From Bill Brioux of the Toronto Star:

• Endgame: The barefoot detective
  TV is full of crime solvers with a twist. The Mentalist has a sixth sense about a suspect. Lie to Me’s expert knows how to spot a fib on a face. Castle can read a crime scene like a book. Even House is basically Sherlock Holmes with a scalpel. So why not a Russian chess master as a savvy detective? Read more.
• ‘Coach Tanaka’ is back
  “I’m sort of his only antagonist,” says Gallagher, interviewed earlier this year on the set of the series. “All the others are little sycophants — (In a mocking voice) ‘Mr. Balagan! Mr. Balagan!’ — which is nice because it gives us a different dynamic.” Read more.

From Postmedia news:

• A Newfoundlander in a Russian chess master’s skin
  Part Remington Steele, part Howard Hughes and part potato-fuelled pest, Balagan is the central attraction in the new series “Endgame,” the creation of Avrum Jacobson, which makes its broadcast premiere on Showcase March 14, with Shawn Doyle as the sleuthing oracle-irritant. Read more.

From Bill Harris of QMI Agency:

• Doyle keeps both feet on ground
  “The whole bare feet thing is an interesting character trait for a guy who feels he is in his home,” Doyle said. “But it also is kind of an unconscious statement that he is just not leaving, he refuses to leave.” Read more.

Mondays at 10pm ET/PT beginning March 14

Repeats Thursdays at 11am and 7pm and Sundays at 5pm and 11pm ET/PT

Endgame stars Shawn Doyle (Big Love, Lost), as the former World Chess Champion Arkady Balagan. After witnessing the murder of his fiancée, Balagan develops a debilitating case of agoraphobia. Unable to leave his hotel and running out of money, the arrogant and charismatic Russian inadvertently becomes a detective by using his fierce analytical skills to solve the crimes that baffle others. Balagan relies on friends and hotel employees to do his legwork; from conducting interviews and trailing suspects to bringing back clues. Balagan then uses his strategic thinking to stage imaginative, and often amusing, reenactments in his own mind until he finds the solution.