding to proceed.

Like many other domestic shows, both had been considered in jeopardy with recent reports that the Canadian Television Fund was drastically underfunded.

On the comedy side, meanwhile, are two newcomers, Brent Butt's sitcom Corner Gas and the sketch series Comedy, Inc.

CTV is also importing only a quartet of fresh U.S. series, not because of a vast amount of Canadian programming, but primarily because so many hit shows will be returning, from ER to The Sopranos to the two CSIs.

Fresh American series include Whoopi, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Cold Case, a Philadelphia-based crime series that looks cloned directly from CTV's own Cold Squad, Nip/Tuck, a drama about a pair of Miami plastic surgeons, and Joan of Arcadia, about a small-town girl who begins seeing visions of God.

CTV seems to be putting most of its Canadian content drama into the movie-of-the-week category. Original titles, most based on actual events, include:

- The Italian-Canadian two-part co-production Lives of the Saints, based on the award-winning Canadian novel by Nino Ricci and starring Sophia Loren.

- Burn, with Jonathan Scarfe as Robert Wraight, a whistleblower caught between environmentalists and the Alberta oil industry.

- Choice, the filmed-in-Montreal story of famed Canadian abortionist Dr. Henry Morgentaler (played by David Eisner).

- Prom Queen, about a gay student who generates controversy when he declares he wants to bring his boyfriend as his date to his prom.

- Sleep Murder starring Jason Priestley as a young Toronto lawyer who takes on a difficult murder case in Nunavut. It co-stars Natar Ungalaaq (from Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner).

- The Investigation: A dramatization of police efforts to trap notorious serial killer Clifford Olson, starring Nicholas Lea (The X-Files).

CTV FALL LINEUP

Here are some of the new prime-time shows that CTV plans to air as part of its 2003-2004 network schedule:

New Canadian drama and comedy

Keys Cut Here: Keys are cut and secrets unlocked in 13 half-hour episodes from Vancouver's Water Street Pictures, an omnibus series about the mysterious tenants of an apartment building in the city's colourful west end.

Comedy Inc.: A half-hour sketch comedy series starring Roman Danylo, with Second City regulars Aurora Browne and Jennifer Goodhue. Characters include Osama's gay brother, Toronto resident Lance bin Laden, the French cast of Friends and Deepak-Tupac, a Canadian passport officer.

New U.S. series

Cold Case: Clearly inspired by CTV's own Cold Squad, this crime series from CBS stars newcomer Kathryn Morris (Minority Report) as Lilly Rush, the lone female detective on the Philadelphia homicide squad, who is assigned to cold cases, past crimes that have never been solved.

Joan of Arcadia: Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna, Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen and Amber Tamblyn in a series that follows a small-town family whose teenage daughter begins holding conversations with God; from CBS.

Returning shows

ER, American Idol, Third Watch, The Eleventh Hour, Cold Squad, Degrassi: The Next Generation, 8 Simple Rules, CSI, CSI: Miami, the three Law & Orders, Comedy Now, Just for Laughs Gags, Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye (a Canadian-made series that aired on the PAX network in the U.S. and debuted in January on CTV) and According to Jim.