The launch of TVtropolis has opened the door for a number of series about the higher and odder points of recent TV history, now in the works and due to debut by early fall.

The new cable channel - retooled from the CanWest-owned and formerly senior-aimed Prime - debuts on June 1 with a slate heavy on sitcom reruns from the past 10-15 years: Seinfeld, Ellen, Married... With Children, and so on. The channel will roll out its Canadian-made and mainly magazine shows in September.

FANatical, for instance, is a 26 x 30 lifestyler from Toronto's Peace Point Entertainment about the puzzling habits of the most hardcore TV fans, such as a certain Ottawa-area man who bought the original set of The Dukes of Hazzard.

"It's a fun show, but these people are serious collectors," says Peace Point's Les Tomlin, who will next month send a crew to Nashville, TN, to get footage of DukesFest, the annual hoedown of some 40,000 equally die-hard fans of Bo, Luke, Daisy and Uncle Jessie.

"Several thousand of them bring their own General Lees."

Each ep will track fans of a particular show, with emphasis on older titles - The Jetsons, Wonder Woman, Baywatch - though not too much fantasy or sci-fi. The season will run over $2 million, says Tomlin, produced by Pilar Segura (Design Match) and directed by Darcy Butler (Canada's Next Top Model ).

Tricon Films and Television, meanwhile, is off to Cannes to shoot its festival of TV ads for an episode of Ad Persuasion, a 26 x 30 about the world's best and oddest TV spots.

"Scandinavia and the U.K. always have great ads," notes Tricon's Carrie Hall, thanks in part to looser broadcast regulations, "as opposed to Puritan America."

Hall likens the series to CHUM's MediaTelevision. Each ep will have a theme, with ad footage and commentary from various media experts. No host. Andrea Gorfolova exec produces, with Jameel Bharmal (Matchmaker) at the helm and segment producer Shannon McKinnon in the field.

Whatever Happened To? by Alberta's Pyramid Productions will profile film and TV stars from the '80s and '90s, splitting the time between their glory days and what they're up to now.

David "Squiggy" Lander from Laverne & Shirley is now a pro baseball scout, notes producer Peter Hays, while Lou "The Hulk" Ferrigno makes coin as (no surprise) a fitness guru.

In development and looking to shoot this summer, is the talk magazine Popaganda, from B.C.'s The Nimble Company and creators McLean Mashingaidze-Greaves (ZeD) and Ziya Tong (ZeD). The 26 x 30 will have a heavy interactive side on the web, says Mashingaidze-Greaves, with viewers encouraged to upload video, audio and webcam footage to be included on air. Tong will host, Sue Biely and Sudha Krishna produce.

TVtropolis has also greenlit the 26 x 30 game show Inside the Box from Lone Eagle Entertainment, and is developing four other titles, including similarly nostalgic takes on news and cartoons.