Due South was a twist on the cop-buddy drama created by Paul Haggis back in the mid-1990s. It was supposed to just be a two-part TV movie, but when it aired on CBS it got good enough ratings that it was picked up for a regular series run. It starred Paul Gross as Benton Fraiser a tried and true member of the Royal Candian Mounted Police. When his father, also a mountie, is killed he traces the killer to Chicago and enlists the help of a wise-cracking detective, Ray Vecchio, played by David Marciano. Fraiser ends up installed at the Canadian consulate in Chicago, and along with Ray, his wolf, and the hallucination of his dead father (played by Gordon Pinsent) solve crimes with their clashing styles providing hilarity along the way.
The show was very well-written and acted. It had a good blend of action, comedy, and drama. It also served as the big break for a lot of actors that would hit it big after appearing on the show including Mark Ruffalo, Maria Bello, Carrie Anne Moss, Jonathan Banks, Melina Kanakaredes, and Ryan Phillipe. Leslie Nielsen made numerous appearances, and the show would also It also include numerous recognizable character actors including Beau Starr, Dean McDermott.
The first couple of seasons were more of a straight drama with some comedy mixed in. Later in the show's run, it was more of a dramedy, with the comedy being more silly. The first season was almost exclusively a case-of-the-week procedural, but events from prior episodes do get referenced. The season ends with really a three-part series of episodes that are set up earlier in the season when Fraiser regales the other detectives with the story of the love that got away. All of the actors get to show off their acting chops at some point during the season with Marciano's standout episode being "The Deal" in which he confronts the local mob boss who was a spoiled brat that he grew up with as a kid.
The show was definitely not a carbon copy of anything else. While it did have some of the themes that nearly all buddy-cop dramas have it was definitely different. It was one of the only shows that included indigenous people and/or customs (Northern Exposure being the other one that easily comes to mind) on a fairly regular basis, and having the straight-laced, polite, by the book Mountie play off the mouthy cop not adverse to cutting corners worked well. It also had a very good soundtrack. The DVD presentation is okay but does not have any extras. Given, however, that the show does not stream anywhere that I know of, if you want to watch the show, grab the DVD set when you can.
The show was very well-written and acted. It had a good blend of action, comedy, and drama. It also served as the big break for a lot of actors that would hit it big after appearing on the show including Mark Ruffalo, Maria Bello, Carrie Anne Moss, Jonathan Banks, Melina Kanakaredes, and Ryan Phillipe. Leslie Nielsen made numerous appearances, and the show would also It also include numerous recognizable character actors including Beau Starr, Dean McDermott.
The first couple of seasons were more of a straight drama with some comedy mixed in. Later in the show's run, it was more of a dramedy, with the comedy being more silly. The first season was almost exclusively a case-of-the-week procedural, but events from prior episodes do get referenced. The season ends with really a three-part series of episodes that are set up earlier in the season when Fraiser regales the other detectives with the story of the love that got away. All of the actors get to show off their acting chops at some point during the season with Marciano's standout episode being "The Deal" in which he confronts the local mob boss who was a spoiled brat that he grew up with as a kid.
The show was definitely not a carbon copy of anything else. While it did have some of the themes that nearly all buddy-cop dramas have it was definitely different. It was one of the only shows that included indigenous people and/or customs (Northern Exposure being the other one that easily comes to mind) on a fairly regular basis, and having the straight-laced, polite, by the book Mountie play off the mouthy cop not adverse to cutting corners worked well. It also had a very good soundtrack. The DVD presentation is okay but does not have any extras. Given, however, that the show does not stream anywhere that I know of, if you want to watch the show, grab the DVD set when you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment