Flashpoint (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Flashpoint is a Canadian police drama television series that debuted on July 11, 2008, on CTV
in Canada and ran on CBS
in the United States for its first three and a half seasons. In 2011, Ion Television began airing new episodes of the series in the United States. The series has been broadcast on the Canadian French-language network V (formerly known as TQS) in Quebec
since March 9, 2009. The show was created by Mark Ellis
and Stephanie Morgenstern
and stars Hugh Dillon
, Amy Jo Johnson
, David Paetkau
and Enrico Colantoni
. It was announced January 25, 2011 that Ion Television had acquired all rights to the show and to continue production in-house.
The fourth season of Flashpoint premiered on July 8, 2011 on CTV
, after 2010 when Bell
announced plans to re-acquire full control of CTVglobemedia
's broadcasting assets, renaming it to Bell Media. A fifth season has been ordered.
, called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), within a Canadian metropolitan police force (styled on the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force). The SRU are tasked to resolve extreme situations that regular officers are not trained to handle including hostage
-taking, bomb
threats and heavily armed criminals. Equipped with high-tech tools and a cache of weapons and explosives, members use negotiation
tactics and intuition
to try to avoid the use of deadly force
. In fact, the usage of deadly force is only implemented as a last resort when other options are exhausted.
The majority of the cast
of Flashpoint are Canadians, including Enrico Colantoni
, David Paetkau
, Hugh Dillon
, Sergio Di Zio
, Michael Cram
, Mark Taylor
and Ruth Marshall
. Amy Jo Johnson
is the only American actress starring in the Canadian-made drama; she said that she had no problems being in Flashpoint despite announcing to the press that she was already pregnant with her first child with her fiancé Oliver Giner during initial production of Flashpoint.
Ruth Marshall left the series after Season 1 and Mark Taylor left after the first episode of Season 2, Part 2 (aka episode 211) after his character, Lou, dies. During Amy Jo Johnson's pregnancy, she was temporarily replaced by Jessica Steen
who played Donna Sabine. Steen's left the main cast in the sixth episode of Season 2, Part 1 when Johnson's character returned full-time, although she has appeared in some later episodes. Taylor was replaced by Olunike Adeliyi who portrays Leah Kerns as of the second episode of Season 2, Part 2 (aka episode 212). In season 4, episode 5, Michael Cram, known as "Wordy", left the show due to his character's diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease.
In an interview, the creators of the show stated that they like to cast only Canadians in the show; the only non-Canadian that has been on the show is Amy Jo Johnson.
The show was unaffected by the 2007-08 WGA strike
because WGC rules allow any members of the WGC living in Canada, including writers with dual WGA/WGC membership, to write for Canadian productions. Writers living in the USA with dual WGA/WGC membership were required to get a waiver from the WGA in order to work on Canadian productions during the strike.
Although originally developed for a Canadian audience, it was announced on January 29, 2008 that American network CBS
had purchased the rights to air the series in the United States, making it the first Canadian TV series aired in prime time on a US broadcast network since Due South
, also a CTV show aired by CBS. In addition, Flashpoint is the first Canadian series aired by a major US broadcast network that is set entirely in Canada (as Due South was primarily set in Chicago but filmed in Toronto).
On March 5, 2008, CBS announced that Flashpoint would premiere on that network in July 2008. CTV announced on May 8, 2008 that it would simulcast the show in Canada beginning on July 11, 2008.
Flashpoint began filming 13 episodes on April 17, 2008. It is written and created by Mark Ellis
and Stephanie Morgenstern
and executive produced by multiple Gemini Award
-winner Anne Marie La Traverse
for Pink Sky Entertainment and Bill Mustos
for Avamar Entertainment in association with the CTV Television Network
and CBS Television Studios (formerly CBS Paramount Network Television).
The pilot episode titled "Scorpio" was based on an actual event that occurred in Toronto in 2004 in which a gun-wielding hostage taker was shot and killed by an Emergency Task Force sniper. Ellis and Morgenstern wrote their teleplay for the episode after interviewing members of the ETF. The majority of the episode reused substantial portions of the unaired Critical Incident pilot together with new footage featuring Amy Jo Johnson and Mark Taylor (who were not in the pilot).
Director David Frazee carefully shoots the SRU as one unit in order to show their unity throughout the show. Producer Anne Marie La Traverse said that the show would take people to their "own personal flash point." David Paetkau
, one of the show's regular cast members, said Flashpoint "tries to capture the human element involved in policing and discusses how some officers end up with emotional baggage
and suffering with mental illnesses like post traumatic stress disorder." Input and advice from various ETF personnel were used in the making of the series.
