Haven is neither the first cross-border production for cable channels nor the first series based on the writings of Stephen King to be made in Canada. Premiering in 2002 on usa and in 2003 on CHUM, The Dead Zone was a staple of sci-fi mystery drama for over five years. What many might not know is that it is one of those now infamous multi-national productions that are more overt on American broadcast networks in the summer. The cable channels have been doing it for more than a decade now and viewers in the US don’t always know. The Dead Zone was made in Vancouver for its first five seasons and in Montreal for its final season and was seen domestically on The New/A Channel stations (now known as CTV two or defunct) and also on SPACE. (we miss CHUM)

And now it is coming back to DVD in a complete series package that (so far) is only going to be available in Canada. The series was originally released as single season sets from 2003 to 2008 by Lionsgate with bonus features that would make any commentary junkie drool with envy. With Alliance’s acquisition of Maple Pictures last year has come a steady flow of new and re-releases which have included complete series sets of such infamous shows as TekWar, Saved By The Bell, and Trailer Park Boys.

The Dead Zone stars Michael Anthony Hall as Johnny Smith, a small-town teacher who was involved in a car accident that left him comatose for approximately six years. After regaining consciousness, Johnny begins having visions of the past and future triggered by touching items or people; doctors attribute the visions to activity in a previously unused “dead zone” of his brain that is attempting to compensate for the impaired function of the portions injured in the accident. Johnny also learns that his fiancée, Sarah (Nicole de Boer), gave birth to his son in the interim following the accident, but has since married another man. With the help of Sarah, her husband Walt (Chris Bruno), and physical therapist Bruce (John L. Adams), Johnny begins using his abilities to help solve crimes. However, his attempts to do good are complicated by intermittent visions of apocalyptic events brought about following the future election of congressional candidate Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery).

If you haven’t got this series in your collection then it is hard to beat this price for 6 seasons/80 episodes of a show – $64.49 with the discount from TVShowsOnDVD.com factored in – $91.99 without the discount on Amazon.ca.  The expected release date is 26 June 2012.