| Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime drama |
| Created by | Dave Alan Johnson Gary R. Johnson |
| Starring | Deanne Bray Yannick Bisson Rick Peters Enuka Okuma Marc Gomes Ted Atherton Tara Samuel |
| Opening theme | "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews |
| Country of origin | Canada United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 56 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Pebblehut Productions |
| Distributor | Paxson Entertainment |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CTV PAX TV |
| Original run | October 13, 2002 – May 22, 2005 |
Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye is a Canadian-American television series that premiered in the United States in 2002 and Canada in 2003. The show ended in May 2005 due to PAX's decision to halt the production of original programming. It was one of the two highest rated shows on PAX.[1][2] In September 2009, Gospel Music Channel began running the show, which airs Monday through Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. In October 2009, American Life Network also began running the show, airing it Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. EST. But due to ALN's rebranding to Youtoo TV, the show was dropped. In 2010, it began airing on the Alibi network in the United Kingdom. Reruns also air regularly on CTV in Canada.
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Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye was created by Dave Alan Johnson and Gary R. Johnson for Pebblehut Productions. The series was loosely based on the real life experience of Sue Thomas, a deaf woman whose ability to read lips landed her a job with an elite surveillance team at the FBI. Dave Alan Johnson and Gary R. Johnson also created Doc starring Billy Ray Cyrus for PAX. The TV series was distributed by CTV in Canada, PAX in the US, and the Hallmark Channel in the UK. Yuri Yakubiw was the cinematographer and Bill Layton was the art director.
The series was once known as Lip Service. In the series, Sue Thomas was played by deaf actress Deanne Bray. The show's theme song is "Who I Am", which is sung by Jessica Andrews and was written by Brett James and Troy Verges. Most filming took place in Toronto, Ontario.
The television series premiered in the United States in 2002 on PAX and Canada in 2003 on CTV. The show ended in May 2005 due to PAX's decision to no longer produce original programming. It was one of the two highest rated shows on PAX.[1][2]
The show began airing on gmc (formerly Gospel Music Channel) in September 2009 and on American Life Network in October 2009. In Canada, the series continues to air in daytime repeats on CTV. In the United Kingdom, it is airing on Alibi. The show is currently being aired on GMC.
Official DVDs of Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye featuring all the episodes are available at www.suethomasdvd.com.[3]
The abrupt ending to the show was due to PAX's decision to no longer produce original programming, rather than poor ratings. The last episode of the series ended with a title slate saying, "The End... for now." The Johnson Brothers, executive producers, have stated that they have not given up on the idea of the show.
Sue Thomas[4] (Deanne Bray) is a young deaf woman who is able to communicate in both English and American Sign Language. She applies for, and is accepted, for a position with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C.. She leaves her home in Ohio and drives to Washington, picking up her first hearing dog, Levi, en route.
Thomas' parents are concerned that she will not be able to cope with life so far from everything she has known, despite the fact that they have strongly encouraged her in living in both a hearing and deaf environment. Her mother fought for her daughter to have every opportunity to live life to the fullest, which has made Sue a very independent young woman. She speaks, signs, reads lips, plays the piano and ice skates. Sue has a college degree from Springfield College in Springfield MA.[5]
Thomas arrives at her job only to find she has been assigned to "Special Projects", with the mundane task of analyzing fingerprints. However, she has no intention of wasting her life examining fingerprints and marches into the personnel office to tell them exactly what she thinks. Having done this, she finds the man she has been telling off is not personnel, but a Special Agent, Jack Hudson. Impressed, Hudson meets her at lunch, where he tests her skills by having her lip-read Myles who is seated some distance away outside. After which, Thomas is taken on as part of Hudson's "team", and she becomes a Special Investigative Analyst.
Jack Hudson (Yannick Bisson) is the unit leader, and as such generally takes the lead in the team's cases. A lawyer from Wisconsin, he approaches his job as a Federal Agent with a burning drive. His experience as a sniper is revealed in the episode, "The Sniper". He is strongly attracted to Sue (who reciprocates) but unable to act due to their working relationship: he is her Training Agent and line manager. Everyone in the office can sense the severe chemistry between the two, but Jack and Sue refuse to go against the Bureau's policy. In the last episode, during which Sue decides to leave, it becomes possible for them to get together. The two do have a firm, if complicated, friendship. His closest friends are Special Agents Manning and Gans.
