People who live in Toronto like to note when their city is being used as "Washington" or "New York City" in an American film. The old joke was that the crews had to deposit trash onto the streets so the scene would be more realistic.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent debuted last Thursday on Citytv. Toronto didn't look like New York City yet some might think that wasn't the real Toronto.
The Filmores Hotel didn't seem believable yet is in the downtown area. The hotel (with a "gentleman's club" on ground level) rests right at George and Dundas with the Dundas streetcar going by the detectives.
The walk around with the crown attorney at Nathan Phillips Square was likely more memorable to people with casual knowledge of Toronto. The Toronto Islands and Billy Bishop Airport were around the boat in the open of the pilot episode.
We could cite a number of films such as Take This Waltz and the non-Canadian film Scott Pilgrim Versus the World as examples of showcasing Toronto. Twitch City, Baroness von Sketch Show, Orphan Black, Sensitive Skin, Private Eyes, Workin' Moms, Sort Of, and Kim's Convenience are some of the many Canadian TV shows showing Toronto in the spotlight.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent has 2 advantages in showing off Toronto that most other Canadian TV shows and Canadian films do not have.
- Based on the pilot episode, the show looks very slick and professional. Compare the look of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent to Sullivan's Crossing, The Spencer Sisters, Wild Cards, and Hudson & Rex.
- The Law & Order reputation means Canadian audiences will pay more attention to the show, given its love affair with American TV shows.
Those other shows had the regular Toronto on display, not terribly exciting for those viewers who want to see the underbelly in motion.
Showrunner Tassie Cameron created Pretty Hard Cases, set and filmed in Toronto, and was the head writer and executive producer on Rookie Blue (Global/ABC) also set and filmed in Canada's largest city. The Canadians behind this show know locations to make Toronto seem more like New York City in an underbelly kind of way.
Take This Waltz showcases a real Toronto neighborhood
Twitch City is where my love for Canada started
Toronto sports cornucopia is a small portion of what makes Toronto a worthy destination
Toronto stories from a resilient city
Those in Canada and outside of Toronto can grumble about this obsession with the largest city in Canada. TSN is sometimes referred to as Toronto Sports Network. Frankly, Toronto is the gateway to Canada, English Canada, for most people outside Canada. We recently looked at how good Wild Cards and Family Law made Vancouver look on television.
Montréal is a more difficult city for English Canada to view. Transplant is shot in Montréal while pretending to be Toronto. Jacob Tierney's films (The Trotsky; Good Neighbours) showcase Montréal but mostly the anglophone neighbourhoods, such as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
Canadian TV notebook: Saying goodbye to Sort Of
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The absolute irony in all of this is Americans and those not in North America aren't the toughest audience when it comes to Toronto on Canadian TV. The toughest audience is English Canadians, people who would watch boring, mundane American television than adventurous, intriguing Canadian television.
As a Rogers executive explained about this show: "It's the most Rogers has ever spent on an original drama." It's "a hell of a lot of money" for a Canadian series.
Rogers used valuable Hockey Night in Canada time to promote Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent. Citytv runs the fewest number of original Canadian television in prime time among the private networks in a sea where those networks work hard to show very few Canadian shows. Yet Rogers and Citytv have put a lot behind Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent.
Episode 2 of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent runs tonight, Thursdays at 8 pm Eastern on Citytv, Channel 57 in Toronto. We are still hoping at some point that the show will run in the States.
photo credit: Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent/Citytv
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