The Eleventh Hour (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Eleventh Hour is a Canadian
television drama series which aired weekly on CTV
from 2002 to 2005.
The show revolves around the reporters and producers at a fictional television newsmagazine
series, The Eleventh Hour. Unhappy with the newsmagazine's shrinking audience, the network has brought in a new executive producer, Kennedy Marsh, to reorient the show in a more ratings-driven tabloid journalism
direction.
The tension between the ratings imperative and the more traditional journalistic ethics of the show's senior staff is the primary conflict that drives the show, but storylines also include the team's efforts to get the stories that will make it to air each week.
The Eleventh Hour was produced by Alliance Atlantis
, Canada's largest film and television production house. It currently airs in the U.S. on Sleuth
, under the title Bury the Lead, to distinguish it from a CBS series with a similar name
.
despite the cancellation.
The Eleventh Hour was the latest in a lengthy line of drama series at CTV which had high-profile launches but were quickly marginalized to little-watched weekend timeslots and ultimately cancelled. However, it outlasted several other recent CTV dramas, including Power Play, The City, and The Associates
, which each lasted two seasons.
The show's theme song for season 3 is "Weapon
", by Matthew Good
.
The show was nominated for Best Dramatic Series Gemini Awards again in 2004.
In 2005, the show won Gemini Awards for Best Dramatic Series and for Best Writing for Semi Chellas
and Tassie Cameron
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
television drama series which aired weekly on CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
from 2002 to 2005.
The show revolves around the reporters and producers at a fictional television newsmagazine
Newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...
series, The Eleventh Hour. Unhappy with the newsmagazine's shrinking audience, the network has brought in a new executive producer, Kennedy Marsh, to reorient the show in a more ratings-driven tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
direction.
The tension between the ratings imperative and the more traditional journalistic ethics of the show's senior staff is the primary conflict that drives the show, but storylines also include the team's efforts to get the stories that will make it to air each week.
The Eleventh Hour was produced by Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...
, Canada's largest film and television production house. It currently airs in the U.S. on Sleuth
Sleuth (TV channel)
Cloo is a digital cable television channel with programming dedicated to the crime and mystery genres. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal. It launched on January 1, 2006, replacing Trio...
, under the title Bury the Lead, to distinguish it from a CBS series with a similar name
Eleventh Hour (U.S. TV series)
Eleventh Hour is an American science-based drama television series, which is based on the 2006 British series of the same name. The series originally ran on CBS from October 9, 2008 to April 2, 2009 and aired on Thursdays at 10 pm . The series was a joint venture between Jerry Bruckheimer...
.
Ratings
Although the show started off poorly in the Canadian television ratings, attracting an average of just 400,000 viewers each week, its audience during the start of its 2004 season was sufficiently high that CTV ordered a third season. However, ratings did not improve further. The third season, already ordered, aired irregularly on Saturday nights with very little promotion, and proved to be its last. The final season also received a Best Dramatic Series Gemini AwardGemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
despite the cancellation.
The Eleventh Hour was the latest in a lengthy line of drama series at CTV which had high-profile launches but were quickly marginalized to little-watched weekend timeslots and ultimately cancelled. However, it outlasted several other recent CTV dramas, including Power Play, The City, and The Associates
The Associates (Canadian TV series)
The Associates is a Canadian television drama series that aired on CTV in 2001 and 2002. The show features five junior associate lawyers at a Toronto law firm, played by Demore Barnes, Shaun Benson, Tamara Hickey, Gabriel Hogan and Jennie Raymond. R.H. Thomson also stars as the firm's senior partner...
, which each lasted two seasons.
The show's theme song for season 3 is "Weapon
Weapon (song)
"Weapon" is the title of a song written and recorded by Canadian alternative rock artist Matthew Good. It was released in October 2002 as the lead single from his debut solo album, Avalanche.-Music video:...
", by Matthew Good
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
.
Cast
- Sonja SmitsSonja SmitsSonja Smits is a television actress who has played roles in many television series, including Falcon Crest, Airwolf, Odyssey 5, The Outer Limits, Street Legal, Traders and The Eleventh Hour.She also played Bianca O'Blivion in the David Cronenberg horror movie, Videodrome.Sonja went to Bell High...
as correspondent Megan Redner - Shawn DoyleShawn DoyleShawn Doyle is a Canadian actor.Doyle was born and raised in Wabush, Newfoundland, the son of actor Jerry Doyle. He moved to Toronto to study theatre at York University....
as producer Dennis Langley - Waneta StormsWaneta StormsWaneta Storms is a Canadian dramatic actor. She is best known for her portrayal of Isobel Lambert in the CTV series The Eleventh Hour ....
as producer Isobel Lambert - Tanya ReidTanya ReidTanya Reid is a Canadian television actress.Reid was theatrically trained at Vancouver, British Columbia's Gastown Actor's Studio and at the Lyric School of Acting. She played Rosha, the host of Jolinar, on Stargate SG-1. She currently appears as news producer Kennedy Marsh on CTV's The Eleventh...
as executive producer Kennedy Marsh - Jeff SeymourJeff SeymourJeff Seymour is an American-Canadian actor, best known for his roles in television series such as Show Me Yours, Jeff Ltd., The Eleventh Hour and Being Erica....
as correspondent Kamal Azizi - Peter MacNeillPeter MacNeillPeter MacNeill is a Canadian film and television actor who has starred in several TV shows and movies.His film credits have included The Hanging Garden , Geraldine's Fortune, Giant Mine, Lives of Girls and Women, The Events Leading Up to My Death, Dog Park, Something Beneath and A...
as network news head Warren Donohue - Inga Cadranel as researcher Brooke Fairburn
- Scott McCordScott McCordWilliam Scott McCord is a Canadian actor, voice actor, singer and bandleader for the soul/rock pop band . On television he is best known for playing Dan Kuso in Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Owen and Trent in Fresh Animation's Total Drama series.- Animation:* 6teen - Stone* Babar and the Adventures of...
as researcher James Joy - Matt Gordon as legal counsel Murray Dann
- Jonas Chernick as editor Gavin Kowalchuk
- John Neville as interviewer Deaton Hill
Main Crew
- Creators: Semi ChellasSemi ChellasSemi Chellas is a writer and screenwriter who has written for film, television and magazines. She was born in Palo Alto, California in 1969 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta....
