Toronto: In the Media and Pop Culture

[York Transit]

Originally Posted by DENTROBATE54

I thought both episodes were great actually and looks very promising for upcoming entries . This show kind of reminds me of Cold Case in how the scenes are shot and stylized and the subtle dwelving into the characters' off-duty lives. The musical montage at the end is also a standard framing technique used by most procedurals of this nature.

One qualm though, who didn't see the heart transplant patient giving up the heart for Pheobe coming from a mile away? I mean c'mon!

I didn't...but wtf...why didn't he just give the heart earlier?

[mr.x]

CBS considering ordering more episodes of Cdn-produced 'Flashpoint'

1 day ago
The Canadian Press

LOS ANGELES — "Flashpoint" may be much more than a U.S. flash in the pan.

CBS is so pleased with last Friday's premiere ratings for their Canadian-produced drama that - if it continues to perform beyond expectations - they could extend the series beyond the existing 13-episode summer order.

That was confirmed Friday by Nina Tassler, president, CBS Entertainment, who was speaking to reporters attending the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour.

"Flashpoint," a rare, cross-border co-production between CBS and CTV, drew 8.13 million viewers on CBS last Friday night, scoring an additional 1.1 million Canadian viewers on CTV.

The police drama easily won its time slot in both countries, ranking as the fifth most-watched show across Canada last week.

"Flashpoint" follows the adventures of an elite police task force. Set in Toronto, it stars Enrico Colantoni and Hugh Dillon.

It is one of a handful of Canadian-produced shows to find places on U.S. network schedules in the wake of the 100-day writers' strike last winter.

Tassler says casting beyond the U.S. borders for content is not simply a strike "aberration" but part of the new economic reality of television. Her network plans to continue to look to "foreign" broadcasters for future CBS shows.

[Taller, Better]

Good for them! They are succeeding in the HUGELY competitive market of American television!

[ggaleazz]

I enjoyed the second episode as well, however I do have to voice criticism that has come from other posters here.

While they do enough 'location' or 'establishing' shots they do seem to be afraid of admitting that this is Toronto. For example, it was obvious to me that the hospital they were going to was supposed to be St Mikes, yet they used the name St Simon. Even though they didn't use the actual building (It looked like they used a municipal building in place of a realy hospital) I thought that was odd. Maybe there is some sort of copyright laws that the show has to, and couldn't, get permission to use the name of the hospital. I can't see why anyone (hospital/city?) would not allow them to use the name, especially given the tourism possabilities.

And hey, isn't that the pink power ranger on the team?

[Taller, Better]

How many American tv shows bother to keep telling us what city it is being filmed in?
I think this might be something Canadians are a bit sensitive about, but I don't think it is normally done a great deal. I don't watch a lot of tv, but usually I only know a tv series is filmed in NYC or Boston is because of landmarks shown, or in the case of something like Will and Grace, they shopped at Barney's. Where is CSI supposed to be?

[Jaye101]

CSI is in Las Vegas
CSI: Miami
CSI: New York
Numb3rs is in LA
Cold Case is all over the place
All Law & Orders are in New York except the new Law & Order: London, etc...

[Taller, Better]

Yes, all shows are set in a city, as this one is set in Toronto. But do they keep throwing out the name of the city, or is just assumed (as it is in real life conversation)?

[Jaye101]

They tend to repeat the police force in which they are from. In CSI: Miami they always repeat the phrase... "Miami-Dade Police, open up"

[Taller, Better]

I guess I just never paid attention. In any case, there is no shortage of genuine visual clues that this is in Toronto.

[ggaleazz]

Originally Posted by Taller, Better

I guess I just never paid attention. In any case, there is no shortage of genuine visual clues that this is in Toronto.

Will the average person notice these clues? We notice them because as a board we are for more in tune with the buildings and identifiers of our city. Even a Torontonian would recognize certain buildings like the CN Tower, Skydome (formerly Rogers Centre), the Streetcars, the Queen strip etc. Is the average Non-Torontonian (Canadian or otherwise) recognize other parts of the city. Will they know what it means when (if) someone mentions the Danforth, College, Kensignton, etc or will the view it as part of the show, some made up name? I think that is the question that I want answered.

