This fall. Almost all the old shows we know like Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisie, Desperate Housewives, Samantha Who?, Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, Chuck, Heroes, Life, My Name is Earl, Bones, House, Dexter, Californication etc. are coming back after a chaotic writers strike season. And there are some very interesting new shows fashionably with movie casts have been promoted since a month that we all can't wait to see: "The Mentalist" with the charming Simon Baker, "Eleventh Hour" with Rufus Sewell, "Gary Unmarried" with Jay Mohr, the very promising supernature thriller with Bill Pullman, Christopher Gorham etc. "Harper's Island", The UK TV version of "Crusoe" with Sam Neill, the comedy "Kath & Kim" with Selma Blair, the war thriller "Kings", "Fringe" with Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson, "Raising the Bar" with the NYPD Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and "Starter Wife" with Will & Grace's Debra Messing etc. But while we're all staring at the Olympic Games' very selected and not live prime time monopole transmission. Weeds, Psych, and the high quality 100% canadian made police thriller "Flashpoint" are making our summer very refreshing.
"Flashpoint" is entirely shot in Toronto where the city gives all it has got to make it's new name in Hollywood.
The show is fairly well written and smartly directed, sharply filmed and gladly casted with less known canadian actors which the production can spend much more budget to produce a quality show shot with Panavision, color enhanced movie like TV must see.
Each episode starts from the critique moment the so called "flashpoint" then flashback to few hours earlier, with mainly 2 story lines, one from the Strategic Response Unit, the SRU side which is inspired by Toronto's Emergency task Force team, and the other one from the criminal or the social victims side.
The SRU geared up like swat, arrived in 3 big black SUVs, and the guy who played the photographer in "Just Shoot Me" will talk the disturbed attacker through or the snipers will push the trigger shoot the unstable public threat on the keyword "Scorpio".
I like specially Hugh Dillon's new promising face which reminded me Bruce Willis and Jason Statham. And the little flirt tension between the cliche good looking young man David Paetkau from the Final Destination 2 and the smart and only female sniper Felicity's Amy Jo Johnson. And Amy Jo Johnson and Hugh Dillon also produce and use their music as soundtrack often make beautiful closure to each tense episode.
"Flashpoint" music guide here, episode guide here.
My favorite episode: Ep. 3: The Element of Surprise
