Flashbits September 2009!

With the third season premiere of Flashpoint starting next week, we’re going to catch you all up on recent happenings with the show!

☄Catch Hugh Dillon on Ion Television in the U.S! Dark drama Durham County premiered on the network, and despite the cuts made to the show by the network, there is at least one thing for the U.S. to look forward to. Canada had a 2-year gap between each 6 episode season, where the U.S. is getting both seasons as one! We recommend checking out this series (it's even a top pick for one website), but for those of you wanting to watch the series in its unaltered form, the first season is available on DVD. However, you will have to poke around the internet to find it, as Amazon.ca lists a shipping time of 1-2 months. But take a good look at the cover they have posted (we've posted it here too), so you know what to look for. There are some fakes going around (and please, don’t buy those)! The premiere also made the New York Times! Check out reviews here, here, and here! We also found this marketing stunt kind of cool - Ion Television filled a big cardboard box with packing peanuts, and let 20 contestants have at it to find treasure! The point being, that Durham County is a small town with a lot of buried secrets, and this was a small box that also had... buried secrets. Neat!

☄Worldscreen reports yet another country that Flashpoint is conquering - the Netherlands! The country's 13th Street channel (part of NBC Universal) is making their programming available On Demand through Ziggo, and Flashpoint is one of those shows along with Dexter, The Wire, and British series Vincent. We are assuming that this broadcast is in Dutch!

☄This is a good sign - the upcoming release of Flashpoint: Season 1 on DVD this October 13th is starting to get a lot of buzz in the US! Cinemaspy highlights the show's recent Gemini Nomimations and special features, and The Star Tribune makes a brief mention of it. The Windsor Star also named Flashpoint one of Jay Leno's competitors starting next week! Closer to the release, we'll see if we can come up with something creative for fans to do to celebrate the release and encourage others to go get the show on DVD!

☄The Hollywood Reporter posted a great article on Liam Neeson's new film, Chloe, however, it was interesting to note their comment about Toronto - how Flashpoint has gained credibility south of the border for letting Toronto be Toronto!

Flashpoint Stars at CBS Press Tour Party

Bill Mustos, Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon, Amy Jo Johnson, and David Paetkau all made an appearance earlier this week at CBS's Press Tour Summer 2009 in an effort to prove that the show still had value to the network. This might have been in response to CBS holding away 9 episodes of the show from the upcoming Fall season. The stars were also all interviewed for Entertainment Tonight - so keep your eyes peeled for them on upcoming episodes!

Flashpoint is in a bit of a bind - CTV has ordered 13 episodes, of which 9 have been funded for in part by CBS. CBS has until October 1st to decide if they want any more episodes past those 9 - now this could be extended past then. But as of this writing, no one knows what is going to happen. In any case, these 13 episodes will air on CTV in entirety. We're hoping to have an answer soon - we don't think it's fair that Flashpoint isn't getting an episode order as large as those of other series! For pictures of the event, check out CBS Press Express.

BREAKING NEWS: Flashpoint Recieves Telefilm Funding for Video Game!

Via Playback Daily, this morning we learned that Telefilm Canada just days ago,unveiled product assistance funding from its $15 million Canada New Media Fund. One of the productions receiving a funding advance from this is Flashpoint, and these funds are going towards the production of an interactive video game. Canadian company Xenophile Media is developing a cross platform Flashpoint Interactive game which will allow players (playing as police recruits), to learn negotiating skills, rifle marksmanship and other techniques employed by SRU on the show! Patrick Crow, co-president of Xenophile Media gave a few more details about the project, and said "the training module game, with five missions as part of its role-playing scenarios, aims to help engage Flashpoint fans during and between TV season runs, and return a profit to investors, including the Bell Fund, CTV and Telefilm Canada, when eventually sold internationally." The game also aims to attract viewers to help boost up ratings, series sponsorship, and international sales. This is very exciting, and all of us on staff look forward to playing this when it comes out! Xenophile has been nominated and/or won awards for other interactive media sidekicks to TV shows and movies such as ReGenesis, Total Drama Island, Fallen, and M.I. High. These awards include Emmys and the Rose D'Or out of Britain! Congratulations to the cast and crew of Flashpoint and Xenophile Media on what is sure to be an exciting venture!

