Flashpoint DVD News

The website TVshowsonDVD.com has some good news to report for fans of Flashpoint looking to add the show to their DVD library. Details have been revealed for the releases of the Season 2 Vol. 2 box set, as well as a comprehensive Season 2 box for the upcoming holiday season. The Vol. 2 box set has the remaining 9 episodes from Season 2, and is designed as a bookend to the Season 2 Vol. 1 box that was released on March 23, 2010. For watchers who have decided to be more patient, the Complete Season 2 box set will contain all of the contents of the Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 boxes (including all of the various behind the scenes featurettes). For more information, including artwork for both box sets please check the link: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Flashpoint-Season-2/14263

Flashpoint Finally Begins Broadcast in Japan, Season 1 Boxset Out Soon There Too!

Flashpoint continues to surprise us with new countries that it visits! One we were waiting for a while to hear about was Japan, just a month ago we reported of an actor from the Sailor Moon musicals appearing on a show with a similar premise. Today, Mark Ellis via his Twitter account RT'd a Japanese fan's tweet, and didn't know what it meant. After translating it, we wondered if the show was on the air there and turns out it is!

Flashpoint began on February 4th on FOX TV's special sister channel, FOXCRIME. The show is called "フラッシュポイント　-特殊機動隊ＳＲＵ-" - pronounced Flashpoint -Kidoutai SRU- which translates to Flashpoint -Special Riot Police SRU-. The show airs on Friday and Saturday nights, and the Japanese fans get a special treat since two episodes air back to back. They show the same episodes both nights. On January 22nd, Gaijin Tarento Dave Spector commented on the show, and this is featured at the bottom of FOXCRIME's Flashpoint Page. He writes (roughly translated):

Dave Spector - This is the best drama to get into!
Flashpoint -Special Riot Police SRU-

Every time I watch the show, the indescribable tension is unbearably good!
The SRU Group of the Canadian Police is always cool, composed, and professional.
They are more excellent than the American cops!
The casting is also in good taste.
Teamwork predominates!

There were only dramas featuring the American SWAT Team, up until now. This time, Toronto, Canada is baptized, and becomes the stage.

The calmness and professionalism make the SRU shine. Interesting! All at the first glance!

But the main reason I watch this show is because Jules is cute *laughter*.

The casting is all in good taste too.

As for the man who is the boss and leader, “Parker”, there is no messing with this negotiator.

The man who is always reliable "Ed" is an excellent first sniper.

The team leader gradually rearranges the team.

These adults all have sex appeal. Especially the Sniper "Jules", she's cute! I've been in love with her character since the first episode. This is a bit of a stretch, but I look forward to her future character development.

The rookie, "Sam" (a similar sniper) restrains his feelings and works very hard through the trauma of his best friend who was mistakenly shot.

Additionally, there is also "Spike", who knows the explosives and how they work, "Wordsworth"a devoted husband who has a good combat pace, "Lewis", a good soul who takes charge of the non-lethal weapons like stun guns and tear gas, and "Doctor Luria"

Anyway..."Flashpoint -Special riot police SRU-"?
It fits right in with everything you see.
I saw every episode.
It is the best!

Please watch the introduction that I hosted!

Paramount has also set up an official site for the show and the really neat thing is, they are getting both Season 1 and Season 2 boxset releases this summer. Season 1 will be released on July 9th, and Season 2 will be released on August 6th. Season 1's boxset will contain 13 episode, and Season 2's will have 9 episodes. The boxsets will cost you, each one is close to $100 USD. Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern were even quoted in a news release! It makes special mention of the incident in 2004 which piqued their minds and made them ask "In front of many people, you had to execute someone. How would you spend the rest of your day?"

Congratulations again to everyone in Flashpoint, and especially to Stephanie Morgenstern. You are the second person involved with Sailor Moon to make it big in Japan!

German DVD News, CBS Vaguely Hints About Flashpoint (Again)...

Koch Media to Release Flashpoint Season 1 in Germany!

