Talk:Due South

Seasons

IMDB notwithstanding, the pre-1996 episodes and the post-1997 episodes were always treated as a single series; the post-97 eps were even called Season 3 and Season 4. There is no historical basis for treating the two blocks as separate series. Bearcat 08:18, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)

In Canada they were treated as two separate series. The 1996 Canadian TV guide refers to the final episode of season two as a 'series finale', and the 1997 Canadian TV guide refers to the first episode with Callum Keith Rennie as a 'series premiere'. Publication articles from 1996 state that the series was cancelled. Although CTV did secure international investment for a revival of the series a year later, they can't go back in time and change the original cancellation. That is why most television sites refer to them as two series.

The 1996 guide refers to it as a series finale because nobody knew at the time that the series would be subsequently revived. The point remains that the episodes airing after 1997 were produced and packaged as "Season Three" and "Season Four", and therefore have to be considered a continuation of the existing series, not an entirely separate series. Oh, and the other assertion that you made in the article, that "this is a common phenomenon in Canadian television" is also completely baseless.

And furthermore, the fact that a series has been cancelled does not mean that a subsequent revival is automatically an entirely new series, else Cagney & Lacey, Designing Women, The Family Guy and others would also have to be split into multiple articles. The precedent is always that if a series is cancelled and then later revived with the same name and premise, the new episodes are treated as the same series. Every reputable reference work on Canadian television treats the two blocks of Due South as a single series, as do most fan sites. IMDB seems to be, from what I can tell, an isolated exception based on their own Americentric view. Bearcat 03:37, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

CTV did refer to it as a spin-off when it first started. But they have the right to go back and change their minds at a later date. It's an interesting conundrum as to what to refer to it as, because even CTV and the Canadian news couldn't make up their minds. Most of the 1997 references were about a 'brand new' DS, not a rejuvenated. That's not saying I'm agreeing or disagreeing with any particular side, just that it was presented that way. D'Amico 00:18, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Stanley Raymond Kowalski

1) In other words, the man's name includes the Raymond. It was an integral part of the character's development. SB added.

Ray: Yes, I think. Look, I'm not Ray. I mean, I am Ray, but I'm not Ray Vecchio. I'm... Kowalski. Stanley Raymond Kowalski. Fraser: Your name is Stanley Kowalski? Ray: Look, my Dad had a thing for Brando. Me, it was always Steve McQueen. So I go by Ray. Fraser: Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ray Kowalski. [they shake hands]

(Dialogue courtesy of 'Real due South' http://www.realduesouth.net/) (Is that sufficient citation for a website?)

2) Could a pic of Kowalski be included?

Ashlan 23:52, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Capitalization

Does anyone know for 100% (quote/ref from somewhere) if officially, the shows title is due South or Due South? I always thought it was without the initial capitalization, but someone has changed this, citing that on allianceatlantis.com they capitalize it (a google search of their site doesnt show any useful pages, only pdf's mentioning the show). However on all official products I've seen, books, DVDs, the shows titles, the 'd' is clearly not capitalized. On this Paul Gross website [1] it is uncapitalized as well as a number of fansites [2] I've seen. Since both of those sites seem to be pretty comprehensive regarding the show, I'd assume they'd have it right? I am aware that some sites capitalize it, but is that because they're not aware its supposed to be uncapitalized? Thoughts anyone? -- Lewis 22:37, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I was wondering about this. It would be nice to keep the capitalization standardised throughout the article (a petty concern, I know) --Lucian Gregory 16:58, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree, I'd just also prefer it to be the correct way too. I dont want to switch it back to uncapitalized without some sort of consensus as someone already changed it back citing that the small d is just a logo design choice, but isnt everything that does this like eBay and so forth just a design choice too? -- Lewis 17:27, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Defenestration

It was previously reported here (and elsewhere online) that every episode of the show featured "defenestration of some kind or other", which isn't true. Episodes often feature characters jumping out of windows under varying degrees of duress, but for example, in the episode "They Eat Horses, Don't They?" the nearest anyone comes is Fraser leaning out of a window to talk to someone on the street.

Well, there is the scene of Fraser jumping out of the window from the Pilot in the title sequence of every episode. I know it doesn't really count, but anyway...! --Guypuz 17:09, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

tvmilk.com link-spam bot?

