Power Play: 100% Canadian Made - Page 2


© Jael Mehr
Page 2
Of the three supporting main actors, it is probably Gordon Pinsent as Duff McArdle that wins the most attention. Well-known for his role as Frasier's deceased father on the two "Due South" serieses, Pinsent brings his special brand of Canadian charm and humor to this role as well. Duff is the owner of the team, but keeps his fingers dipping in other honey pots as well. Viewers follow him throughout the season, seeing him first as a wealthy, but very eccentric, man, but then, closer to the end of the season, his eccentricity is left in question as his questionable medical status is revealed. Caterina Scorsone, who plays Parker's college co-ed daughter Michelle, and Dean McDermott, who plays hockey player Mark Simpson, are well-cast, but underused for the most part. Michelle seems to survive solely when some humanizing is needed for Parker, and Mark's purpose on the show seems to be the same all the time -- "Come on, team, let's go out there and play!"

Because the show is about hockey, it's not surprising that four of the five supporting cast are "members" of the team. Jonathan Rannells plays "Terminal" Todd Maplethorpe, the team's main enforcer, who actually has a fairly large role in some of the final episodes of the first season. Mark Lutz (who most CTV viewers probably know as "the guy in the Scope commercial") plays Finnish player Juko Branny-Acke, the teams main scorer, who is sent off at the end of the season to serve his compulsory term in the Finnish military. Al Waxman is Coach Strand, who seems to be pushing for the team to fail. At every opportunity he drives the team down, even going so far in one episode to undermine the team captain (Simpson) by sending him off on a false errand while he encourages the team to play badly because the paycheques haven't come through yet. Normand Bissonnette, who plays the odd ("but nice") goalie, is seldom seen, but is a welcome comic relief in his scenes, and Lori Alter, who plays Renata D'Alessandro, is an interesting addition to the cast as Parker's whiz assistant, who won't work weekends under any circumstance, and is reminiscent in many ways of the "Due South" character of Francesca Vecchio.

The show has also had some interesting guest appearances in its run, particularly in the series finale, where long-time hockey legend Don Cherry makes an appearance, as do series creators Laurin and Davis, and Canadian regular (Bernie on "Taking the Falls"), and profiles a number of other Canadian actors throughout the season (including "Traders" regular Gabriel Hogan as bad boy Bobby Gunn), and uses, as back-up hockey players, not actors, but actual hockey players who, while they may not play NHL, are still impressive on the ice and lend to the realistic hockey scenes.

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

2.   Apr 3, 1999 2:55 AM
You should check out "In Desperate Battle: Normandy 1944", in the CBC mini-series The Valour and the Horror. Campbell plays one of the talkies. ;)

I'll probably get to "DaVinci's Inquest" so ...


-- posted by Jael


1.   Mar 31, 1999 8:14 AM
Hi, J.I. Enjoyed your article, although I never watched the show. How about writing something about DaVinci's Inquest, the CBC drama about a Vancouver coroner? The actor who plays the lead (is it N ...

-- posted by bridget1





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