Last week, Koch Media of Europe announced that its German distribution arm will be releasing Flashpoint - Das Spezialkommando, Staffel 1 (Flashpoint - The Special Command, Season 1) on May 28th. This will come out just after the start of Season 2 in Germany in April of this year. As far as extras go, it will have a Making Of featurette, and the pilot commentary (these must be either dubbed or subtitled in German). This also marks the first European release to come with extras (the one released in the UK came out well before the North American releases did and had none). Our German readers can pre-order this through Amazon.de. The cover? We've got it featured below, and it looks like they used the same image CBS DVD used for their Season 1 release, but without as much smoke, and you can actually see the city's silhouette! We like the color on this release a lot more than CBS's release too!



And in other CBS News...

In a Q&A last week with Nina Tassler (Entertainment President CBS), the Hollywood Reporter asked if there was any possibility of any new scripted dramas this summer. She answered "We haven't completely determined, but it's done so well for us. And we still have "Flashpoint." Conversations are ongoing." She seemed a little wishy-washy with her words here, and if Flashpoint is pushed further later into the year, we're sure all the American fans are going to try to make their way up to Canada each week when new episodes air. She also made no mention of CTV's other new cop drama that they are also co-producing, The Bridge. The premiere of The Bridge last week wasn't the best premiere ever, but the show probably has a lot of potential to grow in coming episodes!

BREAKING NEWS: New Details about American Season 2 Boxset and Cover Art

Not a huge update, but still a noteworthy one indeed. TVShowsonDVD reports that the upcoming American version of the Flashpoint: Season 2 boxset will contain 9 episodes, exactly the same as Canada's Flashpoint: Season 2 Volume 1. We think this is only going to add to the confusion of which season the last 9 that aired in Canada are going to be a part of. These were once billed as Season 3 by CTV, but they have since added them to Season 2. It is currently unknown what CBS will bill these episodes as when they come to air. Our site (for consistency) will follow whatever episode order CTV lists. Today, CBS Paramount also released a high-res image of the official boxart (featured below), but it's more or less the same idea as the first boxart! Once again, some members of the SRU are featured in action in front of a cityscape with some added smoke. This one features Sargent Greg Parker a little more prominently than the others. The Canadian covers show the SRU among cityscapes as well, but without the smoke and a lot more color. These easily make the CBS Paramount covers look somber and dreary. Hopefully, the US will have a much more exciting cover for Season 3!



Fans can order the American boxset at:
Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
Best Buy

BREAKING NEWS: New Flashpoint Boxset on the Way!

According to TVShowsonDVD (posted a little over an hour ago), CBS and Paramount have announced that the United States is indeed getting a DVD release of Season 2 of Flashpoint. Flashpoint "Season 2" will be released on May 25th, and will have a runtime of 337 minutes. We don't know as of this writing how many episodes will be included on the release, as this release is nearly 50 minutes shorter than the Canadian release (and that missing time about an entire episode of Flashpoint). The extras will also be different, with the US release having a feature about weapons and stunts. We can only guess that Lamperd Less Lethal has something to do with this feature, since they provide all the mock weapons used in the show as well as training! What we do know, is that the last two releases of the Season 1 Boxset didn't differ in the menus or the layout at all, only in the box art. We would think it might have been the same for this release too, just that CBS would not release it until some time after the Canadian release, but this matter of the extras has us a little confused. Hopefully we'll hear more (and find an official press release from CBS/Paramount) soon.

Flashpoint is Delayed in the US, but Doing Well in Canada

Unfortunately, according to Co-Executive Producer Bill Mustos, CBS has decided to push Flashpoint back in its schedule to Summer or Fall of 2010. He told Playback Daily that he received the call from CBS that they have decided to run Jerry Bruckheimer's Miami Medical in the slot that was slated for Flashpoint's return.

On the bright side, however, the rumors that CBS has dropped the series are false according to Mustos, who says that CBS feels quite positive about the show and are definitely planning to return it to US television.