On August 25, 2008, CTV announced it had renewed the show for a second season of 13 episodes to begin production in Toronto in early 2009. Some months later, both CTV and CBS increased the renewal to 18 episodes. According to tvguide.com, CBS announced that Flashpoint would return January 9, 2009 at 9pm for a midseason start. In the United States and Canada, the remaining four episodes that were originally produced for season 1 aired as a part of season 2. CTV in Canada originally considered these episodes as part of season 1; however, after the airing of the fourth episode (which was originally considered the final episode of season 1), CTV changed the labeling of these four episodes and, following CBS, began considering them part of season 2.
CBS and CTV both ended season 2 on May 25, 2009 after airing only the first nine episodes produced. The second nine episodes, filmed from May to August 2009, were originally aired in Canada by CTV as season 3. CTV has since officially begun to refer to the episodes as the second half of season 2 (and altered its Flashpoint website accordingly). These episodes began airing June 4, 2010 on CBS, where they are considered part of season 3.
A new group of 13 episodes, now referred to by both CTV and the production companies as "Season 3", was commissioned by CTV and CBS in October 2009. The first of these episodes began filming on January 13, 2010. This gave CBS 22 original episodes to broadcast while CTV had 13. CBS completed broadcast of season 2 on July 30, 2010. The third season premiered on July 16, 2010 on both CTV and CBS. After entering a hiatus in mid-September after the broadcast of seven episodes from season 3, CTV resumed airing the remaining episodes on January 4, 2011.
CTV ordered a 4th season of Flashpoint on June 3, 2010, before the third season began to air. On January 21, 2011, it was announced that CBS would air 7 of the 18 episodes from season 4, as well as the remaining 6 episodes from season 3 not yet shown on CBS, during the summer of 2011. Due to the cancellation of CHAOS
, the remaining episodes from season 3 of Flashpoint were shown on CBS starting May 6, 2011. The remaining 11 episodes from season 4 will air on ION Television. ION will also syndicate all 51 episodes of the series in the United States.
Filming of season 4 was scheduled to take place from February 14 through September 15, 2011. On May 9, 2011, CTV announced that the fourth season would begin airing on June 17, 2012, to be simulcast
by CBS.
, the setting for the show was not identified, a Canadian flag was included on the officer's uniforms. As the show has progressed, the setting has become more significantly identifiable. This is especially true of the third season. Toronto
landmarks, such as the CN Tower
and York University
, a fictional Toronto Interpreter newspaper (designed in the style of the Toronto Star
, though "The Star" was mentioned during the premiere of Season 3), and Toronto Transit Commission
stations and patrol cars are now regularly shown, identical to a Toronto Police Service vehicle but without the city name and with a fake division number. Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) and Ontario Provincial Police
are also occasionally shown. Dialogue also references Tim Hortons
, and local streets, as well as communities within the Greater Toronto Area. In the first episode, someone mentions that the character Sam Braddock, was in JTF2 which is a Canadian Forces
special operations unit. In "Between Heartbeats", a shooting victim is carried to an ambulance by a paramedic whose shirt reads "Toronto EMS Paramedic", and in the seventh episode of the third season ("You Think You Know Someone"), firefighters are shown to have "Toronto" on the back of their uniform overcoats. Also, in the episode "He Knows His Brother", there is a brief scene in a military school in which Canadian Forces combat uniforms are being worn. Police forces in York and Durham Regions are mentioned in "Exit Wounds". The fourth episode of the third season features a shot of an Ontario driver's licence with a Toronto, ON address which is visited by the SRU officers. Finally, in the Season 2, Part 2 (aka episode 218) finale episode "Behind the Blue Line" the name "Toronto" is finally spoken for the first time in the series, in a reference to the city's pro hockey team.
At the start of the series, Bill Mustos
, founder of co-production company Avamar Entertainment, commented that "you're not going to see a show that is screaming 'Canada.' It's a show in a big sophisticated urban city where crises take place. The stories we're trying to tell are universal stories." CTV's press release regarding the series did identify Toronto, and noted that the SRU is based on Toronto's Emergency Task Force.
, Matthew Good
and Amy Jo Johnson
has been used in the show's soundtrack. Some of the music used in the show include Matthew Good's "Weapon", used in the final scenes of episode 13 "Between Heartbeats", Johnson's "Dancing In-between", used in the ending of episode 6 "Attention Shoppers" with Dillon's "Lost at Sea" was used to conclude the 8th episode, "Never Kissed a Girl". The show's 30-second theme was written by Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
The pilot episode was watched on CTV by 1.11 million viewers, earning the #1 spot in its timeslot.
Flashpoint drew in 1,216,000 viewers from July 28 to August 3 of 2008. It gained a bit more audience when the show drew in 1,300,000 viewers. In ratings from February 23 to March 1 of 2009, Flashpoint has been watched by 1,339,000 viewers.
