Who says TV can't teach you anything. Click on the wolf to see what my friend, Chris, and I learned from watching DS. (Click here if you are using a text-based browser).THAT'S THE WAY I'M GOIN'
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Due South was born in 1994, the result of a conversation between Jeff Segansky and Robert Lantos, the head honchos of CBS and Alliance at the time. So the story goes, Segansky had an idea for a "fish out of water thing" in the style of Crocodile Dundee, with a buddy show element, and concerning a Canadian Mountie relocated to big city USA. They passed the project on to Paul Haggis, and the rest is history.
Due South follows the adventures of Benton Fraser (arguably the most virtuous Mountie ever to don a stetson), his selectively deaf wolf Diefenbaker, and Ray Vecchio, a street-wise Chicago detective who always manages to operate just inside the law. Ray and Fraser meet when Fraser follows the trail of the hired killer of his father (also a Mountie) to Chicago, and, as Ray is the Detective in charge of the case, they join forces to make sure the killer is brought to justice. Due to circumstances neither could have forseen, Fraser is unable to return home to Canada, and so the two Policemen find themselves teaming up to fight crime and injustice on Chicago's streets, and developing an "inescapable friendship". Along the way we meet Ray's man-hungry sister; Fraser's dead father (now a ghost who causes his son more trouble than he ever did when he was alive); Fraser's new boss, Meg Thatcher; and the folk down at the 27th District Chicago Police Station (such as two of Ray's colleagues, named after Donald Duck's nephews). It starred Paul Gross as Fraser and David Marciano as Ray. The two bounced off each other beautifully, bringing the contrast between Ray and Fraser to life.
Its quirky humour posed a problem for television networks who didn't know to categorise it. CBS eventually gave up trying, and after co-funding the first season with Canada's CTV network, refused to fund the second. Proving you can't keep a good show down, CTV went it alone, and started production on season 2 until CBS agreed to help.
After season 2 it looked like DS had finally died, and fans held a "wake" in Toronto to celebrate its memory. But in 1997 salvation was found in the form of Britain's BBC network and Germany's Pro Sieben company, and Due South was born again for 26 more episodes.
David Marciano was absent (and sorely missed) for these episodes, but new guy Callum Keith Rennie did a fine job (even rivalling Paul Gross for hunk status). The quirky humour remained (if somewhat more bent), as did the characters from seasons 1 and 2. And there were new characters to meet, such as Ray/Stan Kowalski (Callum's character), his ex-wife Stella, and Dewey, the new guy around the 27th District.
Who says TV can't teach you anything. Click on the wolf to see what my friend, Chris, and I learned from watching DS. (Click here if you are using a text-based browser).
Guess who's finally learned to make music vids??
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