Despite the lack of concurrency with CBS this season, Flashpoint continues to do very well on CTV, remaining firmly in the top 20 and averaging 1.7 million viewers last fall.

We're sorry to all of our American fans that they are going to have to wait to see the show on TV. We know that since the show has already aired in Canada there are numerous "alternate methods" available to watch the show. However, in order to keep support for the show strong, we highly encourage you to watch the show when it does appear on CBS, even if you've already seen the episodes.

In addition, for anyone wanting to support the show further, the Season 2 DVDs can be ordered from Amazon.ca and shipped to the US for a small fee. We are researching the possibility of a Blu-Ray release, but if you just can't wait, Season 2 will be available in March!

BREAKING NEWS: CBS Greenlights Some More Episodes, and We're Close to a Major Release Day!

CBS Orders 13 New Episode of Flashpoint!

Great news for our Badgers and Doves south of the border! Just hours ago, CBS announced that they have picked up 13 more episodes of Flashpoint! On another note, as many critics predicted, CBS's Three Rivers was a ratings disappointment last Sunday only scoring 9.17 million viewers (third place in the timeslot) and a fourth-place demographic share of 2.0/ 5 among adults 18-49. It's only a matter of time before it is canceled, and who knows what it could be replaced with. It could be Flashpoint, or any one of two series on CBS's backburner: a Jerry Bruckheimer medical drama called Miami Trauma, or The Bridge. As always, we will keep you posted the moment we hear the episodes are coming back to CBS!

October 13th is Flashpoint Day!

Ok, not officially, but we might as well give that day a name! In both the US and Canada, Season 1 Boxsets are due to hit the shelves. And, Hugh Dillon's album is also set to be released! His album Works Well With Others has an awesome shot of him looking sharp in a coffee house, and will feature 14 original tracks including our favorite episode ending song from Flashpoint, Lost at Sea. Fans can also check out a music video ahead of time for the first track on the album Friends of Mine.

And Happy Birthday Amy Jo Johnson!

Everyone on the WGTS and Moon Chase staff would like to wish Flashpoint star Amy Jo Johnson a very happy 39th birthday! We've all grown up with her since her Power Rangers days and she holds a special place in all of our hearts. We're happy to see her playing such a strong character on Flashpoint! In honor of this, we thought we'd share a few of our favorite Amy Jo moments from other TV shows!


Recent Canada AM Appearance!
Amy Jo does an interview in character for Power Rangers!
Showing off her Karate skills!
Singing as 60's icon Nansi Nevins in the TV Movie - Sweetwater: A True Rock Story
Singing in Felicity!


And on another note - the next two weeks are busy for me, so there will be no new news posts. I will keep up with the episode summaries on Fridays, but if there is something breaking, your best best is to follow WGTS on Twitter where I will post links when I can!

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.

Potential DVD Cover Art For Canada?

TVShowsonDVD has posted what may be the cover art for both the standard and Blu-Ray DVD boxsets being released in Canada. And, these covers are terrific! The vibrant blues look a lot better than the dreary grays on the US cover. And, there's a nice shot of the Toronto skyline too! The American one doesn't feature the CN Tower and makes it look just like any generic big city. What do you all think of these covers? And for those of you freaking out about the price, it's fully possible you could find it for less than the prices we listed yesterday! Amazon Canada is listing a pre-order price of $45.99 for standard, and $52.99 for Blu-Ray. We will keep an eye out at other retailers for their prices, once the release comes closer. Pictures are below!

Phase 4 Acquires DVD Rights to Flashpoint in Canada...

And, on Blu-Ray too!

