I saw an advertisement for this show last week on CBS. It's a Canadian show dealing with a type of Canadian police SRT. It looks really exciting and Enrico Colantoni from Veronica Mars and Just Shoot Me also stars in it. CBS says it will debut on Friday July 11th.

I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this. I am Canadian and have known about this show for awhile. I have been wondering when it would air since it was originally supposed to be a go if the writers strike didn't resolve. There are a lot of good actors here. Hugh Dillon absolutely rocks my world. For those who don't know, he used to be a singer in a little rock band called The Headstones- IMO, one of the best rock bands Canada has ever produced. It's really impressive to see how far he's come.

Toronto plays itself in Flashpoint drama.

I just saw a commercial for this last night. It also stars everybody's favorite Pink Ranger, Amy Jo Johnson. This could go either way. Action cop shows have to be gritty in this era of The Shield and 24.

I saw the commercial for this and it reminded me of Phone Booth with Colin Farrel. Looks very dramatic and good.

Tossed it on my TIVO and we'll see how it goes. I'm usually a sucker for cop dramas anyways. :)

It's just so weird to see/hear of Toronto playing Toronto and not "US-citybackfill #'s 10 through 20."

OMG, Hugh Dillon! Man, he hasn't been doing the acting thing full time for very long so to land a big show like this? Does Not Suck. Not a big fan of these type cop shows but I'm hitting the TiFaux for the pilot at least. EC was one of the best things about Veronica Mars. Always fun to see if I can recognize any of the Toronto scenery. Let's hope the scripts aren't completely lame and that the dearth of new shows translates to decent ratings... Happy positive thoughts!

Why would anyone be a sniper if you have to go through that every time?

So I was wondering how the American viewers out there found the Canadian-style cop drama.

It was pretty good but like most pilots there was something a little bit off with it. Still the acting was pretty good especially from Hugh Dillon. An actual shot of the CN Tower was pretty awesome and the shots on the Toronto subway (Hey, Osgoode station).

*edit* That's how the Ontario police force works any incident that involves a police officer and a death must go through SIU. At least how I understand it.

I really liked it...but then I'm Canadian and got all giddy that a show set in Canada, shot in Canada, about Canadians was on an American station.

Anyone know the song that played at the end of the show?

I liked it, it reminded me of the anime Patlabor where a unit of police officers fighting crime using mecha they pilot.

As long as the characterization and story is consistant and varied (they don't have to always have to have episodes where they take a suspect out by shooting them or a standoff) I'll still be there.

I can understand why Ed had to be debriefed but SIU's "inquest" seemed more like an "inquisition". Why did he have to disrobe?

What exactly where the words right before Ed took the subject out? Something about a boy?

I felt the same way. Hopefully, the next episode will have something "more" to it.

And Amy Jo Johnson looked great.

My thinking is mostly that the pacing was weird and may have to do mostly with setting up the characters.

*edit* Saarloos are you Canadian or more specifically a Torontonian? If you're not, well there have been a lot of issues in Toronto involving police action related deaths.

I'm assuming SRT is what we south of the border call HRT/SWAT?

I really enjoyed it and am not such a US snob that I don't enjoy seeing Canada and Canadians playing themselves.

(I stay up very late at night to watch old epis of Regenesis, Cold Case, Stone, and DaVinci. Used to love Crimetime after Primetime series.)



More later.

It wasn't bad. Rico should be proud.

I'm a bit on the fence about Ms. Pink Ranger. I've seen her try other dramatic roles and I've just never "felt" her. I'll try to be fair and give her a chance though.

By the way, am I the only one who has to quash a need to do some kind of "Just Shoot Me" joke, given what Enrico's character does for a living? Eeek! Just SAYING that means I gave in!

I am an American, raventime22. I was not aware of any issues that you mentioned. Like I said, the scene just seemed so intense. I guess I am just comparing by American standards. Watching this show will also be a learning experience for me about the country north of the border of the US.