Is tvmilk.com spamming this page via a robot, or is it a misguided human? There's an allegation at talk.thewb.com that tvmilk is a pirated DVD site, and I see little sign of human intervention in these repeated commentless anonymous edits.

FlashSheridan 16:53, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

It happened again; I've reported this on the Spam blacklist page.

—FlashSheridan 17:08, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Duesouthcd1.jpg

Image:Duesouthcd1.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 03:29, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Diefenbaker and Garfield

Having learned that the wolfdog was named after Prime Minister John George Diefenbaker, I surmise the reaction for Canadians is similar to that of Americans when they hear of comic strip / cartoon cat Garfield being named after President James A. Garfield. --BlueNight (talk) 17:35, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Red Green Actors

So if there is a mention of Steve Smith in the article, should we put in that Patrick McKenna (Harold) is in the episode "Pizzas and Promises" as one of the car salesmen?SmartSped (talk) 06:23, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

The Name Thing

In the article it says,

When Fraser was asked by an official for his mother's maiden name, he answered, 'Pinsent.'

I don't get it. Katie ( Let's talk!! ) 16:37, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Pinsent is the surname of the actor who plays the ghost of Benton's Father. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.157.172.230 (talk) 03:45, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Complete DVD Quality?

The article said, before I added the US & Canadian complete series releases, that “the US DVDs are allegedly of poorer quality than the Canadian releases.” Is this still true for the complete series? —FlashSheridan (talk) 06:05, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Recent reviews on Amazon say that it is: [3] & [4]

— FlashSheridan (talk) 22:09, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Ray's Car

I find it odd that there is no mention of the iconic Buick Riviera in the article. It is seen in most (if not all of) the episodes, it is a part of the plot of some episodes and is frequently referenced by name by characters in the programme. I'm not saying that there should be a lot written about it, but surely it deserves a line somewhere in the article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.68.99.115 (talk) 22:14, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

• It's not that germaine to the big picture of the series (besides, the Riviera was seen only in the first two years and the first episode of Season 3 - Stan/Ray's black GTO was used in Season 4). This discussion, on the talk page, should be sufficient. 147.70.242.54 (talk) 20:05, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
• Seems someone has added a reference to it under the "Recurring themes" header, which is enough to acknowledge that the car is in fact an important element of the show and Ray's character especially. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fireflyer87 (talk • contribs) 01:27, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Terry Pratchett

with Due South airing in 1994 and Guards! Guards released in 1993 it's hard to beleive that due south borrowed from this book - surely it would have been in production before 1994, being pitched etc? for the writers to have read an english book at the last second before airing and to change the central characters seems to stretch credulity to me. Far more likely to be a coincidence in my opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Samrad (talk • contribs) 17:33, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

That’s a fair point, though Sir Terry’s sourced claims, even if you disagree with them, still strike me as noteworthy. I’ll insert “allegedly” when I restore the section.

—FlashSheridan (talk) 17:13, 22 May 2016 (UTC)

The discussion seems to have been cancelled, along with, for instance, the origins of Diefenbaker.

—FlashSheridan (talk) 15:12, 23 January 2021 (UTC)

Reference in Pretender

In a 1996 episode of The Pretender series, in the epilogue of the show, when asked where she thought Jarod had gone, Miss Parker responded that she was sure that he went "South, Due South", implying the direction. In the next scene, Jarod can be seen participating in the RCMP Musical Ride, referring instead to this series and implying she might not know quite as much about Jarod.

Does anybody remember which episode this was? Nutster (talk) 02:34, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

David Marciano's exit

Does anyone have a good source for the reason why he left the show? In the actor's article there's a mention of filming commitments, but no source or more detailed explanation. Considering he was one of the main actors this should deserve a sentence or two. --MikeZ (talk) 02:31, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Finally got ahold of the the documentary that was made for the final UK DVD box in 2006 (Due South - Ride Forever). While the show had been canceled after the 2nd David was looking for new projects. He had already committed himself to a project for CBS when the news reached him that media companies in Europe were so interested in the show that they got on board as investors. Since it wasn't possible to arrange the American project and Due South for the same time, David had to make a choice and honor his commitment. That's how the show lost one of its main actors.
Is the documentary with the cast interviews enough, or is it necessary to provide a print/online reference?

