Alchemy TV Woes, Dose.ca Fixes A Howling Error, and Flashpoint Guest Stars Appear in New Productions!

Alchemy TV Loses 3 Key Staff Members

It's been a rough year for one of Flashpoint's key production partners. Alchemy TV is based in Los Angeles, and distributes Flashpoint internationally. Recently, the London office of the company (specifically for Reality TV) was wound down, and its managing director Mike Beale, stepped down from the company due to an internal dispute. Michael Oesterlin, who served as the President of Worldwide Distribution, also left. And just a few days ago, Alchemy CEO Carrie Stein left her post and the company. She commented that this was because "Alchemy's brass weren't ready to grow the company as quickly as she wanted". Like many companies in this time, it was not a financially great year for the company either. Simon Vaughn, a co-founder and partner at Alchemy, is now left to take the company into the future. We really hope that Alchemy doesn't drop Flashpoint - the show is a success in many countries around the world and it would be a terrible loss!

Once Again, the Media Gets it All Wrong...

In an article which signaled our Flashpoint radar yesterday, we spotted a potentially howling error. In an interview with actress Tonya Lee Williams about another Canadian show The Border, the interviewer told her that CBS had announced Flashpoint had been canceled. We didn't hear about this, and it was news to us (as it was to many of our followers on Twitter, and series Story Editor, Adam Barken). We contacted the editors of both the Vancouver Sun and Dose.ca asking them for their source of this "announcement". This morning we heard back from Jennifer McDonnell of Canwest Digital Media, and she thanked us for the note and said she'd look into it. This afternoon, we found that the article had changed from "Yes, but CBS just announced they'd be cancelling Flashpoint last week." to "Yes, but CBS just announced that Flashpoint isn't on their fall schedule." The interview just doesn't have the same flow with the change. Normally we'd expect to see an Editor's note or something either before or after the article admitting this error. Readers, you can all breathe because once again, people are reporting Flashpoint is canceled just because it isn't on CBS's Fall schedule. New episodes begin on CTV Tuesday, September 25th! Our pictures below are screens of the article.


Before:



After:



Two Guest Stars on Flashpoint in New Productions!

☄K.C. Collins, who played Derek Medeiros in the episode "Exit Wounds" has the leading role in the upcoming movie Sons 2 the Grave. The movie is the first cinematic effort from rap label Death Row Records, and K.C. plays a young basketball phenom who returns to an inner-city ghetto after two bullets stop his dream of a career in the NBA. Death Row CEO Lara Lavi had this to say about the movie: "This film embodies what we're trying to do with Death Row, to tell human stories that don't always have happy endings, and that allow us to learn from violence and disenfranchised lives, but not glorify it." Sounds like it's going to have a sad ending?! We might catch this one! Death Row also plans to use music to score the film from its extensive back catalog including unreleased tracks from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The film begins production in Toronto this October and is slated to hit theaters in 2010.

☄ Dewshane Williams, who played Adam in the episode "Aisle 13", has a supporting role in the MTV/CTV co-production, Turn the Beat Around. This made for TV movie is a dance film that centers around a dancer who is determined to follow her dreams in Los Angeles, and continues to work hard for that one break! Production is now underway for this film in Toronto and Hamilton. The film has some other big names behind it, such as choreographer Tre Armstrong, who was also the choreographer for So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and music supervisor Evan Bogart, who is known for writing some of the radio's biggest hits, such as Sean Kingston's Take You There, Beyoncé Knowles' Halo, and Hilary Duff's Reach Out.

Congrats to these two and good luck on these productions!

BREAKING NEWS! Flashpoint Nominated for 19 Gemini Awards in Canada!

Nominations for the 24th Annual Gemini Awards in Canada (equivalent of the USA Emmy Awards) were announced this morning in Toronto. Flashpoint is nominated for a record 19 awards in 12 categories! Congratulations to Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern, and all of the writers, actors, and crew who were nominated. The list of awards is posted below by category, with Flashpoint nominees in bold. CTV also announced today that new episodes will begin to air in Canada on September 25th!

Best Dramatic Series:

Being Erica
p. David Fortier, Aaron Martin, Ivan Schneeberg, Jana Sinyor
(Temple Street Productions)

The Border
p. Peter Raymont, David Barlow, Brian Dennis, Janet MacLean
(White Pine Pictures)

Flashpoint
p. Anne Marie La Traverse, Bill Mustos
(Flashpoint Season 1 Inc., PINK SKY ENTERTAINMENT INC., AVAMAR ENTERTAINMENT INC.)

