CTV, along with Vancouver's Omni Film Productions Limited and Fox Television Studios, jointly announced today they will partner on a new, one-hour Canadian drama series, Defying Gravity.

Executive produced by series creator and award-winning writer/producer James Parriott (Grey's Anatomy) and Michael Edelstein (Desperate Housewives), Defying Gravity is a Canadian/U.S. co-venture that will air in Canada on CTV and SPACE, in the United Kingdom on BBC and in Germany on ProSieben.

Starring Ron Livingston (Office Space), production begins on 13, one-hour episodes in Vancouver, British Columbia in early 2009. Casting is currently underway for a Canadian female lead to join Livingston. Canadian television director David Straiton (House) has signed on to direct the series' first episode.

Defying Gravity is a sexy, provocative relationship drama set in the very near future against the background of our solar system, in which eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertake a mysterious six-year international space mission covering eight billion miles. With the eyes of the world upon them - everything they do is monitored, and every emotion they feel, scrutinized - they soon discover that their real assignment is not at all what they thought.

"We are thrilled to join forces with James Parriott and Michael Edelstein, renowned for some of television's most engaging, award-winning ensemble dramas," said Susanne Boyce, President, Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc.

"Along with Fox Television Studios and Omni Film Productions and our partners at BBC and ProSieben, we can't wait to see how the drama unfolds a billion miles from Earth."

David Madden, executive vice president, programming, Fox Television Studios, said, "We are honored to be producing this series with enormous talents like James Parriott, the showrunner behind Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty, and one of the finest writers in television today; and Michael Edelstein, who was a driving force behind Desperate Housewives. It's a tribute to James' script that we have been able to attract an actor like Ron Livingston, who not only made a permanent imprint in film comedy with Office Space, but who was so memorable in Sex and the City and so moving in telefilms like Band of Brothers and our own 44 Minutes. This series dramatizes man's first venture beyond the orbit of the moon - it's romantic, daring, and deeply exciting, and we expect it to be a skyrocket." 

"Omni Film is tremendously excited to lift off on this historic journey," affirmed Canadian Executive Producer Brian Hamilton for Omni Film Productions. "Defying Gravity is a unique programming event which will appeal to fans of relationship dramas like Grey's Anatomy, and passionate sci-fi aficionados as well."