--MikeZ (talk) 09:26, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

Use {{Cite video | people = | title = | medium = | publisher = | location = | date = }}

Angry Mustelid (talk) 00:04, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Having trouble with Due South section in SS Edmund Fitzgerald article

We're trying to get the SS Edmund Fitzgerald article ready for submittal to the tough FA review process. There is a section about a 2 part Due South episode "Mountie on the Bounty" which parallels the Edmund Fitzgerald here SS Edmund Fitzgerald#Theatre and television and a song that was used for the show. The gist of our discussion here Talk:SS Edmund Fitzgerald#More on citations is that the only sourcing for the whole thing looks weak (a dialog by the musical artist on what appears to be the artist's web site) which may force us to delete the whole section. Is there anybody here who might be able to source it? Thanks Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 23:06, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

The only source I know off the top of my head is the documentary (Due South - Ride Forever) which was part of the bonus material for the DVD set. What's written in your article is a straight-forward summary of what lead actor and producer Paul Gross said when he was talking about that episode. --MikeZ (talk) 23:32, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! Someone else came to the article talk page and is also trying to help. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 11:52, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Haven't heard from the other person. Any chance you could you give us cite type info on the DVD and or documentary? Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 16:39, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

It was mentioned once in Ride Forever (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0857258/), but since my brother currently has my Due South DVDs here's a transcript from the 2006 ITV documentary "Southbound" (no IMDB entry):

"I had a couple of songs that we stuck in a couple of shows. One of them worked perfectly for the show "Mountie On The Bounty". We had wanted to use a song that Gordon Lightfoot had written about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which is a lakeboat that sank in Lake Superior, and the families of the sailors who were lost really didn't want us to use it. So then we were stuck. So Jay and I sat down and wrote our own invented boat wreck song."

--MikeZ (talk) 22:33, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! North8000 (talk) 22:38, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Season inconsistency

There seems to be some inconsistency in whether we treat the series as having three or four seasons.

• Lead - "...ran for four seasons."
• Infobox - "3 seasons"
• History section - explains why we use both 3 and 4, but written a bit confusingly
• Main characters - 4
• Recurring characters - 3
• Guest appearances - 3
• Diefenbaker - 3
• Books - 4 (?)
• Videos - 4
• DVD - both
• Awards - 3
• Finally, List of Due South episodes covers 1 (1-23), 2 (1-18), 3 (1-26).

I have no opinion on which is correct, but we should probably at least be consistent... Andrew Gray (talk) 20:35, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Production: Toronto scenes filmed in Chicago?

Of course, as noted, the series was based in Chicago. Other than stock footage that did not show any close-ups of the characters, though, the Chicago scenes were actually filmed in Toronto. There is a reference in the "Production" section stating that an episode based in Toronto was actually filmed using Chicago as its backdrop, which would indeed be an amusing juxtaposition. The question is whether this actually was done - I have found no episode based in Toronto. Does anyone have any insight into whether Chicago really stood in as a tongue-in-cheek substitute for Toronto scenes? Jnmwiki (talk) 20:48, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

They joked about that in one of the two documentaries mentioned above, but you'd have to take that with a ton of salt. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 37.4.121.179 (talk) 22:20, 3 February 2013 (UTC)

Merger proposal

I believe Renfield Turnbull and Raymond Vecchio should merged both are characters without third person sources to support them. Dwanyewest (talk) 01:59, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Merging looks like a good idea. None of those seem to assert any sort of notability. TTN (talk) 21:30, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

No. Pages for fictional characters are not uncommon. Unless they are so small that they could easily be part of the main article (in this case Due South) they shouldn't have to be part of the article. "Notability" is in the eye of the beholder. To me they are notable. To all the people belonging to Due South fandom (and that's a big fandom that's still alive & kicking) they are notable. To someone who thinks "old canadian TV series, who's interested in that at all" they aren't. But that can be said about many things. --Zommer (talk) 05:40, 31 May 2015 (UTC)

Yes. None of these characters broke away from the series to be recognized in the public consciousness like, say, Fox Mulder did from The X-Files, or Archie Bunker did from All In The Family. These characters are certainly not notable enough to merit their own articles. 70.54.140.168 (talk) 21:12, 14 December 2015 (UTC)