Showing posts with label Mark Eliis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Eliis. Show all posts

Friday, November 20, 2009

Flashpoint's Gemini Wins for the World to See!

Flashpoint won accolades at last weekend's Gemini Awards, but many of our readers internationally were not able to share in the moments. One of our readers pointed us to this video on YouTube which we have embedded below. It has all the clips from the gala as well as a listing of all the show's nominations!



And last Monday, show creators Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern appeared on Canada AM - and this is available on CTV.ca and is viewable by anyone in North America!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Flashpoint Wins at Gemini Awards!

From left to right: Hugh Dillon, Stephanie Morgenstern, Mark Ellis, Anne Marie La Traverse, Bill Mustos, Amy Jo Johnson, and Enrico Colantoni.


Tonight was the Broadcast Gala of the Gemini Awards, and this picture you are seeing are a few members of the cast and crew of Flashpoint celebrating their Best Dramatic Series win just hours ago! Other Flashpoint winners of the evening were Kelly Malkin for Best Direction in a Dramatic Series and Enrico Colantoni for Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role.Hugh won an award for Best performance by an actor in a featured supporting role in a dramatic program or miniseries for his work in Of Murder and Memory. I will post full transcripts of the speeches during the broadcast and possibly some very crude video early next week. We all blushed a little when we heard Anne Marie La Traverse acknowledge the fans at the beginning of her speech - this is something we rarely ever hear at any awards shows! Before we get to our category listings, we have a few words we'd like to say...Thank you to Mark and Stephanie for creating such a wonderful show.When I first read about it, I knew that this had the potential to be something big, and even though so many fans got tired of our posts on Flashpoint from the pilot stages onwards, we trudged on. Not because it was some program that a voice actor from Sailor Moon took part in, but because it really was a good show that was more than just the quick sightings that we report. This is a unique cop drama and we wish it lots more continued success in the future! And thanks Anne Marie La Traverse - we Badgers and Doves will continue to be there until the very end!

(special thanks to TheMediaChick for finding these pictures!)


Awards

Best Direction in a Dramatic Series:

Chris Grismer
Being Erica
Leo

John Fawcett
The Border
Going Dark

Kelly Makin
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned


Steven Adelson
Sanctuary
Instinct

Jeremy Podeswa
The Tudors
Episode 201

Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role

Enrico Colantoni
Flashpoint
Who's George?



Hugh Dillon
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn


Daniel Kash
The Line
Episode 102

Ron White
The Line
Episode 102

Robin Dunne
Sanctuary
Requiem

Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role

Erin Karpluk
Being Erica
Dr. Tom

Amy Jo Johnson
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned


Andrea Menard
Rabbit Fall
Hit and Run

Amanda Tapping
Sanctuary
Requiem

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Despite Flashpoint’s Success, Canadian Dramas Still Have Many Challenges

We noticed a new article today in the news, coming from Jason Anderson of the Canadian general interest magazine, The Walrus. Jason’s article features some insightful comments from Flashpoint co-creators Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis about the show’s identity and why it took the direction it did. We learned at least one new thing: we’ll have to change our familiar episode summary opener from "We begin in medias res" to "Today’s Cold Open…" The show has had huge international success which has opened the door for quite a few other Canuck dramas (with co-production agreements with the United States). However, Canada still faces challenges supporting home-grown drama in its own country , since we are exposed to media from all over, especially the US. Mary Jane Miller, a Professor Emeritus at Brock University suggests that the best ones didn’t try to “look American” but rather displayed moral tolerance, open-ended narrative structures, and experimented with the medium itself. At the same time, there is a lot of pressure for Canadian shows to be just like American ones since they are hugely popular in the Great White North. It has taken a while for Canadian shows to find the perfect balance between trying to have the same sorts of appeal that the American dramas have, while still staying true to a unique, Canadian, identity. The article also chronicles the plight of other Canadian TV series at home and abroad. It’s a bit of a long read and a few things were omitted, but it’s still nonetheless an interesting read.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Flashpoint Rested for Only A Flash...

