U.S., British Shows Dominate Banff Rockie Award Nominations

TORONTO – Expect another shoot-out between American and British TV producers at the upcoming Banff World Media Festival after nominations for the Rockie Awards were unveiled Monday.

The best continuing series competition will see U.S. entrants in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Detroit 1-8-7 and Grey’s Anatomy, both from ABC Studios, and ABC Family’s Pretty Little Family pilot from Alloy Entertainment. And contending for Britain in the same category is BBC One’s Frankie’s Story and BBC Wales’ Sherlock series.

The Rockies’ best sitcom competition similarly sees episodes from NBC’s Community, HBO’s Hung and Showtime’s The Big C go up against BBC’s Miranda and Rev comedies, and the Canadian Call Me Fitz pilot for TMN/Movie Central.

British producers also virtually dominate the reality TV series competition in Banff, with ITV1’s Take Me Out and The Cube series going up against BBC’s Don’t Tell The Bride, and Channel Four’s The Money Drop and Undercover Boss series.

No U.S. programming passed muster for the reality competition, with the only other entrant coming from Canada, with the CBC’s local Dragon’s Den series.

Multiple nominees at the upcoming Rockies include Channel four, HBO, BBC, CBC, ARTE and NHK.

The Rockies will be handed out in 29 categories at the upcoming June 12 to 15 Banff World Media Festival.