Canadians abound on prime time U.S. shows

Ex-Degrassi star Landon Liboiron on Terra Nova.

PopGoesTheNews.com NBC's announcement today that it pulled the plug on The Playboy Club means there is one less Canadian on U.S. prime time television this season. Toronto's Leah Renee Cudmore, who played Alice, was until today one of about 30 Canadians with a major role on the five main networks south of the border.

Will Arnett, who is also from Toronto, is now the only Canadian with a starring role on NBC's prime time schedule — as Chris in the comedy Up All Night.

At Fox, Landon Liboiron of Jenner, Alberta stars as Josh in the new adventure series Terra Nova. He's best known for his role as Declan in the made-in-Toronto series Degrassi. Former MuchMusic VJ Hannah Simone, who was born in England but spent time in Calgary and Vancouver, plays Cece on the sitcom New Girl.

Returning to Fox this season are Calgary's Cory Monteith (Finn) in Glee and Vancouver's Joshua Jackson (Peter) in Fringe, which is shot in his hometown.

ABC employs plenty of Canadians. Calgary native Elisha Cuthbert is back as Alex in the second season of Happy Endings; Sandra Oh of Ottawa returns for another season as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy; and Nathan Fillion of Edmonton and Stana Katic of Hamilton are back in the lead roles of Richard and Kate on Castle.

Elisha Cuthbert is back in Happy Endings.

The new drama Revenge stars Emily VanCamp of Port Perry, Ont. as Emily alongside Toronto's Henry Czerny (Conrad) and Robbie Amell (Adam) and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia native James Tupper (David). The sexy cast of Pan Am includes Karine Vanasse of Drummondville, Que. as Colette and on the reboot of Charlie's Angels, London, Ont. native Victor Garber provides the voice of Charlie.

CBS is doing its part to keep Canadians working. Grace Park, who has called Vancouver home since she was an infant, is back for another season as Kono on Hawaii 5-0. Also returning this season are How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders (Robin) of Vancouver; Len Cariou (Henry) of Winnipeg on Blue Bloods, Montreal's Robert Joy (Dr. Sid Hammerback) on CSI:NY; and Oshawa, Ont. native A.J. Cook (Jennifer) on Criminal Minds.

Two Toronto actors are starring on two different CBS comedies: Dave Foley is Jerry in How to be a Gentleman and Noah Mills plays Robbie on 2 Broke Girls.

The CW shoots Nikita in Toronto but the series doesn't have any Canadian leads (Toronto's Rob Stewart has a recurring role as Roan and many guests stars are homegrown). It's the same deal with Supernatural, which is filmed in B.C. with American stars.

The Secret Circle, a new series on The CW, is shot in B.C. and features Jessica Parker Kennedy (Melissa) of Calgary, Natasha Henstridge (Dawn) of Springdale, Nfld. and Adam Harrington (Ethan) of Hamilton. 

Two returning series with Canadians in starring roles are 90210 — with Toronto's Shenae Grimes (Annie) and Vancouver's Jessica Lowndes (Adrianna) — and The Vampire Diaries with Nina Dobrev (Elena/Katherine), who was born in Bulgaria but raised in Toronto.

Photos courtesy Fox (Terra Nova); ABC (Happy Endings).