Train 48 was a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
, broadcast on
Global Television NetworkGlobal Television Network is a Canadian English language privately owned television network. It is owned by Canwest Media Inc., a division of Canwest which is headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Throughout the 1990s, it dominated primetime ratings in key markets such as southern Ontario, B.C...
or CH (depending on location) airing from 2003 until 2005.
Train 48 was based on the format of an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n television program called
Going Home.
The show was broadcast daily, and recorded the same day. It took place in a railway carriage of a GO Train returning from
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
to the suburb of
Burlington, OntarioBurlington is a city located in Southern Ontario at the western end of Lake Ontario, lying between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the ridge of the Niagara Escarpment. Politically, the city is part of Halton Region...
, and followed the lives of 12 daily commuters through their interactions.
Train 48 was a
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
, broadcast on
Global Television NetworkGlobal Television Network is a Canadian English language privately owned television network. It is owned by Canwest Media Inc., a division of Canwest which is headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Throughout the 1990s, it dominated primetime ratings in key markets such as southern Ontario, B.C...
or CH (depending on location) airing from 2003 until 2005.
Train 48 was based on the format of an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n television program called
Going Home.
The show was broadcast daily, and recorded the same day. It took place in a railway carriage of a GO Train returning from
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
to the suburb of
Burlington, OntarioBurlington is a city located in Southern Ontario at the western end of Lake Ontario, lying between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the ridge of the Niagara Escarpment. Politically, the city is part of Halton Region...
, and followed the lives of 12 daily commuters through their interactions. Although major plot lines were written in advance, much of the
dialogueA dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. It is also a literary form in which two or more parties engage in a discussion.-Literary and philosophical genre:...
was improvised by the actors. The entire series was shot on a 64-foot replica of a GO Train, which kept production costs to a minimum. The train setting allowed a basic construct where characters would share and act upon their opinions and views. The same-day recording allowed for comments on topical news stories to be introduced. The filming production was completed by 1:30 p.m. and edited by 5:00 p.m., later broadcast into regular time slots in different regions of Canada throughout the day (7:00 p.m. weeknights on
Global in TorontoCIII-TV is a television station owned by Canwest that serves much of the population of the Canadian province of Ontario. From its launch in 1974 until 2009, the station's main transmitter was licensed to Paris, a small town near Brantford, but following a license amendment in 2009, Toronto is now...
). It is estimated that each 30 minute episode cost $40,000 (Canadian).
The method of improvisation, developed by show runners
Duncan McKenzieDuncan McKenzie is a Canadian TV writer and producer. From 1998 to 2003, he was writer and story editor on 108 episodes of the satirical comedy series History Bites....
and Eric Lunsky was a hybrid of techniques used by
Mike LeighMike Leigh, OBE is an English writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and did his early acting with the Royal Shakespeare Company . He began as a theatre director and playwright in the 1960s...
and
Keith JohnstoneKeith Johnstone is a drama instructor whose teachings and books have focused on improvisational theatre and have had a major influence on the art of improvisation.-Education:...
. Actors worked from outline scripts of just a few lines per scene, and an extensive character bio which provided each actor with a background of events and attitudes which might affect the scene.
The improvised format and quick turnaround enabled the inclusion of references to extremely current events, giving a heightened sense of realism and currency. For example the 2003 North America blackout was mentioned the next day. The show typically dealt with fictional relationships, humour and the non-fictional topics mentioned were the cases of
Scott PetersonScott Lee Peterson is an American who was convicted of the murder of his wife, Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant. Peterson's case dominated the American media for many months....
,
Karla HomolkaKarla Leanne Homolka, also known as Karla Leanne Teale , is a Canadian ex-convict who attracted worldwide media attention when she was convicted of manslaughter following a plea bargain in the 1991 rape-murders of two Ontario teenage girls, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, as well as the rape and...
, the SARS outbreak and different views about President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
.
Dilemmas and criticism
When
Train 48 first debuted,
product placementProduct placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the good or...
was an important aspect of the show for the Global Television Network. Characters were seen using
FidoFido may mean:* "Fido" is a common name for a pet dog, Latin for "I am faithful "* Fido , a punk/rock band from Melbourne, Australia* Fido , a 2006 Canadian comedy film* fido.net, an internet service provider...
cell phones, and if someone was seen reading the newspaper, it was the
National PostThe National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, Ontario, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by CanWest Global Communications and is published every Monday through Saturday...
, a newspaper owned by CanWest, the parent company of Global Television. The show’s producers argued that product placement was there to make the show seem more real. Later in the series, the use of product placement diminished, and the range of reading materials and products on the show became more diverse.
During the production of the series between 2003 to 2004, four episodes were aired on Global Television Network during the week. However, in 2005, this was reduced to three. The series dealt with such controversial issues as the adoption of babies by gay couples, in vitro fertilization, single parent families, and euthanasia. A number of events occurred which would be unusual on a real commuter train, including the death of a passenger, a beating, a shooting, an escaped snake, a party, and sex in the train washroom.
