Flashpoint in a Flash: Season 1 - Episode 12: Haunting the Barn:

Read our full summary after the jump! And there is a former star of Sailor Moon in this one: Robert Bockstael (Prince Diamond) plays Harvey Silver. Stephanie Morgenstern is also seen in this episode, playing an officer.


We begin outside a crowded subway station surrounded by police and citizens. Spike maneuvers in a bomb robot towards a suitcase bomb as Jules counts down the time left before Spike detonates the suitcase. The case explodes... and rewind! Four hours earlier, the SRU complains about the broken AC as they head towards the briefing room. An old friend, the retired Sargent Daniel Rangford, visits the SRU and catches up with them. The SRU is alerted to the station where the suitcase is, and as they leave, Rangford hopes they keep the peace. Ed tells Sam about Rangford and how great his legacy with the SRU was. Back at headquarters, Rangford asks to use the Briefing Room and walks around the halls he once knew. He puts a letter in someone’s locker. The SRU arrives at the station which has been marked off by police line as they come up with a plan about the suitcase. Rangford asks Kira for a file, but he flinches a little when she says she needs clearance from the commander. He begins to speak in a threatening voice towards her and shows her a gun. Back at the subway station, Spike wheels out his robot as Jules works Command Post. At the SRU, Rangford takes Kira down to the archives, and holds her cell phone. As Kira goes in to retrieve the file, Rangford spots a plaque dedicated to him, and quickly turns away. The SRU doesn’t know why the suitcase is here in a public place. Rangford assures Kira that everything should come back to normal, and instructs her on how to act. As he walks back into reception with Kira, he is greeted by another of his colleagues. He talks the barest minimum to him and he walks away. Rangford tells Kira to sit down. Spike begins to scan the suitcase. Spike suspects there is phosgene in the suitcase. The same colleague back at the SRU gives Rangford a water bottle , and inadvertently he spots the gun. Rangford pulls a gun on the colleague , and backs into the briefing room. Kira sends a text message to the SRU and they split up, Ed, Wordy, Sam and Greg head back to HQ and Jules is put in charge of this situation at the subway station. Rangford keeps the SRU members at HQ at a distance as he locks himself in the briefing room. Roll Opening! Kira gets through to the SRU over voice and fills them in. They arrive back at HQ and figure out ways to monitor the situation using equipment he doesn’t know about. Spike finishes his scans and sends his robot, affectionately named “Babycakes” to open the suitcase. Ed starts the negotiations with Rangford. Greg talks to Kira and learns about what happened. Greg asks Kira to suit up and call up Rangford’s old partner, Harvey Silver. Ed is in a bind as Rangford has foiled his fiber optic camera, but Wordy manages to get another one in as Ed continues to talk. Rangford begins to drink out of his bottle of whiskey as he reads an old newspaper article. The SRU watches, and Sam begins typing in the event log. Rangford begins shooting at a chair, almost delusional as if there is someone else in the room. After a few shots he comes back to his senses. Rangford’s wife comes in, asking to see him, but Greg takes her aside. Ed breaks into the room, and Rangford holds the gun to his head. Commercials! Back at HQ, Rangford says if they move forward, he will shoot himself, as he goes through the rules of negotiation. He begins to lay out all the pages in the file in a circle around him.Harvey arrives, but Sam deters him from coming inside the room, and Sam asks him about an incident in 1989. Babycakes surrounds the suitcase with a special scanner, and sees things he doesn’t want to see. Kira tries to talk to Evelyn, and she says that he is not the same man she married. He doesn’t enjoy a lot anymore, and he had nothing left to his life when he retired. Rangford talks more about what tactics will not work, including tear gas. Evelyn feels detached from her husband who has been “hanging off a cliff” all these years. We go to Harvey and Sam, and Harvey tells the story about what happened in 1989. It was at a house where an 18 year old was looking after her orphaned brother and sister. There was a home invasion, but by the time they got there, they had left. The rest of the team went back on patrol, and Harvey and Danny stayed to write it up and sit with the kids, trading baseball cards. Two hours later, there was a homicide there. The girl who they managed to save was brain damaged to the point where she couldn’t have a great quality of life. The other two were killed. Greg leaves Ed to find out more information. Harvey didn’t know what to say to Dan. Spike gets ready to detonate the suitcase. Ed rolls in a water bottle to Dan. Kira brings in a bunch of beta tapes from the incident. Greg finally allows Evelyn to see Dan, but behind shields. Dan is ready to shoot himself in the head again, but upon seeing Evelyn wants her to go away so he can do this without her. The suitcase detonates as Dan puts the gun towards the SRU. Commercials! Evelyn begs Dan not to shoot. Dan gets delusional again and appears to be talking to a child. Kira fast forwards to a police interview with the 10-year old girl after the incident.You see Stephanie Morgenstern from her backside in this scene. We can now understand why Dan feels guilty - he told the boy to show his sisters how brave he was, and the little boy stood up to the criminals. Greg and Ed try to talk him down. Dan remembers what the little boy was like before he left, and he remembers seeing a screwdriver jammed into his throat. He blames himself for what happened and can’t take it anymore - all he sees are the ghosts of all his failed missions. He then asks Ed to shoot him. Ed takes the bullets out of his gun, and puts them on the ground. He takes off his equipment and his vest. He understands where Dan is coming from as he remembers all the calls they didn’t get to on time. Ed says Dan made him who he was, and he manages to pull him into a hug and takes the gun. The two men have a good cry about all their tough times as the camera pulls away. And we go to commercial. Spike looks at the remains of the suitcase, and sees actual hay and grass, and the remains of Dan’s Silver Shield which he earned for his bravery in this incident. The montage begins, as Dan is led away, and Greg promises to send him to rehab. Ed goes to his locker, and pulls out the letter Dan left for him. In the briefing room, Greg is with himself as he signs the incident report. Kira takes the report back to her office. Ed goes home and shows a special bulletin board with news articles about his career to his wife. He puts the note Dan left for him up there (a simple “I’m Sorry”) and hugs her. The end.