Great news Canadians: you no longer have to pre-order your season one boxset from the US, or import one from the UK or Australia! Phase 4 Films (based out of Toronto) announced just about an hour ago that they have acquired the English Language DVD rights! What's even better? Canadians will not only be getting a Season 1 DVD Boxset the same day the US will (October 13) but they will be getting another awesome bonus: a Blu-Ray release the same day. This boxset will contain all 13 episodes too! The only unfortunate catch is that the series will cost significantly more than it will in the United States. While no price is listed yet on Amazon, it's a safe bet that the series would cost around $40 USD (what most CBS boxsets are going for these days). After the exchange using today's rates, this would cost approximately $43.63 CAD. Today's press release, suggests an MSRP of $64.99 for standard, and $74.99 for Blu-Ray. Which is... a little crazy. But it's worth it for our favorite series, right? Season 2 will be released sometime in 2010. The news has also made the pages of The Hollywood Reporter. As soon as we get our paws on it, we will definitely write a review for you all :).

Flashpoint Official DVD Cover Revealed

Hey Flashpoint Fans, this is a few days old but we've been busy at Moon Chase so we didn't get to posting this. An animator died, and the show began making it's comeback. Nonetheless, TVShowsonDVD confirms that the earlier, low-res, image that they posted is indeed the image on the cover of the upcoming US only boxset, and they posted a full 3-D, higher resolution image. This release will have extras, whereas the other international versions did not. We've posted images of the other two releases below for you all to see - which cover do you readers like best?




UK Boxset:











Australia Boxset:

BREAKING NEWS! Flashpoint Finally Coming to DVD in North America!

Finally, words Flashpoint fans in North America have been waiting for. We have gotten the occasional tease from Mark Ellis via Twitter. A few days ago, TVShowsOnDVD posted a release from CBS Paramount! On October 13th, Season 1 will be released, and it will run for 550 minutes. It is probably safe to say that all 13 episodes will be on this release and it will follow the broadcast order used internationally! Later they confirmed that this release is for the US only, and there is no word on what will be happening with a Canadian release (but, this release is much easier for Canadians to import should there be a worst-case scenario). They also posted a low-res cover of what might be the DVD cover (posted here). We still think the UK cover is the nicest of the releases so far! On another note, Amazon UK has some different promotional videos posted for that set. As always, we will keep you posted on any new details we learn about the releases!

Flashpoint DVD News! And a Flashpoint Announcement of Our Very Own!

Hey everyone! Via Mark Ellis' (hmmm. Should we call him Mr. Sailor Venus now since we're reporting him on the site so much?) Flashpoint TV Twitter account, we have learned there is finally going to be a North American DVD release on the way! We're not sure if Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) makes any posts on the site. No word yet exactly on how the episodes will be split up among the releases. It's nice to finally see DVDs closer to home, and we're all happy we don't have to import the boxsets out of the UK or Australia anymore! While we're on the subject of DVDs, we have once again come across an imposter. We've learned of a second bootleg set that is coming out for Season Two. Again, we urge fans NOT to buy this boxset as it is NOT a legit release, and if they see it in a store, to let their local authorities know about it. Besides, they couldn't even get the name of the series right on the cover, and it just looks tacky.

We'll catch you up on some other news too. We haven't been updating on Flashpoint as much as we would have liked to because we're all hard at work putting our Flashpoint blog together as well as working on Operation Moonrise. We have a brand new staff member and we are shooting for the first week of July for the blog to launch (although anything could happen which could delay this). But the biggest piece of news that has come out in the last few weeks is that Flashpoint has indeed been renewed for a third season. What's even more interesting about this one is that this time around, CTV seems to be working a little separately from CBS. When the series began, the episodes always aired in simulcast on the two networks, however after the ninth episode aired on both networks ("Planets Aligned"), the next episode "Eagle Two" was scheduled to air the week afterwards only on CTV, however, it did not. Many speculated that CBS was behind this decision, just as they had been calling the shots on many of the details in the shoots. Logos of Canadian companies , while they were still recognizable, they were altered somehow in the broadcasts. For example, a Bell payphone booth in one of the episodes had letters blocked out. Again though, this is all speculation - we can't confirm if this is the real reason! But, bearing all of this in mind, now it seems that CTV will be airing new episodes of Flashpoint in the Fall, ahead of CBS (which will put them on probably in January or February).

