A More "Realistic" Sci-Fi Series


Unique Police Procedural

As police procedurals went, this one was unique: the killer and victim were both identified in the opening act. As the show's name tells, the motive for the crime is what played out over the next hour. The police investigation moved forward, while the relationship and circumstances of the killer and victim were shown in flashbacks.
The show was a great vehicle for it;s stars as well: Kristin Lehman, a ubiquitous presence on Canadian TV, brought charm, wit and pathos to the "gutsy, rebellious single-mom cop" trope. Louis Ferreira, long an actor known for playing heavies and psychotics, was "criminally" understated as Kristin's partner. And American ex-pat actress Lauren Holly, who's career was waning, shined as quirky, sexy Dr. Betty Rogers.
Sadly, only the ION channel is currently airing made-in-Canada TV series (all in reruns and not always a good thing, but I digress) and they don't appear to have the financial power to support producing another season or two of Motive.

Memories


Slash The Writers!

Where do I start?
- Katie McGrath, late of "Merlin" and the quickly-cancelled "Dracula" reboot, seemed to have a hard time controlling her native Irish accent (probably not an issue in Anglophone Canadian, especially the Maritimes, but I noticed it.)
- Hitting on all the pointless Canadianism tropes: a mixed-race marriage, prominent gay couple (hell, one of the victims was discovered by a lesbian couple on a hike!). Not that there's anything wrong with that,...
- The villain's ID was telegraphed in Episode 1 - I knew it was either (SPOILER ALERT!!) the Anglican reverend or his police officer son in the first 30 minutes!
- I don't live in Canada, but I would think after the second or third murder would have resulted in the intervention of the O.P.P. (the show was clearly based in Ontario) or the RCMP, instead of a lot of shoe-gazing and existential worry!
- The appearance of every member of[Link removed - login to see]0 actor. Even DeGrassi stars Lauren Collins and Paula Brancati got 5 minutes' of pointless face time.
In all, it was a dozen hours of prime DVR time that could have been better used viewing another series!

Slash The Writers!

Where do I start?
- Katie McGrath, late of <i>Merlin</i> and the quickly-cancelled <i>"Dracula"</i> reboot, seemed to have a hard time controlling her native Irish accent (probably not an issue in Anglophone Canadian, especially the Maritimes, but I noticed it.)
- Hitting on all the pointless Canadianism tropes: a mixed-race marriage, prominent gay couple (hell, one of the victims was discovered by a lesbian couple on a hike!). Not that there's anything wrong with that,...
- The villain's ID was telegraphed in Episode 1 - I knew it was either <spoiler>the Anglican reverend</spoiler> or <spoiler>his police officer son</spoiler> in the first 30 minutes!
- I don't live in Canada, but I would think after the second or third murder would have resulted in the intervention of the O.P.P. (the show was clearly based in Ontario) or the RCMP, instead of a lot of shoe-gazing and existential worry!
- The appearance of every member of <a href="http://www.listal.com/list/the-canadian-ten">The Canadian 10</a> actor. Even DeGrassi stars Lauren Collins and Paula Brancati got 5 minutes' of pointless face time.
In all, it was a dozen hours of prime DVR time that could have been better used viewing another series!

Based On a Real Murder

Sadly, because this was a made-for-TV movie, it rarely pops up anymore. This is one I need to see again.

Black Cherry Soda - A Philadelphia Staple!


A Mash-Up That Works!


Quiet, Subtle, but Powerful


Not Very Healthy To Watch

Even worse, the show originally started as "Dr. Simon Locke," a Canadian version of Marcus Welby (the producers' pedigree did include involvement in an earlier medical procedural, Ben Casey), but quickly collapsed due to poor production standards (well-respected star actor Jack Albertson walked off the show and laughed off breach-of-contract threats, using the show as his own defense!)
If this show pops up ion one of your syndicated or "classic" TV stations, here's an all-points bulletin: avoid it at all costs!
