Flashbits from August 2009!

Badgers and Doves, here come your Flashpoint tidbits for the month of August! P.S. Badgers and Doves is our new, Mark Ellis-approved, fan nickname. What do you all think?

Flashpoint Premieres in France and South Africa!

Flashpoint continues to conquer the world with two big premieres this month on two different continents. On August 6th, the show premiered in France on Canal+ and the first three episodes were shown that night in French! On August 20th, the show premiered for the first time in South Africa on Hallmark Channel(and was earlier named a pick of the week)! There are a couple interesting news articles coming out of France. One outlines reasons for the show's pickup, and remarks that while American dramas never cease to seduce both broadcasters and viewers, they are quite expensive for foreign countries to broadcast. Many similar kinds of shows have also either ended or been canceled. Many broadcasters choose to look to Canada for similar shows, because they are cheaper to produce. Since the Writer's Strike of 2007, ideas that were coming out of the US weren't as innovative as Flashpoint. The second reason the show was picked up was production quality. Even U.S. networks which were not warm to foreign imports, picked up Flashpoint because the Canadian standards were on par with Hollywood standards, and the format didn't stray too far away from similar US shows. The second article was just a short intro to the series and the first three episodes being broadcast on premiere night. 3 episodes back to back is overkill - two would have been just right! We're still waiting to hear on a premiere in an Asian country!

CBSC Deems Promo Not Violent

We're sure most Canadians have seen a Canadian Broadcast Standards Council commercial on TV at some point in their life. Usually when we see these commercials, it's because the watchdog NGO found something offensive on the network and the network needs to remind it's viewers that they strive to keep what they air within standards. A promotion for the episode Backwards Day disturbed the children of one very angry parent, and was aired during an NFL Football game, to the point where the commercial had to be censored by the parent. The CBSC recently announced its decision on how violent this promo was, and decided that it was not as violent as it seemed, and it was not in breach of broadcast standards. CTV just got a warning that promos for the show should air in a more appropriate timeslot. At least we don't have to see those CBSC spots during Flashpoint!

Flashpoint On Air in the Air?!

Mark Ellis informed his Twitter followers yesterday on the way to their much-needed family vacation in Florida that there are 5 episodes of Flashpoint available on Air Canada (writer Adam Barken later joked that he should watch it wearing full Flashpoint crew gear). Flashpoint Fan gcookie60 also shared that there were 6 episodes available on her flight! So for those of you who want something a little better to watch than their current movie selection, and you are flying on a longer Air Canada flight, why not make it a little more pleasant with the SRU?

Quickie Appearances in a Flash!

☄ Writer Tassie Cameron was listed by the Globe and Mail as one of Canada's Hottest Women Not On TV because she is "the girl who writes like a guy". Also featured are other writers on Flashpoint, Tracey Forbes (Planets Aligned, Attention Shoppers), and Esta Spalding who served as a consultant for the first season and wrote Backwards Day and Never Kissed a Girl. No mention of Stephanie Morgenstern?!

☄ Alchemy TV's co-founder and partner Simon Vaughan is set to be the keynote speaker at Strategic Partners, a very prestigious Canadian international co-production market in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This event will take place on September 19th. Alchemy TV is one of Flashpoint's key production partners, and is also the international distributor of the show.

☄ The_Nange pointed us to her pictures of a feature article with Enrico Colantoni (Page 1, Page 2)! He was interviewed in Autotrader's Newcar Magazine as part of their Stars in Cars section. He talks about his cars (past and current), how he drives, what his dream car is (you might be surprised!) , and who he'd like to have a car ride with. Thanks for sharing this with us, The_Nange!

☄ CBS just announced an official press release with the cover and details of the U.S. release of Season 1 (on standard DVD format), which was also posted on TVShowsonDVD. Confirmed extras include A commentary by director David Frazee on the first episode, Scorpio, and two featurettes: Flashpoint: Behind The Scenes - Season 1 and The Human Cost of Heroism.