Da Vinci's Inquest

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

I don't know if this has been discussed here in the past, but are there any Di Vinci's Inquest watchers here? I saw the show a couple of months ago, and I thought it was pretty good, but a tad on the dry side. It is not by any means a "must watch" for me now, but I catch it once in a while, and it's starting to grow on me now. The thing that made me bring it up on this board is the cast, and how half the fun in watching is to see what characters are going to pop up. I almost wonder if any of the creators have worked with Chris Carter on Millennium or X-files. I have now watched about four episodes and have already seen appearances by Sarah Jane Redmond (Lucy Butler), the actor who played Ephraim Fabricant, the actor who played McClaren (Frank and Emma's boss in season 2, and also made a brief appearance in season 1), the actor who appeared in an X-files episode (played the war veteran with no arms and legs who could project himself outside his body in the form of a phantom), as well as the actor who played "Pusher" on X-files and made an appearance in Millennium's Teotwawki. I'm also pretty sure I saw the police detective that Mulder worked with in one of my all time favorite episodes of X-files, Mind's Eye. It's funny, just now, while watching and typing, it hit me that one of the regular characters, Helen, was in the Millennium episode "Force Majeure". It's really a good show, but even if it sucked, it would be fun to watch, just to see who popped up next... Hmm, interesting, now that I look at the list of credits, it looks that everyone seems to have been on X-files or Millennium. I see that another regular, Donnelly Rhodes has been on both X-files and Millennium twice, all as different characters. It almost seems like a prerequisite to being on this show is having been on X-files and/or Millennium. It's funny, every actor I look up has been on one of the two, even if it was a small part.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

hmm, interesting, it looks as though the actor who played Ephraim Fabricant on Millennium has three credits from X-files episodes that I don't recall. I don't watch X-files like I used to, but i'll bet a lot of the guest stars on the show would be a lot more familiar, now that they have appeared on other shows. I have cought a few X-files episodes lately. Maybe it would seem a little more fresh, after all this time, if I started watching again. I have probably seen every episode a dozen or so times, but it has been several years sense I have watched regularly.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

It's largely because the show is based in Vancouver, which has a much smaller pool of talent available than the likes of LA.

You'll notice all the simmilar actors in other Vancouver shows too, such as Smallville and Battlestar Galactica -- there's alot of overlap.

The actor who played Fabricant appeared in the X-Files episodes "Humbug", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", all written by Darin Morgan, before appearing in "Lamentation", and he later cropped up in the Darin Morgan written and directed MM episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me".

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

It's largely because the show is based in Vancouver, which has a much smaller pool of talent available than the likes of LA.

You'll notice all the simmilar actors in other Vancouver shows too, such as Smallville and Battlestar Galactica -- there's alot of overlap.

The actor who played Fabricant appeared in the X-Files episodes "Humbug", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose" and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space", all written by Darin Morgan, before appearing in "Lamentation", and he later cropped up in the Darin Morgan written and directed MM episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me".

Yes, I noticed that "Fabricant" had appeared in those three episodes, but I can't for the life of me remember him in them. I usually pick up on these things. I also don't remember him in Somehow Satan Got Behind Me. Do you know what his role was in that episode.... Interesting points on the talent pool. I hadn't considered that. Still, it does seem to be an enormous concentration of X-files/Millennium guests, but I guess, when you think about it, many of them had smaller roles, and there were a lot of guests on those two series. Hey, maybe Di Vinci will pick up Melinda McGraw as a cast regular. She has been on both shows, and if I remember correctly, she is from Canada, so she fits all the prerequisites.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

The actor in question was the owner of the P.T. Barnam museum in "Humbug", the tarot card reader in "Clyde Bruckman's...", and the hypnotist in "Jose Chung's...". As for "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me", he played the devil who told the tale of the broadcast standards and practices man. I'll have to look his name up at some point to give him the credit he deserves.

