MVP: Most Vindicated Player?

Back in January, I blogged here about the new hockey soap MVP, having done a little work on the pilot a year prior. I called it "big, stupid, nasty, trashy fun", and wondered if the CBC could handle such a show.

Of course, we know now that it couldn't. As usually happens, there was some initial interest, then the CBC kinda flailed. In this case, they made their valiant attempt at promoting it, then slacked a bit and eventually switched it on the schedule with fellow new series jPod without telling many people, leading to the demise of both shows.

Now there's news that MVP has been picked up by a channel in the U.S. that knows exactly how to handle bigstupidnastytrashyfun shows: SOAPNet. A popular digital channel, SOAPNet is best known for helping non-TiVo-owning soap fans who aren't able to tune into their favourite daytime drama, giving them the chance to catch up at night or on the weekend. A few years ago, they started developing more original shows, like the magazine/talk show Soap Talk and the reality show I Wanna Be a Soap Star, and last summer they tried their own soap with the General Hospital spinoff Night Shift, which pulled down 1 million viewers in its limited run. Now, they have MVP, which starts in mid-June.

Here's the link to the Hollywood Reporter's take on the story, which quotes a Disney-ABC (who runs the channel) boss, Brian Frons, as saying, "This is the first time we are going to have a primetime soap with real primetime production values" (they do have reruns of primetime fare like The O.C. and One Tree Hill).

"We're broadening our reach by investing more in original programming," Frons said, adding that "MVP" has "five to six times" the budget of "Night Shift."

Here's the link to the Globe and Mail's take on the story, which also includes that same boss, as well as a very happy and not-smug MVP co-creator Mary Young Leckie:

What this means is we've got a new launch - as an original series - in the States. ABC is taking the cast around to do a number of promotions, as well as the talk-show circuit...If it's successful for ABC, it could leave the door open to a second season.

That could mean a second season also for a possibly-contrite CBC, who still has the Canadian rights to the show - and will be re-airing the first season around the same time it makes its American bow. Will MVP be truly vindicated, or just another Falcon Beach? Is it a coincidence that SOAPNet is owned by the same mega-corp who owns ABC Family, the U.S. digital channel that picked up CBC ratings winner Sophie recently (and a couple years ago, picked up Falcon Beach)? And whither jPod? Stay tuned, as the twists and turns might prove as interesting as finding out if Damon and Mandy escape from the car that crashed into the lake.

(Thanks to Inside the CBC for the tip.)