Due South

[Stephen of Borg 2]

 

Are there any fans of Due South here? I don’t know how many other Americans know about this series, but it did have a run on CBS in the early 90s and pretty much was cancelled in ’96 only to return again, mainly in Canada, for two more seasons from 1997-1999. The series starred Canadian actor Paul Gross as Constable Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who leaves Canada and travels to Chicago in search of his father’s killer. There, he meets his future partner, Chicago Detective Ray Vecchio (played by American actor David Marciano). He eventually solves the case of this father’s murder and sticks around to help Ray and the Chicago P. D. solve other cases. That is the basic idea of the story, which was a drama cop series mixed with comedy.

 

What made the series a hit to a lot of people wasn’t just the human actors, but Constable Fraser’s wolf Diefenbaker. The wolf, in reality, was a Siberian Husky so it wasn’t technically a wolf, but a dog. Diefenbaker was played by several dogs throughout the series, but it definitely remained a favorite character by fans, this becomes obvious by how often the wolf was in the episodes.

 

The series featured many actors and actresses that would become celebrities in the future, among them is actor Ryan Phillippe (most recently in Flags of Our Fathers) and actress Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter in Stargate SG-1). It also had veteran actors such as actors Gordon Pinsent and the really famous actor everyone knows, Leslie Nielsen. David Marcianno eventually left the series, and was replaced by Callum Keith Rennie.

 

Overall, this series went pretty much unappreciated in the US, but still made fans such as myself while it was aired by CBS. In other countries, however, it is still considered a big hit. The actors from this series still have a successful career. Paul Gross is doing many things still in Canada, David Marciano is currently on the TV series The Shield and Callum Keith Rennie has been in a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

 

If anyone is interested in this series, stores like Best Buy sell the entire series, broken up into three seasons here in America. They are only $15-$22 each, so if you ever feel like watching a great series or buying some DVDs for a good price, I recommend this series. Be warned, however, that the US DVDs don’t have special features and the picture isn’t 100% clear all of the time, but it is still worth it for such a great price.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I loved this show - I loved it such much in fact that a roommate I had managed to get a promotional poster from CBS, I still have it on my wall.

 

I haven't bought the sets yet - I was reading at Amazon.com the comments about which to buy - I'll reread that before I buy - apparently one version has the original two hour premiere and one doesn't (I do have that on VHS)

 

I always thought it didn't do better in the US because it was intelligent humor - some of the times you actually had to know something about something to get the humor.

 

TNT had it on reruns for a while - yeah, I need to get the season sets.

 

Yeah, I loved the episode where Tapping guest starred - welcome to "Rosewell", IL.

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

Loved Due South. I was preteen when it first aired, but it was a show I enjoyed.

[Lady Britannia 0]

Fantastic show. It's always been popular here in the UK.

[Gummy 0]

I was a huge fan of that show, I was married to Mrs. Gummy (version 1.0) at the time and it was one show that we both liked. I wouldn't mind seeing it in reruns. The guy that played Ray on it is in "The Shield" nowdays.

[Odo 0]

I liked the dog

Had a Husky as a pet when i was a kid.