Traders

Thankfully this program is still in reruns and it takes a long time to get through five seasons, but what a series! A weekly TV series based on the goings on in the financial industry may sound like a yawner, but not at all. The cast is large and varied, but the most memorable cast member is head floor trader Marty Stephens, played by comedian Patrick McKenna, whose eccentric character is never underplayed. Great supporting cast also includes the wonderful David Hewlett as the quirky yet brilliant computer genius who specializes in the derivatives market. Drama, suspense, and even action-thriller in some plots keeps viewers on edge and wanting more.

Season three storyline about corporate financier Jack Larkin (played by David Cubitt) and bad guy Jean-Paul Brunet (played by Carlo Rota) is one of the best, though new cast additions in the fourth and fifth season and new story lines do not draw away the attention from the main characters.

Viewers not familiar with investment jargon will not be lost in trying to follow story lines. If Marty screams "SELL !!!" he's probably running with the bulls. Throughout the five seasons, we get to see a myriad of stories including some real business scandals made fictional, the popular activity of day trading, insider trading, bankruptcy and restructuring, and others.

Series was nominated and won numerous Gemini Awards in the mid to late 1990s, and most recently listed as one of Canada's Top 10 best shows of all time. Too bad only season one is available on DVD. Series deserves a finale two-hour movie.

This may sound unpatriotic, but I've always shyed away from Canadian attempts at this type of prime time drama. They've always had a kind of style about them that shouted "Canadian" in a non complimentary way. So when Traders premiered I was reluctant to give it a try. Thank heavens I gave in and viewed it. I was hooked from the very first.

Traders is decidedly Canadian. It takes place in a real Canadian city and is full of references to Canadian culture and institutions. Luckily, this is of no importance at all to the quality of the show. Both the writing and acting can stand shoulder to shoulder with any Prime Time drama produced anywhere in the world, including the best of both American and British television. It did not have to try and sell itself to me by appealing to some sense of patriotic duty to Canadian media like so many other past attempts.

When this show premiered, it was up against the brand new "ER". The magic of video allowed me to view both shows and make my choice. "ER" lost.

It goes to prove that when we stop trying to be so "Canadian" and just try to concentrate on quality, we can kick some major derriere.

Hi everyone,

I am a fan of this show and I recently purchased Season 1 on DVD with the full intent of buying the rest of the series when it came out on DVD. However, it seems as though Alliance Atlantis is taking their time in releasing Seasons Two and beyond. So I emailed Alliance Atlantis and this is the response I received:

From: HomeVideo@AllianceAtlantis.com Date: Tue Aug 02, 2005 02:28:09 PM CDT Subject: RE: "Traders" Seasons Two and beyond?

Thank-you for taking the time to write to us here at Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution, Home Entertainment.

Unfortunately we do not have any immediate plans to release further seasons of "Traders".

I hope this answers all of your questions, any further inquiries please don't hesitate to contact us, and thank-you once again for writing to Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment.

So if you, like I, love this series and would like the rest to be released on DVD. Email HomeVideo@AllianceAtlantis.com and request that they release it!!!

I just thought I'd share this with all the other fans of this great Canadian TV series.

-Mr Toby

This award winning drama has everything that a person could want. Love, betrayal, money, sex, humour, great acting, everything! Bruce Grey as awesome as Adam Cunningham, the member of the Old Guard on Bay Street, and Sonia Smits is superb as Sally Ross, the scholar turned broker. Great writing makes the show fresh and interesting. It's only down point is that some of the terms used on the show are a bit too technical. All in all I give it 9 out of ten.

This was a great drama which I wish stayed on the air longer than it had. Full of great actors and suspenseful plots which carry on from episode to episode. Rick Roberts and David Hewlett are hilarious together- David Hewlett himself is such an underrated actor. He's so different as Grant that it's almost hard to recognize him from his other work.

The only thing that irritates me is the camera work- too shaky and too many close ups. But the show itself usually makes up for that. I would recommend this for anyone.