“Baroness von Sketch Show” star Carolyn Taylor will front a new unscripted comedy series for Canadian streaming service Crave, produced through Catalyst and Blue Ant Studios.
The six-part comedy series has been commissioned by the Bell Media-owned SVOD, and is produced by Catalyst — the Toronto-based development and funding company focusing on women-centric content — and Blue Ant Studios as part of a strategic partnership to develop female-generated programming for the global marketplace.
Taylor is best known as one of the stars and co-creators of CBC’s comedy hit “Baroness von Sketch Show,” which aired across five seasons from 2016 to 2020. Starring four female comedians, the satirical sketch comedy offered clever takedowns of contemporary culture through the female gaze. Some of the show’s most famous skits include “Private Vagina,” “Mom Says Hello” and “Not All Men.”
The new series, which is still untitled, is slated to premiere on Crave in 2023. Blue Ant International will handle worldwide distribution.
An official synopsis for the show is as follows:
The action plays out at the intersection of amateur ability and enormous ambition — in this case, inspired by Katerina Witt and the 1988 Calgary Olympics, Taylor’s unlikely quest to choreograph the perfect pairs figure-skating routine to be performed in front of an audience of skating stars and fans. What begins as a light-hearted challenge soon morphs into a real-life mission. Despite having zero figure-skating knowledge or skill, Taylor manages to convince an A-list cast of skaters to help her achieve her dream, including two-time Olympic Gold Medallist Ekaterina Gordeeva, Olympic Gold Medallist David Pelletier, four-time World Champion Kurt Browning, two-time Olympic Silver Medallist Brian Orser, World Champions Barbara Underhill & Paul Martini, Olympic Silver Medallist Elizabeth Manley, World Silver Medallists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, Unites States Champion Adam Rippon, and social media skating sensation Elladj Baldé.
Taylor is joined on her figure-skating journey by BAFTA-winning actor and comedian Mae Martin (“Feel Good”) and Emmy-winning figure skating choreographer Sandra Bezic (“Battle of the Blades”).
When asked for a quote while rehearsing at the rink, Taylor said: “I’m exhausted, terrified, way out of my league and have absolutely no time to give you a quote.”
Catalyst founder Julie Bristow said: “Carolyn’s latest comedy offering hits all the notes for Catalyst, not least that we all need more reasons to laugh in our complicated and troubled world. But it also demonstrates that Catalyst’s raison d’etre — to give female-generated unscripted projects the very best start in life — is not just a worthy mission but a sound commercial proposition. Carolyn proves that believing in yourself and following your dreams can lead to remarkable things. And luckily for us all, figure skating is only one of Carolyn’s dreams. Turns out she has lots of them for future seasons.”
The series is produced by Catalyst with Blue Ant Studios — through the companies’ non-scripted co-production joint venture — and supported by Rogers Cable Fund and Bell Fund. The unscripted comedy series is created by Taylor, co-directed by Taylor and Zack Russell, and exec produced by Taylor and Russell. Serving as executive producers are Catalyst’s Vibika Bianchi and Julie Bristow and Blue Ant Studios’ Laura Michalchyshyn, Aileen Gardner and Sam Sniderman.
The first commission out of Catalyst and Blue Ant Media’s non-scripted co-production joint venture was “Mission: Unexplained” for T+E in Canada. The eight-part docuseries examines inexplicable events witnessed by military veterans on the front line, from mystifying lights through vanishing civilians to terrifying apparitions. The JV’s mission is to co-produce female-generated unscripted content for the global marketplace.
Catalyst, formerly the Content Catalyst Fund, rebranded and expanded last month to sharpen its focus on female content creators, and attracting more women into non-scripted television.
