The Best TV Shows on CBC Television

Every CBC Television Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Peruse our comprehensive roster of CBC Television’s top shows, encompassing over 20 distinct series as of September 2026. Among CBC Television’s finest offerings are The Nature of Things and Second City Television, which debuted in 1960 and 1976, respectively. CBC Television has delivered an expansive roster of over 20 shows, dating from 1960 all the way to 2025.

  • Anne with an E
    Anne with an E (2017)8.6

    A coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and for her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890s, who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an elderly woman and her aging brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.

  • Heartland
    Heartland (2007)8.2

    Life is hard on the Flemings' ranch in the Alberta foothills where abused or neglected horses find refuge with a kind, hard-working family. Debts abound and the bank is about to foreclose. Can they keep the ranch running?

  • The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
    The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! (2010)8.0

    The Cat in the Hat is back -- and this time, he's teaching Sally and her brother, Nick, some awfully nifty things to think about!

  • Second City Television
    Second City Television (1976)7.8

    Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.

  • Schitt's Creek
    Schitt's Creek (2015)7.8

    Formerly filthy rich video store magnate Johnny Rose, his soap star wife Moira, and their two kids, über-hipster son David and socialite daughter Alexis, suddenly find themselves broke and forced to live in Schitt's Creek, a small depressing town they once bought as a joke.

  • Murdoch Mysteries
    Murdoch Mysteries (2008)7.7

    A Victorian-era Toronto detective uses then-cutting edge forensic techniques to solve crimes, with the assistance of a female coroner who is also struggling for recognition in the face of tradition, based on the books by Maureen Jennings.

  • Cyberchase
    Cyberchase (2002)7.6

    The series takes place in Cyberspace, a virtual world, and chronicles the adventures of three children, Jackie, Inez, and Matt, as they use math and problem solving skills to save Cyberspace and its leader, Motherboard, from The Hacker, the villain.

  • The Red Green Show
    The Red Green Show (1991)7.5

    The Red Green Show is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service stations in the United States, from 1991 until the series finale April 7, 2006, on CBC. The Red Green Show is essentially a cross between a sitcom and a sketch comedy series, and is a parody of home improvement, do-it-yourself, fishing, and other outdoors shows.

  • Heritage Minutes
    Heritage Minutes (1991)7.3

    Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies and are now also sold on DVD. The Minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy. The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation, Canada Post Power Broadcasting, and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute. While the foundations have not paid networks to air Minutes, they have made them freely available, and in the early years paid to have them run in cinemas across the country. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that Heritage Minutes are an "on-going dramatic series" thus each minute counts as ninety-seconds of a station's Canadian content requirements.

  • Mr. D
    Mr. D (2012)7.3

    Based on Gerry Dee's real-life experiences as a high school teacher before he switched to comedy full-time, MR. D is a story about a charming, under-qualified teacher trying to fake his way through a teaching job, just like he often fakes his way through life.

  • Workin' Moms
    Workin' Moms (2017)7.3

    Four women juggle love, careers, and parenthood. They support, challenge, and try not to judge each other as life throws them curveballs. Whether it is an identity crisis, a huge job opportunity, postpartum depression, or an unplanned pregnancy – they face both the good and bad with grace and humour.

  • The Nature of Things
    The Nature of Things (1960)7.2

    The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on November 6, 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it. The program was one of the first to explore environmental issues, such as clear-cut logging. The series is named after an epic poem by Roman philosopher Lucretius: "Dē Rērum Nātūrā" — On the Nature of Things.

  • Alias Grace
    Alias Grace (2017)7.2

    Based on the true story of Grace Marks, a housemaid and immigrant from Ireland who was imprisoned in 1843, perhaps wrongly, for the murder of her employer Thomas Kinnear. Grace claims to have no memory of the murder yet the facts are irrefutable. A decade after, Dr. Simon Jordan tries to help Grace recall her past.

  • Wild Cards
    Wild Cards (2024)7.2

    A spirited con woman and a demoted by-the-book detective are given the chance to redeem themselves. The catch? They have to find a way to work together each using their unique skills to solve crimes.

  • Coroner
    Coroner (2019)7.0

    Jenny Cooper investigates unexplained or sudden deaths in the city of Toronto. Fierce and quick-witted, Jenny is a newly-widowed single mother with secrets of her own to unearth.

  • North of North
    North of North (2025)6.9

    A young Inuk woman wants to build a new future for herself after a spontaneous and extremely public exit from her marriage. It won't be easy in a small Arctic town where everybody knows your business.

  • This Hour Has 22 Minutes
    This Hour Has 22 Minutes (1993)6.7

    This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics, combining news parody, sketch comedy and satirical editorials. Originally featuring Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey and Mary Walsh, the series featured satirical sketches of the weekly news and Canadian political events. The show's format is a mock news program, intercut with comic sketches, parody commercials and humorous interviews of public figures. The on-location segments are frequently filmed with slanted camera angles.

  • Franklin
    Franklin (1997)6.7

    Franklin is an Canadian educational animated television series, based on the Franklin the Turtle books by Brenda Clark and Paulette Bourgeois. The television series was named after its main character, Franklin the Turtle. It was produced by PolyGram Television, Alphanim, LuxAnimation, Nelvana, Neurones Enterprises, Reader's Digest for Young Families, TF1, Funbag Animation Studios, Europool, Mini TFO, and Family Channel, and syndicated by Summit Entertainment.

  • Da Vinci's Inquest
    Da Vinci's Inquest (1998)6.2

    Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series that aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. While never a ratings blockbuster, seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes. The show, set and filmed in Vancouver, stars Nicholas Campbell as Dominic Da Vinci, once an undercover officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but now a crusading coroner who seeks justice in the cases he investigates. The cast also includes Gwynyth Walsh as Da Vinci's ex-wife and chief pathologist Patricia Da Vinci, Donnelly Rhodes as detective Leo Shannon, and Ian Tracey as detective Mick Leary.

  • Dragons' Den
    Dragons' Den (2006)5.7

    Canadian version of the reality show in which budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hopes of securing business financing.