This was one of my favorite episodes of the show because we saw more of the effects a lot of these incidents that don’t go as planned have on the officers - something which the montages at the end never seem to capture all of. I thought the performance given by the entire cast was superb!

Flashpoint in a Flash: Season 1 - Episode 11: Backwards Day

Read our summary after the jump! This one is about a woman scorned after she learns she is unable to have children, and learning her husband has had an affair.


We begin seeing the SRU enter a pretty trendy house with their guns up. A blonde woman has a chef’s knife to a brunette, and we see the man in the middle at some computers wondering what he did wrong. Jules is ready to shoot the blonde and the team breaks in the room. We rewind to 3 hours earlier, as the blonde (Sara) is undergoing an ultrasound with her husband (the man in the middle). The Doctor tells her that there’s no pregnancy, and the woman goes through denial in front of the woman. Sara is reminded she has undergone a myriad of treatments, and all of them were unsuccessful. The Doctor tells her bluntly that she can’t recommend that she spends another 15 grand on fertility treatments as she breaks down in tears. Jules looks outside her house to make sure no one from the SRU is outside as she leaves... with Sam! Sam still can’t believe she wants to keep their relationship under wraps as she tells him that he will be dropped off a few blocks away. Sara has an argument with her husband (Josh) who has given up on having a child of their own, because they can’t even afford to live in their own house anymore. Sara has become almost a hermit because she doesn’t want to see a woman with a baby. Josh leaves the car abruptly, and Sara cries again. Back at the SRU, Wordy teases Spike because his mom still does his laundry! Ed walks in, and remarks to the gossiping “ladies” that it’s time to go bust out a gang. Sara is in her nursery, listening to the peaceful orgel music of a mobile, when suddenly she tears it apart, and screams as her husband’s cell phone goes off. She sees a text message from another woman (Hannah), thinking that it’s his mistress and she texts her back to trick her into coming to their house. On their way out, Jules and Sam are riding in an SUV together and they argue over when they should tell the crew. Jules doesn’t want to, but Sam sees no problem. Greg and Ed discuss taking a day off. Hannah arrives at Sara’s house, and she lets her in. Hannah thinks she will be waiting for Josh, as Sara offers her some tea. Sara tells her that Josh is at work, and confronts a confused Hannah about the text messages. Hannah tries to leave but Sara threatens her with a knife. Hannah grabs a cordless phone to call the police, as Sara comes closer to her. Opening credits! The crew is diverted from their gang bust to go to Sara and Josh’s house. Jules and Sam look around the house. Sam dials in the house under careful orders from Greg, but when there is no answer, he uses the bullhorn. Jules grows suspicious when she learns the alarm has not been triggered, but instead armed after the supposed intruder was inside. Sam throws a phone in the window of the dining room in an attempt to talk to Sarah. Hannah begs Sara to answer, but she refuses. She throws Hannah down on the floor as she throws the phone out screaming that she wants the truth. Ed, Greg and the rest of the SRU arrive. Greg lets Sam continue to handle the negotiating and assigns Ed and Lou to Command Post. Lou says he can’t believe this, and Ed says it’s a backwards day. Josh arrives, but Greg holds him back from entering the house, and asks him some questions about how Sara was this morning. He is sent to go talk some more to Ed and Lou. Back at the house, Wordy and Spile scout the house, and set up a listening patch through the windows. Sara has Hannah backed up against a wall, ready to stab her, as Hannah begs for her to talk to Josh. Back in the truck, Josh doesn’t think that all this equipment is needed to stop an upset woman with a knife, but Ed sets him straight. The team is ready to bust in the house and fire rubber bullets, when Hannah asks Sara not to hurt her because she is pregnant. Can you imagine if this was on Maury? COMMERCIAL BREAK! Jane Kaczmarek can play a judge with a lighter side, but to me she will always be the harsh taskmaster on Malcolm in the Middle. Back to the show: Greg orders the SRU to stand down when he learns Hannah is pregnant. Sara screams over and over “You’re having his baby”, and blames Hannah saying she is the reason he gave up on her. Sara tries to force Hannah up the stairs, but Hannah manages to shake the knife from Sara’s hand and the two are on the floor fighting. Sara ends up on Hannah and she is once again begging for her life and the baby’s. Sara gets off of her, and once again forces her up the stairs. Ed confronts Josh about having an affair but he doesn’t admit it. Sam tries once again to get Sara on the phone. Sara leads Hannah into the nursery and tells her how they have tried for years to have a baby. Hannah tells Sara that she interviewed Josh for Wired magazine in New York and that the interview was amazing. Sara doesn’t buy it and goes towards the window to see what is happening outside as Sam is telling her to pick up the phone. Hannah uses this opportunity to turn on a baby monitor, and the SRU picks it up on their frequency monitors. Josh tells Ed his story of how Sara got pregnant, but lost the baby. She never gave up the fight with all her therapies, in spite of all their accounts being emptied. The SRU clues into the baby monitor. Greg assigns Jules to the Scorpio position, and rearranges the rest of the team. Sara puts a dresser against the door, and once again confronts Hannah , holding a knife towards her, asking what happened in New York. Hannah will not admit the affair, but says that Sara will not like the truth as we go to a commercial break. The SRU then breaks into the front door quietly as they make their way up to the nursery. Ed shows Josh names associated with license plates around the area, and Josh recognizes Hannah’s name. He finally confesses to an affair. Hannah tells Sara they have known each other for several years and then they had a strong connection. Josh says he bumped into her at a convention in New York, and nothing had changed. Josh had grown apart from Sara because of all these treatments, and they spent a night together. Sara grows jealous that Hannah was able to make him happy again. Sam asks to be patched into the baby monitor in a last ditch attempt. Sara asks Hannah if Josh is the father just as Sam gets through. Sara can’t understand why Josh wants to be with Hannah over her. Sara unravels all of her hatred towards Hannah, as Sam asks for Josh to talk through a headset. Jules has an argument with Sam over how to handle this. Greg makes the decision to let Sam continue to negotiate, even though Jules can see that Hannah’s life is in danger. Sam manages to talk down Sara, but then Hannah pushes her against a wall, knocking her down. The SRU enters the room but it’s not looking good as Sara is rolled over... with a knife through her chest. Commercials! Josh watches in horror as Sara is wheeled into an ambulance, and Wordy carries Hannah off. Back at the SRU, it’s Team Jules versus Sam, and some members of the team want to know what would have happened if Ed was in charge. Ed says that sometimes you can’t help when these things happen, as they learn that Sara is going to be okay. Spike tries to calm the tension in the room and says “Well that’s good, right?”. The montage begins, we see Josh with Sara in the hospital, Greg and Ed agree not to switch positions again, and Jules and Sam apologize to each other. Sam doesn’t want to sneak around anymore, and the two are confused about where they are in their relationship as Jules invites him to prime her drywall. Because, who wants to go on a date outside the house when you can work on renovations? Ahh, the epitome of romance...The song that played today was "The World Won't Wait" by The Dunes.