Maybe you're right Taller. Shows based in NY aren't constantly mentioning the city's name in the dialogue and it is simply assumed that the audiance knows what part of the city the characters are talking about. Maybe we, as Canadians and Torontonians are overly sensitive to these facts. I'm sure New Yorkers don't care if their cities are mentioned on CSI:NY.

In the end we have to ask are we going to dramatically alter the dialogue and presentation of the show in order to please some internal desire to use the show as a vehicle to drive tourism? Is it really essential to the average viewer that the building in this weeks episode isn't even a hospital and that there is no such thing as St. Simons in Toronto? Does stuff like this affect us when we watch other shows based in other cities?

[Jaye101]

I loved the second episode. It brought my family to tears!

[DanfromTO]

only seen the first episode so far
it was horrible
the show is horrible
bad acting, bad plot, not original at all

i did love how the croatian bad guy got on the train at osgood station tho, and i loved all the downtown skyscraper shots

im gonna watch the second episode soon and see if jaye is telling truth about how much better it is than the first

[DENTROBATE54]

Originally Posted by DanfromTO

only seen the first episode so far
it was horrible
the show is horrible
bad acting, bad plot, not original at all

i did love how the croatian bad guy got on the train at osgood station tho, and i loved all the downtown skyscraper shots

im gonna watch the second episode soon and see if jaye is telling truth about how much better it is than the first

It wasn't as high-octane as the first ep. The action was toned down and the stakes weren't as high. From the previews it was obvious to me how the ep would play out. The father would be protrayed as "tortured family man" to tug at all our heartstrings. Check! No one dies... what you expected a sympathetic John Q type to be a murderer or get killed himself? Check! "The heart belongs to Pheobe!!" ... well I can't refute that. Check! See, there were several not-so-subtle cliches I picked up on immediately (what can I say, I'm an avid TV watcher ). But all in all, it's still better than 90% of what passes as summer primetime television.

[Taller, Better]

tough crowd tonight!

I watched it on the internet, but had a heck of a time getting any volume out of the video..

[Jaye101]

Yeah, it was like John Q... But the ending was still sweet.

[Devil_Dice]

I don't think it really matters whether they throw out relevant toronto landmarks to an extent. This gives the city a lot of exposure, but the potential increase in tourism would not be because they mentioned 'St Mikes' instead of 'St Simon'. I do see the point being made though...seems kind of stupid not to mention the proper name of the hospital, since the show specifically references the CN tower and shows the streetcars. Keep in mind I have yet to see it, I'm just going by other posts

[Taller, Better]

I doubt any fictional tv show would use an actual hospital name. If they had an episode where malpractice or neglect occurs, a real hospital might not take kindly to the association. Now, if they had changed the name "Jamestown" to a fictional name, then that would have been crappy.

[bar1967]

Originally Posted by DENTROBATE54

It wasn't as high-octane as the first ep. The action was toned down and the stakes weren't as high. From the previews it was obvious to me how the ep would play out. The father would be protrayed as "tortured family man" to tug at all our heartstrings. Check! No one dies... what you expected a sympathetic John Q type to be a murderer or get killed himself? Check! "The heart belongs to Pheobe!!" ... well I can't refute that. Check! See, there were several not-so-subtle cliches I picked up on immediately (what can I say, I'm an avid TV watcher ). But all in all, it's still better than 90% of what passes as summer primetime television.

I wasn't that impressed with the first one, but thought the second episode was much better. The teaser for the third looks great.

[Benc7]

I watched the "Flashpoint" crew filming outside Osgoode Hall on Canada Day; it was fun watching the real cops keeping crowd control while the actor-cops ran around. Hugh Dillon and Enrico Colantoni were the focus of the scene. The faux-lawyers looked bored as hell waiting for their moment to shine. So many people and so much equipment to film what will probably be minute or two of an hour show.

[InTheBeach]

Does anyone else feel like this is getting too much coverage here?

I seek local content whenever possible, and to be frank, having Hugh Dillon singing with the Headstones again would be a more interesting dose of local content for me.

It is nice to see Toronto as itself, so maybe this is an important shift. But in the end, I could care less about TV, and this isn't going to change that (especially when I can open my door and get the real thing -- and real names too!).