The Tudors
p. Sheila Hockin, Morgan O'Sullivan
(Peace Arch Television Ltd., PA Tudors II Inc., TM Productions)

ZOS: Zone of Separation
p. Paul Gross, Mario Azzopardi, Malcolm MacRury, Andrea Raffaghello, Frank Siracusa
(Whizbang Films, Sulari Productions Inc.)

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 Writing in a Dramatic Series:


Mark Ellis, Stephanie Morgenstern
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn

Lori Spring
Murdoch Mysteries
I, Murdoch

Floyd Kane
Soul
Fathers and Daughters

Brad Wright
Stargate Atlantis
The Shrine

Michael Hirst
The Tudors
Episode 205

Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series

Gareth C. Scales
Flashpoint
Element of Surprise

Teresa Hannigan, C.C.E.
Flashpoint
Scorpio

Jonathan Baltrusaitis
In a World Created By a Drunken God

Arthur Tarnowski
The Last Templar

Wendy Hallam Martin
The Tudors
Episode 207

Best Sound in a Dramatic Series:

Russell Walker, Eric Apps, Stefan Fraticelli, Herwig Gayer, Alastair Gray, Rich Harkness, Ian Rodness
The Border
Going Dark

David McCallum, Mike Baskerville, Sue Conley, Steve Hammond, Janice Ierulli, Mark Shnuriwsky, Paul Williamson
Flashpoint
Who's George?

Sid Lieberman, Richard Calistan, Steve Foster, Robert Hegedus, Kevin Howard, Ron Osiowy, Paul Shubat
Heartland
Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Jane Tattersall, Daniel Birch, Yuri Gorbachow, Martin Lee, Kirk Lynds, Andy Malcolm, David McCallum, Dale Sheldrake
The Tudors

Best Original Music Score for a Program or Series:

Jody Colero, Lily Frost, Trevor Yuile
Being Erica
Dr. Tom

Mark Korven
The Border
Floral Tribute

James Gelfand
Crusoe
The Return

Ari Posner, Amin Bhatia
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned

Robert Carli
Murdoch Mysteries
Werewolves

Best Achievement in Main Title Design:

Alain Provost, Aileen McBride, Michel Mercier, Theresa Warburton
2008 Beijing Olympics

Boyne Stergulc
2009 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards

Kim Jackson, Ron Gervais, Mike McDougall
Flashpoint
Flashpoint Main Title Sequence

Kevin Micallef, Brant Forrest, Don Gauthier, Glen Wyand
Grossology
Grossology Main Title Sequence

Shane Kinnear, Kevin Chandoo, Brent Whitmore
Murdoch Mysteries
Murdoch Mysteries Main Title Sequence

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

Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series:

Damir Andrei
Being Erica
The Secret of Now

Ron Lea
Flashpoint
Haunting the Barn

Nicholas Campbell
Flashpoint
Who's George?

Mpho Koaho
Flashpoint
Never Kissed A Girl

Henry Czerny
Flashpoint
First In Line

Natalie Dormer
The Tudors
Episode 210

Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series:

Anna Silk
Being Erica
Everything She Wants

Daisy Beaumont
The Border
Floral Tribute

Kristin Booth
Flashpoint
Backwards Day

Tatiana Maslany
Flashpoint
Planets Aligned

Sarah Gadon
Flashpoint
Attention Shoppers

Best Achievement in Casting:

Stephanie Gorin
Being Erica
Dr. Tom

Stephanie Gorin
The Border
Going Dark

Marissa Richmond
Flashpoint
Scorpio

Susan Forrest, Sharon Forrest, Jim Heber
Less Than Kind
The Daters

Marsha Chesley
The Line
Episode 107


Congratulations to everyone on their nominations, and all of us on staff wish you the best of luck! We've been following this show since the pilot stages on Moon Chase and seeing how this show has grown to be a huge success here at home and around the world is truly inspiring! We'll be watching and we will announce the winners as soon as we find out!

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.

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.

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 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 Nominated for Five DGC Awards!

