I thought that was a very interesting column today. I love Enrico Colantoni (and yes, he is very important to Veronica Mars ), but I have to say my experience with Flashpoint was not nearly as good as OSC's. I saw the premier of one of the seasons - I don't know which, but it involved an abusive man stalking his ex-wife and daughter - and it was just unrelentingly downbeat and dark. Perhaps the other episodes don't take such a nihilistic view of law enforcement, but that episode really turned me off of wanting to see more.
That being said, I found the comments on hypocrisy and American TV interesting. I've found a lot of American (and non-American) critics saying that American TV is for the lowest common denominator - but I think that's an unfair generalization. If you watch enough of a country's television, I think you notice that the stuff that gets picked up in the US is the best stuff - the stuff that is better than most US TV, in the same way that the best US TV is better than most of its fellow shows. But I think other countries produces just as much garbage telly in just as large a proportion to the good stuff, we just don't see it as much (or are tricked by the fact that their storytelling conventions are different than ours, and thus seem fresher and more interesting by dint of unfamiliarity rather than actual freshness or interest).
Posted by vineyarddawg (Member # 13007) on :
As I was reading OSC's discussion of Canadian television, I couldn't help but keep thinking of Stargate:SG1. Almost all of SG1 (except for the external shots of Cheyenne Mountain, obviously) were filmed in Canada, though it was obviously set in the U.S. I never found out about this until I started watching the commentaries on the DVD set, so the "Canadian-ness" of it was pretty well masked to me. Posted by millernumber1 (Member # 9894) on :
Hmm. I'm not convinced that where something is filmed means that it is of that nationality. For example, I think Game of Thrones is pretty clearly an American production, even though most of the actors are British, and it's not filmed in the US.
I mean, a large proportion of shows are/were filmed in Canada because of tax breaks and natural beauty - Smallville, for example, and that's definitely an American show as well.
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), but I have to say my experience with Flashpoint was not nearly as good as OSC's. I saw the premier of one of the seasons - I don't know which, but it involved an abusive man stalking his ex-wife and daughter - and it was just unrelentingly downbeat and dark. Perhaps the other episodes don't take such a nihilistic view of law enforcement, but that episode really turned me off of wanting to see more.