End of Intelligence?
I’ve previously blogged about my fondness for the TV show Intelligence and after the great season finale in December, I now have a free block of time on Monday nights.
Apparently I was not the only one complaining about CBC’s lack of advertising and promotion of the show on its network especially prior to the season premiere. The creator of Intelligence, Chris Haddock also points to the lack of promotion as a part of the reason for relatively poor ratings for Intelligence and goes on to accuse CBC of trying to bury the show.
Indeed, it appears that the CBC is unwilling to commit to renewing the series for another season. Judging from message boards and posts, viewers of the show REALLY like it and are passionate about it but I guess if the ratings aren’t high enough, the CBC doesn’t care.
Is there any hope that the CBC will come to its senses and bring back Intelligence for a third season???
I agree. Intelligence is the best program to hit the airwaves. It rivals the storyline of Sopranos… CBC doesn’t promote it enough. ANYBODY who has watched a couple of episodes can’t stop, but ALMOST everybody I speak to, hasn’t even heard of it.
I think that it would be a big mistake to not produce and release a third season!! I hope they do and promote the crap out of it!!
Comment by Brent | March 3, 2008
[...] I had eluded to in an earlier post, CBC has cut my favourite show Intelligence along with recently introduced shows jPod and MVP. [...]
Pingback by Lack of Intelligence at the CBC - Intelligence, jPod and MVP cancelled | Bullroarer | March 11, 2008
This is OLD news. What is happening now? I know little to nothing about blogs, but I would think there would be current information – not 3 months old.
Comment by JAN HANGLAND | March 26, 2008
Hi Jan,
Thanks for visiting my blog.
As shown in the comments, I have written an updated piece confirming that unfortunately CBC did indeed announce that it has canceled Intelligence.
See: http://danny.damours.net/wordpress/index.php/archive/lack-of-intelligence-at-the-cbc-intelligence-jpod-and-mvp-cancelled
for more details.
Another site which you might want to visit for information about Intelligence is http://www.tv-eh.com/ and specifically http://www.tv-eh.com/category/intelligence/
Comment by Danny D'Amours | March 26, 2008
If your serious about getting CBC’s attention get your wife, brothers, father’s, mother’s, guys at work to send in notes to the CBC comment website. The comments section was originally designed for people to comment on the new shows but none referenced the new shows. But they did not comment on the new shows but focused and criticized The Mother Corp for removing Intelligence. I also provided my comments and also the fact that I wrote to the CBC asking a direct question about the future of Intelligence. No reply.
The location for you to comment is: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2008/04/09/cbc-shows.html
Comment by David | April 10, 2008
I enjoy this Canadian base series. Please bring it back with all the original cast! I love Ian Tracy… This show needs more promotion to obtain more viewers… It’s our Canadian style Sporano’s… CBC Finally has a decent show and now they are debating for a 3rd Season !!!
- Cindy
Comment by CINDY | June 18, 2008
Sorry to say Cindy but CBC has decided not to renew Intelligence for a third season.
See: http://danny.damours.net/wordpress/index.php/archive/lack-of-intelligence-at-the-cbc-intelligence-jpod-and-mvp-cancelled
The only hope for Intelligence is that Fox will pick it up but I’m afraid that it will become Americanized and in the process wreck what I love about it.
See: http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Television/2008/06/14/5875496-sun.html
Comment by Danny D'Amours | June 19, 2008
I am huge fan of Chris Haddock. Trust me “Intelligence” outdoes the Sopranos, the Wire and anything else US TV has tried to create. Ian Tracey is exceptional. I have only been able to get season one on dvd in Los Angeles – but I cannot get enough. This is a brilliant show. I blogged about DaVinci and that’s how I heard about Intelligence. HBO should snap this up in a minute to give Soprano and Wire fans something to really write home abuot.