CTV announced that a new series of Flashpoint episodes would air in the fall of 2009 on Friday nights at 10 pm ET. These episodes would not be simulcast with CBS. After CBS delayed broadcasting the episodes from summer 2009 to mid-season 2010, CTV initially backed off its commitment to fall 2009.
Eventually in late August, CTV announced that the new episodes would premiere in Canada on September 25, 2009. It marked the first time CTV broadcast new Flashpoint episodes out of simulcast with CBS in the United States. The last original Flashpoint episode for the Canadian fall 2009 season was broadcast on November 20, 2009.
Two Flashpoint episodes, Attention Shoppers and Who's George?, were nominated as finalists in the 2009 WGC Screenwriting Awards.
The Boston Globe praised Flashpoint for using emotion that "lingers on the psychic toll that such high-tension work can take." As an example, one episode has the team shoot a bank robber who is stealing money for the Alzheimer's treatment of his elderly ill wife, which is presented as sad but necessary. Shooting the bereft senior citizen whose wife is going to be evicted from the senior citizen's home for lack of funds is troublesome for the team. The pilot episode was watched on CBS by 8.23 million people, earning the #1 ranking for the hour.
According to Flashpoint executive Bill Mustos in August 2008, the success of the show in the US was not due to the Writer's Guild strikes, but mainly because of the need of having a new kind of show on television.
Flashpoint did well in its initial airings on Friday nights (in the time slot normally given to NUMB3RS
), building on the lead-in from that show. In fact, it drew more viewers on Friday nights than Swingtown
, another new drama, did on the normally busier Thursday nights, which prompted CBS to move Flashpoint to Thursday nights in an attempt to further build its audience.
On December 2, 2008, CBS announced that they would begin airing the second season of Flashpoint on January 9, 2009.
A third season of Flashpoint was to have aired as a midseason replacement
during CBS's 2009–2010 schedule
; however, CBS announced it would air these episodes during the summer of 2009 beginning on July 17, 2009 instead of its previously announced 2010 timetable. On July 7, 2009, CBS rescinded its decision, and the show aired at midseason after all. These were the same episodes that CTV broadcast in Canada during the fall 2009 season. CBS began airing these episodes on June 4, 2010. The remainder of the third season was broadcast on CBS beginning May 6, 2011.
On Metacritic
, Flashpoint got mixed to average reviews scoring 51 out of 100 on the site's metascore.
in Canada and by CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment
) in the US. Season 2, Volume 1 was released in Canada on March 23, 2010 and in the US on May 25, 2010 under the title "Flashpoint: Season 2". Season 2, volume 2 was released on November 2, 2010 in Canada. On the same day, Phase 4 films also released the complete second season in a 6-disc set. After the first part of season 2 the Canadian and American DVD releases differ, with the releases from CBS DVD matching the broadcast of the show on CBS.
In Region 2, ITV DVD released the complete first season on DVD in the UK on April 13, 2009.
In Region 3, STG Multimedia released the complete first season on DVD in Thailand on April 9, 2011.
The complete second season was released on May 20, 2011.
In Region 4, Hopscotch Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Australia. The third season was released on May 19, 2011.
in the United Kingdom and networks in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Latin America.
By December 2008, only nine of the 13 episodes produced during the series' first season had been aired in North America, although all 13 episodes had been aired by New Zealand's TV2 as of December 10, 2008.
The Australian premiere occurred on January 11, 2009 when Nine Network
took the unusual step of screening the second episode
in isolation ahead of the season after a major cricket
telecast, in a relatively late Sunday night timeslot. Nine aired the show on Wednesday nights, its regular time slot, where episodes were erratically shown out of their intended order. Nine took the show off air soon after, but it returned to air during summer non-ratings on Monday November 30, 2009 at 9.30pm and was taken off air again only two weeks later.
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
in Canada and ran on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
in the United States for its first three and a half seasons. In 2011, Ion Television began airing new episodes of the series in the United States. The series has been broadcast on the Canadian French-language network V (formerly known as TQS) in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
since March 9, 2009. The show was created by Mark Ellis
Mark Ellis (actor)
Mark Ellis is a Canadian actor and screenwriter. He is the co-creator and co-executive producer of the television series Flashpoint which airs on CTV, ION Television and networks around the world. The series garnered a record-breaking 19 nominations in 2009. Ellis received a writing nomination for...
and Stephanie Morgenstern
Stephanie Morgenstern
Stephanie Grace Morgenstern is a Swiss-Canadian actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter for television and film. Born in Geneva, Switzerland and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Morgenstern began her acting career when she was 15. She has worked extensively on stage, film, and television in both English...
and stars Hugh Dillon
Hugh Dillon
Hugh Dillon is a Canadian musician and actor.-Music career:Dillon was the lead singer for the Kingston hard rock band The Headstones from 1987 until 2003...