Not the worst episode of Flashpoint that I have seen, but near the bottom. I was not convinced by either of the actress’s performances in this episode, Kristin Booth as Sara, and Alisen Down as Hannah. At times it was hard to understand what they were saying through their tears and Kristin’s performance at many times seemed too fake.

Flashpoint in A Flash: Season 1 - Episode 10: Eagle Two:

We resume our Flashpoint summaries after a very long hiatus! Go after the jump to read it! This episode features a VIP and his wife caught in an ugly situation at a special event. For all our Torontonians, this one was shot at the beautiful Fairmont hotel in downtown Toronto :).


We begin watching members of the SRU running around the hotel searching for someone. A bomb blast is heard, and Parker calls for a lockdown on the entire hotel. Ed Lane encounters our victim of the week, who says to agree with whatever their monetary demands are. Ed says that isn’t what they want, and we are left wondering as we rewind back 3 hours later. We’re taken to to SRU headquarters as Parker is describing and planning today’s assignment with the team. It’s the Millennium Forum, being held at a very prestigious hotel, and the SRU is in charge of protecting a couple of VIPs and their dog. The husband (David Graham) is an international businessman, and his wife Catherine, runs their foundation. Ed joins in, wearing a suit as he is assigned to protect the husband (“Eagle One”), as Jules is assigned the wife (“Eagle Two”) and is told to get some plainclothes. Next, we see a mother and a daughter (Alejandra and Claudia) preparing themselves for their jobs at their home when they are approached by two men. They speak in Spanish. Cut back to the SRU where Parker and Lane chat about date night and Parker’s trip to Dallas. Back to Alejandra and Claudia: the two men are attempting to coax Alejandra into their devious plans, but she refuses and sends them away. However, Claudia follows them behind the house, and offers to help them. Jules and Sam arrive at the hotel, Sam tells Jules he sold his car for a motorbike, and she jokes about how he plans to take ladies out on a date. Ed jokes with David and Catherine about how she would look good in anything, even a bathrobe. Claudia is seen taking a room service order, giving it to a chef, and insisting on taking it herself up to the room. Ed, Sam, and Jules work on the event log, and Sam has a hard time keeping focus while looking at Jules wearing a suit for the first time. They watch the camera feeds from outside their door. Claudia delivers the order, David remarks to Ed how Catherine has him on a special diet so they live to be 100. Claudia moves to a remote area of the building and talks with the two men, telling them there is an agent, and moves down to the package. Theme song! And I recognize Claudia’s cell phone, as it’s the one I used up until the end of 2007. It’s the Motorola V551, and it is one of my favorites that I’ve ever had. Though, it doesn’t make the same sounds that the show uses for effects. Enough of my rambling! Ed follows the couple out of the room as they leave a little ahead of schedule for cocktails, and Jules rushes to join them. Claudia is making her way out of the kitchen with a dish and a pitcher. Spike patrols the lobby, Young is watching outside the main doors, and Greg and Sam work out a new access point. Claudia removes the cover off her dish , and it holds a suspicious looking paper bag that she hides in the oven. David and Catherine offer Ed and his wife their suite for the rest of the night, with all the perks of room service absolutely free. Ed humbly accepts and calls his wife to tell her date night is still on. Catherine tells him the story of how he proposed on a spontaneous trip to Santiago. Jules unknowingly lets one of the two suspicious men (Castillo) from earlier go talk to the couple, believing his alibi as a journalist. Ed and David leave, and Catherine is left on her own for a few minutes without Jules. Ed finally gets a hold of his wife and gets her to come to the hotel. And then, a bomb blast is heard. Jules leaves Catherine alone for a moment to check the kitchen , but when she returns, Castillo and Catherine are gone. She alerts the team that Catherine is MIA and the team kicks into high gear looking for