Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: In the summer of 2008, Flashpoint became the first of several Canadian series picked up around the writers strike to premiere on a U.S. network, CBS. It became the first and only Canadian series success story here until the debut of Rookie Blue on ABC this summer. Now, Flashpoint has become the first of the Canadian imports to land a U.S. syndication deal in a complex arrangement with CBS and ION that will allow both Flashpoint‘s current U.S. network home, CBS, and its new one, ION, to air originals of the procedural about an elite tactical unit.

CBS currently has 6 unaired episodes from Flashpoint‘s third season that it had been keeping as a backup but won’t need this season as CBS’ drama lineup has performed well. Meanwhile, because of the success of the series in Canada, its broadcaster there, CTV, has already greenlighted an 18-episode fourth season. CBS will pick up 7 of the 18 episodes from Season 4 to air with the 6 unaired Season 3 segments for a 13-episode run during the summer. Soon after that, ION is expected to begin airing all 51 episodes of the show that will have aired on CBS. Additionally, ION will premiere the remaining 11 episodes of Flashpoint’s fourth season.

Flashpoint will feel right at home on ION whose drama lineup consists entirely of CBS off-network series: Criminal Minds, Without a Trace and Ghost Whisperer. (The deals for 2 of them, Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer, were made by CBS TV Distribution.) Additionally, ION recently aired several Canadian drama series, Durham County, The Border and The Guard, which all made their U.S. premieres on the broadcast network. Flashpoint, which stars Enrico Colantoni, is produced by Avamar Entertainment and Pink Sky Entertainment. The show was created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern, with Anne Marie La Traverse and Bill Mustos serving as executive producers.

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