Haha, and the sad part is, I never get tired of cracking jokes including the word "flash" for this show... Flashpoint has been up to a lot since we last updated, so let's get to the roundup!

Sergio Di Zio in Award-Winning Play!

We don't normally talk about co-stars of Sailor Moon actors on this site, but we're making an exception because we love playing Six Degrees Of Sailor Moon! Sergio Di Zio , who plays Mike "Spike" Scarlatti (the bomb expert) on Flashpoint is starring in a play making it's rounds around Canada! He will appear in Scorched, a play about a mother’s last will and testament that sends her surviving twins Simon and Janine plunging into her past in a war-torn country on a journey in pursuit of their origins. She wishes for them to travel back to her country to find a brother they never knew about, and a father who is claimed to have died for the country. The show will play for the second time at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, it had a sold-out run in February of 2007 and won two Dora awards! Lyon Smith (Sapphire) has often worked behind-the-scenes with sound for many of the plays at that theater. Sergio will be playing Simon, described as"an amateur boxer with a short fuse" who resents his mother. The play is currently showing in Winnipeg at the MTC Warehouse until November 29th. All of you are encouraged to go see this if you can! In an interview with the Winnipeg Sun, he revealed that Flashpoint recently began shooting it's second season. Stephanie Morgenstern (Sailor Venus #1) and Mark Ellis didn't get much of a break in between it seems :(. Nonetheless, we look forward to seeing what harrowing situations the SRU is faced with episode 10 (first season, still unaired!) and beyond....

Flashpoint May Be Coming Back Earlier Than We Expected?

When Flashpoint abruptly ended last September with four episodes still left to air on CBS and CTV, many television critics and writers predicted the last few episodes would be a midseason replacement should CBS cancel a show. And it looks like that day is coming soon. Just a few weeks ago, the network canceled The Ex-List, which aired on a Friday night. Since then, the slot has been filled with re-runs of NCIS which have been doing well in the ratings, but it has been speculated by some critics that CBS will have to come up with a better solution. And they are predicting that Flashpoint is going to fill this timeslot soon between (ugh) The Horse Whisperer and Numb3rs. Keep your fingers crossed Moonies, we may be seeing the lost episodes of Flashpoint a lot sooner than we expected! Flashpoint is available on iTunes Canada for $1.99 an episode, or 23.99 for a Season Pass, which will allow you to purchase all the episodes for Season 1 (including those that are upcoming). For more information, iTunes Canada members can click here.

Anne Marie La Traverse and Bill Mustos Named Canadian Producers of the Year by Playback!

Our favorite Canadian media industry publication has just named Flashpoint's Anne Marie La Traverse and Bill Mustos Producers of the Year! More will be featured in Playback's November 24th issue, and we have our fingers crossed that the show will win more accolades in their December issue!

And Finally, Flashpoint in Poland!

We are some of the luckiest bloggers in the world for two reasons: we've gotten to meet and work with a lot of interesting people since this site started, and we have got one of the best international fanbases who interact with us often helping us bring news to the fans they wouldn't find anywhere else! One of these fans is Maciej Puka, who emailed us all the way from Poland to tell us a little bit about Flashpoint! The show has been part of Poland's nScreen VOD service for a few months now and Maciej tell us that this service costs $9 US ($30 Poland Zloty) a month, and the show is available in HD. What surprised us even more was when he told us that not only was the show dubbed in Polish, but subscribers had three versions to pick from. The English version (what we see on TV here), English version with Polish subtitles, and the Polish dub! This is really cool that Polish people have the choice to watch it in English if they want to! We encourage the rest of our readers overseas who know anything about how this show is delivered in their country to tell us about it! We would love to feature it on this site, as Flashpoint is probably going to take the cake for the biggest achievement by a North American Voice Actor (from Sailor Moon) this year!