, Amy Jo Johnson
Amy Jo Johnson
Amy Jo Johnson is an American actress, singer, songwriter and musician.She is best known for her roles in the televison series as the constable Jules Callaghan in the Canadian CTV television series Flashpoint, the famous jockey Tina Sharp in the ABC Family's original show Wildfire, the rookie cop...
, David Paetkau
David Paetkau
David E. Paetkau is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Evan Lewis in Final Destination 2 , Beck McKaye in Whistler , and Sam Braddock in the CTV television series Flashpoint ....
and Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
. It was announced January 25, 2011 that Ion Television had acquired all rights to the show and to continue production in-house.
The fourth season of Flashpoint premiered on July 8, 2011 on CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
, after 2010 when Bell
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
announced plans to re-acquire full control of CTVglobemedia
CTVglobemedia
CTVglobemedia , was one of Canada's largest private media companies. Its operations include newspaper publishing , television broadcasting and production , radio broadcasting , and their respective Internet properties.Originally established by BCE and the Thomson family in 2001 combining CTV Inc.,...
's broadcasting assets, renaming it to Bell Media. A fifth season has been ordered.
Plot
The show focuses on a fictional elite tactical unitEmergency Task Force
The Emergency Task Force ' is the tactical unit of the Toronto Police Service . It is mandated to deal with high risk situations like hostage taking, emotionally disturbed persons, high risk arrests, warrant service and protection details. The unit was created in 1965, and inspired the television...
, called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), within a Canadian metropolitan police force (styled on the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force). The SRU are tasked to resolve extreme situations that regular officers are not trained to handle including hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
-taking, bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
threats and heavily armed criminals. Equipped with high-tech tools and a cache of weapons and explosives, members use negotiation
Negotiation
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties, intended to reach an understanding, resolve point of difference, or gain advantage in outcome of dialogue, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, to craft outcomes to satisfy...
tactics and intuition
Intuition (knowledge)
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. "The word 'intuition' comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'’ or 'to contemplate'." Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify...
to try to avoid the use of deadly force
Deadly force
Deadly force, as defined by the United States Armed Forces, is the force which a person uses, causing—or that a person knows, or should know, would create a substantial risk of causing—death or serious bodily harm...
. In fact, the usage of deadly force is only implemented as a last resort when other options are exhausted.
Cast
The majority of the cast
Canadian content
Canadian content refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from...
of Flashpoint are Canadians, including Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
, David Paetkau
David Paetkau
David E. Paetkau is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Evan Lewis in Final Destination 2 , Beck McKaye in Whistler , and Sam Braddock in the CTV television series Flashpoint ....
, Hugh Dillon
Hugh Dillon
Hugh Dillon is a Canadian musician and actor.-Music career:Dillon was the lead singer for the Kingston hard rock band The Headstones from 1987 until 2003...
, Sergio Di Zio
Sergio Di Zio
Sergio Di Zio is a Canadian actor. He is currently starring in the television series Flashpoint as Michaelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti...
, Michael Cram
Michael Cram
Michael Cram is a Canadian actor as well as a singer-songwriter. He is probably best known for his role in the hit television series Flashpoint. He grew up in Ottawa, he has also been a member of Redchair, Amsterdam and Cold House...
, Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor (actor)
Mark Taylor is a Canadian actor. Taylor is predominately known for his roles as Romeo in Student Bodies, and Kwest in Instant Star...
and Ruth Marshall
Ruth Marshall
Ruth Marshall is a Canadian actress from Toronto, Ontario. She is best known for her role in the hit television series Flashpoint. She graduated with a degree in English from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and then returned to Toronto to pursue a career in acting.She has appeared the...
. Amy Jo Johnson
Amy Jo Johnson
Amy Jo Johnson is an American actress, singer, songwriter and musician.She is best known for her roles in the televison series as the constable Jules Callaghan in the Canadian CTV television series Flashpoint, the famous jockey Tina Sharp in the ABC Family's original show Wildfire, the rookie cop...
is the only American actress starring in the Canadian-made drama; she said that she had no problems being in Flashpoint despite announcing to the press that she was already pregnant with her first child with her fiancé Oliver Giner during initial production of Flashpoint.
Ruth Marshall left the series after Season 1 and Mark Taylor left after the first episode of Season 2, Part 2 (aka episode 211) after his character, Lou, dies. During Amy Jo Johnson's pregnancy, she was temporarily replaced by Jessica Steen
Jessica Steen
Jessica Steen is a film and television actress, noted for her roles in Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Homefront, Earth 2, Armageddon, Left Behind: World at War, NCIS, and Flashpoint....
who played Donna Sabine. Steen's left the main cast in the sixth episode of Season 2, Part 1 when Johnson's character returned full-time, although she has appeared in some later episodes. Taylor was replaced by Olunike Adeliyi who portrays Leah Kerns as of the second episode of Season 2, Part 2 (aka episode 212). In season 4, episode 5, Michael Cram, known as "Wordy", left the show due to his character's diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease.