So, look forward to our new staff member posting her Meet the Staff post soon! Oh yeah, and we're finally going to reveal the name of our Flashpoint blog! It took me a long time to come up with a witty name. For a long time I wanted to call it "Put the Gun Down and Read This!" but for some reason it didn't jive right. While that line had become one of the more infamous ones on the show, I just couldn't make it work for the title. But then some days later, that other infamous line from the show popped in my head, and I knew I had a winner - and my main staff at the time all unanimously agreed! We have decided to call the blog "We Got The Solution! A Flashpoint Blog". And the title has a second meaning as well because many of our readers were as torn as we were about what to do about our Flashpoint coverage, and starting a new blog was our solution! But don't worry, all you Stephanie Morgenstern fans. If she appears on the show, or something on the show directly involves her, the post will be cross posted here as well. We're not eliminating our coverage of her from that standpoint!

When the blog is ready, you'll see it here! For now though it's only visible to staff as it's still under construction!

BREAKING NEWS: UK Flashpoint DVD Boxset Details!

Special thanks to one of our readers (and huge Flashpoint fan in Britain) Yvonne for sharing some pictures of the just-released Flashpoint DVD boxset. We really love the cover! The back reads "Flashpoint is a high stakes police drama about a team of elite cops. A SWAT team highly trained in psychology, specialising in the use of state of the art weaponry, sniper rifles, snake cameras, and robotics along with expert negotiating tactics. Their task - to talk down or take down, terrorists, hostage takers, and bomb-makers, delving deeply into the minds of the human beings at the centre of explosive situations." We are so pleased to see the logos of CTV, CBS Paramount, the Canadian Television Fund, and the Canadian Government featured below the credits! Sadly, there are no extras included on the boxset. We know CTV and CBS both produced behind-the-scenes promotional videos when the series began , and CTV's eTalk followed the cast and crew on many journeys, from shooting segments behind-the-scenes, to following them on photoshoots and award shows. We hope, that if there is a North American DVD release, that they will be included, or perhaps other extras of any kind (maybe a chat with the writers and producers about why each song was picked to play at the end of an episode). Nonetheless, for those of you dying to know what the boxset looks like, we have pictures featured below from Yvonne (click to enlarge)! She tells us that the first season ended last Thursday (stopping at the 13th episode), on a cliffhanger. We remember your pain all too well when we saw that episode for the first time!

Flashpoint News Roundup - April 2009!

In the last few days, a few news stories have popped up - some highs, some lows, and another set of DVDs?!

Flashpoint DVD Boxset to Hit Oz!

Soon after we post a story reminding our readers in Britain the show is going to be released on DVD within weeks, we learn of an Australian release! A boxset will be released in Australia two days after the boxset is released in Britain (April 16th). We’re actually surprised to read this since we have read elsewhere that the ratings for the show in Australia haven’t been phenomenal (perhaps due to some fault on the Nine Network’s end for lack of promotion, airing of episodes out of order, and sporadic scheduling). The ratings in New Zealand are better, and we are hoping to hear soon that they will pick up the second season. We even found what we think is a fan-made bumper sticker for the show in NZ! This release has a different cover than the British one, and features the slogan used on Alchemy TV’s Sales Flyer. We like the British cover better - it’s a lot more elusive with it’s blue shadows. The boxset is a little more pricier than the British version, and it looks like this one is going to have episodes only over 4 discs without any extras. If any of our Australian or New Zealander readers manage to get a copy of this, we’d love to hear what you think of the release!