her. David freaks out to Ed learning his wife is missing and suggests a ransom note is on the way. Spike calls for the gas supply to the kitchen to be cut off and the ventilation to be turned on as he investigates the bomb. Parker puts the pieces together and finds that Castillo is a Chilean who might have kidnaped Catherine. The hotel goes under lockdown as Jules rests against a wall in guilt as she is having no luck finding her. Ed lays down the law with a hotel manager who refuses to let them search the whole hotel and disturb their guests. Greg calls in for another team, and every member begins knocking on doors. Ed calls his wife and cancels their date night, and David confesses to Ed that he wasn’t nice to everyone in Venezuela many years ago. Spike determines that it was a simple bomb. Catherine is sitting blindfolded in a loading dock, as the two men are talking to her. Claudia tells Catherine the story of how her father was taken away from their village in Chile, tortured, and has been missing for years. Catherine says she is sorry but does not know what this has to do with her. Catherine is strapped into a bomb collar. Jules and Louis end up outside the loading dock and open the large sliding doors and find Catherine in her “necklace bomb.” Greg learns that the bomb is fitted with a camera, and if anyone tries to tamper with it, move her out of the building, or isolate her, and it will be set off, as Wordy moves out the staff. Greg is told over the phone how to disable the bomb, and instructs Ed to keep David clear from everything. Greg arrives to the loading dock, and Spike begins listening to the bomb to determine how to disable it. We go back and forth between David and Ed, and Catherine and Jules, and we learn the situation. If David confesses during his keynote address that he killed Claudia’s father, then his wife lives. If not, the bomb will be set off and the entire room will be hit. Castillo gives Claudia the remote in case Felipe does not make it into the room. She wants to back out, but she is not allowed to. The men tell her this is exactly what her father would have done. The SRU decides to keep her on the balcony to keep everyone safe in case the worst happens. Spike works on deciphering the bomb and working on cell phones so that none of them work, and the bomb cannot be set off. Greg goes over details of a plan with a hotel manager. Catherine speaks by radio to David, and asks him to tell the truth. The team places themselves in and around the room and they slowly start letting the masses in, checking them with the metal detector wands. David takes the stage, and Jules stands with Catherine on the balcony. David is at a loss for words. After the break, David tells the story of how Gabriel Alvarez led a blockade at his village, to keep David from expanding his coppermine. David confesses to saying yes to having the blockade “removed”, and goes into a very good monologue about the consequences of saying yes. The team keeps their eyes on Felipe and Claudia, and Felipe takes the remote from Claudia. And aims to detonate it. Sam fires a shot at Felipe, Lewis pounces on him sending him to the ground, and Greg catches the remote. Spike contains the remote and heads towards Catherine to detonate it. Catherine feels a little uneasy not seeing Spike in a protective suit, but Spike says in a geeky, reassuring tone, that it’s okay and he has everything right there. He cuts the wires, and dismantles the collar. Catherine thanks him as he packs up the bomb. Wordy has Claudia with him, and she is questioned in front of her, to see if Catherine recognizes her. Catherine lets her go, seeing how scared she is and how genuinely sorry she is. Around the corner in the next hall, Catherine and David receive each other in a warm embrace, as they are split off again for a debriefing. The team decides to do their debrief tomorrow, and the team goes their separate ways. The end of the episode montage begins, and the song being played in the background is Kim Taylor’s “I am You”. Claudia goes home to her mom and cries on her shoulder. Jules wants to walk home alone from Sam. Through their tension, they kiss, finally confronting the feelings they have had all along. Ed goes home to his wife, sits with her on the hammock and enjoy a quite moment out under the stars.