The Directors Guild of Canada announced their nominations for their 2009 DGC awards, and Flashpoint is tied for the most amount of nominations for a TV show with CBC's The Summit. Flashpoint is nominated for:

TEAM TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

Flashpoint - Eps. 111 - "Haunting the Barn" - David Frazee (Director), Derek Rappaport (Production Manager), Ross Leslie (Assistant Production Manager), Felix Gray (1st Assistant Director), Karl Irvine (2nd Assistant Director), Raj Singh (3rd Assistant Director), Dominika Jurek (Trainee Assistant Director), Michael Burgess (Production Assistant), Raymond Duff (Production Assistant), Shelly Pearson (Production Accountant), Karen Sharp (1st Assistant Accountant), Alex Kontsalakis (1st Assistant Accountant), Andreas Hass (Trainee Assistant Accountant), John Dondertman (Production Designer), Rory Cheyne (Art Director), Jody Clement (1st Assistant Art Director), Jeff Smith (2nd Assistant Art Director), Randy Morgan (Location Manager), James Wilson (Assistant Location Manager), Sean Cengiz (Locations PA), Mike Lee (Picture Editor), Paul Whitehead (1st Assistant Picture Editor), David McCallum (Supervising Sound Editor), Janice Ierulli (Dialogue Editor), Mark Shnuriwsky (Sound Effects Editor), Sue Conley (ADR Editor), Gren-Erich Zwicker (1st Assistant Sound Editor), Matt Hussey (1st Assistant Sound Editor).

DIRECTION - TELEVISION SERIES

Holly Dale for Flashpoint - Eps. 106 - "Attention Shoppers"

PRODUCTION DESIGN - TELEVISION SERIES

John Dondertman for Flashpoint - Eps. 109 - "Planets Aligned"

PICTURE EDITING - TELEVISION SERIES

Mike Lee for Flashpoint - Eps. 111 - "Haunting the Barn"

SOUND EDITING - TELEVISION SERIES

Flashpoint - Eps. 201 - "Eagle Two" - Jane Tattersall (Supervising Sound Editor), Janice Ierulli (Dialogue Editor), Mark Shnuriwsky (Sound Effects Editor), Sue Conley (ADR Editor), Gren-Erich Zwicker (Assistant Sound Editor), Matt Hussey (Assistant Sound Editor).

Congratulations to everyone from the show who was nominated and we wish you all the best of luck! The awards will be held on October 24th, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. The awards will be hosted by Canada's own Shaun Majumder.

BREAKING NEWS: CBS Confirms New Episodes of Flashpoint, But Still No Airdate

This is breaking news, Flashpoint fans! Hours ago, the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour began. CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler set off her segment with a bang, taking a jab at NBC. But that's a bunch of industry mumbo-jumbo that is all a reaction to the departure of Ben Silverman from NBC last week. Flashpoint fans got a bit of good news, but not everything that we were all hoping for. Nina confirmed that CBS has nine more original episodes, and that they will be aired later in the season. When that "later" is, remains to be known. As of this writing, she had this to say about producing more episodes: "There are no plans right now, but we certainly can if we want to." But for this upcoming season, there will be no more episodes ordered beyond these nine. As always, we are committed to keeping fans updated with news of an airdate, as soon as we hear it we will let you know!

For now though, if our WGTS have not checked out Hugh Dillon's Durham County, we recommend it. Hugh plays Mike Sweeney, a softspoken detective, who is dealing with the breakup of his family, and just being a guy who is trying to do the right thing. It's a much darker series than Flashpoint, but Hugh's performance is a must-see! New episodes are currently airing on HBO Canada, and reruns from last season pop up on Showcase. Check your local listings for more!

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 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!

Flashbits from July 2009!

Flashpoint has had a couple bits in the news in recent days!

New Episodes' Delay a Relief For Producers

Hot on the heels of CBS's sudden announcement that new episodes of Flashpoint were not going to air last week, we uncovered a few comments from Producer Bill Mustos on Playback Magazine. And they suggest that this delay is not necessarily a bad thing! Bill says:

"We've been able to slow down post-production, which is a bit of a relief to us because we've been on a very fast schedule"

Which we can understand - the show began shooting this year in January and is scheduled to continue until August. Mustos also said that CTV has ordered 13 episodes for a third season, and depending on CBS's return this may be extended to 18. He also noted that there is a lot of confusion in keeping track of Flashpoint's episodes since Season 2 in North America began with four episodes held back from the first season! This is one of the first acknowledgments we've heard from anyone involved with the show about this confusion! He also confirmed that the show is coming back to CBS as a midseason replacement. CTV has still not confirmed when the remaining Season 2 episodes will be broadcast.

