Night Heat

Night Heat is one of the best TV Series Cop Shows for sure. A great Canadian cast and was shot at night entirely all over Toronto,Ontario. I remember seeing the show being filmed all the time and for us that live in Toronto, it was always fun to figure out where abouts the scenes were shot when watching. Jeff Wincott stole the show with his under rated acting. Too bad that his brother Michael Wincott has been alot more successful that him. Scott Hylands, Sean McCann show there experiemce acting in the show as well. McCann is always great in whatever role he gets, also is a nice guy when you run into him on the streets of Toronto. The entire cast had great chemistry, one of those rare drama shows where the entire cast is talented. Too bad CBS scrapped thier CBS Late Night timeslot, but when they wanted in on the Late Night Talk Show circuit, well Night Heat had to be the sacrifice. Reruns are un up here in Canada I don't know about in the USA. One great thing about the show was they always had good guest stars like Danny Aiello, and Hector Elizondo and they were great with the cast. Another few Canadian shot shows to check out if you can are Hot Shots, Sirens and Diamonds. You will see the same Canadian actors playing bit parts in these ones. If you can catch the Night Heat reruns, I say do so. Not cheesy at all.

Guess I'm biased! It was a great Canadian series, shot in Toronto (my birthplace). Being from Toronto, the background scenery was very familiar and added to the realism. My wife and I enjoyed all the actors, although some were being re-cast as different guest villains,etc. a little too much. We especially like the "confrontations" between cops "Kevin & Frank" and "Whitey".

I didn't start watching this show until the late 80s, but really enjoyed it. Very unique police program, and great cast as well. Eventually the show ended it's run, and the re-runs were hard to come by, so hopefully I can get a few on video. Very intriguing episodes, as they all occurred at night. While many of the actors, including Eugene Clark, Clark Johnson (Homicide fame) and Jeff Wincott.

It was definitely a break from the American cop shows, in that it had a certain mystique and roughness to it. Don't get me wrong..I love the American shows, but Night Heat more or less broke the mold. I also enjoyed other Canadian shows such as "Hot Shots" and "Diamonds".

This lasted several years despite the late hour it was on.

Like a lot of 80's crime dramas, it looked cold. Both physically and figuratively. This isn't a bad thing though. And the (obviously) low budget actually worked in it's favor. Gritty during a time when 'slick' was in.

Allan Royal's wraparound segments as the news writer gave it a slight edge.

The only actors I remembered were Scott Nylands (Earthquake) and Tony Rosato (SCTV). The cast of barely knowns was a good thing because one could see the group as a whole and not as a bunch of people supporting a 'star.' And yes, that's a young Clark Johnson (Homicide) in a recurring spot.

I hope a DVD release is in the future. Someone out there wanna get on that?

While I can empathize with Canadain viewers who like seeing Canadian actors in roles, and enjoy seeing Toronto and other major Canadian cities on American television, etc., I also can't get past being bothered when a show made anywhere in Canada pretends to be from a gritty American city like New York, especially the New York underworld which would generate the most activity for criminals and work for detectives. Sorry, but Canada is just too sanitized. I had the same problem with "Police Surgeon" in the 1970s. In any event, however, the theme music and opening of "Night Heat" was terrific. I still have a sound recording and play it, even though it runs less than a minute, just because I like it!