CBS Cuts Funding

The economic crisis is hitting everything and anything, and we’re getting a little tired. We on staff really hope this is fixed up soon. Canadian TV Broadcaster CBC dealt the Canadian and US TV industry a major blow last week when they announced major layoffs, reduced episodes of hit series, and the cancellation of their broadcasts of reruns of The Simpsons, as well as Martha Stewart’s talk show. CTV, Flashpoint’s parent broadcaster in Canada, has not announced any major national cuts, but has announced cuts for regional stations. CBS on the other hand, has asked all shows being renewed (unsure if Flashpoint is one of them as of this writing) to reduce their budgets for next year, and this may mean smaller writing staffs. Flashpoint has quite a writing staff, and from what we have read before, their work is always collaborative. We believe each writer on that show brings something unique to the table, and the show won’t be the same without them. It’s rumored that the show costs anywhere between 1.6-2 million dollars an episode to make, and since this is a co-production, we don’t know how the balance of the funds work on the show, and how funding would be affected from CBS’s end. This news is a little unsettling, and we can only hope that those in power around the world can come up with a solution to this crisis.

Other News Shots:

☽ Flashpoint along with other cop procedurals such as CSI and Law & Order has kept CBS at the top of the ratings for Primetime Drama. Two new shows are going to make an attempt to steal CBS' thunder, The Unusuals on ABC in the US and Global in Canada, and Southland on NBC in the US and CTV in Canada (not that CTV really needs to worry since it is host to Flashpoint).

☽ Hugh Dillon's official website has a lot of cool promotional videos posted in the media section, as does his other website.

Flashpoint DVD Boxset Out in Two Weeks, Brits!

As we reported earlier, Flashpoint is being released on DVD in the UK - and based on the details given on Amazon UK, we don't think there are going to be any extras - at 520 minutes it looks like it's going to be an episodes-only release. We really love the cover though - especially the slogan "Who's got your back?" The slogan we usually see here in North America is "What would you do" in the CBS promos. To our readers in the UK - we would love to hear confirmation from you if there are any extras included on the DVD! Don't hesitate to send us an email! Pending announcements from CTV and/or CBS about a DVD release in North America, we may purchase a copy in May (these days, being an Otaku almost forces you to have a region-free DVD player because Japanese releases come with more bang for your buck). Some of us on staff are still "old school" and like watching our tv shows on a tv screen rather than our computers or (in some cases) non-existent portable media devices. Alas, CTV seems to have posted the wrong episode description this week on their site. The episode this week will be Aisle 13, which tells the story of a teenage boy who is sad over his best friend moving far away, because of financial difficulties. So, he decides to rob a local food store to give their family some money so they can stay here, but it all goes awry and he takes several people hostage. And for those of you wondering what it's like to write for Flashpoint, we found an old interview from almost a year ago!

Flashpoint Continues Cutting Edge Presentation

Hey Moonies - Flashpoint isn't on today, but that doesn't mean we can't bring you news about it!

Flashpoint to be Broadcast Online in HD

CTV announced yesterday that a new beta player was being launched online, and that three of their top shows, Flashpoint, Corner Gas, and Malawi's Song were going to be the first shows in Canada to be offered online in HD! This also makes CTV the first network in Canada to stream HD content online! The player uses a combination of technology: Akamai's Adaptive Edge, Microsoft Silverlight, and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 7.0 Smooth Streaming Technology. It promises instant startup time and no buffering (then again, this is the internet and we expect there to be some buffering at the very least). We checked it out and we were impressed! It really seems like Canada is leading the US when it comes to the distribution of this series. Canada can access the show's previous and current seasons on iTunes, and in standard and high definition on CTV's website, as well as on television. CBS has not put the show up on iTunes, but the show is available on their network in SD & HD, and in SD on their site. Still no word on a North American DVD release, but we are working hard behind the scenes to get a copy of the UK release soon after it is out.

Do Not Buy This Boxset... Flashpoint Edition!

Speaking of DVDs, a pirated boxset has hit the internet. Please don't buy it! The DVDs are region free, which in the legit DVD world always rings alarm bells for not being official. We don't even think that's the official cover, it looks just like a screencap of a promotional picture we've seen kicking around CTV (when you load their official page, this image is a placeholder for whatever video is they have featured). It also features a monochrome CBS DVD logo, but the CBS store does not have a Flashpoint boxset listed anywhere! We haven't seen this boxset appear at any reputable online sellers - but should any of our fans see it, please email us with where you saw it and we will take action and get a letter campaign started (we've been here before)to get this set pulled in favor of an official release.