In an interview, the creators of the show stated that they like to cast only Canadians in the show; the only non-Canadian that has been on the show is Amy Jo Johnson.
Production
Flashpoint began life as a part of a CTV project that encouraged actors to submit scripts to the network. The original Flashpoint script (known earlier as Sniper and Critical Incident) was for a two-hour TV movie. A pilot episode was produced for CTV in July 2007 under the Critical Incident title featuring most of the cast of the current series (but without either the characters Jules Callaghan or Lewis Young—the characters in the pilot were Kate Travers and Robert "Shakes" Boneyman and were portrayed by other actors). CTV's interest in the project led to Flashpoint being reworked as a regular CTV series which was approved in mid-December 2007.The show was unaffected by the 2007-08 WGA strike
Effect of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike on television
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which began on November 5, 2007, was a labor conflict that affected a large number of television shows that were due to be broadcast in the United States during the 2007-08 television season...
because WGC rules allow any members of the WGC living in Canada, including writers with dual WGA/WGC membership, to write for Canadian productions. Writers living in the USA with dual WGA/WGC membership were required to get a waiver from the WGA in order to work on Canadian productions during the strike.
Although originally developed for a Canadian audience, it was announced on January 29, 2008 that American network CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
had purchased the rights to air the series in the United States, making it the first Canadian TV series aired in prime time on a US broadcast network since Due South
Due South
Due South is a Canadian crime drama series with elements of comedy. The series was created by Paul Haggis, produced by Alliance Communications, and stars Paul Gross, David Marciano, and latterly Callum Keith Rennie...
, also a CTV show aired by CBS. In addition, Flashpoint is the first Canadian series aired by a major US broadcast network that is set entirely in Canada (as Due South was primarily set in Chicago but filmed in Toronto).
On March 5, 2008, CBS announced that Flashpoint would premiere on that network in July 2008. CTV announced on May 8, 2008 that it would simulcast the show in Canada beginning on July 11, 2008.
Flashpoint began filming 13 episodes on April 17, 2008. It is written and created by Mark Ellis
Mark Ellis (actor)
Mark Ellis is a Canadian actor and screenwriter. He is the co-creator and co-executive producer of the television series Flashpoint which airs on CTV, ION Television and networks around the world. The series garnered a record-breaking 19 nominations in 2009. Ellis received a writing nomination for...
and Stephanie Morgenstern
Stephanie Morgenstern
Stephanie Grace Morgenstern is a Swiss-Canadian actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter for television and film. Born in Geneva, Switzerland and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Morgenstern began her acting career when she was 15. She has worked extensively on stage, film, and television in both English...
and executive produced by multiple Gemini Award
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
-winner Anne Marie La Traverse
Anne Marie La Traverse
Anne Marie La Traverse is a Canadian television executive. She is the founder and executive producer through Pink Sky Entertainment of Flashpoint. La Traverse's other productions include Hunt for Justice: The Louise Arbour Story, Tripping the Wire and Playing House.- External links :*...
for Pink Sky Entertainment and Bill Mustos
Bill Mustos
Bill Mustos is a Canadian television executive and lawyer. He is currently the founder, president and executive producer through Avamar Entertainment of Flashpoint. Mustos' has been involved in the Canadian film and television industry for decades....
for Avamar Entertainment in association with the CTV Television Network
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
and CBS Television Studios (formerly CBS Paramount Network Television).
The pilot episode titled "Scorpio" was based on an actual event that occurred in Toronto in 2004 in which a gun-wielding hostage taker was shot and killed by an Emergency Task Force sniper. Ellis and Morgenstern wrote their teleplay for the episode after interviewing members of the ETF. The majority of the episode reused substantial portions of the unaired Critical Incident pilot together with new footage featuring Amy Jo Johnson and Mark Taylor (who were not in the pilot).
Director David Frazee carefully shoots the SRU as one unit in order to show their unity throughout the show. Producer Anne Marie La Traverse said that the show would take people to their "own personal flash point." David Paetkau
David Paetkau
David E. Paetkau is a Canadian actor known for his roles as Evan Lewis in Final Destination 2 , Beck McKaye in Whistler , and Sam Braddock in the CTV television series Flashpoint ....
, one of the show's regular cast members, said Flashpoint "tries to capture the human element involved in policing and discusses how some officers end up with emotional baggage
Emotional baggage
Emotional baggage can be defined as 'Painful memories, mistrust and hurt carried around from past sexual or emotional rejection'.It is an image of 'a big sack that you carry around with you at all times...[with] every disappointment, trauma, and wrong that you've ever experienced....This image, the...
and suffering with mental illnesses like post traumatic stress disorder." Input and advice from various ETF personnel were used in the making of the series.
