In three short years, The Border managed what few Canadian series can nowadays. It collected notable actors, boasted an incredible number of visible minorities and developed a loyal fan base until the bitter end.
The award-winning show about immigration and customs agents seemed doomed from the opening moments of its third season, thanks to a CBC scheduling decision that landed the series in a competitive Thursday night timeslot.
And when the decision to end the series finally did come down, the public broadcaster remained characteristically mum, allowing fans to find out from an American publication with an “inside source” that the show was kaput as of its final Jan. 14 episode.
But while the ending may have left anguished fans in the lurch, co-creator Peter Raymont maintains he’s proud of the many accomplishments the series helmed during its run. He called TV Guide Canada to give his take.
TVG: There was no real word from CBC on The Border’s cancellation; most found out from a U.S. publication. When did you guys find out The Border wasn’t returning for another season?
Peter Raymont: We were informed before anything was in the media.
TVG: Did they give you a reason?
PR: Not really, no. But three years is a good run these days, on the CBC or anywhere. I’d rather talk about what we created. I think The Border was quite an extraordinary series — it was five years in development before we did the pilot. It was created by my late wife, Linda Lee Tracey, who really started it and took it with me to the CBC back … just before 9/11 actually. So that’s a long time ago!
TVG: That event sort of inspired even more interest in the show, didn’t it?
PR: There was even more development money, because it seemed like such a prescient, hot subject to be dealing with — international border security issues. But the series grew beyond that over the years; it didn’t just deal with terrorists. Border issues are an ongoing thing: there’s always been the border, and there always will be.
TVG: You guys really seemed to be picking up steam going into the third season – what a tough way to go out.
PR: I thought the third season was terrific. One of the actors said to me, ‘Isn’t this a terrific way to end a series, in a way — on a high.’ Everyone was really cooking, the writers were cooking, the actors were happy, the crew was happy. Many of the actors said, including Grace Park — who’s been around and done a lot of acting on Canadian and American shows — who said it was the best experience she’s ever had in her life.
TVG: Speaking of the actors, The Border also happened to be one of the most culturally diverse shows on TV.
PR: Stephanie Gorin did the casting during the three years, for the whole thing including the pilot, and she counted up 217 actors from visible minority groups. That doesn’t count Greeks and Italians, people who look like me. These are people from minority groups that don’t often have an opportunity to act, to show their skills. Many of these people had never acted before on television, they were coming out of acting school or drama class, and there they are: on The Border in interesting and positive roles — not negative roles.
TVG: The Border was also gaining an international audience. Could you touch on that?
PR: It’s playing all over the world — it’s been sold to 22 countries, versioned into 11 languages, and will be playing all over the world for many years to come. It’s only starting to be played on ION (which also airs Canadian drama Durham County), in America, this summer. So it still has a life, far beyond the fact that we’re no longer shooting it.
TVG: Many people feel that by moving The Border to Thursday nights, CBC pretty much killed it. What are your thoughts on that?
PR: It was a difficult slot to be put in, there’s no doubt about it. That’s the most difficult slot on television. Grey’s Anatomy was there, and The Office and CSI. But that’s the prerogative of the broadcaster. Somebody has to be there. If it’s not The Border, it’s going to be some other program.
But we rose to the challenge; we were the only thing on CBC on television at 9 p.m. that increased its ratings from the beginning of the hour to the end of the hour. That’s pretty impressive, especially Thursdays at 9 p.m. against that competition. And we brought in the audience for The National, which is a stroke they’ve been trying to build up an audience for.
TVG: You guys had a very strong online audience, too, from what I understand.
PR: We did — a lot of chatter on Facebook and people watching the show in podcasts and all that sort of thing. There were people in my office that were reading all those postings on Facebook on a regular basis. It’s extraordinary – we have a very loyal audience.
TVG: Do you get the sense that Tom Hastings (CBC’s new head of drama) is trying to take the network and its dramatic programming in a new direction?
PR: Oh, I wouldn’t want to speculate on that, I’m sure he’d be happy to talk to you, he’s a terrific guy. (Ed note: multiple requests to interview Hastings went unanswered.)
TVG: OK Peter, we have to ask you what every Border fan is desperately wanting to know … what the heck was going to happen in Season 4, given that tremendous cliffhanger ending in Season 3?
PR: [Laughs.] That’s a good question! We deliberately left it that way; you always want to do that because you hope people will come back for a fourth season. The writers were writing, we had several outlines ready to go and lots of ideas that could happen. It’s fun to read the speculation on the Internet with fans writing in.
TVG: So you want people to keep speculating? You had NO definite plans?
PR: Oh we had plans, but I’d rather not tell you. Let’s leave it in the world of speculation. That’s more fun!
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