The producers received word of the show's cancellation several months ahead of time, allowing them to bring the stories to a conclusion. Throughout the series, viewers had frequently commented that the train seemed to be on a journey to nowhere. In response to this criticism, the final episode showed the train stopped, and the characters emerging from the train onto the platform. This was the only time in the series that characters were ever seen outside the train.
Cancellation
The cancellation of the show was announced publicly on June 2, 2005 by Cindy Wrong. She stated that the final episode would be shown on July 1. After the finale, re-runs of the last few episodes aired until the finale was shown again on September 2. The show was cancelled in order to make way for the launch of
Entertainment Tonight CanadaEntertainment Tonight Canada is a Canadian entertainment newsmagazine series, launched on September 12, 2005 on Global. The program is patterned after the American series Entertainment Tonight, and collaborates closely with its American parent...
.
Theme song
The series theme song was entitled "
Train goes" by Adam Crossley and 9 Point Landing.
Cast
- Krista Sutton
Krista Sutton is a Canadian actress who has worked in television, movies and theatre. She is also an acting teacher. She grew up in Toronto but currently lives in New York City...
(Liz Irwin-Gallo)
- Paul Braunstein
Paul Braunstein is a Canadian actor who starred in the popular Canadian television series Train 48 in 2003 as "Johnny McLaughlin", a comical character...
(Johnny McLaughlin)
- Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Randy Ko)
- Raoul Bhaneja
Raoul Bhaneja is a Canadian actor. He was one of the stars on the short lived TV series Train 48 on Global...
(Peter Subramani) AKA 'Pete'
- Andrew Kenneth Martin
Andrew Kenneth Martin is a Canadian born actor, director, photographer, cinematographer and visual artist. A native of Waterloo, Ontario, he is perhaps best known for appearing in the series Train 48 as Charles Lucas West-Matheson ....
(Charles Lucas West-Matheson)
- Lisa Merchant
Lisa Merchant is a Canadian comic improviser and actress.She played Brenda Murphy on Train 48.She has won three Canadian Comedy Awards for Best Female Improviser ....
(Brenda Murphy)
- Joanne Boland (Dana Davin)
- Jason Cadieux ("Dr David Garneau") (season 2+)
- Joe Dinicol
Joe Dinicol is a Canadian actor.He started his career as a child actor at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and has since appeared on national Canadian television series Train 48 and Rideau Hall...
(Zach Eisler)
- Jack Mosshammer (Seymour Shackleton) (season 2+)
- Ingrid Hart (Shannon Lamarche) (2003-2005)
- Amy Price Francis (Nicole Svendsen) (season 1)
Regular guests
- Allana Harkin (Mag)
- Victoria Adilman (Julia)
- Lindsay Ames (Naomi Reisman)
- Kathryn Zenna (Mel)
- Monica Correa (Ana)
- Kristin Fairlie
Kristin Fairlie is an actress and was a child actress. She was the voice of Little Bear on Little Bear. In 1998 she won a Young Artist of Hollywood Award for Best Ensemble for her lead role in the Showtime original movie The Sweetest Gift. She is also known for voicing Bridgette in Total Drama...
(Jesse)
- Holly Lewis
Holly Lewis is a Canadian actor. Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, Holly is best known for her television and film work, though she does have stage experience as well, working primarily in the Toronto area...
(Allison)
Other guest stars on
Train 48 included politician
Sheila CoppsSheila Maureen Copps, PC is a former Canadian politician.Copps is a second-generation member of a political family that has dominated Hamilton-area politics on the municipal, provincial and federal levels. Her father, Victor K...
, actor
Scott ThompsonScott Thompson is a Canadian television comedian, best known for his time as a member of the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall.-Early life:...
, emmy award winning actress
Joanne VannicolaJoanne Vannicola is a Canadian actress, born in Montreal, Quebec in 1968. She is most notable for her role as Dr. Mia Stone in PSI Factor and as the voice of Willy Zilla in Gene Simmons' animated television show My Dad the Rock Star....
, comedian
Rick GreenRick Green is a Canadian comedian, satirist, and writer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo. From 1975 until 1979, he worked as a presenter at the Ontario Science Centre. In 1979, he helped found the Toronto-based comedy troupe The Frantics...
, and former
MuchMusicMuchMusic is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by CTVglobemedia. MuchMusic is dedicated to music, music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...
personality
Amanda WalshAmanda Walsh is a Canadian actress and former VJ for the Canadian television station MuchMusic.-Career beginnings:Walsh was born in Rigaud, Quebec. She went to Hudson High School, in Hudson, Quebec...
.
CanWest Global in partnership with Global had promoted the series with stories and columns in the
National PostThe National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, Ontario, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by CanWest Global Communications and is published every Monday through Saturday...
and
Toronto StarThe Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, though its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
newspapers.