When I watched this one for the first time back in January, it didn’t really feel like the premiere of Season Two for me - and it wasn’t meant to be in the first place. It should have aired much closer to the end of episode 9 - especially in the beginning banter between Ed and Greg over his visit to Dallas. Little things like that needed to be refreshed in the minds of the viewers. I did like this episode though - not as much as I have liked others, but somewhere in the middle.

BREAKING NEWS: Flashpoint Season 3 begins on July 17th... On CBS?!

Breaking earlier today on CBS's Press Express was an announcement about Stephanie Morgenstern's (Sailor Venus #1), and her husband Mark Ellis' Flashpoint having a Season 3 premiere on July 17th. So much for having a break until the fall, we are all working hard behind the scenes to get our Flashpoint blog up, and I was looking forward to a long break from watching any episodes! In an effort to have caught up with our summaries, I have been running a marathon through all of Season 2 since Monday! The episode that will air that day is "Coming To You Live", about a popular radio show host who is holding a prominent politician hostage on the air. He is seeking revenge for a murder that he thinks the politician committed years ago, and is ready to kill him on the air. Can the SRU fix this situation? We'll get to see in about 3 weeks. As for whether I will be able to keep up with the summaries or not, I can't speculate on that right now ;) though if this experience has taught me anything, I will have to keep up with it at least a few days after they air!

