Endgame - cancelled series could get renewed thanks to hulu success
8 Feb 2012
Cancelled ShowsHold onto your chess pieces, fans. Sources close to the short-lived Canadian drama Endgame say the series may be coming back.
Endgame, starring Shawn Doyle as a Russian chess grand master-turned Vancouver detective, has been out of production for about a year. Low ratings were cited for the cancellation by Showcase. The sets have long been struck and options on the actor's contracts have run out.
TV Feeds My Family has learned, however, that renewed interest in the show after a recent launch on the U.S.-based Internet streaming service Hulu has the producers seriously contemplating resurrecting the series.
Endgame was one of the shows flashed on giant screens at Hulu's Television Critics Association press tour panel last month in Pasadena, Ca. Word is that the series ranked in the Top-10 of all shows streamed at Hulu after it premiered.
According to the source, if the series continues to trend on Hulu, a second season will be ordered. Credit was also extended to a persistent Save Endgame fan campaign which has collected thousands of signatures on Facebook and other social media sites.
The main star, Doyle, TV Feeds My Family has also learned, sat out the recent pilot season in the U.S. after a deal was reached to keep him under contract should Endgame resurface. The Newfoundland native has not been prevented from guesting on other shows; tonight he makes a return appearance as a baddie on CBC's Republic of Doyle.
No such deal, however, holds other Endgame players such as Patrick Gallagher, who played the head of hotel security always trying to heave Doyle's mad Russian character Arkady Balagan the hell out of the premises. The series may have to be extensively re-cast should it return.
The series was produced in Vancouver and featured an elaborate hotel set. Those sets are long gone, but blueprints remain and everything could be rebuilt, we are told.
The main priority for the producers is securing the participation of showrunner and executive producer Avrum Jacobson. Source says that is in the works. The plan would be to make new episodes for Hulu as well as for Showcase.
Full Article TV Feeds My Family
Don't watch the show but that is pretty impressive if it does get another series thanks to Hulu, the future is online it seems
ReplyDeleteWow, the power of Hulu and fans devotion, yet we are still bound to those damn Nielsen ratings (that represent so few of the people)
ReplyDeleteI thought it was quite a fun, albeit silly show. I watched every episode last year and would be very happy to have it back!
ReplyDeleteRealistically the only real necessity is Shawn Doyle. Arkady could move to a new hotel have new hotel staff around and have a new protege to help him. I guess his sister-in law should be back too. Well technically she was his dead fiance's younger sister and not yet a sister-in law I guess...
well, to keep plot consistency at least. but to keep the atmosphere, we would need almost all of them, or at least Sam, bantender girl, maid and Gallagher's character. they had great chemistry, those 5. I didn't like the sister in law though, but plot-wise, she would have to reappear
ReplyDeleteI just thought to myself that the concept of a chess champion locked in a hotel could be moved to a new hotel with a new supporting cast and still be the same show in basic concept....
ReplyDeleteI was talking worst case scenario I guess. Best case is they all return and use the same location (rebuilding sets etc). The chemistry was definitely a fun part of the show.
That is so Cool! I loved Endgame concept and its execution was superb. I can not wait to see if it get revived!
ReplyDeleteI'm not getting my hopes up, but... i'm hopeful it gets renewed. Wait, damnit.
ReplyDeleteDamn you, Tariq! *shakes fist*
ReplyDeleteI was just making peace with the fact that Endgame wasn't coming back and now you post this. Why must you torture me so?
I dunno. I'd be pretty disappointed if Danni (Katherine Isabelle), Pippa (Melanie Papalia), or Sam (Torrance Coombs) didn't come back.
ReplyDeleteDon't tease me! Discovered it on HULU. Enjoyed the heck out of it and would LOVE to see it come back! I really hope it does.
ReplyDeleteBring it back, but let's let the master get well with each episode this time. It's not fun to see him in his panic attacks. It makes you lose respect for him, not helping himself get better. But bring it back!!!
ReplyDelete