The Border is a Canadian drama airing on CBC Television. Created by Peter Raymont, Lindalee Tracey, Janet MacLean and Jeremy Hole of White Pine Pictures; produced by Canadian documentary film director Peter Raymont; the Producer is Brian Dennis. Showrunners are Janet MacLean and David Barlow. Episodes in the first season were directed by John Fawcett, Michael DeCarlo, Ken Girotti, Kelly Makin, Brent Sullivan and Philip Earnshaw.[1][2] The first season had a total budget of $18 million dollars.[3]
The series is set in post-9/11 Toronto and follows agents of the Immigration and Customs Security (ICS) agency. ICS was created by the Government of Canada to deal with trans-border matters concerning Canadian national security including terrorism and smuggling.
The 13 episodes were aired on the CBC for 13 consecutive weeks.[4][5] The first episode aired on January 7, 2008. On March 7, 2008, CBC announced they have ordered a second season of The Border.
Reruns of 9 of the 13 episodes in the first season began on CBC on June 16, 2008. The second season premieres Sept 29, 2008. A DVD release of the first season is also pending.
Grace Park has also signed on in a recurring role for the second season. She will appear in six episodes of thirteen.[6]
Cast
- See also: List of The Border characters
Elements
Immigration and Customs Security
Immigration and Customs Security (French: Sécurité de l'immigration et des douanes) is a federal agency based in Toronto, with its headquarters in a formerly used ferry terminal used for the former Rochester fast ferry.[7]
ICS is led by Major Mike Kessler, an ex-Special forces operator in Joint Task Force 2.
Fighting Terrorism and Crime
Sofia Milos, who plays Bianca LaGarda, had said that The Border demonstrates how people should be fighting against crime and terrorism of all types. She said that the show hopefully would make a dialogue with viewers and ask themselves if they "believe in your government? Whose point of view is right? There is a border between justice and crime.", hence the show's title.[8]
Another viewpoint in the show is the reference between the American and Canadian ways of handling situation involving criminal and terrorist suspects. The show highlights typical American pragmatism in handling a situation with Canadians going all the extra mile to ensure that an innocent person is not in their way while conducting anti-terrorist duties.[9]
Production Influences
Lindalee Tracey had been following immigration issues before she had started to work with her husband, Peter Raymont, starting with the National Magazine Award-winning article The Uncounted Canadians written for Toronto Life in 1991 with the 1997 documentary Invisible Nation on the underground illegal immigrant community in Toronto.[3] She then collaborated with Raymont to create the 2002 documentary The Undefended Border.[3][10] Raymont had used his work on various headlines on the news as basis for the episodes on The Border, in addition to his work on The Undefended Border with research on various immigration issues.[5][3]
Raymont said that the series and the issues in the show are drawn out from issues that currently face Canada and the rest of the world such as the Darfur Crisis, human rights violations in China and trans-national crimes such as pedophiles and international crime rings.[11] He also said that he wanted to show the Canadian perspective in facing national security issues that would affect the country as Raymont wanted to show viewers that Canadians are more understanding and open-minded than the Americans are.[11]
To honor Linda's work on creating the series, Raymont had given cards out to the cast and crew of the show to remind them that they should give credit to his wife, whose photo was on it, for being the driving force of the show as a means of honoring Linda for her work, after she passed away on October 2006 from Breast cancer.[3][12]
International Syndication
Rights to air The Border had recently been bought by French media company Midnight Media to air the show in France[13].
Several United States-based television networks have expressed interests to purchase the rights to air the series in American television networks, including ABC, USA, TNT and CBS.[7][10][14] CBC Television had also given a portfolio of its programs to British media company ContentFilm as they are interested to broadcast CBC Television programs to other countries.[15]
The Border has been sold to some undisclosed broadcasters by Fireworks International in Europe.[16]
Production
Conception of the series had started in 2006 when Peter Raymont and his late wife, Lindalee Tracey, were commissioned by CBC Television to do a television series five year after the September 11, 2001 attacks.[3][17] Raymont had said that The Border is similar, but a bit different from "24 with a conscience."[3][12]
According to Kristine Layfield, the CBC executive director of network programming, it was fortunate that the show had aired on January 7, 2008 as the Writers Guild of America-led strikes continue to go on in the United States as it would give the audience something different from watch, especially if CBC Television would benefit from the strikes in order to gain more viewers.[7][18]
James McGowan had said that he eagerly agreed to be casted as the show's protagonist after meeting with Raymont and Tracey because "Their humanity really influences this show ... it's their convictions that are at the heart of the whole show".[19]
Production of The Border had hit some problems in Oshawa, Ontario where residents expressed concern when a Piaggio P.180 Avanti twin-engine plane landed near Stevenson Road, which was located near Oshawa Municipal Airport.[20][7] The plane's presence, as well the filming of gunfire scenes, had prompted residents to make calls regarding its unusual appearance in the area.[7] Oshawa Municipal Airport manager Stephen Wilcox, in a press statement, assured the public on the events in Oshawa that "Today is the one day it's OK if you see a plane on the road."[7]
Set
For the set of the fictional headquarters of the Immigration and Customs Service, The Border production crew had used the abandoned Rochester fast ferry building that fell to disuse in January, 2006.[7] Brian Dennis, one of the producers on The Border commented that the use of the abandoned ferry building was "great, it was a production designer's dream" since the interior of the building had "customs hall and the interrogation rooms that are brand, spanking new and the jail cells."[7]
Reception
In its series premiere, the drama was able to draw 710,000 viewers.[21] This news had pleased Kirstine Layfield. In a press release, she said that she is optimistic that "with the numbers given the difficulty Canadian dramas have in trying to tear viewers' attention away from U.S. fare".[22]
In the second week, the show drew out 600,000 viewers.[23] This was a contrast to the first week, with a difference of 110,000 viewers. The ratings had improved when on January 30, 2008, around 760,000 viewers had watched the show.[24]
Ratings dropped to its lowest on February 20, 2008 when 548,000 viewers turned up to watch The Border.[25] Ratings improved again when on February 25, 2008, 716,000 viewers watched The Border.[26]
In iTunes Canada, The Border was among the Top 30 downloads with numbers around 800,000.[24]
The Series was nominated for Best TV Drama at the 2008 Monte Carlo Television Festival, including nominations to James McGowan for Best Actor and Sofia Milos for Best Actress[27].
Criticism
In a February 4, 2008 article of the National Post, it blasted the show on the basis that it had some elements similar to the American show 24.[28] There had been some claims of Anti-Americanism bias in the show via Bianca LaGarda and the portrayal of the American government.[29][9]
References
External links
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