Corus expanding 'The Morning Show' into the afternoon with 'TMS2'

The Corus logo at Corus Quay in Toronto is shown on Friday, June 22, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

TORONTO — Corus Entertainment is expanding “The Morning Show” into a whole new frontier: the afternoon.

The broadcasting company announced the new program, “TMS2,” at its upfront presentation on Wednesday, saying the hour-long show will debut on Global and StackTV starting in September.

It will be hosted by Morgan Hoffman, an entertainment reporter on “The Morning Show”.

Christopher Mercer, Corus’s senior vice-president of media sales and solutions, says it will be an ad-friendly program.

Corus is selling advertisers on its NextScreen platform, which encourages TV viewers to shop while watching by scanning a QR code, allowing advertisers can track the outcome of their marketing spend and serve up targeted ads.

Mercer says “TMS2” will “tie entertainment and commerce together.”

In its annual presentation to advertisers called the upfronts, Corus — which is currently trying to restructure $1 billion in debt — announced a handful of new specialty programs, but is only adding one other new Canadian original to its flagship channel, Global.

That’s the previously announced “Private Eyes West Coast,” a Victoria-set series starring Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson who will be reprising their roles from “Private Eyes,” which ran from 2016 to 2021 and was set in Toronto.

Global has also acquired a number of American shows, including “NCIS: New York,” starring LL Cool J; the Robert and Michelle King-helmed legal series “Cupertino”; vampire sitcom “Eternally Yours”; and “Einstein,” a lighthearted drama starring Matthew Gray Gubler as Albert Einstein’s crime-solving grandson.

Meanwhile, Corus’s specialty channels Home and Flavour are introducing a handful of new original series.

“Love It or List It West” relaunches the popular real estate franchise, this time set in Calgary with new hosts: designer Amanda Hamilton and real estate agent Robbie Kamaleddine; and “Property Pursuit” will feature designer Debra Salmoni helping homeowners climb the property ladder.

But Home Network has also lost two of its biggest stars, Bryan and Sarah Baeumler. The couple came to prominence on HGTV Canada with shows including “House of Bryan,” “Leave It to Bryan” and “Renovation Inc.”

Corus used to own the rights to HGTV, along with several other key brands including Food Network and Cooking Channel, but in 2024 Rogers signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to acquire those brands.

The deal prompted Corus to launch Home and Flavour networks, and at the time, the Baeumlers said they were sticking with Corus. They rolled out a new show featuring the couple called “Building Baeumler,” which launched last year.

But during Rogers’ Upfronts presentation to advertisers on Tuesday, the couple said that they’re “coming home to HGTV,” where they’ll helm three new series.

For its part, Corus seems to be taking the news well.

“We absolutely have built some of the biggest brands and talent and franchises in this space, in the lifestyle space,” said Jennifer Abrams, senior vice-president of content and marketing.

“We’ve helped define the whole category, to be honest, and that meant building stars like the Baeumlers for sure. And so it’s no surprise that our competitors may want to see some of them on their networks.”

Abrams said Corus is confident in their remaining talent.

“We’ve made very purposeful strategic decisions on our side, on the talent side. And that’s not just commissioning, that’s acquisitions. And it’s been intentionally around what audiences want.”

What they want, she said, includes Gordon Ramsey.

“On Flavour Network, we brought in some Gordon Ramsay content this past year,” she said. “And we saw some real success with that. So we actually have doubled down there.”

This year they’ll air “Kitchen Nightmares” as well as “Gordon Ramsay’s Secret Service,” “Next Level Chef” and “Next Level Baker.”

Flavour will also feature the new series “Top Chef Canada: The Dessert Table.”

The new show “Mountain Men: Wild North” will hit the History Channel, following “a rugged cast of individuals who have chosen to live entirely off the land” in Canada.

The channel will also debut “Countdown to Disaster,” which a log line says will unravel “the sequence of events that transforms ordinary days into catastrophes” such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and nuclear meltdowns.

Corus is also touting “TED: The Animated Series,” which is coming to Showcase. The show is a sequel to the films “TED” and “TED 2” about a man and his raunchy grown-up teddy bear. Seth MacFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried and Jessica Barth all reprise their roles.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 3, 2026.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press