We here at Moon Chase are surprised by this announcement. CBS had kept the show off of it's Fall Schedule, while CTV had announced that it was on theirs, and also committed to 13 episodes for 2010. Now if CBS's Ghost Whisperer, NUMB3RS, and Medium are set to premiere on September 25th this leaves room for up to 10 new episodes of Flashpoint to air. Nine episodes are being shot right now, and this set of episodes began shooting in May. We are a little worried about Flashpoint's future, and perhaps it was CTV's announcement of the show airing on it's Fall schedule that provoked this action by CBS. It's a strange and twisted industry, and we were looking forward to seeing it again in the Fall on a more regular schedule. We sure hope that the show's future will be made clear in the coming days.

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!

Flashpoint Season Finale Tomorrow!

Or today depending if it's Friday when you read this! We'll be done our work for Animazement really soon - and that's why there hasn't been many updates during the week. Anyway, Tomorrow/Today's Flashpoint will be the last one for a long time. The remaining episodes from what we have read will be used for a third season, which hasn't been set in stone yet so as of this writing we can't tell you how many more episodes there will be. We feel that the show is being cut short since we were promised 18 episodes in Season 2 last year by both CTV and CBS, and now it's down to 13. At the same time, we predict that these 13 + the 5 remaining episodes will likely make up Season 2 in international markets. It's really a shame that the international markets get all of the episodes intended for each season yet they are aired out of whack back home. And still no word of a DVD release. At this rate, we're going to have to look into importing the SRU from either Britain or Australia. It's our convoluted solution, akin to the lengths the team has to go through sometimes to solve a crisis! *Sigh* Canadians isn't this almost turning into the crisis with ADV's release of Sailor Moon? It was so sad that a show dubbed in Canada was not widely released leaving many fans having to go buy them online from US stores. And it's almost the same situation here. Nonetheless, please tune in tomorrow at the very least to see if Sam and Jules resolve their tension?

Flashpoint Will Once Again Dominate Fridays From Next Week!

So! Welcome to another one of my random ramblings! Dollhouse is over. For the next few months anyway. Due to it's abysmal ratings, we think that it is holding on to any potential future by a very thin thread. This means that Flashpoint will probably have a better chance of winning it's timeslot and perhaps even achieving that magical 2.0 rating more often. I will do a full fledged ratings post for the last two weeks, but for now I'd like to send out a huge congrats to the show for recovering from it's April 24th dip to 1.6/5 to hitting a 2.1/6 last week! I enjoyed today's episode and I look forward to resuming my summaries next week! And this time, I promise there will be one up at least by the end of the week!

However, something needs to be said about tonight's finale of Dollhouse. I think the only reason a good portion of its viewers ever cared to watch the show to begin with was because it was a Joss Whedon creation and many of us fans of his earlier work flocked to this one. Before we move on, I should mention that tonight's episode was written by Tim Minear, who wrote two episodes on another doomed series on Fox that The Me and I quite enjoy, Wonderfalls. I was rocked, shocked, and left on the edge of my seat. Watching today's episode was like being stuck in a terrible nightmare or being scared in a horror movie. Easily the best episode of the season, and many sci-fi bloggers who got to watch advanced screeners of the episode agree. Prior to tonight's episode, there were maybe 2 or 3 episodes that were almost worth watching, while the rest were too painful to watch. I'd almost say that it was as powerful as the end of Buffy. However, it's too little, too late. The show should have only stuck with a small pool of writers, cut back on a lot of the jittery banter that every character seemed to have in every scene, and really worked hard to make each character more serious. I also think a couple of the actors just weren't strong enough choices for their character - the biggest standouts for me are Miracle Laurie (November) and Enver Gjokaj (Victor). Amy Acker (Dr. Saunders/Whisky), Tahmoh Penikett (Ballard) and Dichen Lachman (Sierra) at times appeared to really be straining to portray their characters. Maybe it's a matter of their voices being too soft for such strong characters? Back to the pool of writers - roughly, by the numbers, there were 12 episodes of Dollhouse that made it to television, and there were roughly 8 writing "teams". In Flashpoint's first season when counting the first 13 episodes, there were 6 writing teams. More than that, the first three episodes were written by the same team (Mark Ellis and our trooper, Stephanie Morgenstern). It's my opinion at least that this helped to establish a base for the characters to work off of so that when other writers wrote they had a lot more to work with. The director through those first three episodes also remained the same. Dollhouse's first three episodes in comparison, had different teams, and different directors. It was almost as if this show was doomed from the start because of this inconsistency!