Comment by Chloe Ross | August 16, 2008
I’m one of those people who complained to the CBC even before the announcement. I could see the writing on the wall. Good writing, terrific actors, fantastic location, believable characters. The show obviously did not meet the criteria of good television which is – poor writing, teenagers in the role of actors, shot in the back lot, etc… It was just too good. BTW, I see most of the actors have moved on to new roles or to the US. It was my all time favourite and the only show I was sure not to miss each week. Very sorry to see it’s decline. The replacement programs for Intelligence are pathetic and poorly done. Welcome to Canada!
Dave
Comment by dave | August 27, 2008
I LOVE “Intelligence.” It is witty, intelligent and very real “Canadian” viewing without the old “canadian television” feeling. I googled the show to find out if in fact I could count on seeing a much anticipated 3rd season. I agree that there just hasn’t been enough to promote the show. I ask so many people if they watch it and I get the same response from everyone… “What is it?” I am very fussy about what I watch and I am sincerely waiting for Intelligence. “The Border” was not bad but as far as I’m concerned, not near the quality of the scrip, settting and actig as “Intelligence.” Please bring it back.
Comment by Susie | August 27, 2008
Intelligence is the most intelligent show on television today bar none, although the it may run nose to nose with “The Wire”
If for some reason the number of viewers is low it is more likely the cause of scheduling rather than the quality of the show itself.
There is of course a point to be made for the dumbing down of America. When one of the most popular shows on TV today is CSI Miami where the lead character does nothing but try to act tough, stand with his hands on his hips, put on his sunglasses and have trouble reading his prompt cards you have to wonder what the hell is going on.
Keeping trash like Dog the 24/365 Halloween clown, and Gene Simmons ( I’ve screwed 10,000 women, forget that their mean age was 14) on TV and letting Intelligence go is a travesty. But perhaps that is what the fools who watch shyt deserve.
Comment by al riede | September 9, 2008
Hi there,
I live in Western Australia. My husband and I love Intelligence. We love it all the more because it is not American. Why oh why has this show not been a chance? And, why are we left hanging not knowing what has actually happened to Jim Reardon? This is extremely bad form on the part of CBC!!!!!
C’mon CBC let’s have a Season 3, 4, 5, etc….
Fans in Western Australia
Comment by Barbara | February 3, 2009
What a fantastic series! Nothing out there compares with the quality of story writing and actors with a real talent for pulling off how people actually behave in a real world setting. This series is witty, down to earth and gritty. It’s great to see such a positive response from fellow Canadians and foreigners alike. The CBC should be ashamed for canceling the show that won the 2008 Gemini Awards. With the obvious outcry from loyal fans who truly understand what a real TV show should be (i.e. a show that makes you think)you would think that someone in the CBC management might clue in to what makes a real TV drama series work. All round excellence and I hope that if the CBC management in their arrogance and pride can’t accept that this is really what smart, intelligent Canadians want in a TV series then hopefully some other network with some balls will pick up this masterpiece and display it for what it is. Namely an award winning series!
Comment by Noel Taylor | March 3, 2009
Hello I’m from Sydney please bringIntelligence back we loved it.. we have bought season 1 & 2 now we want a 3
Comment by Kerrin wilison | March 22, 2009
Intelligence was my favourite show.
I just loved how that Ian Tracy sneeked around and his get things done and for his business skills.
I think the government types hated that show because the Canadian government is so much anti-small business even for honest-legal small business.
The Canadian government is the opposite of Ian Tracy.
They can’t stand someone who gets things done.
The government only wants to find more rules.
There are 2 kinds of people: the go getters like Ian Tracy and the rule makers who want to create more rules to stop successful people.
That is why they cut out Intelligence.
The government doesn’t want regular people to succeed even in legal businesses.
The government is made up of jealous – miserable types who’se purpose in life is to try to stop people from thinking, problem solving, and succeeding to be independent and happy. No the government doesn’t want this. That is why they invent more rules and laws and that they cancelled the show Intelligence.
And they just can’t stand a good show and people liking it.
They want us to watch mind numbing crap like Just for laughs and 22 minutes. God forbid to show us something where a business man succeeds and out plays the government.