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 Ratings News!

Before we hit the ratings, we'll link you to an interesting article we found - One of Flashpoint's writers, Tassie Cameron is pitching a new cop series to US networks entitled Copper. The article goes on to say what a pioneer Flashpoint was for Canadian television across the border, since the economic crisis is pushing US networks to pursue alternative productions.

Canada's ratings for the episode "The Fortress" (which was the week before last Friday), scored 1.367 million viewers, and was the 14th most watched show in the country that week! US Ratings for the episode which aired just a few days ago, "Clean Hands", scored 9.44 million viewers, and earned a score of 1.9/6 for the adults 18-49 demographic. This 1.9 score sent off alarm bells with some critics, saying that the show probably won't survive, but it's been teetering between 1.9 and 2.0 the last few weeks. And it is still winning it's timeslot, despite only retaining 85% of the viewers from the preceding show, The Ghost Whisperer. Some other outlets are reporting bigger figures. Dollhouse rose in viewers to 4.42 million, with a score of 1.5/5 in the demographic. However if the previews are to be trusted, next week's episode will be a real kicker, and may be the spark that attracts more viewers. Flashpoint is on a hiatus for the next two weeks , and maybe if we are lucky we can catch up on some summaries - I'll at least be lost without Flashpoint for this time!

BREAKING NEWS: Flashpoint Set Plays Host to Important Government Announcement, and Other News Tidbits!

Hey Moonies! I have to post a quickie Flashpoint update since something major was announced today.

Canadian Government to Attempt to Fix Canadian Television Fund

Most TV production in Canada receives funding from the Canadian Television Fund , which is supported by contributions from the Canadian Government (through the Department of Canadian Heritage) and many Canadian Cable and Satellite providers. In the last few years, the fund has undergone many changes in how it is supported by its supporters, especially since many supporters pulled out or reduced their funds by a significant amount. This compounded with the rise of "new media" over the internet and mobile devices, has sent the distribution of these funds into a tizzy, leaving many in the TV industry frustrated. The Canadian New Media Fund, which was created for this purpose, also suffered from lack of Governmental support. Today, Heritage Minister James Moore held a press conference from the set of Flashpoint announcing the merger of the two funds to create the Canadian Media Fund which will come to fruition in 2010 (Image Credit: CTV). Applicants will be required to make their content available on two platforms. While we are happy to read that the Government is attempting to reorganize their TV industry funding , we were a little confused about what developers who only work on either conventional programming or new media would have to do to get funding under these new requirements. Brian Anthony of the Director's Guild of Canada also shared his sentiments on the same thoughts exactly. And the Canadian Actor's Union, ACTRA, has a few words to say too, since 5 of the 7 members of this new board are comprised of representatives from the "Big Cable" industries. In recent years, we've noticed there has been a rise of many independent productions in Canada, especially animated ones which are almost web-exclusive. It would be a sad day to see these productions struggle to get funding, as well as having to really fight to get funding from a board more balanced towards bigger companies. While we were happy to read that they chose to make this announcement from the set of one of Canada's biggest TV successes of recent years, we can't help but worry about how exactly this consolidated fund is going to work. Readers who want to check out videos from the press conference (and take a guess exactly where in Toronto the set is!) can go to CTV and watch them on their media player.

☽ And Zap2It has some really cool pictures of the cast of Flashpoint and Numb3rs on an on-set weapons training visit! Enrico Colantoni and Hugh Dillon traveled to Burbank to use a Firearms Training Simulator.

