Flashpoint: As it happens

First thoughts.

1. Hugh Dillon is smiling!!! (and laughing to boot) in the opening scenes. Hardly the grim and gritty uber-sniper that the Americans are going to love to watch.

2. The action scenes take a back seat to the character building material. And that's a good thing. Substance triumphs over style.

3. Why do I care so much about how I think this is going to play south of the border? I know that there's been a lot of talk about it's American license and what that means for Canadian filmmaking. But as I watch it, nothing really grabs me. It doesn't feel like must see TV. It feels like better than average television with a lead actor who is interesting to me because of his musical career and his real life demons.


4. Amy Jo Johnson, utterly miscast in the role of Jules Callaghan, sniper. It feels like shes here to counter some of the gender disparity issues of the show and bring a softer side to this series. Unfortunately she sticks out like a sore thumb. There's no rule that says women, attractive or otherwise, can't be snipers. But it's not hard to see that this show places a premium on young attractive actors and unfortunately AJJ feels like just another entry in this column rather than a character of substance.


5. Hey! Henry Czerny is in the next episode. That pretty much guarantees that I'll be around for the next installment.

6. Overall the show is good but not great. I'm hoping it'll stick around for a little while. I wonder what kind of viewing numbers the opening episode will pull down. (Edit: Apparently 8 million Americans saw the opening episode, which is more than the premiere of House)