Its hard to tell from a pilot, but it didn't seem like the show was dwelling very much on the differences. I think such things will be presented as very matter-of-fact (police ranks/titles, department names, etc.)

We liked it. Not a great show, but good and entertaining enough to keep it on Tivo season pass. Mr. selkie thought it had a little bit of a The Unit vibe to it.

If it gets picked up for more episodes, I'm going to start seeing some familiar faces and start making the old joke about there being only 42 actors in all of Canada. Coming soon if there's a season 2- guest appearances by Will Sasso, Geraint Wyn Davies, Christina Cox and Nicholas Lea.

I liked it more than I thought I would. Anything with this much press up here must be watched with great caution - but then again Hugh Dillon's in it. How cool is that? I'd watch it just for him.

And in an article on CTV's website he mentions having songs on the show. Love.

I liked it, nothing spectacular but it was the pilot so entertain me and make me want to watch the next one was really all it had to do. It was fun playing "How many other shows has that Canuck been in?", I swear Poor Bitch/Rollie has been in everything shot up here in the last decade.

I enjoyed it enough to tune in next week, but Mr. Actionmage missed, then I saw- amazingly enough, on the PTC tv page- that there seems to be a re-airing of the pilot on Sunday, same time period. (Doublecheck to be extra sure!)

I think it was mostly the "people in flack jackets" aspect, and maybe the post-traumatic stress angle. Otherwise... I don't think the connection is THAT much.


I believe its already got an order for 13, although I suppose we'll have to see if CBS actually is willing to stick with a Canadian show for that long.

It ain't a true Canadian show until Colin Mochrie makes an appearance.

Since it's on CTV, I bet it's a matter of time until some of the actors from Corner Gas, Robson Arms and Degrassi show up. I also find that the Canadian actors who worked on the CBC and those who came from CTV shows rarely cross over, or maybe I'm wrong. If that's the case, I'm sure we'll see a Dale sister at some point.

The ep was pretty decent. I'd love to see a Tim Horton's, Zeller's or Canadian Tire at some point. Even a loonie.

It was okay. I probably wouldn't make a point to watch it but if I flipped by it I'd stop.

As a Torontonian who is currently living in the US, watching this show brought a huge smile on my face. From seeing the oh-so-familiar scenes of the TTC, to the red/blue/white cop cars and the CN tower in the wide shots -- made me miss home even more!

I'll be watching again. I'm just waiting for a cup of Timmys to appear too...

Is AJJ the only main actor that isn't a Canuck? I wonder why they casted her??

And, I loved seeing Mark Taylor show up as Lewis. I remember him from back when "Student Bodies" was still around.

Where do you think they got the shrink?

I like the attention to detail: the snipers' attaching themselves on the rooftops,the aftereffect on the sniper-it ain't over after it's over.

Decent summer fare. And, really, there ain't sh!t on network TV right now...

This was different from what I expected. Toward the beginning, I was thinking how boring it would be week after week to see a hostage-type situation have to get diffused, but when that guy got shot only partway through, I was sort of surprised. Pleasantly surprised.

Are we supposed to hate the new guy? Are we supposed to think he's a moron? Because shouldn't he know better than to not introduce himself clearly and then ambiguously reach into his pocket in front a bunch of wound up people weilding guns? (I also wasn't sure if I didn't like the doctor, or if the woman playing her is just a bad actress. Or both.)

Yeah, I didn't notice any differences between this and a show that would be taking place in the US, besides people's accents in a couple places. I mean, if there were terminology differences, I wouldn't know if it was a Canadian thing. For example, someone mentioned that SRT is the Canadian version of SWAT, but on Homicide they were called QRT, so I didn't realize "SRT" was Canadian.

The situation with the gunman actually happened few years ago just outside Union Station. The guy confronted his wife in the underground at First Canadian Place. I think he did shoot her. She survived. He then travelled through the underground mall to Union Station where police confronted him & he grabbed some poor girl who was just getting off the subway. He was shot & killed by a police sniper. The main difference in the story is there was no "runner". It pretty much went down without a hitch.

