TV, eh?

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Tribe Has Spoken: Survivor Still Potent
  Further down was CBC’s The Border, up week-to-week at least with 503,000.” Read more.

Zoe helps a Chinese Olympic athlete defect to Canada.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Border No Better Despite Press Push
  “The Border got very little bump this week from all that press about James McGowan’s Afghanistan episode, drawing 443,000 viewers across the country according to BBM Canada overnight estimates.” Read more.

From Bruce DeMara of the Toronto Star:

• Caledon quarry serves for Afghanistan on The Border
  “‘In terms of production, it’s the biggest show we’ve done,’ says producer David Barlow about the action series, which airs at 9 p.m. on CBC-TV. The series does not disguise Toronto as the locale for much of the action, but in tonight’s episode, Mike Kessler, head of Immigration and Customs Security, and an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are kidnapped – not once but twice – during a trip to Afghanistan.” Read more.

From a media release:

KIDNAPPING, INTIMIDATION AND TORTURE. THE STAKES ARE HIGH ON THE BORDER
THURSDAY, NOV. 5, AT 9 P.M., ON CBC-TV

• The Border recreates Afghanistan in a gravel pit in southern Ontario

Gemini Award-winning THE BORDER takes viewers to Afghanistan, where Major Kessler (James McGowan) and young Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent Henry Masoud are kidnapped and held for ransom by the Taliban. The stakes are high as Kessler and Masoud face intimidation, torture and possible execution.

Darnell (Jim Codrington) and Carver (Grace Park) join NATO’s search and discover their prime suspect, General Zaki, is also their best hope of getting their colleagues out alive.

Under a blazing August sun in a gravel quarry in Caledon, Ont., production designer Benno Tuttor (2009 Directors Guild of Canada Award, The Border; Directors Guild of Canada Award Away from Her) and his team recreated an Afghan town that would have evolved over centuries.

Episode 305 “Missing in Action” is written by Alex Levine and directed by Phil Earnshaw. THE BORDER was created by Peter Raymont, the late Lindalee Tracey, Janet MacLean and Jeremy Hole. The series is produced by Brian Dennis, Janet MacLean and David Barlow. Peter Raymont is executive producer.

From former Border writer Denis McGrath of Dead Things on Sticks:

• The Border goes to Afghanistan; DMc stays on couch
  “That old meeting with the ex-girlfriend can be super awkward. But I didn’t have time to think about that, because a few minutes in, I was too sucked into the show. Awesome. Never thought in a million years that would happen.” Read more.

From Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette:

• McGowan’s homecoming, of sorts
  “James McGowan made a rare visit to Montreal last week, and the actor – who plays immigration and customs cop Mike Kessler in the CBC drama The Border – was saying it was something of a bittersweet return to his hometown.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Thousands Flee as Border Left Unprotected
  “CBC’s The Border sank to its lowest audience level ever Thursday night, attracting just 410,000 viewers.” Read more.

Gray and Carver infiltrate a violent white supremacist’s compound.

From Brian Gorman in the Lindsay Post:

• ‘Border’ star Chernick on geekdom and growing up
  “Any regular viewer of “The Border” will tell you that there usually seems to be just one person having fun. And that’s Jonas Chernick’s character, Heironymous Slade, the computer nerd. Surrounded by sober, gun-toting public servants; slimy careerist agents from Ottawa; and sinister American imperialists, he’s the only one who seems to really like his job.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Survivor Torches the Competition
  “The good news for CBC was the low 2+ Doc Zone score (325,000) did not hurt The Border as much this week. The second episode of the season for the CBC drama drew 620,000.” Read more.

ICS hunts a respected financier suspected of running a massive Ponzi scheme. When wealthy philanthropist Benjamin Herzog is murdered, the prime suspect is his financial advisor Cyrus Church. Church has engineered a massive Ponzi scheme to defraud his investors of billions. Foreign operatives determined to recover stolen funds are also looking for Church. And complicating matters, Church’s new trophy wife is Svetlana Karpov, a dead-sexy Russian stripper from Kessler’s past. ICS’s newest agent, Khalida Massi, finally gets a chance to prove herself in the field.

Written by David Barlow, Directed by TW Peacock

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Border Swarmed by Grey’s Anatomy
  “Grey’s … did 2,884,000 Thursday night on CTV, winning the night and flooding the CBC drama which managed just 427,000 opposite it at 9 p.m.” Read more.

Series III – Eps 2 – Broken – Bianca LaGarda returns to ICS escorting a Canadian teenager – a Guantanamo Bay prisoner with ties to terrorists.

From Bill Brioux at TV Feeds My Family:

• Viewers Stopped at The Border
  “The Border drew 497,000 for it’s third season premiere Thursday night, according to BBM Canada overnight estimates.” Read more.

From Bill Brioux of TV Feeds My Family:

• Border Back Tonight; Dragons’ Hit 1.5 mil
  “The Border returns tonight at 9 p.m. on CBC, the last of the CBC series launches for now. The action hour is entering a third season, a critical time for most shows. It`s been around long enough for editors to say, ‘What else ya got?’ when guys like me are pitching features, not long enough to have reached that magic 100 episode mark and the promise of syndication riches.” Read more.

From Alex Strachan of Canwest News Service:

• ‘The Border’ is coming into its own: Season opener is brisk followup to a cliffhanger ending
  “The Border is back in business. And, based on tonight’s brisk, confident season opener, it has finally come of age in its third year.” Read more.

From John Doyle of the Globe and Mail:

• Canadians like their Dr. House. Pastor Mansbridge, not so much
  “One million viewers is the benchmark for Canadian productions and in that category there are hits and misses. CTV’s So You Think You Can Dance Canada is drawing about 1.4 million viewers, a number likely to go up as the competition reaches it conclusion. Flashpoint is also a huge hit for CTV, drawing 1.8 million last Friday – without having a CBS simulcast – and putting it into the Top 20. CBC’s Dragons’ Den drew 1.3 million viewers recently and Rick Mercer Report started this season with 1.2 million CBC viewers. Meanwhile, both Being Erica and 22 Minutes are well under the million mark, drawing about 770,000 viewers recently. Little Mosque got 560,000 for its season debut.” Read more.

Kessler and Carver hover near death while Gray hunts down Layla’s killer.

From CBC:

• Grace Park brings sex appeal to The Border
  “Vancouver’s Grace Park has made a smooth transition from Battlestar Galactica to the CBC series The Border, bringing her hot image with her.” Read more.