Bobby Manning (Rick Peters) is a charming Australian. He provides a much-needed sense of humor and is best mates with Jack. They are similar ages and share a love of sports and the single life. Bobby is also a recovering gambling addict, and still attends Gamblers' Anonymous. However, only Jack knows about this, as it could effectively mean the end of Bobby's career with the FBI. In season 3, Bobby split from his girlfriend of two seasons, journalist Darcy D'Angelo (Polly Shannon), when the latter accepted an offer of a high profile job in Los Angeles. Shortly after this, he and Tara discover a mutual attraction. Bobby is highly protective of the women he works with. When he was a child, his father left his mother, but she has since remarried. Bobby is close to both his mother and stepfather, who still live someplace in Australia. He is the only one in the office other than Myles who knows very few signs.
Dimitrius is the father figure in the office, and the senior agent in terms of age and experience. He is the only married member of the team, and has two children: Tanya and Davy. In season two his wife, Donna, suffered a miscarriage of what would have been their third child. "D" often assumes the role of acting supervisor when the unit's normal supervisor is called out of the office.
Myles is a Harvard-educated Bostonian with all the charm of a backbencher. He has a high opinion of both himself and his skills, and considers himself a cut above the rest of the team. He suffers a serious lack of a sense of humour, and is often the butt of the office jokes and other practical jokes. From the start he mistrusts Sue's place on the team and actively tries to have her removed. This backfires and Sue ends up saving Myles' place on the team. Over time Myles' relationship with Sue improved significantly, and the character becomes more relaxed in the office after his near-death experience. He once dated Lucy, but when she found out he was cheating on her, she dumped him. Their working relationship is polite, but frosty. Myles has a difficult relationship with his parents and only recently started forging a proper relationship with his sister, Anne.
Tara is the unit's computer expert, adept at tracking perpetrators via bank records, computer hard drives, GPS tracking and other cyber-sources. Tara is a fully trained and armed Special Agent. However she can give the impression of being shy, dizzy, and a ditz when immersed in her world of computers. She is best friends with Lucy and Sue and they often go out together. She has dated Stanley Abbott, a steganographer who works for the National Security Agency. In a two episode series, "The Actor" and "Planes, Trains, And Automobiles", Tara is interested in a movie star named Adam Kinsey. However, when Stanley shows up to help break a code and work with Tara, her relationship with Adam ends. In season 3, she and Bobby Manning discovered a mutual attraction.
Lucy is Sue's roommate and best friend. She is the team rotor, the unit's office manager and "base coordinator." Lucy is a student of ASL. She is close to her mother, although her father died some years ago. She is also close to her paternal grandmother. Lucy also dated Myles briefly, which ended badly.
Levi is Sue's hearing dog, a Golden Retriever. He is protective of Sue and loving to everyone. Several episodes find Levi in difficult and dramatic situations, such as getting lost in the city of D.C. or getting shot while trying to protect Sue. He is very clever and playful, and the entire F.B. Eye team adores him which often leads to him being used to assist in minor pranks around the office. He is also a source of comfort during distressed or somber scenes in many episodes, usually placing his head on the suffering party's knee and whining empathetically.
Integrity Direct has begun releasing Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Volume 1, featuring the first 11 episodes from season 1 was released on November 10, 2009.[7] Volumes 2-5 which feature the remaining season 1 episodes as well as all episodes from season 2 and 3 were released on May 18, 2010.[3][8] In addition, a complete series box set featuring all 56 episodes of the series was also released on May 18, 2010.
NOTE: ALL releases are only available through the official Sue Thomas F.B.Eye DVD website (http://www.suethomasdvd.com) and not in retail outlets.
