Why is the only DVD set of "Motive" an import from Italy??

As an example, I recently stumbled across a CBC drama called X Company, which involves a team of Canadian spies who parachute behind enemy lines in nazi-occupied Europe. I found it tense, suspenseful, and riveting. It's based on a real centre called X Camp, which was located on the shores of Lake Ontario, during World War II. I'd already missed the first four episodes, because with the CBC's advertising budget of about two dollars, I hadn't heard anything about it. Yet my TV schedule lists pages and PAGES of repulsive garbage like Jerry Springer, or Maury, or Montel, or Judge Judy, or Here Comes Honey Boo Boo..... So how is anyone ever going to notice something local, with no advertising budget to speak of?

I do think Canadian TV is starting to come into its own.

More and more, Canada's programs are starting to creep across the border to lots of acclaim. Shows like Flashpoint, Rookie Blue, and the family-friendly Heartland all found an audience in the USA. Heartland is still going after eight seasons, which is rather unheard-of for hour-long scripted dramas in Canada. And by the looks of things, the American fans of the show are hopping mad that UPtv (the U.S. broadcaster that was carrying it) has chosen not to renew the rights. They're all hoping another broadcaster picks it up for Season 9.

Back in the '80s, the first show to crack U.S. airwaves from Canada would have been a cop drama called Night Heat. That was back in the day Canadian TV was having an identity crisis, and the town the cops resided had to be a generic "Anytown" America instead of Toronto or Vancouver or Calgary, etc.

Skip ahead to the '90s, and CTV gave the world Due South, which lasted eight seconds on CBS (sarcasm). And since it was square Mountie meets street-wise Chicago cop (hee-hee, funny that fish-out-of-water/buddy-cop premise!), the show once again had to pretend Toronto was something other than what it was.

But the new millennium is a new ballgame.

Enter Flashpoint, with its slick production values, great acting and great writing. Canadians no longer had to be ashamed of Canadian TV. And Americans loved it, too, when they got to see it on CBS, and later, ION. It lasted five seasons and ended not because viewership numbers were sinking, but because the producers decided to go out on a creative high. (I'm sure CTV would have dearly loved to keep it on the air.) While this show didn't make a big deal out of being "Canadian", subtle references here and there made one realise "Oh, they're in Canada!". To this day, I see people commenting on Twitter and so forth about how it just dawned on them the show is set in Toronto and not New York or something.

A show like Heartland has found its way into the hearts of people in both Canada and the U.S. (and abroad, too, since it's reportedly shown in 119 countries.) Even though it's based on a series of books by a U.S. author, the series is set firmly in Canada, with references all the time to real-life locations in Alberta. (The characters take trips into Calgary; Canadian currency is shown, etc.)

I have to admit I am really surprised we haven't seen a Canadian release for Motive on DVD yet. Someone's dragging their feet on this one for sure. Maybe the production company just hasn't been able to come to agreeable terms with a North American distributor yet.

Whatever the reasons, I don't doubt there won't be a Region 1 DVD release at some point. Motive is too good and too popular a show not to have a release.



Certa Bonum Certamen