☽ And we have ratings to report: io9 posted an interesting article and poll asking the question "Is there too much to watch on Friday Nights?" I at least had that problem between three shows this week. Flashpoint, Dollhouse, and I also really wanted to catch 20/20 since they were going to feature the farewell performance of Siegfried and Roy. I'm still amazed at how Roy Horn has recovered from his injury, and also amazed at his strength. I ended up watching Flashpoint, and recording the other two shows. Did any of our readers also have this dilemma? In any case, I have lost all faith in Dollhouse. This time I really felt that the banter read right out of a script from Buffy, and that Sierra's part in the episode was just there for a token appearance. Most TV critics are predicting it won't last past these 13 episodes, and I am siding with them. I don't think it's a threat to Flashpoint anymore. Flashpoint had one of the most suspenseful and gripping episodes in its run last week, and I thought the lines of the nanny were brilliantly written and the child stars were superb (we bet they thought it was cool to see all the behind the scenes action and effects)! The other really cool thing about this episode is that the viewers who have been following this show now have a really good idea where each character comes from and they can almost feel their thoughts in their head when they don't have anything to say. You could feel Sam Braddock's heartbreak when Donna walked in, and you could feel Greg Parker remembering what it was like to be there for his son when he gave Daniel a reassuring hug after his captor had been shot. Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis in one of their beginning promotional interviews said that this wasn't your typical cop show - and every week they live up to it! Anyway, enough gushing about the episode, we were so happy to read this week Flashpoint creamed Dollhouse in the United States! Flashpoint scored 9.8 million viewers and a 2.0/6.0 score with the 18-49 demographic, whereas Dollhouse scored only 3.50 million viewers and a 1.5/5.0 with the same demographic. 20/20 had the same score in the demographic but only had 8.40 million viewers. Flashpoint definitely won the timeslot and CBS won the night! Next week's episode features Sam Braddock in a hostage situation - we can't wait!

Flashpoint Ratings Febraury 27th, 2009

Hi Moonies: We're going to hold off on our summaries of the episodes until further notice. They will be done, just when is hard to say, we are doing a little restructuring behind the scenes. Nonetheless, we will keep you posted on the ratings since Flashpoint is in a bit of a bind on both sides of the border!

First off - it was announced last week that CTV , Flashpoint's parent network in Canada and initial supporter, is projecting a loss of 100 million CAD in "conventional television" due to the worldwide economic crisis, along with changes in television and how the internet has influenced media content. CTV has also written off 1.7 billion CAD in television operations from the last quarter. The network also suspended Canadian Idol just for 2009. We are worried that Flashpoint may have to pull in successful numbers consistently if the show were to be considered for a third season - it will need to prove it will be a good investment. And the ratings in Canada have been declining slowly. On the 13th of February, when the last episode of Season 1 Between Heartbeats aired, the show had 1.292 million viewers - a significant cry from the 1.7 million viewer peak two episodes earlier. So Canadian Moonies - please try to watch this show on Friday night (who wants to go out in the cold anyway?) and encourage anyone else you know to give this show a try!

Now, onto last week's episode, Business as Usual. Canadian ratings won't be posted for a few more days, however the US ratings were published just hours after the show aired. Flashpoint kinda won and didn't win it's timeslot. It had more viewers than Joss Whedon's Dollhouse with 9.17 million viewers (to 4.13 million) however, Dollhouse scored a 2.0/7.0 score with the 18-49 demographic, and Flashpoint was kept away from the top only scoring 1.9/7.0. As far as the shows went, Flashpoint came back with a bang with a story about how the current economic crisis and corporate greed affects everyone, however I thought the scenes with the new character, Donna Sabine (at least we think that's her last name) were a little rushed. Maybe the vagueness of her persona will be clarified as the show goes on, and it was there to add to the mystery of her psychological problems which were hinted at. I really liked the mock stock exchange they had built in MaRS though, and it was nice to see Amy Jo Johnson, even if it was only for a few minutes (she will be back, right?). Dollhouse on the other hand, stuck to one plot for the entire episode's duration, however at times it seemed to drag on and on. I didn't quite believe Eliza Dushku's singing was as great as the show made it out to be, or the Diva's behaviour seemed overdone at times. I also thought some elements for the plot for this episode was drawn from an episode of Eliza's other show Tru Calling, many years ago. I also don't think Friday night is necessarily the greatest night for both of these shows. The good news is that these two shows are the top two in the timeslot, and it will be interesting to see in the coming weeks how this plays out.