New Interview With Flashpoint Creators:

Stephanie Morgenstern and Mark Ellis were featured guests at last month's Banff Worldwide Television Festival, and one lucky, blogging, screenwriter, got to interview them through email, and sit in on their sessions! Alex Epstein, best known for his work on Canadian hits 15/Love, Bon Cop, Bad Cop, and Naked Josh posted a compilation of notes from their Master Class session, and questions which the two answered via e-mail. This is well worth the read for you budding screenwriters, and behind-the-scenes aficionados. There are also a few comments included from Christina Davis, Senior Vice President for Drama Series Development at CBS. There's a lot of detail about their inspiration for turning this into a series from a proposed movie-of-the-week, and bonus detail about a cop they met during the development of the series.

Tassie Cameron Moves on to Motherhood, and Copper

Tassie Cameron was not a star of Flashpoint, but she was the spark that led the writing table from the beginning until just recently. Last month, she flew to Los Angeles with her writing partner Ilana Frank to pitch a new cop show to network execs called Copper. This one's about rookie cops fresh out of the academy making their ways through their careers. ABC picked up 13 episodes, and this happened shortly after the series was greenlit by Canwest Global. As we speak, the show is being shot, as Tassie is expecting her first child! The cast includes Canadian favorites such as Missy Peregrym, and Greg Smith. Eric Johnson of Smallville and Melanie Nicholls King of Law and Order are also joining the cast! Congrats to Tassie - we will miss seeing your words on Flashpoint, but we wish you the best of luck on your new show and a happy, healthy and safe journey into motherhood!

New Enrico Colantoni Interview with German Newspaper!

The German portal dedicated to American Entertainment, Serienjunkies, just posted a phone interview with Enrico Colantoni promoting the series, which is about to make its debut on German TV network RTL2. Für eine deutsche Übersetzung, klicken Sie bitte hier. He talks about the show and it's Canadian identity, how it has opened the door for other Canadian shows on American networks, and his character. One of the coolest parts in the interview is on the second page where he suggests that the show's peaceful nature of negotiation is something that fits into the current US political zeitgeist. We also have to wonder if President Obama watches the show! The interviewer Christian Junklewitz also suggests that he sing a song for the show, but Enrico laughs away from it. And, Enrico talks about another role which is a little too hot for this blog. We still think a musical episode would make for great filler just once!

Hugh Dillon Working Double Duty!

When not working as a sniper and leader on Flashpoint, Hugh Dillon plays a detective on Durham County. There have been a few articles lately talking about Hugh's involvement with both series. He is also due to release his debut solo album later this fall through Warner Music Canada! We wonder if his song from the show, Lost at Sea will be included. The album will be called "Works Well With Others" and he describes it as "a little more Leonard Cohen and a little less Lemmy from Motorhead." Hugh's success on both sides of the border continues to grow in new directions!

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!

BREAKING NEWS - Flashpoint to Repeat This Week

A CBS press release indicates a schedule change for Flashpoint this week, with a repeat of "Clean Hands."

From the release:

(The following episode of FLASHPOINT has been substituted for the one previously scheduled for July 17) – When the SRU moves a serial killer to a new facility, they discover the federal agent they're working with is secretly sabotaging the mission, on a rebroadcast of "FLASHPOINT," Friday, July 17

TV listings confirm that CBS will be airing "Clean Hands" this week. Castle is set to air on CTV at the same time.

Repeats are scheduled through August 7th for CBS and we've heard that new episodes of Flashpoint may be held until the middle of the fall season, but we are still searching for confirmation on that.

We will be sure to keep you updated when we know more about the schedule.

Flashpoint Fan Panel at Polaris

Polaris was this past weekend, this year hosted in Richmond Hill, Ontario (just north of Toronto). I attended the con and, since I announced the We Got the Solution blog at the Flashpoint panel, I'm providing a summary for those of you who couldn't make it.

For those that did make it, welcome to our blog! It was great chatting with some of you in person.

Here's the panel description from the program:

Flashpoint, where Toronto is itself

Description: If you haven't caught an episode of it yet, drop by and learn a bit about the characters in the series as well as the inspirations behind this Toronto-made police drama.
Panelists*: Deanna Toxopeus, Robin Marwick
*Unfortunately, programming is missing the name of one of the panelists. If anyone can supply her name, please list it in the comments and I'll add it.