On the plus side, I do think that the idea of Dollhouse was a great one. I really think that if the show had a lot more organization behind the scenes and in production, it could have been a hit and may have a better shot at renewal. We think it's kind of funny that some sci-fi blogs (who will be unnamed) who agreed with most critics that the show didn't have a shot at being renewed early on, are now doing a complete 360, writing puff pieces and other positively-toned posts in an effort to make their voices heard to the powers that be to renew the show. Yes, tonight's episode was great, but looking at the big picture? The show did not consistently do well. In fact, the only thing it did consistently was lose viewership.

If the show is renewed (and there is a very slim chance in our opinion and most critics) it may be moved to a different night. Many blogs have expressed their opinion that Friday was always the wrong night for the show to begin with, despite the fact that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was the lead-in. On a much happier note, it's good to only have one thing to watch on Friday Night again!

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 Ratings: Friday April 3rd, 2008

Hey Moonies - did anyone catch tonight's episode? Compared to last week's ("Aisle 13"), I thought it returned back to its old glory. I wasn't a fan of last week's episode, and it will probably top my list of worst episodes of Flashpoint - of which there is only one more on that list, "Backwards Day". I wasn't entirely convinced by Kristin Booth's performance. Tonight's episode, "The Perfect Family" had one of the saddest twists in the entire series, and in another twist, Donna (the team's newest member) chickens out when she is told to shoot. Not spoiling anymore, west coasters please watch this when it airs! Tonight's Dollhouse was the first good episode of the series' entire run so far. Perhaps because this episode's writer is the only writer so far to have written two episodes (every episode has had a different writer). There are only 3 episodes left, and two others which were made and will probably never come to air. It's our opinion, along with many other critics that the show will be canceled, and Flashpoint will likely be given a green light for another season. Variety is also calling that the show will survive another season since it is a co-production and cheaper for the network.

Last week's ratings weren't stellar, but they were still great enough to earn the top spot in its timeslot, and helped CBS win the night in the US, even though there were no winners since no show last week cracked a 2.0/6 rating with the 18-49 demo. The show scored 8.64 million viewers, and a 1.8/6. In Canada, the show was the 12th most watched show of the week, scoring 1.346 million viewers. Flashpoint was also a good luck charm for CTV's premiere of Spectacle: Elvis Costello With... which scored 861,000 viewers. Season 2 is expected to film throughout the summer until August 4th. Click here to read a fan's experience on the set, and among other spoilers, it appears a future episode will deal with high school bullying.

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 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 News Roundup!

Who caught tonight's episode? What a twist and a sad ending :(. I quite enjoyed the banter between the SRU in the workout room in the beginning! Leave us your thoughts below!

Flashpoint Nominated for More Awards

Unfortunately, the show didn't win the award it was nominated for at the CFTPA Indie Awards (Season 2 of Intelligence won). Sarah Gadon, who played Tasha in the episode Attention Shoppers, was nominated for an ACTRA Toronto award, but unfortunately didn't win either (we really loved her performance in it too :(). On a side note, Robert Tinkler (Rubeus, Pupuran) was also nominated for his voice work on Cyberchase (and also didn't win). Flashpoint however it has other award noms on the horizon! Two episodes have been nominated for the Writers Guild of Canada's Screenwriters Awards! And they are: Tracey Forbes for Attention Shoppers and Adam Barken for Who's George?. The show is against episodes from ReGenesis and Murdoch Mysteries. The Awards will be held on Monday, April 20th - we wish Flashpoint the best of luck!

IGN Posts Interview with Enrico Colantoni

We're just going to link you to this one with a warning that Enrico Colantoni uses some nasty words in this interview that are censored. We recommend all our readers who are old enough to read this check it out - he gives out a lot of hints about the new season and also what it's like behind the scenes. He talks about how he feels a certain kinship to the show since his brother was a cop. At the end of the interview he makes special note about how the show is "allowed to be in Toronto" and how relieved the crew is to not have to hide certain things that are "Canadian", and how the show has been able to adapt and become a city that could be anywhere in the world. We especially like how there has been such a variety in the different cultures of the characters on the show.

And Finally, Last Week's Canadian Ratings...

We are so elated to read on BBM that Flashpoint has risen! The show went up from having 910K viewers the week before to having 1.339 viewers last week - rising from the 24th most watched program to the 12th most watched program in Canada! We can all breathe again and hopefully the show will rise even more! Keep watching the show, Canadian fans!

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.