TV on DVD: Due South Season One

Recently I viewed the first season of Due South on DVD. The program lasted four seasons in the 90s, but was more popular in its home country of Canada and the United Kingdom than in the United States.

Due South was a mystery show about two men who solved crimes together. It was also a fish out of water story as Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman named Benton Fraser (Paul Gross) teamed up with Chicago Detective Ray Vecchio (David Marciano). Fraser was used to living in the wild, so a large city was daunting to him. The program wasn't realistic, but many times was played for laughs. Benton had a beautiful mixed breed dog (part dog / part wolf) named Diefenbaker. The animal had saved him from drowning, became deaf in the process and was a loyal friend.

Most of the episodes had Benton trying to help people within his bad neighborhood in Chicago. Occasionally these situations overlapped with Ray's cases, and other times Benton helped to solve those as well. While we barely got to know anyone at the Canadian consolate where Benton was assigned to stand guard, we did meet people at Ray's prescinct. There was Lieutenant Welsh (Beau Starr), Elaine (Catherine Bruhier) who was a civilian, detective partners Jack Huey and Louis Gardino (Tony Craig & Daniel Kash). Ray called them Huey and Louis, ironically later there is a Dewey. Sometimes Fraser would see his late father (Gordon Pinsent) who had been killed in the line of duty as a mounted policeman.

Of course, the question remains what does this have to do with soap operas. Well, I discovered this program because some of the guest stars on this show are daytime alumni. Benton's lady love that he nearly lost his life for named Victoria was played by Melina Kankaredes (aka Eleni on Guiding Light). This was the first role I ever saw her in where she didn't have a Greek accent. Victoria lived a life of crime, which went against everything Benton stood for, but he loved her anyway. Cali Timmons (who was both on Another World and Ryan's Hope) and Stacy Haiduk (Patty from Y&R) also appear as guests.

If you are in the mood for a buddy comedy with a crime element try Due South. I haven't seen the later episodes, so I can't comment on their quality. The first season is over 1000 minutes of programming, but the time passes rather quickly.