Discussing the Primary Characters and the Show

This included snippets about the primary cast, some secondary characters, and some temporary characters. The fact that Donna (Jessica Steen) was made likable and felt like she could easily become a permanent addition to the cast was noted. As fans, we appreciate that even temporary characters are made to be likable and memorable.

In discussing elements that make the show unique, the focus was on the way that good versus evil is not black and white. We're often given reason to sympathize with or understand the motivations behind the supposed villain(s).

Everyone wanted to see more of Spike (Sergio Di Zio) and Lewis (Mark Taylor), so that we can learn more about their characters. We also discussed how the members of the SRU are normal people, not superheroes. This was made very clear when Greg's mentor, Sergeant Daniel Rangford, appeared in "Haunting the Barn."

The "I got the solution" catchphrase was mentioned as being more open to interpretation than saying outright that they have a kill shot, when the solution could be something else (or they could be using non-lethal ammo). There was speculation about whether or not Toronto's Emergency Task Force actually says something similar.

There was mention of Colantoni's former role as Keith Mars on Veronica Mars (If you're a fan of his character on Flashpoint, I definitely recommend checking out Veronica Mars). One of the panelists mentioned that Colantoni was initially unsure of taking the role of Sergeant Greg Parker when he heard about it, but was convinced by his brother to accept. Colantoni's character is very likable on the show and the panelists remarked that they really liked his gentle approach for negotiating as well as the technique to realistically relate to the subject to help calm them down.

Mentioning Amy Jo Johnson's previous role as the Pink Ranger was inevitable. An audience member said he thought it would be funny if they slipped and called her "Kimberly" in Flashpoint once, instead of Jules. The panelists found it refreshing that the character of Jules set the boundaries for her relationship with Sam, refusing to leave her position on the team.

The panelists also mentioned that Hugh Dillon has been pretty busy recently, working on Durham County and a new music album.

Filming in Toronto

The panelists and audience were in agreement that it's nice to see a show filmed as well as set in Toronto. Comments were made about recognizable locations as well as some edits made to directions in some of the on-the-road shots. Also, the amusement park in "The Perfect Family" was noted in the panel as being Canada's Wonderland.

Some comments were made about movies and series that are filmed in Toronto but supposedly set elsewhere. There were some chuckles about the CN tower appearing in the skyline of some "filmed in Toronto but set in a U.S. city" films.

Quite a few people indicated that they'd be interested in a set tour of some of the filming locations for Flashpoint, and it was suggested that perhaps next year a tour be organized of various film and television sets for shows filmed in Toronto. I'm sure a comparison of the sets for Flashpoint and Murdoch Mysteries would be interesting!

Auction Items

A set of Flashpoint items was a part of the charity auction at Polaris, with the proceeds going to Gilda's Club. The Flashpoint items up for auction included a copy of the pilot script signed by the cast and writers, a Flashpoint promotional poster signed by the four main cast members, and two Strategic Response Unit hats.

I've heard that the auction set went for $200 to the SRU cosplayer who attended the Flashpoint panel, but this is unconfirmed. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the cosplayer, but he had a great costume.

Welcome to We Got The Solution!

Welcome Flashpoint fans from around the world! This blog has been in the works for a few months now and we're finally happy to bring it online! On our first blog, Moon Chase, we were praised by many (fans and other industry leaders alike) for our Flashpoint coverage. The only reason we began to follow it was because Moon Chase was dedicated to keeping up with anything and everything going on with Sailor Moon, and one of Flashpoint's co-creators, Stephanie Morgenstern, had a major role in the first two seasons of the show, playing the well loved superhero, Sailor Venus. This is why many of the posts will contain "moonieisms"! Once the show started to take off though, we quickly realized that this was one of the few opportunities Sailor Moon fans on both sides of the border could have to put a face to the voice, so we began to cover it more. And then we fell in love with the show's first episode, and the rest is history! Soon we had fans from around the world sending us details of how much they loved the show and what it was like in their own countries. Moon Chase soon became encompassed with Flashpoint posts (simply because the news was much easier to come by) and earlier this year the decision was made to start a Flashpoint blog and network it along with Moon Chase. So, even though today is the official launch date of We Got The Solution, you will see that our posts have been here since 2007. To learn a little more about our staff, click here! One of the great features we have added to this site is our ratings table, where we track how the show is doing in the US and Canada. This table will be updated each week with ratings as they come in from our sources listed below. We are also committed to posting episode summaries, and news about the show, cast, and crew! We hope that you enjoy this blog as much as we do putting it together!