From Robert Cushman of the National Post:
- Men in blue have never felt so grey
“Good cop, bad cop, new spin. The central characters of Flashpoint, CTV’s new drama series, are Greg, whose job is to talk people out of situations mortally dangerous to themselves and others, and Ed, who, when Greg can’t make them see the errors of their ways, shoots them. Ed, a champion sniper, heads a team at Toronto’s SRU, one of those dashing television acronyms, here standing for Strategic Reserve Unit. Greg seems theoretically to be his second-in-command, but in practice — judging from the first two episodes, anyway — it is he who makes the running, and he who deserves to.” Read more.
From Joel Rubinoff of the Record.com:
- Hype over Flashpoint greatly exaggerated
“No one, including me, actually dislikes it, mind you, and the triple-header cast — including Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars), Hugh Dillon (Durham County) and Amy Jo Johnson (Felicity) — are competent acting pros who make the show’s generic scripts bob and weave with the zing of an experienced prizefighter.” Read more.
From David Hinckley of the New York Daily News:
- Canadian cop show ‘Flashpoint is no flash in the pan
“Putting the show on Friday nights at 10 in the summer – a low-rated time slot in a low-viewership season – suggests CBS doesn’t think it’s all that likely to catch on. But it’s more nuanced than the average cop drama, and for that reason, more intriguing. Viewers who find it and stay with it could have a keeper – at least for the 13 episodes CBS has ordered.” Read more.
From Alan Sepinwall of the New Jersey Star-Ledger:
- Sepinwall on TV: ‘Flashpoint’ review
“There have been cop shows in the past about these kinds of units (“SWAT,” “True Blue”), but they never last long because there are only so many episodes where you can show the sniper (Johnson, aka the original Pink Power Ranger and/or the original “Felicity” roommate) waiting for the green light to shoot or the bomb squad expert trying to figure out which wire to clip. The “Flashpoint” pilot is competent, but very retro (there’s an extended sequence of the team driving to a crisis point with their sirens blaring, the sort of thing that went out 15 years ago) and fairly dull.” Read more.
From John Crook at the Brantford Expositor:
- ‘Flashpoint’ chronicles the price heroic cops must pay on the job
“As “Flashpoint” unfolds, however, it quickly becomes apparent that the show isn’t really about this lunatic with the gun, nor is it really about the procedural nuts and bolts of life-or-death situations like this one. Instead, this series, a Canadian import, examines the inner emotional lives of these officers and the harsh toll their work takes on them, as well as their loved ones” Read more.
From Daniel Fienberg at Zap2it:
- TV Review: ‘Flashpoint’
“Given that just-above-generic procedurals are what CBS does best and given that just-above-generic procedurals are what CBS viewers have proven most likely to embrace, it’s surprising to see CBS casually dumping “Flashpoint” in the mid-summer in a Friday night slot which, under the best of circumstances, would make it a hard sell.” Read more.
From Glenn Diaz of BuddyTV:
- ‘Flashpoint’ to Premiere on CBS
“Canadian police drama Flashpoint is set to premiere on CBS on July 11, simultaneously with its opening on its parent network CTV, Canada’s largest privately owned English language broadcast network. It was picked up for U.S. broadcast during the writers’ strike.” Read more.
From Kevin Thompson at the Palm Beach Post:
- TV Review: ‘Flashpoint’
“Machismo is clearly part of the job description for the dudes and dudettes on Flashpoint, a new CBS drama debuting tonight (10 p.m.) about an elite group of cops who would make fast friends with those Special Ops guys on The Unit.” Read more.
OMG! This is by far one of the best Canadian shows! I am in love and glued to my seat when it comes to this program! I am so proud that it is a Canadian show and I will never miss an episode! Great Work!
This is a fine Canadian show and my husband and myself are looking forwards to many more. Awesome in so many ways.
This is such a great show when I watch it the characters make it look so real that I feel like I am watching cops or something. Great acting great show I am always on the edge of my couch waiting to see what happens, good thing for DVR so we can fast forward it right to the show. Again great job to the cast keep it up.
I just discovered this show on the ctv website, it’s fantastic! I was amazed it was a Canadian show.
Flashpoint is a well acted and nuanced police drama which places more emphasis on solving the problem than it does on car chases and shooting people. This explains why the far-too-many male TV critics don’t much care for it.
I’m noticing a trend here. The American critics all seem to think it’s not that great. There’s American jingoism for you, if there isn’t some US flag waving, they don’t like it. If this was set in Detroit they’d be saying all the same things that the Canadian critics are. I can’t say I’m really all that surprised. I wonder what negative things they’d find to say about Rookie Blue. It’s a shame that they do this because this show gets awesome ratings in the USA. Most Americans don’t care what city a good cop show is set in, and it’s funny how these hypocritical critics think everyone in the world should watch shows from the USA but God forbid any Americans should ever watch a show from outside of it.