And to Catch Up on Ratings...

Canada's ratings for last week's episode have just been released - the show scored 1.350 million viewers and was the 16th most watched show in the country that week!

Flashpoint News And Ratings!

So, today I found out that what I had read elsewhere was wrong, and that new episodes of Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and her husband Mark Ellis' Flashpoint begin tomorrow :O. Please tune in everyone! I thought I would have had another week to finish up the summaries, but I guess I'm going to fall behind. Sorry to you all! Tomorrow's episode is entitled Business As Usual, and is a plot that reflects these times that we are currently in. Three men take the CEO of a mortgage company hostage , and the SRU reluctantly looks for a replacement for Jules as she is still in the hospital recovering from her wounds in the last episode of Season 1. We're really looking forward to seeing this episode! And we can also bring you some behind the scenes information! This episode was shot last month at Toronto's MaRS Collaboration Centre, more specifically, its auditorium which had to undergo a quickie transformation into a stock exchange. Fans can click here to read the blog entry on MaRS's site, and here to check out some photos of the set!

And before we hit the ratings, we bet all our worldwide fans of Flashpoint just got a little more jealous of the UK! While Canada has the episodes available on iTunes, the UK will be the first market to have the show on DVD! Even we are a little confused by this , wondering why a North American show isn't getting a DVD release first on it's shores! It is currently listed on Amazon UK for around $35 USD, and ITV has posted a very tiny image of what we believe is the DVD cover. And we really love the way the SRU looks with the glittering blue skyscape of Toronto behind them. We can't wait to see this one on North American shelves!

Flashpoint Ratings:

The show, despite it's competition, held its ratings pretty steady. New episodes aired on January 9th, 16th, and 23rd, and February 13th. In between, repeats were shown, and they still pulled in significant ratings. On the 9th, Eagle Two aired, and scored 10.06 million viewers in the US, and a 2.2/6 rating with viewers between the ages of 18-49, winning it's timeslot and CBS the night. In Canada, the show scored 1.269 viewers, and was the 13th most watched show that week. On the 16th, Backwards Day aired, and scored 10.53 million viewers, and a 2.4/7 rating with 18-49ers, again winning its timeslot and CBS the night. In Canada, the show scored 1.741 million viewers, and was the 7th most popular show that week! On the 23rd, Haunting the Barn aired, and scored 10.21 million viewers in the US, and it's 18-49ers rating unchanged from the previous week (2.4/7). Once again, it won its timeslot and CBS the night! In Canada, the show scored 1.279 million viewers, and was the 16th most watched show that week. In the weeks in between, in Canada, the show managed to hold it's viewers over a million, and in the United States over 8 million, as reruns aired. On the 13th, Between Heartbeats aired, scoring 8.7 million viewers in the US, making it the top of the ratings by numbers, however it scored a 1.8/6 with the 18-49ers. That score put the show behind Fox's Dollhouse which had less viewers, but scored a 2.0/6 for the same demographic. Last week, Dollhouse tied with a rerun of Flashpoint at 1.7/5, but only had about half as many viewers. I have a feeling that the viewer gap between the two shows will become larger this week as last week's episode was so terribly convoluted. It left me more confused than the first episode, and I don't believe Dollhouse is as big a threat to Flashpoint as I feared. Don't get me wrong - as many Sailor Moon fans are fans of Joss Whedon's work, this one sure isn't winning any of us over. We'll have to see what tomorrow holds, however. We really loved the last four episodes of Flashpoint, and we hope the same quality carries the show through the second season! However, the ratings are taking a pretty steep dive in Canada, so those of us canuck otaku who are freezing in the Great White North, please turn your TV sets to Flashpoint tomorrow okay?