31 May 2011 on Global and abc

The first season of rookie blue (les recrues de la 15^e) was released on BD and DVD. There is some difference between the Canadian and American releases, though both use the American logo for the show. It would have been easier to tell them apart if the Canadian relese had the Canadian logo. I suppose one would notice with the French plasterd all over the cover right below the English of everything. Not that i am against French but the design of it is just awkward and messy. Other than the cover art variances there is content variance too. The Canadian BD release is 3 discs while the American BD is 4 discs. If you do the math that means the Canadian release has a greater compression to the episodes so as to fit 5 episodes per disc rather than 4. If you don't want the French audio or/and subtitles found in the Canadian release you might want to consider getting the American release for the higher bit rate. Why 3 discs? It raises the costs a bit for creating two different production runs but in making it a 3 disc set rather than 4 there is less manufacturing and ultimately it would bring the cost back in line with the American release. Why not just make a single release with English DTS, French DD 2.0, and maybe a Spanish DD 2.0 audio track? Very good question. It would be a lot easier to print alternate bilingual cover art for Canada and have the content be exactly the same than it would be to create multiple variations. E1 isn't a huge company so cost is probably a concern. Was cost trumped by the prospect of upsetting Americans by including a French audio track on the release they would buy at their local Wal*Mart? Possibly.

The DVD releases, which came out the same day, have variance too. The Canadian release again has French on the cover art as well as the French DD 2.0 audio. The American release has neither of those. Both the Canadian and the American DVD releases are on 4 discs. Why not just make a single release with both audio tracks and have different cover art for Canada? Who knows.

28 August 2010 regarding "Big Nickel"

Having watched the episode after much anticipation i was most saddened to see that they faked going to Sudbury. The episode is titled for the most common nick name of the city and still the episode was more about the road trip there and back. But they didn't really go there. The Sudbury jail looks nothing much like what is shown in the episode other than both being red brick buildings. I walked those streets many times, having lived in that part of the city for over 8 years. I was so excited to see the city in a tv show. I was so disappointed when i saw that scene for the first time. Even the name on the sign on the building had me thinking that for those who knew no better it would tell them that the Greater Sudbury Police Department was nothing more than a division of the Toronto Police Services.

The building that closest resembles that used in the episode is The Bell Telephone Co of Canada building at 89 Cedar Street. It now houses ING Insurance.

The building in the episode:



The real Court House, Jail, and Police station in Sudbury:



The building in Sudbury that closest resembles that shown in the episode:

12 July 2010 : Global and abc order season 2

Yes, that is correct. I don't know how i missed it a few hours about but season 2 of rookie blue is on its way. You can read the ABC press release here and the Global one here

24 June 2010 on Global and abc

24 June is a day that always seems to have something interesting happen. In 2010 that is the premiere of a Canadian police drama about a group of rookies on both Canadian and American primetime. This time it is a Canadian show! Hoping to follow in the success of Flashpoint the former showrunner of that series brings to the small screen a compelling new drama about life in blue on the streets of Toronto. Comissioned by Global and subsequently picked up by ABC too, the series make no pretencies about not being a Canadian show. Set in the 15th Precinct of Toronto Police Service the series is not a gritty as the NBC/TNT show Southland that follows a rookie on the LAPD but endevours to explore the insecurities and desire to prove themselves worthy that are found in anyone on the first days of a high-stress job.

Well, what can i say? Global has a global winner for a change! The homegrown rookie blue is a huge hit on Global in Canada and is doing very well as a summer series on ABC in the USA. Could plans for a UK premiere be far off? Given the plethora of Canadians on screen and behind the scenes it is a bit of a shock to see the series being so favourably received in the USA. The cast mixes those well known in the USA such as Gregory Smith (The WB's Everwood) and Missy Peregrym (ABC's Life As We Know It) and throws in the perfect mix of those known to Canadian viewers.

Here is a little bit on the numbers for the premiere in Canada:
 • 712,000 viewers in key A18-49 demo
 • Rookie Blue won the night in Toronto with 317,000 viewers
 • Highest rated premiere for a Canwest-commissioned original drama within the last five years
 • Rookie Blue bested the closest competitor of the night, The Mentalist, with 37% more viewers
 • Outperformed The Bridge (CTV) premiere by double the number of viewers and had 165% more viewers than the Republic of Doyle (CBC) premiere
 • Rookie Blue garnered 88% more viewers than Flashpoint premiere (July 11, 2008)