On August 25, 2008, CTV announced it had renewed the show for a second season of 13 episodes to begin production in Toronto in early 2009. Some months later, both CTV and CBS increased the renewal to 18 episodes. According to tvguide.com, CBS announced that Flashpoint would return January 9, 2009 at 9pm for a midseason start. In the United States and Canada, the remaining four episodes that were originally produced for season 1 aired as a part of season 2. CTV in Canada originally considered these episodes as part of season 1; however, after the airing of the fourth episode (which was originally considered the final episode of season 1), CTV changed the labeling of these four episodes and, following CBS, began considering them part of season 2.
CBS and CTV both ended season 2 on May 25, 2009 after airing only the first nine episodes produced. The second nine episodes, filmed from May to August 2009, were originally aired in Canada by CTV as season 3. CTV has since officially begun to refer to the episodes as the second half of season 2 (and altered its Flashpoint website accordingly). These episodes began airing June 4, 2010 on CBS, where they are considered part of season 3.
A new group of 13 episodes, now referred to by both CTV and the production companies as "Season 3", was commissioned by CTV and CBS in October 2009. The first of these episodes began filming on January 13, 2010. This gave CBS 22 original episodes to broadcast while CTV had 13. CBS completed broadcast of season 2 on July 30, 2010. The third season premiered on July 16, 2010 on both CTV and CBS. After entering a hiatus in mid-September after the broadcast of seven episodes from season 3, CTV resumed airing the remaining episodes on January 4, 2011.
CTV ordered a 4th season of Flashpoint on June 3, 2010, before the third season began to air. On January 21, 2011, it was announced that CBS would air 7 of the 18 episodes from season 4, as well as the remaining 6 episodes from season 3 not yet shown on CBS, during the summer of 2011. Due to the cancellation of CHAOS
Chaos (TV series)
CHAOS is an American television series for the CBS network. The one-hour comedic drama premiered on April 1, 2011, as a midseason replacement for The Defenders.-Premise:...
, the remaining episodes from season 3 of Flashpoint were shown on CBS starting May 6, 2011. The remaining 11 episodes from season 4 will air on ION Television. ION will also syndicate all 51 episodes of the series in the United States.
Filming of season 4 was scheduled to take place from February 14 through September 15, 2011. On May 9, 2011, CTV announced that the fourth season would begin airing on June 17, 2012, to be simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
by CBS.
Setting
While initially, and according to Enrico ColantoniEnrico Colantoni
Enrico Colantoni is a Canadian actor, probably best known for portraying Elliot DiMauro in the sitcom Just Shoot Me!, Keith Mars on the television series Veronica Mars, and Sergeant Greg Parker on the television series Flashpoint. He has also had supporting roles in such films as The Wrong Guy, ...
, the setting for the show was not identified, a Canadian flag was included on the officer's uniforms. As the show has progressed, the setting has become more significantly identifiable. This is especially true of the third season. Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
landmarks, such as the CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
and York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
, a fictional Toronto Interpreter newspaper (designed in the style of the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, though "The Star" was mentioned during the premiere of Season 3), and Toronto Transit Commission
Toronto Transit Commission
-Island Ferry:The ferry service to the Toronto Islands was operated by the TTC from 1927 until 1962, when it was transferred to the Metro Parks and Culture department. Since 1998, the ferry service is run by Toronto Parks and Recreation.-Gray Coach:...
stations and patrol cars are now regularly shown, identical to a Toronto Police Service vehicle but without the city name and with a fake division number. Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) and Ontario Provincial Police
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police is the Provincial Police service for the province of Ontario, Canada.-Overview:The OPP is the the largest deployed police force in Ontario, and the second largest in Canada. The service is responsible for providing policing services throughout the province in areas...
are also occasionally shown. Dialogue also references Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in...
, and local streets, as well as communities within the Greater Toronto Area. In the first episode, someone mentions that the character Sam Braddock, was in JTF2 which is a Canadian Forces
Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces , officially the Canadian Armed Forces , are the unified armed forces of Canada, as constituted by the National Defence Act, which states: "The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces."...
special operations unit. In "Between Heartbeats", a shooting victim is carried to an ambulance by a paramedic whose shirt reads "Toronto EMS Paramedic", and in the seventh episode of the third season ("You Think You Know Someone"), firefighters are shown to have "Toronto" on the back of their uniform overcoats. Also, in the episode "He Knows His Brother", there is a brief scene in a military school in which Canadian Forces combat uniforms are being worn. Police forces in York and Durham Regions are mentioned in "Exit Wounds". The fourth episode of the third season features a shot of an Ontario driver's licence with a Toronto, ON address which is visited by the SRU officers. Finally, in the Season 2, Part 2 (aka episode 218) finale episode "Behind the Blue Line" the name "Toronto" is finally spoken for the first time in the series, in a reference to the city's pro hockey team.
