Murdoch Mysteries...

[Warped9]

I first came across these sporadically on CITY-TV at odd times (on the weekends I think). I was somewhat intrigued with the idea of a Columbo style police detective solving crimes in Victorian era Toronto. I found it had a quirky charm and kept me guessing as to who the perpetrator would be in the end. I had no idea the show had been on for a number of seasons already. And I also learned there had been three made-for-TV movies prior to the series. Sadly, I've also learned the show is in its fifth and final season despite being popular and award winning (something having to do with new station ownership). Shame.

Anyway I decided to take a chance and ordered the first season set on Blu-Ray. I'm glad I did! This isn't a really deep and awesome series, but it is wonderfully quirky and interesting. I love the Victorian setting and the depiction of the very earliest inklings of forensic science with which we are already so familiar with today. Detective Murdoch is something of a less eccentric Sherlock Holmes and similarly unassuming Columbo. Inspector Brakenreid is something more than a blowhard superior. Constable Crabtree is good for laugh, but he's not wooden between the ears. And Doctor Julia Ogden makes for an unusual and unlikely 19th century pathologist.

Character moments and development are on the mostly subtle side, but they're there. It's interesting to see these denizens of the 19th century deal with familiar issues in their own way from their Victorian era perspective.

I enjoyed all the first season episodes and I'm eager to get the remaining season sets. I like how I'm kept guessing about the perpetrator. And I like watching Murdoch unravel genuine puzzles.

Anyone else familiar with this?

[Lonemagpie]

Love this show - would love to write one - can't wait for season 6...

Can't help thinking that Brackenreid is Gene Hunt's granddad.

[Warped9]

Lonemagpie wrote:

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Love this show - would love to write one - can't wait for season 6....

Apparently there isn't going to be a Season 6 unless the show is picked up by another network. I hear a network in the UK is willing to kick in some money if another network would pick it up.

Rogers seems to have bought or bought into CITY-TV and want to put their own stamp on things, which sadly doesn't include Murdoch Mysteries despite it being popular and award winning.

[Warped9]

Warped9 wrote:

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Apparently there isn't going to be a Season 6 unless the show is picked up by another network. I hear a network in the UK is willing to kick in some money if another network would pick it up.

Rogers seems to have bought or bought into CITY-TV and want to put their own stamp on things, which sadly doesn't include Murdoch Mysteries despite it being popular and award winning.

Correction: I just read that CBC has picked up the show for Season 6.

[Lonemagpie]

Warped9 wrote:

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Apparently there isn't going to be a Season 6 unless the show is picked up by another network. I hear a network in the UK is willing to kick in some money if another network would pick it up.

Rogers seems to have bought or bought into CITY-TV and want to put their own stamp on things, which sadly doesn't include Murdoch Mysteries despite it being popular and award winning.

CBC have been filming season 6 since spring, having picked it up in November last year...

ETA - ah, so you've seen!

It's actually always been part-funded from the UK, which is why we actually get it *before* Canada...

[Warped9]

I'm glad because I understand some things were left dangling in the fifth season (which I haven't seen yet).

[Miss Chicken]

I have season 1-4 on DVD and will buy season 5 when it becomes available.

I love the show.

[Warped9]

I find this show a refreshing change from what else I've seen on network television. I like the appearance of historical figures like Nikola Tesla and Arthur Conan Doyle. I also like hearing references to real streets and locations I've actually walked or heard of having lived in and just outside Toronto for fifty years.

[Owain Taggart]

Yes, I love this show. CBC's picking up Season 6 btw, and I'm happy about that because not everyone has access to CityTV and the show deserves to be seen more. It's really quite an underrated show. It's delightfully fresh. With everything being so dark and gritty these days, I really enjoy the fact that this takes a different approach. I hear there's an American series in production that will be set in the Victorian era, though I forget where exactly. Almost seems like they're taking a cue from this.

[stj]

In the queue.

[Lonemagpie]

Warped9 wrote:

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I'm glad because I understand some things were left dangling in the fifth season (which I haven't seen yet).

Um, not really.

Without spoilering anything, it's *very* clear that the season 5 finale was intended to wrap up the show, because as far as they knew, it was being cancelled. And it would have been a nice enough ending if it had been the end - but I'm glad we're getting more!

[Warped9]

One of the episodes I happened to catch by chance showed Murdoch and Ogden having some sort of falling out. He goes to the Yukon temporarily and then returns. And I understand Ogden goes to Buffalo at some point, but does she eventually return?

[Lonemagpie]

Warped9 wrote:

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One of the episodes I happened to catch by chance showed Murdoch and Ogden having some sort of falling out. He goes to the Yukon temporarily and then returns. And I understand Ogden goes to Buffalo at some point, but does she eventually return?

She comes back in four or five episodes throughout the season

[lennier1]

One of my favorite shows.

As mentioned in the initial post, there's an earlier trio of TV movies that's closer to the books the show is based on and it tells quite a different, yet intriguing, story. Though it takes some time getting used to Colm Meaney as the movie version of Inspector Brackenreid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Except_the_Dying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Tom_Is_Cold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Dragon%27s_Tail

[Admiral_Young]

I love the show...haven't really watched all of it...but what I have watched is exceptional and I'm a big fan of Yannick Bisson since I first saw him in "Nothing Too Good For A Cowboy" with Sarah Chalke. They were both awesome in that.