I’m not condoning selling drugs, but the same go get the job done that Ian Tracy displayed could be used in legal activities of our lives but the government doesn’t want us to see a positive role model.
No stay home, and watch Just for laughs crap and 22 minutes and hockey. Don’t think. That’s what the government wants from us: to be tax paying brain dead automates.
Like cows. The government wants us to be like cows.
Just give them the milk (our taxes).
Well I got that off my chest.
Brian Tracy: you are my favourite actor-role model ever.
Comment by Mike | June 15, 2009
Well now their advertising the old episodes of Intelligence
like there’s no tomorrow.
What’s up with that?
They didn’t care before; now they care?
Are they just filling up empty air time?
Or will there be a 3rd season after all?
I phoned the CBC but they never heard of their own show.
Bunch of CBC twits.
Comment by Jerry | June 17, 2009
Someone needs to get their head out of their rear end and rethink the decision to cancel “Intelligence”. It is brilliant and the best thing since “Sopranos”. How very disappointing that we can not look forward to the continuation of this series. Hello… Is anybody at CBC listening?!
Comment by Claire B. W. | June 29, 2009
Don’t cancel Intelligence!!! It is one of the BEST shows on TV. The acting is superb, the story line is facinating. I am a faithful viewer. Keep this show going. It is on par with Sopranos.
Comment by Anna | July 26, 2009
CBC Television Channel is showing Season 1 of Intelligence again, over the summer. It has been very poorly promoted, if at all. Episode 5 will be on August 8, 2009, in B. C.
Comment by Madeline Bruce | August 2, 2009
Good to see that CBC is showing some ads for the re-showing of the TV Series Intelligence. They are showing writer Chris Haddock’s series DaVinci’s City Hall back to back with it on Saturday nights. Episode 7 of Season One of Intelligence is showing tonight, August 15th, 2009. I am getting so, so much more out of it the second time around. This is deep probing of our society from the gritty mean streets right on up to the most secret worlds of inercontinental espionage, high finance, and political no-no-nos. That is where the real strip-tease takes place.
Comment by Madeline Bruce | August 15, 2009
Madeline Bruce
Excellent comment Madeline. Watch the second time around every Sat night and yes the second time is even better. Well done.
Dave
Comment by David | August 23, 2009
Check out the cool musical score of Intelligence by composer Schaun Tozer.
Comment by Madeline Bruce | August 25, 2009
Episode 10 of Intelligence did not show on Saturday night, September 5th at 10 p.m., CBC Television, its usuual time slot. The schedule said CBC News would be on instead, but that didn’t happen either. This is the third time that an episode of Season one has be pre-empted since it has been re-showing over this summer, 2009. CBC has a very strange attitude towards this series. It has won many awards, yet on the CBC program The Hour, which has throngs of American guests on it, this was never mentioned, whereas the awards won by Little Mosque on the Prairie were touted. There was no third season of it, although many people wanted that,even internationally. Methinks that the trenchant scrutiny of how American power is infiltrating into Canadian Democracy and Sovereignty that gets leaked in Intelligence is being muzzled.
Comment by Madeline Bruce | September 6, 2009
Found an episode of DaVinci and got hooked, which led to discovering Intelligence and got hooked again. These are sophisticated shows professionally executed. Canada really brings quality to their shows and I wish it would continue. With a small bit of effort on CBC’s part in promoting the projects, these series could not only continue, but bring in money from refreshing past series. Highlander the series ran the same episodes for years in the states. Average middle American citizens do crave Canadian series and it makes me wonder why no one understands this. (I have to say average middle, because if you ever traveled to San Francisco or mid-town New York, you might question what makes up an average Amer.)
Comment by susan | September 10, 2009
Having pre-empted no fewer than 3 episodes of Season One of Intelligence over the summer re-showing of it (2009), it appears that CBC is not going to re-show Season Two, as I see no sign of it in the schedule for the week ahead. Too bad. I was getting so much more out of watching the second time. It has been a political education for me, learning how American infiltration of our institutions threatens our Canadian sovereignty. Strange how they send their spies up here, but we don’t send any down there. Think about it. People are telling me that at an Eastern Canadian Military Academy, Americans are trying to recruit future spies for the USA.