There are only so many actors in Vancouver, so it's not all that surprising that all the best ones appear in most of the shows filmed up there, which is why we recognise so many from Millennium, Harsh Realm, The Lone Gunmen, and the first five seasons of The X-Files. That's a total of 206 episodes shot in Vancouver by Ten Thirteen Productions!

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

The actor in question was the owner of the P.T. Barnam museum in "Humbug", the tarot card reader in "Clyde Bruckman's...", and the hypnotist in "Jose Chung's...". As for "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me", he played the devil who told the tale of the broadcast standards and practices man. I'll have to look his name up at some point to give him the credit he deserves.

There are only so many actors in Vancouver, so it's not all that surprising that all the best ones appear in most of the shows filmed up there, which is why we recognise so many from Millennium, Harsh Realm, The Lone Gunmen, and the first five seasons of The X-Files. That's a total of 206 episodes shot in Vancouver by Ten Thirteen Productions!

Thanks for the info. I still can't say I remember the appearances, but I will have a little of added interest as I start to take in an occasional X-files episode now and then. I still think it's up there with the all time great shows, but when it was picked up by FX, I think I over dosed on it a little bit. I still do run across it from time to time and watch some of the better ones, and Clyde Buckman is one of them. I am also about due for another viewing of Somehow Satan Got.... so I will keep my eyes open for him in that one too.

As for the Vancouver talent, yes, that does make sense. I guess it's easy to forget that Millennium was not actually shot in Seattle, and I think a great deal of X-files was shot in Vancouver as well. I thought I remembered reading something about the X-files moving at some point. Wasn't that to accommodate Duchovny or something?

[Guest ZeusFaber]

The first five seasons of The X-Files were shot in Vancouver, then production moved to Los Angeles for the sixth season onwards, largely to accommodate David Duchovny as you say.

The actor wanted to spend more time with his wife and family in LA, and would have appeared in only a handful of episode in the sixth season had production stayed in Vancouver. So the show moved.

Millennium, Harsh Realm and The Lone Gunmen were all based in Vancouver for the entirety of their runs.

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

The first five seasons of The X-Files were shot in Vancouver, then production moved to Los Angeles for the sixth season onwards, largely to accommodate David Duchovny as you say.

The actor wanted to spend more time with his wife and family in LA, and would have appeared in only a handful of episode in the sixth season had production stayed in Vancouver. So the show moved.

Millennium, Harsh Realm and The Lone Gunmen were all based in Vancouver for the entirety of their runs.

Thanks for the additional information. I hope this doesn't draw too many boos and hisses, but I never could get into Harsh Realm, and didn't like the Lone Gunmen. They just didn't work for me outside the X-files. This might sound like a dumb question to the average Chris Carter fanatic, but what is Chris up to these days?

[Guest ZeusFaber]

Glad to be of help.

I thought Harsh Realm was very interesting with a lot of potential and a very strong cast (with the possible exception of Samantha Mathis). I was less enamoured with TLG when compared with the other 1013 shows, but still worthy of a longer run IMO.

CC does not curently have any projects in production, but between periods of R&R he is working on an adaptation of A Phillosophical Investigation, a screenplay for his long-term project The Worlds of Ted Serios, as well as negotiating a second movie for The X-Files. He was most recently in the news for filing a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox in a dispute over payments for the series' syndication deal.

[Guest chrisnu]

I love Da Vinci's Inquest. For some reason, WGN started airing it from Season 5 onward, so I've seen most from there to the end of the show. I loved it. Old-fashioned murder stories, colorful characters, dialogue like jazz, just my thing. Season 7 was very different in that it focused primarily on the political arena, but that was similarly well-done. Going back to Season 1 was a little rough, a little too much like a TV show, if you know what I mean, but the show was finding its feet. I'm into Season 3 now, and while it has a more procedural feel than the latter seasons, the character work is just as sharp. I record it on my Tivo all the time... and I've stopped counted the number of Vancouver actors I've seen in 1013 productions. There's far too many.