At the start of the series, Bill Mustos
Bill Mustos
Bill Mustos is a Canadian television executive and lawyer. He is currently the founder, president and executive producer through Avamar Entertainment of Flashpoint. Mustos' has been involved in the Canadian film and television industry for decades....
, founder of co-production company Avamar Entertainment, commented that "you're not going to see a show that is screaming 'Canada.' It's a show in a big sophisticated urban city where crises take place. The stories we're trying to tell are universal stories." CTV's press release regarding the series did identify Toronto, and noted that the SRU is based on Toronto's Emergency Task Force.
Music
The music of Hugh DillonHugh Dillon
Hugh Dillon is a Canadian musician and actor.-Music career:Dillon was the lead singer for the Kingston hard rock band The Headstones from 1987 until 2003...
, Matthew Good
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
and Amy Jo Johnson
Amy Jo Johnson
Amy Jo Johnson is an American actress, singer, songwriter and musician.She is best known for her roles in the televison series as the constable Jules Callaghan in the Canadian CTV television series Flashpoint, the famous jockey Tina Sharp in the ABC Family's original show Wildfire, the rookie cop...
has been used in the show's soundtrack. Some of the music used in the show include Matthew Good's "Weapon", used in the final scenes of episode 13 "Between Heartbeats", Johnson's "Dancing In-between", used in the ending of episode 6 "Attention Shoppers" with Dillon's "Lost at Sea" was used to conclude the 8th episode, "Never Kissed a Girl". The show's 30-second theme was written by Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.
Canada
- Note: Each Canadian television season starts with the Monday of the week that includes the first day of September.
Season Episodes Timeslot Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Viewers 1 13 Friday 10:00PM (July 11–18, 2008)
Thursday 10:00PM (July 25 - September 18, 2008)July 11, 2008 September 18, 2008 2007-2008
2008-20091.20 2 18 Friday 9:00PM February 27, 2009 November 20, 2009 2008-2009
2009-20101.49 3 13 Friday 10:00PM (July 16 - September 27, 2010)
Tuesday 10:00PM (January 4 – February 1, 2011)
Sunday 10:00PM (February 6, 2011)July 16, 2010 February 6, 2011 2009-2010
2010-20111.65 4 18 Friday 8:00PM (July 8 - August 19, 2011)
Monday 8:00PM (September 19, 2011)
Tuesday 8:00PM (September 27, 2011 - present)July 8, 2011 2010-2011
2011-20121.51 5 18 TBA TBA 2011-2012
The pilot episode was watched on CTV by 1.11 million viewers, earning the #1 spot in its timeslot.
Flashpoint drew in 1,216,000 viewers from July 28 to August 3 of 2008. It gained a bit more audience when the show drew in 1,300,000 viewers. In ratings from February 23 to March 1 of 2009, Flashpoint has been watched by 1,339,000 viewers.
CTV announced that a new series of Flashpoint episodes would air in the fall of 2009 on Friday nights at 10 pm ET. These episodes would not be simulcast with CBS. After CBS delayed broadcasting the episodes from summer 2009 to mid-season 2010, CTV initially backed off its commitment to fall 2009.
Eventually in late August, CTV announced that the new episodes would premiere in Canada on September 25, 2009. It marked the first time CTV broadcast new Flashpoint episodes out of simulcast with CBS in the United States. The last original Flashpoint episode for the Canadian fall 2009 season was broadcast on November 20, 2009.
Two Flashpoint episodes, Attention Shoppers and Who's George?, were nominated as finalists in the 2009 WGC Screenwriting Awards.
United States
| Season | Episodes | Timeslot (ET) | Original airing | Rank (Viewers) |
Viewers (in millions) |
18-49 rating | Network | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | TV Season | |||||||
| 1 | 9 | Friday 10:00PM (July 11-July 18) Thursday 10:00PM (July 25-September 18) |
2007-08 | TBA | 7.61 | TBA | CBS CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of... |
||
| 2 | 13 | Friday 9:00PM | 2008-09 | #48 | 9.48 | 2.0 | |||
| 3 | 16 | Friday 9:00PM (June 4 to July 9) Friday 10:00PM (July 9 to September 17) |
2009-10 | TBA | 7.13 | 1.2 | |||
| 4 | 13 | Friday 8:00PM | 2010-11 | #71 | 6.25 | 1.1 | |||
| 5 | 11 | Tuesday 10:00PM | TBA | 2011-12 | TBA | TBA | TBA | ION | |
The Boston Globe praised Flashpoint for using emotion that "lingers on the psychic toll that such high-tension work can take." As an example, one episode has the team shoot a bank robber who is stealing money for the Alzheimer's treatment of his elderly ill wife, which is presented as sad but necessary. Shooting the bereft senior citizen whose wife is going to be evicted from the senior citizen's home for lack of funds is troublesome for the team. The pilot episode was watched on CBS by 8.23 million people, earning the #1 ranking for the hour.
