Flashpoint is produced in Canada and CBS has licensed episodes since 2008 and used the show mostly as an off-season utility player. Last summer, CBS aired most of the episodes from season three but still had six installments left on the shelf. In January, the decision was made to license seven more episodes, combine them with the leftover six and run them as season four. They began airing in early May.
That left 11 episodes of the cop drama that weren’t being licensed by CBS. They are on track to be aired in Canada this summer.
CTV has now ordered a fifth season of 18 episodes. Flashpoint is the most-watched Canadian drama and has averaged more than 1.5 million viewers (an impressive number by Canadian TV standards). The new order will bring the series’ episode total to 80 installments, making it the longest-running original scripted series currently on Canadian television.
There’s been no word on whether CBS will license any more episodes or not but the ratings certainly haven’t been impressive. Thus far this season, Flashpoint’s been averaging just a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 6.42 million total viewers. Per the early numbers, last night’s installment tied a repeat of Shark Tank in the demo.
On the other hand, the show doesn’t cost the network as much as producing their own scripted dramas.
Once the new episodes are filmed and completed, there will be 29 episodes that CBS hasn’t licensed. We’ll have to wait to see when or if American audiences will get a chance to see them.
What do you think? Are you glad to hear Flashpoint has been renewed? Should CBS license more episodes?
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