Comment by Madeline Bruce | September 27, 2009
Glad to see all these fans up here talking about this show. I picked up on Intelligence in the middle of S1’s original airing and watched S2 each week as new episodes came out. I have since downloaded the whole series and sought it out and ordered both seasons on DVD from Acorn media. I have seen Ian Tracey and others from the show on the street and when I mention S3 they all sheepishly say ‘I don’t know when or if’. Once CBC started rolling out all the shows that are returning this year (The Border, The Tudors, Being Erica etc) it angers me to no end they are not all under the best show ever made by CBC for CBC, Intelligence. I think everyone should write to the CBC’s program director and share their opinions, Former Alliance Atlantis executive Kirstine Layfield I believe still holds the job – however shouldn’t.
Comment by Phil Sharma (Vancouver BC) | October 23, 2009
I am an American and have been watching Intelligence on DVD. My husband and I are hooked on this show – very sophisticated
fast paced, great acting. We are not familiar with the Canadian actors, but they are all wonderful. I just signed on to this website and am bitterly disappointed that this show was not renewed for the third year. I believe more and more that we are all being “dumbed down” in everything – TV especially. I don’t know about Canada, but American TV is awful! Any suggestions for bringing back the show?
Thanks
Comment by linda mcgilvray | December 20, 2009
I agree. I recently received season one box set for xmas and the wife and I can’t stop watching it. This is an incredible show. Being in law enforcement it is so close to real life. Well done
Comment by Doug | December 31, 2009
The moment I saw the pilot I knew instanly that it was going to be a great series. Intelligence didn’t disappoint. The only thing I can’t figure out is why CBC didn’t renew a 3rd season. I put Intelligence up in the same catagory as “The Sopranos”. Nothing else on TV even comes close to Intelligence. It is so realistic, and sometimes is a little too close to real life events. Many of the story lines about how their operation was running pretty much parallel how the underworld operates.
Well, now that NBC has a 10 pm time slot to fill every night, perhaps we will see intelligence head south.
Comment by Dave | February 1, 2010
I was an avid watcher of Davincis Inquest and Intelligence. Bring back one or both of these shows! Someone needs to sign a petition. Has anyone noticed that right now there is mostly comedy on CBC and a distinct lack of a good dramatic series which both of these shows provided Canada for several years.
Comment by Louise | February 2, 2010
I watched Intelligence on the Hallmark Channel here in Melbourne(Foxtel)The article announcing the showing of Intel. was very enticing and once I viewed the first episode I was hooked, I worked in law enforcement in the Bronx NY and this was really well written and the acting was incredible, the tempo moves so quickly it’s over before one realizes it. If the CBC can’t do anything with this series and say it is a failure, then go look for investors in either the States or the UK, you have a Winner!
Comment by Frank Cullari | February 2, 2010
I want to comment on what “Frank” said. I couldn’t agree more about the series. Good Canadian dramas are produced few and far between but when they come along I often hear the word “hooked”. I felt the same way about Davincis Inquest and Intelligence and a few years before I was hooked on another great CBC drama called “North of 60″ which actually lasted about 10 years on tv. Perhaps if enough people complain in email to CBC like I have recently done they will bring back “Intelligence”!!
Comment by Louise | February 4, 2010
The CBC website sells both seasons on INTELLIGENCE on DVD. Also Futureshop.ca
Comment by Louise | February 5, 2010
I live in the USA and I do not believe this show has ever been aired on any of our networks (I could be wrong) I found the Intelligence series at my local library. I was very thrilled with myself for picking such as great show, but was also very disappointed at the end and even more disappointed when I learned that season 3 does not exist. Who ever is responsible, listen this show makes great tv and I plead with you to continue to run this show for as long as it takes, without jepodizing its content.
Tx
CK
Comment by KELLY | February 13, 2010