Whistler (TV series)

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Whistler
Image:Whistler cast.jpg
The cast of Whistler
Genre Drama
Creator(s) Kelly Senecal
Starring David Paetkau
Nicholas Lea
Jesse Moss
Amanda Crew
Brandy Ledford
Brendan Penny
Haley Beauchamp
Holly Dignard
Adam J. Harrington
Ingrid Kavelaars
Chris Shyer
Country of origin Flag of Canada Canada
No. of episodes 13
Production
Running time One Hour (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel CTV (Canada)
The N (United States)
Original run (Canada) June 25, 2006 to August 25, 2006 - (USA) June 30, 2006 to September 23, 2006

Whistler is a drama about the mysterious death of a local snowboard legend Beck McKaye (David Paetkau, from Bang Bang Your Dead and Final Destination 2) after he returns home from the 2006 Winter Olympics with a gold medal. His death sets the stage for the show and changes the lives of his friends and family with all whom have stories to tell and secrets to keep.

The secret-keeping locals are the only ones who can answer the terrifying truth of, "what secrets lie beneath the snow?" Even McKaye's friends and family all have their share of dirty laundry and juicy secrets to try to hide. Beck's brother, Quinn (Jesse Moss, best known for his work in Ginger Snaps and Final Destination 3) must try to solve the mystery of Beck's death. He will find out the truth, which might be more than he can handle of the biggest secret in Whistler.[1]

Whistler is the co-host for the 2010 Winter Olympics (along with Vancouver). This is why CTV, the network in possession of the broadcast rights to the 2010 Olympics in Canada, specifically asked that the series be set in Whistler. Several of Canada's real male snowboarding team come from Whistler - thus the obvious tie-in to the show.

Some of the outdoor shots used in the series were filmed in and around Whistler but most of the outdoor and all of the indoor scenes were filmed at Uphill Studios in Langley, B.C., about 45 km (27 mi) southeast of Vancouver. All of the post-production was done by Uphill Productions in Vancouver.

Currently, a lawsuit has been filed against CTV by Olympic snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, accusing the network of "misappropriating" his identity with Whistler's main character Beck McKaye. The suit has not yet been heard by the British Columbia Supreme Court.[2]

Contents

[edit] Television air dates

Whistler premiered on CTV on June 25, 2006, [3]. The show premiered on The N in the United States on June 30, 2006.

The show aired in Canada on Sunday nights at 10 pm local time until August 14 when CTV announced it was moving the series to Monday nights at 9 pm local time. However, after just one airing in that time slot, CTV returned the series to Sunday nights at 10 pm, effective with the August 20th telecast. CTV aired the final two episodes of season one back to back on Friday, August 25.

From November 25, 2006 to February 3, 2007, CTV rebroadcast the series on Saturdays at 10 pm local time and Sunday afternoons at 4 pm local time. The CTV rebroadcast of the series pilot "Fallen" was an alternate version that included a slightly different opening scene, a different main title segment and some minor editing of a few other scenes.

The N continued to air only one episode a week in the United States, eventually shifting the final five episodes to Saturday mornings at 1 am before completing the series on September 23. The station began re-airing the series on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 5 am but for unexplained reasons omitted airing the first episode "Fallen" and began with the second episode "Out Of The Shadows".

The series also aired on the British youth channel Trouble (TV station) beginning October 16, 2006 on Monday nights at 9pm and on the Polish catholic channel Puls (TV station) on Saturday and Sunday evenings at 6:20pm. French language broadcasts of Whistler aired beginning January 30, 2007 on a Canadian cable channel, Séries Plus (TV station) Tuesday nights at 8pm.

Season 2 began filming on January 8, 2007 and will complete on May 18, 2007. There will be 13 episodes for season 2.

[edit] Episode List

  • 1 Fallen
  • 2 Out of the Shadows
  • 3 Coming Together, Coming Apart
  • 4 Lies and Whispers
  • 5 The Burden of Truth
  • 6 Will the Real Beck...?
  • 7 In the Air
  • 8 After the Fall
  • 9 The Looks of Love
  • 10 Gathering Clouds
  • 11 Scratching the Surface
  • 12 Meltdown
  • 13 Unearthed

In addition to the 13 broadcast episodes, 13 "webisodes" were also produced by CTV for viewing on their Broadband website. The same webisodes were also available on The N's "The Click" website and the UK's Trouble on-demand website. The webisodes were short scenes that depicted an event that took place either between broadcast episodes or during an episode (but not seen during the episode). Because the webisodes were not given official titles by the producers, CTV and The N used different titles to refer to them on their respective websites.

[edit] Cast

(in alphabetical order)

Talent Role
Derek Baynham Ty
Haley Beauchamp Feeney
Amanda Crew Carrie Miller
Holly Dignard Nicole Miller
Adam Harrington Ryan McKaye
Ingrid Kavelaars Jen McKaye
Nicholas Lea Ethan McKaye
Brandy Ledford Shelby Varland
Jesse Moss Quinn McKaye
David Paetkau Beck McKaye
Brendan Penny A.J. Varland
Christopher Shyer Adrien Varland

[edit] Music

The musical supervision for Whistler is handled by S.L. Feldman and Associates, the same company that supervised the music for the Queer as Folk (US TV series). The show features music by such Canadian artists as the Dirtmitts (whose song "Ordinary Day" is featured as the series opening track), The Waking Eyes, The Organ, The Stills, Hawksley Workman, Sam Roberts, Pilot Speed, Death from Above 1979, The Dears, The Meligrove Band, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Immaculate Machine, and Autumn Eve. ]. The Canadian punk bank D.O.A. (band) was featured in episode 9, "The Looks of Love," with the songs "I Hate You" and "Liar For Hire."

A CD Soundtrack for some of the music used on the show was released in Canada on August 22 and in the United States on September 26, 2006. Their theme song is Ordinary Day by The Dirtmitts.

[edit] Credits

Created by: Kelly Senecal
Developed by: Patrick Banister, John Barbisan, Mindy Heslin
Written by: Alison Lea Bingeman, Tony Blake, Russ Cochrane, Paul Jackson, Kelly Senecal
Executive Producers: Patrick Banister, John Barbisan, Tony Blake, Sam Feldman, Noreen Halpern, Mindy Heslin, Paul Jackson, John Morayniss, Jane Muckle, Kelly Senecal, Danny Virtue, Janet York
Co-Producers: Alison Lea Bingeman, Russ Cochrane

[edit] International Broadcasters

Country TV Network(s) Series Premiere Broadcast Schedule
Flag of Canada Canada Séries+ January 30, 2007 Tuesdays at 8:00pm ET
Flag of Canada Canada CTV June 25, 2006 Re-runs of Season 1 were completed on February 3, 2007
Flag of United States United States The N June 30, 2006 Re-runs of Season 1 began January 22, 2007 on Mondays at 5am ET
Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom Trouble October 16, 2006 Mondays at 9:00pm GMT
Flag of Poland Poland Puls January 6, 2007 Saturdays and Sundays at 6:20pm CET

[edit] External links

Whistler - official site
After The Drop - character blog
Whistler at TV.com
IMDb Listing for Whistler

[edit] Press Releases

CTV press release - June 29, 2006
CTV press release - June 6, 2006
Whistler The N Press Release on Yahoo! - May 2, 2006
CTV press release - November 29, 2005