I wonder if they'll continue to base their stories on real events? They could do one about arresting the suspected terrorists a few years ago.

I can see the whole interrogation scene taking place. To me it was played a being them going by the book. You just know that anytime a cop kills someone there is going to be someone questioning whether or not they really had to do it, so I think they really need to ensure that killing the person was unavoidable.



They shot right outside Commerce Court. The guy even got off the subway at King & took the Commerce Court exit.

Didn't the Internal Affairs guy mention that they needed his clothing (exterior) for collecting evidence? I guess they make no exceptions, considering he never made physical contact with the suspect.

I enjoyed it, and as pilots go, it's very promising. Just saw the pilot for CSI on cable last week, and it did little more than a workmanlike job of introducing the premise and the characters. This pilot seemed more successful as an actual story than theirs, and look where they are now! So that's a roudabout way of saying I thought it was good, and I'll watch the next one. Hey, I might even watch the Sunday rerun of this one.

Edited to add: Yeh, I thought The New Guy was a crackpot for jumping into a hot situation and doing some distracting, provocative things a veteran cop wouldn't/shouldn't do. I guess he's being written as "the maverick," heh. He's kinda cute but nothing I'm gonna dream about. Time will tell who he turns out to be.

Well, I liked it. As a Torontonian I too enjoyed the shots of the CN tower, ttc, etc. The new guy did seem kind of dumb and annoying, and I still don't really see why we needed the random shots of him arriving. On the other hand, I was surprised in a good way when the hostage situation concluded halfway through the show, and they actually moved on to the aftermath of the situation. I think it will be interesting to see where they go from there. Overall, I'm not absolutely convinced that it's going to be the best show ever, but it was fairly interesting and I'll definitely be watching next week to see where they go with it.

I enjoyed it too. It would be nice if they acutally make a Canadian show that I enjoy the writing and acting for a change! Seeing them not hide the Toronto "signs" such as the TTC was fun too. I'm looking forward to next week, and hope it keeps up the way it is going. Stinks to be the guy that just got fast-tracked to Sargent! Get on a show, look like one of the main characters, don't even get a line and out you go! I think the snipers reaction on the roof was more because of the runner, and his being terrified he shot the wrong person. With his reaction at the end of the show when he saw his own son, I think he was really just running over the what if's? What if he had shot the son? What if once the shooter saw the son was shot he killed the hostage and a bunch of others? etc.

As much as I'm with you guys that I don't see why it was necessary to bring in the new guy and have him intro himself at the site, I laughed so hard when they all pulled their weapons on him! What do you think is going to happen when you start hitting on a female cop, start talking guns, say you have one, would you like to see it and reach into your coat?? I'd shoot you too!

My guess is that New Guy deliberately reached into his coat to check out everyone's reactions. He even made a comment about it (something like "Nice post-incident reaction time" or something).

True, they got the shrink from Degrassi. I'm talking about some of the main cast members showing up, though. Hell, maybe there'll be a standoff incident at Degrassi High! Didn't they already have a school shooting? ;)

I like your attitude & I hope people on both sides of the border give the show a chance.

I would be looking for these too except I don't know what they are. Except the loonie.

If they do, it will sound real interesing (and believeable).

Count me in on calling the New Guy dumb for "making those moves".

I still haven't sussed out why they took the sniper's clothing into evidence during the debrief--unless to make sure he was the shooter. They would certainly expect to find gun shot residue; what else would they be looking for? I have no idea if that's done in the US after a sniper shooting or not.

Tim Horton's (or Timmy's) is a coffee/donut chain here in Canada and in some States along the border. The double-double from Tim's is very popular up here. Zeller's is a Wal-Mart like chain, and Canadian Tire is an outdoor/camping/automotive/home improvement/etc store.

I actually had to keep reminding myself that this was a Canadian show, it's weird to see something from Canada airing on CBS. I hope we get to see more of the characters's personal lives and find out more about them.

Back before Letterman, CBS had a late-night slate marketed as "Crimetime after Primetime". They'd show reruns of Quincy and Barnaby Jones and a little CTV show called Night Heat starring Scott Hylands, Jeff Wincott and a much younger Clark Johnson (Homicide).