According to Flashpoint executive Bill Mustos in August 2008, the success of the show in the US was not due to the Writer's Guild strikes, but mainly because of the need of having a new kind of show on television.
Flashpoint did well in its initial airings on Friday nights (in the time slot normally given to NUMB3RS
NUMB3RS
Numb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
), building on the lead-in from that show. In fact, it drew more viewers on Friday nights than Swingtown
Swingtown
Swingtown was an American television series created by Mike Kelley as a summer replacement series for CBS. The show was a period and relationship drama about the impact of sexual and social liberation in 1970s American suburban households, with story arcs involving open marriages and key...
, another new drama, did on the normally busier Thursday nights, which prompted CBS to move Flashpoint to Thursday nights in an attempt to further build its audience.
On December 2, 2008, CBS announced that they would begin airing the second season of Flashpoint on January 9, 2009.
A third season of Flashpoint was to have aired as a midseason replacement
Midseason replacement
In American and Canadian television, a midseason replacement is a television series that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between January and May...
during CBS's 2009–2010 schedule
2009–2010 United States network television schedule
The following is the 2009–2010 network television schedule for the five major English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 2009 through May 2010. The schedule is followed by a list per network of returning series, new...
; however, CBS announced it would air these episodes during the summer of 2009 beginning on July 17, 2009 instead of its previously announced 2010 timetable. On July 7, 2009, CBS rescinded its decision, and the show aired at midseason after all. These were the same episodes that CTV broadcast in Canada during the fall 2009 season. CBS began airing these episodes on June 4, 2010. The remainder of the third season was broadcast on CBS beginning May 6, 2011.
On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, Flashpoint got mixed to average reviews scoring 51 out of 100 on the site's metascore.
DVD releases
In Region 1, Season one was released on DVD on October 13, 2009 by Phase 4 FilmsPhase 4 Films
Phase 4 Films is a Canadian film distribution company.Founded in 1996 as Telegenic Entertainment, the Company was then renamed KaBOOM! Entertainment in 2000. In 2006 kaBOOM! Entertainment Inc. was sold to Peace Arch Entertainment Group and was subsequently renamed Peace Arch Home Entertainment,...
in Canada and by CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.-History:...
) in the US. Season 2, Volume 1 was released in Canada on March 23, 2010 and in the US on May 25, 2010 under the title "Flashpoint: Season 2". Season 2, volume 2 was released on November 2, 2010 in Canada. On the same day, Phase 4 films also released the complete second season in a 6-disc set. After the first part of season 2 the Canadian and American DVD releases differ, with the releases from CBS DVD matching the broadcast of the show on CBS.
In Region 2, ITV DVD released the complete first season on DVD in the UK on April 13, 2009.
In Region 3, STG Multimedia released the complete first season on DVD in Thailand on April 9, 2011.
The complete second season was released on May 20, 2011.
In Region 4, Hopscotch Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Australia. The third season was released on May 19, 2011.
| DVD name | Episodes | Release dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 (CAN) | Region 1 (US) | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| Season 1 | 13 | October 13, 2009 | April 13, 2009 | April 16, 2009 | |
| Season 2: Volume 1 | 9 | March 23, 2010 | May 25, 2010 | TBD | March 4, 2010 |
| Season 2: Volume 2 | 9 | November 2, 2010 | TBD | April 15, 2010 | |
| Season 3 | 16 | May 17, 2011 | |||
| Season 3 | 13 | TBD | TBD | May 19, 2011 | |
International distribution
Flashpoint is being distributed by Alchemy Television, based in New York, and Tele München Group to all international markets outside of North America. Already in July 2008, it was announced that the two distributors had sold the series to TV networks in 50 countries outside Canada and the US, among them Tv2 in New Zealand, ITV3ITV3
ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was launched on 1 November 2004. ITV3 is the second largest UK multi-channel, second only to ITV2.-History:...
in the United Kingdom and networks in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Latin America.
By December 2008, only nine of the 13 episodes produced during the series' first season had been aired in North America, although all 13 episodes had been aired by New Zealand's TV2 as of December 10, 2008.
The Australian premiere occurred on January 11, 2009 when Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
took the unusual step of screening the second episode
First In Line (Flashpoint episode)
"First in Line" is the second episode in the fist season of the Canadian police drama television series Flashpoint. The episode first aired on July 18, 2008.-Plot:...
in isolation ahead of the season after a major cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
telecast, in a relatively late Sunday night timeslot. Nine aired the show on Wednesday nights, its regular time slot, where episodes were erratically shown out of their intended order. Nine took the show off air soon after, but it returned to air during summer non-ratings on Monday November 30, 2009 at 9.30pm and was taken off air again only two weeks later.