Flashpoint (TV series)

Flashpoint was conceived in 2005 as part of a CTV project that encouraged actors to submit scripts to the network.[8] The original Flashpoint script (known earlier as Sniper and Critical Incident)[9][10] was for a two-hour television film. A pilot episode was produced for CTV in July 2007 under the Critical Incident title featuring most of the cast of what would become the series, but without the characters Jules Callaghan and Lewis Young; the characters in the pilot were Kate Travers and Robert "Shakes" Boneyman.[11] CTV's interest in the project led to Flashpoint's being reworked as a regular CTV series, which was approved in mid-December 2007. The show was unaffected by the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike because Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) rules allow any members of the WGC living in Canada, including writers with dual WGA/WGC membership, to write for Canadian productions.[12] Writers living in the United States with dual WGA/WGC membership were required to get a waiver from the WGA to work on Canadian productions during the strike.[12]

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,[13] making it the second Canadian TV series aired in primetime on a US broadcast network after Due South, also a CTV show aired by CBS.[14] In addition, Flashpoint is the first Canadian series aired by a major US broadcast network 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 in July.[15] CTV announced on May 8, 2008, that it would simulcast the show in Canada beginning on July 11.

Flashpoint began filming 13 episodes on April 17, 2008. It was 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.[16] Ellis and Morgenstern wrote their teleplay for the episode after interviewing members of the ETF.[17] 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).[18] Director David Frazee carefully shot the SRU as one unit to demonstrate their unity.[19] Producer Anne Marie La Traverse said the show would take people to their "own personal flash point."[20] 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 suffer with mental illnesses like post traumatic stress disorder."[21] Input and advice from various ETF personnel were used in making the series.[22]

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.[23] 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 9 pm 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.[24][25] 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 labelling 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 officially began 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.[26]

Season 3 was commissioned by CTV and CBS in October 2009.[27] The first episode of the season began filming on January 13, 2010. This gave CBS 22 original episodes to broadcast while CTV had 13. CBS completed broadcasting season 2 on July 30, 2010. season 3 premiered on July 16, 2010, on both CTV and CBS.[28][29] 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.[30] CTV ordered production of season 4 of Flashpoint on June 3, 2010, before season 3 began to air.[31] 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.[32] The remaining 11 episodes from season 4 began airing on ION Television in October of that year.[33]

Filming of season 4 took place between February 14 and September 15, 2011.[34] On May 9, 2011, CTV announced that season 4 would begin airing on June 17, 2011, to be simulcast by CBS.[35] On June 1, 2011, Bell Media announced that the network ordered a fifth season of Flashpoint, containing 18 new episodes,[36][37] starting to air in Canada in September 2012. Filming of season 5 took place between February 9 and June 27, 2012.[38] The show producers later revealed that the order had been shortened to 13 episodes. On May 1, 2012, the producers announced on their Facebook page that they had decided season 5 would be their last.[39] CTV confirmed the reduction in the episode order and the ending of the show on May 1.[40] The two-part series finale aired on December 13, 2012.

Aerial footage of Toronto, similar to this photograph from September 2008, is used in establishing shots in several episodes of Flashpoint.

Flashpoint is set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, for much of the series' run, the setting was largely left vague. According to Enrico Colantoni, the setting was officially left unidentified.[41] Bill Mustos, founder of co-production company Avamar Entertainment, stated this was intentional, commenting, "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."[42] CTV's press release regarding the series, however, identified the setting as Toronto.[43]

The Toronto setting is heavily hinted at throughout the series but is rarely mentioned by name. Locations in the Greater Toronto Area; landmarks and major Toronto locations such as the CN Tower, Toronto City Hall, the Eaton Centre, Maple Leaf Gardens, and Yonge–Dundas Square; real and fictional Toronto-based newspapers such as the Toronto Interpreter and The Star (likely the Toronto Star); Toronto Transit Commission stations and vehicles; Government of Ontario and City of Toronto government documents such as driver's licenses; and Canadian brands and organizations such as Tim Hortons, CP24, and the Special Investigations Unit are mentioned, shown, or are even the focal points of episodes. Emergency services personnel and equipment, most prominently emergency vehicle liveries and uniform designs, are strongly based on those of the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Fire Services, and Toronto Paramedic Services, with some displaying the Canadian flag or even having "Toronto" emblazoned on them. Details relating to military personnel and veterans, including uniforms and mentioned details of military deployments, imply the military is the Canadian Armed Forces, and installations such as Garrison Petawawa and CFB Borden are mentioned in some episodes. Maps visibly identify the setting as the "City of Toronto", and neighbouring regions and municipalities such as York Region, Peel Region, Durham Region, Halton Region, and Niagara Region are often mentioned as nearby.

The show's 30-second theme was written by Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.[44] The music of Hugh Dillon, Matthew Good, Amy Jo Johnson and Kim Taylor have also been used in the show's soundtrack.[45] Johnson's song "Dancing In-between" was used in the ending of episode six of the first season, "Attention Shoppers" with Dillon's "Lost at Sea" used to conclude the eighth episode, "Never Kissed a Girl". The song "Open Your Eyes" by Tracenine was featured in the episode "Perfect Storm".[46] Songs from Hugh Dillon can also be heard in season 2 episode 12 "Just a Man" (song "Don't Be Fooled") and the episode that concluded season 3 episode 13, "Fault Lines" (song "My Mistakes"). "Goodbye," a song written and performed by Amy Jo Johnson, features in season 3 episode 10, "Terror."[44][45]

Note that each Canadian television season starts with the Monday of the week that includes the first day of September.[47][48]

The pilot episode was watched on CTV by 1.11 million viewers, earning the No. 1 spot in its timeslot.[49] Flashpoint drew in 1,216,000 viewers during the week of July 28, 2008.[61] It gained a bit more audience when the show drew in 1,300,000 viewers.[62] In ratings for the week of February 23, 2009, Flashpoint has been watched by 1,339,000 viewers.[63] CTV announced that a new series of Flashpoint episodes would air in the fall of 2009 on Friday nights at 10:00 pm ET.[64] 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.[65] Eventually in late August, CTV announced that the new episodes would premiere in Canada on September 25, 2009.[66] 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 from the first season—"Attention Shoppers" and "Who's George?"—were nominated as finalists in the 2009 WGC Screenwriting Awards.[67]

The Boston Globe praised Flashpoint for using emotion that "lingers on the psychic toll that such high-tension work can take."[70] The pilot episode was watched on CBS by 8.23 million people, earning the No. 1 ranking for the hour.[71] 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.[72] 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, to the point that 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.[73] On December 2, 2008, CBS announced that they would begin airing the second season of Flashpoint on January 9, 2009.[74] A third season of Flashpoint was to have aired as a midseason replacement during CBS's 2009–2010 schedule;[75][76] 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 midseason after all.[77] These were the same episodes that CTV broadcast in Canada during the fall 2009 season. CBS began airing these episodes on June 4, 2010.[78] The remainder of the third season was broadcast on CBS beginning May 6, 2011.[32] On Metacritic, Flashpoint has mixed to average reviews, scoring 51 out of 100 on the site's metascore.[79]