You may recall that NBC started airing a Canadian series called The Listener during the summer of 2009. It didn’t perform well so the network cancelled the show but it continued to perform well and be renewed in Canada. It was later picked up by the ION cable channel here in the states.
CTV has now decided to end the show after five seasons and 65 episodes. The series finale of The Listener will air on CTV on August 18th. No word on when ION will air the last episode.
Here’s the press release:
CTV Congratulates THE LISTENER on Five Incredible Seasons as Series Finale Confirmed to Air August 18
TORONTO, Aug. 6, 2014 /CNW/ – CTV announced today that after five seasons and 65 episodes, the hit original drama THE LISTENER will conclude on CTV on Monday, Aug. 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Produced by Shaftesbury in association with CTV and Fox International Channels, THE LISTENER premiered in June of 2009 on CTV.
“Thank you to Shaftesbury for delivering five straight seasons of this much loved series, and to the cast and crew for bringing its captivating stories to life,” said Phil King, President – CTV, Sports, and Entertainment Programming. “THE LISTENER provided a wonderful narrative arc over its 65 episodes, ending its run at the top of its game with a devoted following at home and around the world. It leaves a strong legacy of which we are immensely proud, and we look forward to working with Shaftesbury in the future.”
CTV is currently in development with Shaftesbury on OLD CITY HALL, a drama series based on the novels by Robert Rotenberg and set within the halls of criminal courts; and SMOKE AND MIRRORS, a drama about an illusionist returning home to Niagara Falls and using his extraordinary skills as a private detective.
“Thank you to CTV (Phil, Corrie, Mike, Trish, Tom and Rebecca) as well as our friends at Fox International Channels (Sharon and Andie) and Shine for taking this seven-year journey with us on THE LISTENER,” said Christina Jennings, Chairman and CEO, Shaftesbury. “From start to finish, CTV has been a wonderful broadcast partner. Not every series achieves 65 episodes, and we couldn’t have done it without our dedicated, hardworking family of cast — led by Craig Olejnik – and crew, most recently led by Peter Mohan — who are simply the best in the business. And, thanks of course to THE LISTENER fans – who grew over time.”
In the final episode, an epic story that has threaded its way through all five seasons comes to a gratifying conclusion as secrets from Toby’s (Craig Olejnik) past are finally brought to light. Also Michelle (Lauren Lee Smith), Toby, and Dev (Rainbow Sun Francks) find themselves in the extremely uncomfortable position of investigating their own boss. On clandestine orders from Judge Samuel Griffin (Bruce Gray) and Deputy Commissioner Earl Bamford (Brian Paul) of the IIB, the team must look into Becker’s (Anthony Lemke) dealings with Curtis Maynard (Noam Jenkins), a disgraced former cop with connections to drug dealing.
THE LISTENER was green-lit by CTV in December 2007 and premiered June 3, 2009 on SPACE and CTV. The series instantly became a hit, debuting at #1 in its 10 p.m. timeslot on CTV with an audience of 1.1 million viewers, and went on to average nearly one million viewers in Canada in its first season. In the years that followed, THE LISTENER continued to connect with audiences, averaging 1.1 million viewers. THE LISTENER has been licensed in over 120 markets – including the U.S. (ION Television), U.K., Italy, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Poland, Brazil and Turkey – and is seen in 33 languages worldwide.
THE LISTENER Season 5 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV and CTV GO, with the series finale broadcast on Monday, Aug. 18. Viewers can catch encore episodes Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CTV, Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CTV Two (visit CTV.ca for local broadcast times), and Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo (visit bravo.ca for local broadcast times). The day after each episode of THE LISTENER airs on CTV, viewers can watch the full episode on CTV.ca and the CTV GO app.
The cast of THE LISTENER includes Craig Olejnik as telepathic crime-solver Toby Logan; Lauren Lee Smith as Integrated Investigative Bureau (IIB) Sergeant Michelle McCluskey; Ennis Esmer as Toby’s best friend, Oz Bey; Rainbow Sun Francks as IIB security and technical expert Corporal Dev Clark; Kris Holden-Ried as Adam Reynolds, Michelle’s reformed gambler husband; Melanie Scrofano as crime reporter Tia Tremblay, Toby’s girlfriend; Anthony Lemke as IIB Supervising Inspector Brian Becker; and Natalie Krill as forensics technician Alex Kendrick.