For episode summaries go to List of Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye episodes.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: Volume 1 | 11 | November 10, 2009 |
| Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: Volume 2 | 11 | May 18, 2010 |
| Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: Volume 3 | 11 | May 18, 2010 |
| Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: Volume 4 | 11 | May 18, 2010 |
| Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: Volume 5 | 12 | May 18, 2010 |
| Sue Thomas F.B.Eye: The Complete Series | 56 | May 18, 2010 |
| Episode | Ep # | Release Date | Title Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | 1 | Oct. 13, 2002 | |
| Bombs Away | 2 | Oct. 20, 2002 | “We’re off!” or “Look out!” |
| Assassins | 3 | Oct. 27, 2002 | |
| A Snitch in Time | 4 | Nov. 3, 2002 | pun on "a stitch in time saves nine" – fixing a mistake before it gets out of hand |
| The Signing | 5 | Nov. 10, 2002 | pun on movie “The Shining” – a different form of communication |
| A Blast from the Past | 6 | Nov. 24, 2002 | someone who returns after a long absence |
| Silent Night | 7 | Dec. 15, 2002 | a popular Christmas carol |
| Greed | 8 | Jan. 12, 2003 | one of the 7 deadly sins |
| Diplomatic Immunity | 9 | Jan. 19, 2003 | diplomats are given safe passage in another country and not susceptible to its laws |
| Dirty Bomb | 10 | Feb. 2, 2003 | a bomb leaving radioactive contamination |
| The Heist | 11 | Feb. 9, 2003 | robbery, holdup |
| The Leak | 12 | Feb. 16, 2003 | giving out secret information |
| Missing | 13 | Mar. 16, 2003 | |
| Prodigal Father | 14 | Apr. 6, 2003 | parody on the Bible story “the Prodigal Son” |
| He Said She Said | 15 | Apr. 27, 2003 | conflicting reports with no proof of who is telling the truth |
| The Hunter | 16 | May 4, 2003 | |
| The Fugitive | 17 | May 11, 2003 | TV series (and movie) about a man falsely accused of his wife's murder |
| Billy the Kid | 18 | May 18, 2003 | outlaw and gunman in the West |
| Girl Who Signed Wolf | 19 | Oct. 5, 2003 | pun on the fable “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” |
| Sniper | 20 | Oct. 12, 2003 | one who shoots at people from a concealed place |
| Homeland Security | 21 | Nov. 2, 2003 | efforts to protect the country against internal and external threats |
| Cold Case | 22 | Nov. 9, 2003 | a case so old that it is unlikely to ever be solved |
| The Newlywed Game: Part 1 | 23 | Nov. 16, 2003 | a game show to see how well spouses know each other |
| Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Part 2 | 24 | Nov. 23, 2003 | |
| Bad Hair Day | 25 | Jan. 11, 2004 | a day when everything seems to go wrong, beginning with the hair |
| Political Agenda | 26 | Jan. 18, 2004 | politics interfering with day-to-day affairs |
| The Gambler | 27 | Feb. 8, 2004 | |
| Into Thin Air | 28 | Feb. 15, 2004 | part of the phrase "vanishing into thin air" |
| To Grandmother’s House We Go | 29 | Feb. 22, 2004 | part of the song “Over the River and Through the Woods” |
| The Lawyer | 30 | Apr. 4, 2004 | |
| The Holocaust Survivor | 31 | Apr. 11, 2004 | |
| The Mentor | 32 | Apr. 18, 2004 | a teacher |
| Rocket Man | 33 | Apr. 25, 2004 | movie and songs |
| Elvis is in the Building | 34 | May 2, 2004 | announcing a self-important person, typically a singer |
| Hit and Run | 35 | May 9, 2004 | attacking someone and running away |
| Concrete Evidence | 36 | May 16, 2004 | a sure-fire conviction |
| The Kiss | 37 | May 23, 2004 | |
| Adventures in Babysitting | 38 | Oct. 3, 2004 | a 1987 film |
| The Body Shop | 39 | Oct. 10, 2004 | a garage where vehicles are repaired |
| Skin Deep | 40 | Oct. 17, 2004 | from the phrase "beauty is only skin deep" |
| The New Mafia | 41 | Oct. 31, 2004 | |
| The Actor: Part 1 | 42 | Nov. 7, 2004 | |
| Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Part 2 | 43 | Nov. 14, 2004 | |
| Simon Says | 44 | Nov. 21, 2004 | the children's game where everyone does what the leader says |
| Did She or Didn't She? | 45 | Nov. 28, 2004 | |
| Fraternity | 46 | Jan. 30, 2005 | a social "brotherhood" group, usually in college |
| Secret Agent Man: Part 1 | 47 | Feb 13, 2005 | |
| Spy Games: Part 2 | 48 | Feb. 20, 2005 | |
| Boy Meets World | 49 | Mar. 6, 2005 | a comedy TV show |
| False Profit | 50 | Mar. 13, 2005 | a pun on “false prophet” |
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | 51 | Apr. 3, 2005 | a game show based on answering questions for money |
| The Bounty Hunter | 52 | Apr. 17, 2005 | someone who catches criminals and turns them in for reward money |
| Troy Story | 53 | May 1, 2005 | a pun on the movie “Toy Story” |
| Mind Games | 54 | May 8, 2005 | games that exercise the intellect, or psychological manipulation |
| Bad Girls | 55 | May 15, 2005 | movie, TV show, songs, etc. |
| Endings and Beginnings | 56 | May 22, 2005 |