, Ilana Frank - Executive Producers: Ilana Frank, Semi ChellasSemi ChellasSemi Chellas is a writer and screenwriter who has written for film, television and magazines. She was born in Palo Alto, California in 1969 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta....
, David WellingtonDavid Wellington (director)David Wellington is a Canadian film and television director, best known for the films I Love a Man in Uniform and the 1996 adaptation of Long Day's Journey Into Night.-Filmography:*Of Murder and Memory *Would Be Kings...
, - Directors: David WellingtonDavid Wellington (director)David Wellington is a Canadian film and television director, best known for the films I Love a Man in Uniform and the 1996 adaptation of Long Day's Journey Into Night.-Filmography:*Of Murder and Memory *Would Be Kings...
, Kelly MakinKelly MakinKelly Makin is a Canadian television and movie director. He directed some episodes of The Kids in the Hall comedy television series and also directed several episodes of Queer as Folk including that series' last episode...
, Philip Earnshaw, T.W. Peacocke, Graeme CampbellGraeme Campbell (director)Graeme Neil Campbell is an award-winning film director, writer and editor.- Life and career :Campbell was born in Montreal, Quebec to William and Thelma Campbell. His body of work lies mostly in films made for television as well as mini-series', although he has transitioned into episodic...
, Milan CheylovMilan CheylovMilan Cheylov is a Canadian film/television director, editor, producer and former actor.As a director, some of his television credits include Street Legal, Flash Forward, The Famous Jett Jackson, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Earth: Final Conflict, Relic Hunter and the American series...
, Stephen ReynoldsStephen Reynolds (director)Stephen Reynolds is a Canadian television director. Notable work includes This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Eleventh Hour, Black Harbour, Codco and Made in Canada.... - Writers: Semi ChellasSemi ChellasSemi Chellas is a writer and screenwriter who has written for film, television and magazines. She was born in Palo Alto, California in 1969 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta....
, Esta SpaldingEsta SpaldingEsta Alice Spalding is a Canadian author, screenwriter and poet who won the Pat Lowther Award in 2000 for Lost August. Born in Boston, Massachusetts to Phillip Spalding and Linda Spalding, she grew up in Hawaii and currently resides in Guelph, Ontario....
, Tassie CameronTassie CameronTassie Cameron is a Gemini Award-winning Canadian screenwriter who has contributed to numerous television shows and films. She is currently the head writer and executive producer on the ABC/Global Television Network series Rookie Blue...
, Frank Borg, Sean Reycraft, Peter WellingtonPeter WellingtonPeter Wellington is an Independent member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, for the Electoral district of Nicklin. Wellington, along with fellow independent Liz Cunningham, briefly held the balance in power following the 1998 state election...
, Karen WaltonKaren WaltonKaren Walton is a Canadian screenwriter.A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Karen Walton wrote the film Ginger Snaps, for which she won a Best Film Writing Canadian Comedy Award in 2002. She later wrote for the Canadian television series What It's Like Being Alone...
, Morwyn Brebner
Awards
The show was nominated for 14 Gemini Awards in 2003, and won for Best Dramatic Series, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Seymour) and Best Supporting Actor (MacNeill).The show was nominated for Best Dramatic Series Gemini Awards again in 2004.
In 2005, the show won Gemini Awards for Best Dramatic Series and for Best Writing for Semi Chellas
Semi Chellas
Semi Chellas is a writer and screenwriter who has written for film, television and magazines. She was born in Palo Alto, California in 1969 and grew up in Calgary, Alberta....
and Tassie Cameron
Tassie Cameron
Tassie Cameron is a Gemini Award-winning Canadian screenwriter who has contributed to numerous television shows and films. She is currently the head writer and executive producer on the ABC/Global Television Network series Rookie Blue...
.
Season one
- Mad As Hatters
- I'm Mad As Hell
- The Source
- A Low, Dishonest Decade
- Tree Hugger
- A Modern Mata Hari
- Not Without My Reefer
- The 37-Year Itch
- Don't Have a Cow
- Shelter
- Cell Phone Slaves
- The RASH Troops of Error
- Hall of Mirrors
Season two
- Cowboy
- Stormy Petrel
- Hard Seven
- Swimmers
- Wonderland
- Gone Baby Gone
- Nadir
- Rather Be Wrong
- Georgia
- I'll Build Me An Island
- Strange Bedfellows
- The Revenge Specialist
- The Missionary Position
Season three
- Eden
- In Spite of All the Damage
- Megan Ice Cream
- Bedfellas
- A Virgin Walks into a Bar
- ZUGZWANG
- Hit Delete
- Kettle Black
- In Another Life
- The Miracle Worker
- Special Delivery
- Das Bootcamp
- Bumpy Cover