THE LISTENER is broadcast on CTV and Bravo in Canada, ION Television in the United States, Fox International Channels internationally, and distributed by Shine International. Produced by Shaftesbury in association with CTV and Fox International Channels, the series is executive produced by Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Craig Olejnik, and Peter Mohan (LOST GIRL, THE BRIDGE), who is also showrunner. Tina Grewal (HEARTLAND) is producer. Sharon Tal Yguado is executive producer for Fox International Channels. Tom Hastings and Rebecca DiPasquale are production executives for Bell Media. Trish Williams is Director, Independent Production, Bell Media and Corrie Coe is Senior Vice-President, Independent Production, Bell Media. Mike Cosentino is Senior Vice-President, Programming, CTV Networks, Bell Media. Phil King is President, President CTV Sports and Entertainment Programming. THE LISTENER is produced with the financial participation of The Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit and The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit.
What do you think? Did you like The Listener? Are you sory that there won’t be a sixth seasoon?
I just found this show and now I find out that it is ending. I don’t think that they advertised this show enough. I did not know anything about this show, I just came across it one night and though it was great. And now it is canceled, I think it should have had a better ending. I could see Toby having a son and having the same powers as Toby so they could revive the show at some future point in time. I hate when I find a show I love and it ends, I really hate to see… Read more »
This show was excellent, it took me only a week to rip through the series. I am so sad that it is not continuing to a 6th season and hope a series as good as this will come out soon.
This is a very good drama series which I hardly can find any of the show to compare with it. Please reconsider of not cancelling the show.
Really hope they reconsider the horrible decision they made to cancel the show
The Listener is a great show, why on earth would you cancel it!!
Great show, should NOT be cancelled I so enjoy watching it. Great Canadian show
So sad to see this show end.
I was disappointed to hear that The Listener is being cancelled, especially if the show was still going strong everywhere. I wish CTV would reconsider cancelling the show.
Listener will be missed. Better then the best US show.
I really Enjoyed this series and when today i read this show is cancelled. I was very upset, beacuse this series is nice; in short words I would say short sweet and full of crime seasons it had till 5 and really not happy with its getting cancelled.
I didn’t discover “The Listener” until June 2015 when I was in the hospital recovering from surgery. One show & I’m hooked! I have been watching all the repeats of TheListener since then & have just found out that it’s been cancelled. Disappointment is not a strong enough word for how I feel! The Listener is an excellent show with a strong cast & interesting stories. y only hope now is to watch it online when i can no longer see it on TV. Why do they always cancel the good shows?!? Ill be looking to see Craig Olejnik and… Read more »
I just started watching “The Listener” this summer. When it first aired on CBS, I thought that it was to sci-fi for me. But, with no good shows on this summer I started watching and recording this show. It’s great. A different “hook” each week, without the blood and guts of shows like Criminal Minds, etc. Fortunately, I hope to see all seasons on ION.
Very disappointed that CTV has once again cancelled a quality Canadian Show. The writers of this show were more than capable of producing good scripts to have this show go on for many more episodes. There are so few good Canadian shows on TV, it is a real shame to lose such a good one.
Why is it when a Canadian TV show is successful, they cancel it? Shame, shame, shame. Maybe another network should pick it up, like it happened with Murdoch Mysteries.
I haven’t seen the final episode yet but I hate it when series end without finishing major elements of the action. I have been waiting for a long time that the series would pick up the story about Toby, his brother and why he has his special telepathic skills. Instead it just had a murder case in nearly every episdode…so I expected that it would end sooner than later because people might get tired of the same plot all over again. So now it happened…and I hate it that now one of my favourite TV-series is not going to get… Read more »
Very sad to see a great Canadian tv show cancelled.
Its a shame that we have to watch other garbage reality tv shows instead.
They cannot end it like that. They still need to tell what happened with his brother and that group that despised him and his mom. They also need to finalize Tia and Toby. And Oz needs to go to that wedding. They could do so much more. They should not have just ended it. they could have possibly enough for two more seasons.
I completely agree. It’s a disappointment to not see what you mention above pursued, even though they at least brought Toby’s mom into the finale, they’ve left these other threads hanging.
I totally agree, and I haven’t seen the season 5 finale but I’m sure they can fit everything in 1 episode
*cant