Premium Content Producer’s Critically Acclaimed Series is Currently in Production on Season Two with First Season Now Streaming on CBC Gem in Canada and HBO Max in the US
Premium content producer Sphere Media Toronto, CBC and HBO Max’s award-winning original comedy, SORT OF, today won a Peabody in the Entertainment Category at the 82nd Annual Peabody Awards. Created by Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo, who also serve as co-showrunners, Season Two is currently underway in Toronto. Season One of SORT OF is currently available to stream on the free CBC Gem streaming service in Canada and in the US on HBO Max. Today’s Peabody win marks the latest major accolade across Sphere’s award-winning content slate.
SORT OF features Sabi Mehboob (Baig), a fluid millennial who straddles various identities from sexy bartender at a 2SLGBTQ+ bookstore/bar, to the youngest child in a large Pakistani family, to the de facto parent of a downtown hipster family. The second season of the series will be the season of love – romantic love, family love and friend love. Sabi decides not only are they ready for some uncomplicated romance, they also want everything to be loving with everyone. Unfortunately, with their dad's unexpected return from Dubai, the Kaneko-Bauers' struggles as Bessy is released from rehab, and issues at Bar Bük, Sabi is faced with situations and relationships that are anything but simple.
“We’re personally so honoured not only to receive a Peabody but be able to make a show that speaks to transition and the fact that we are all, in some way, in transition,” said Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo, co-creators, co-showrunners, and executive producers. “It means a lot that SORT OF is reaching people as we’re making the series with so much care and generosity.”
“It’s amazing to be able to produce a show that we all care about putting into the world,” said Jennifer Kawaja, executive producer, Sphere Media. “To win a Peabody is so affirming and exciting for us because we know it will extend the reach of what we wanted to do.”
The first Peabody win for Sphere Media Toronto, the premier scripted content producer also recently launched its critically acclaimed civil rights drama THE PORTER on BET+ in the US and CBC in Canada. Sphere Media is also known for its award-winning medical drama TRANSPLANT airing on NBC in the US and CTV in Canada, Sphere Media Toronto has several projects in development that reflect its high quality, top-rated programming currently in the marketplace.
SORT OF was recognized by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television earlier this year, winning three Canadian Screen Awards for Best Comedy Series, Best Writing, Comedy, and the Members’ Choice Series Ensemble Award. In April, Baig and Filippo received a Writer’s Guild of Canada Screenwriting Award. SORT OF received a GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding New TV Series in addition to a Rockie Award nomination for Best Comedy Series, which will be announced later in June.
SORT OF is produced with the participation of the Canada Media Fund. Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo are creators, executive producers and co-showrunners and Jennifer Kawaja (The Porter) is executive producer along with Bruno Dubé (Transplant) and Laura Perlmutter, Co-Executive Producer. Directors for the new season are Fab Filippo (Save Me), Joyce Wong (Wexford Plaza) and J. Stevens (Slo Pitch). Jessica Daniel (Cardinal) is producer. Laura Perlmutter (Warigami) is co-executive producer. Series writers are Filippo, Baig, Ian Iqbal Rashid (Touch of Pink), Jenn Engels (Transplant), JP Larocque (Jann), Kyah Green (Corner Gas: Animated) and Léa Geronimo Rondot (Awake). For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual & Sports; Trish Williams is Executive Director, Scripted Content; and Sandra Picheca is Director, Current Production, Comedy.
About Sphere Media (formerly Sienna Films)
Sienna Films, now operating under the name Sphere Media, is one of Canada’s preeminent scripted content companies, producing film and television internationally since 1992. In current release is the 1920s period drama The Porter aired to critical acclaim in Canada and about to be released in the U.S. Its most recent series, Sort Of (CBC-HBO Max), a half-hour dramedy, has been sold around the world and recently won three Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Comedy series. Sort Of was cited by Vanity Fair and The Hollywood Reporter as one of the top TV shows of 2021 and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. Sienna Films’ feature-length documentary One of Ours also received Canadian Screen Awards nominations in 2022, including Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary. Other past hit series include Trickster (CBC), which was named one of Variety’s top 25 dramas at MIPCOM 2020, and one of TBI’s top 10 hot picks, and Cardinal (Bell Media) which received critical acclaim and high ratings internationally for its four seasons. Other work includes three seasons of the one-hour drama Ransom, distributed in over 100 territories, the 13-part limited series, Combat Hospital, (Corus/ABC) distributed by Sony International, and the mini-series Diamonds as well as several award-winning feature films. Sphere Media oversees the creation and production of all TV and film content and distribution of all television content of the Sphere group.
About Peabody Awards
Respected for its integrity and revered for its standards of excellence, the Peabody is an honor like no other for television, podcast/radio, immersive and interactive media. Chosen each year by a diverse Board of Jurors through unanimous vote, Peabody Awards are given in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming. The annual Peabody winners are a collection of stories that powerfully reflect the pressing social issues and the vibrant emerging voices of our day. From major productions to local journalism, the Peabody Awards shine a light on the Stories That Matter and are a testament to the power of art and reportage in the push for truth, social justice, and equity. The Peabody Awards were founded in 1940 at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and are still based in Athens today. For more information, visit peabodyawards.com to sign up for our newsletter.
CBC Contact:
Winston Ma, CBC PR
winston.ma@cbc.ca
647-327-7408