You know, for the longest time, I thought he was an actor wanting to do research on police procedure or something. Why was he being picked up in the fancy car? That was weird.

But still, is that what police departments fork out money for? Hiring towncars to pick cops up from the airport?

Amy Jo Johnson looks like the younger sister of Jennifer Garner. She's very pretty.

Good show. It feels very real. I felt bad for the SWAT sniper. He was just doing his job and he kinda got in trouble for it. You can tell he was starting to go through the post traumatic stress syndrome. I really felt for him.

I thought the show was okay. I'm going to continue watching.

Just so glad to see something new on TV.

They said he was from JTF2 (or Joint Task Force 2). That's Canada's elite special forces unit. They're responsible for counter-terrorist operations although they have other roles. The Canadian Forces have been pretty secretive about their capabilities and missions in the past. They were given a lot of respect from US forces and other allies for their actions in the initial invasion of Afghanistan.

What I liked about it is the sniper's reaction afterward. After watching so many S.W.A.T.-type movies where the guys are all testosteroned-up and "yeah, I shot the motherfucker" kind of posturing, it was good to see that he had a reaction to it. I mean, not so bad that I don't feel he can still do his job, but as someone else said, that he was affected by the guy's son being right there and it looked like he thought for a second he might have shot the kid.

I liked this show. The acting was really good and the hostage situation didn't get resolved at the last "nail biting/yawn" hour so that was a plus.

One nitpick I forgot to mention before: when then new guy arrived, how did he get inside the tape? Didn't they have police keeping everyone out? Given that he had just arrived (and wasn't expected to arrive there), I wouldn't think he would have any credentials or anything, but nobody seemed to question why he was wandering around.

Yes. Definitely. Tim Horton's, for sure. And some Canadian money.

Thanks, CdnTVwatcher.

I really liked the approach of that angle the show took. The "aftermath". I was just a little surprised the "way" it was handled.

I've always wondered if Canada had a special forces unit of the military. I'm certain that they did but I just did not know what it was called.

AJJ would probably be flattered to hear that. She's actually 2 years older than JG. On IMDB they even mention that AJJ resembles JG.

Can't agree. That "read" to me as him coming up with an off-the-cuff piece of banter to cover the embarrassment of his stupidity.


That association might be stuck in your head because they both appeared on "Felicity" (Johnson for a LOT longer than Garner though).


Yeah, I noticed that on IMDB too. But the thing is, I actually think she's playing a role closer to her real age than is obvious. She was clearly the senior member of her sniper team.

Based upon the previews and the way the show was going, I thought the son was going to die. So, kudos to the show for the set up and deciding not to go that way.

I'm not sure what to think about the new guy, but I believe we're supposed to be unsure about him for the moment.

The fact that Enrico was in it was enough for me to watch the pilot, but I liked the pilot enough to give the show a chance.

It's interesting to see the variety of Canadian actors on the show. We have Enrico who made his name on US shows, Gabriel Hogan who I know best as Poor Bitch from Wonderfalls, and Mark Taylor who I know as Kwest from Instant Star. I'm sure many of the others are as well. I'm curious to see of Mark Taylor will be on much given that his other show is still on the air. Maybe they have different shooting schedules so he doesn't have a problem.

Instant Star finished filming it's fourth season last year and has been cancelled. (Which I am inappropriately depressed about). I was really excited to see Mark on this show because he wasn't given much to do on IS, but I just feel like he has a ton of potential to be great. I agree with the poster upthread who was glad they resolved the hostage situation so quickly. I don't think that it will always be like that, but it was nice to see that they were at least willing to tamper with the procedural formula.

The only disappointment to me so far is Amy Jo Johnson. And it's not really fair that I'm disappointed by her because it has solely to do with how much I hated her on Felicity. But now, every time I see her in a role, all I can think of is how obnoxious she was on that show. I'm hoping somewhere along the line she proves me wrong.