| View Larger Image | Terminal City: The Complete Series | DVDStarring: Maria Del Mar, Gil Bellows, Paul Sole, Jane McLean, Adam Butcher
Directed By: Rachel Talalay, Lynne Stopkewich, Kari Skogland, Stephen Surjik
| List Price: | $39.98 | | Price: | $34.99 | | You Save: | $4.99 (12%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 490 minutes | | Format: | Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | Koch Vision | | Number of Discs: | 3 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.77:1 | | Release Date: | August 05, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 44,204th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Description
Hailed as "imaginative and fun" (Entertainment Weekly) and "unlike anything else" (Time Out NY) – the complete, award-winning series as seen on the Sundance Channel. After being told that she has breast cancer, Katie (Maria Del Mar) stumbles onto the set of a hospital-based reality show. Her engaging personality stuns the TV world and electrifies the audience. Suddenly, she is thrust into the spotlight and single-handedly turns the show into a hit. Now, Katie – along with her conflicted husband Ari (Gil Bellows), three rebellious kids and difficult father-in-law – must cope with fame, fear, life and death. Stay tuned! DVD Extras:Bonus interviews with creator, cast and crew |
Amazon.com
Terminal City resides at the intersection of one of contemporary society's most serious, terrifying phenomena--cancer--and one of its most frivolous, though nearly as ubiquitous--reality TV. The resulting fictional series, produced in Canada, is a riveting satire that manages to be respectful and nuanced in the drama its ill characters face, while skewering the crass voyeurism that reality TV has spawned. The show follows Katie (played by Maria Del Mar), a married mom who learns she has breast cancer. At the hospital to begin her treatment, she lands squarely in the midst of a reality show called "Post-Op," hosted by an unctuous and untelegenic doctor whose platitudes are lame at best and unhelpful at worst ("We must all show compassion to the littlest people," he pronounces, after examining a child with an arm in a sling.) Katie is captured on camera, and manages to steal the show--literally. She becomes the new host of the series, and Terminal City then follows her own personal dramas along with the ones happening live on set. It's like The Truman Show meets EdTV with a little bit of Dr. 90210, only with much more serious implications. Del Mar is a capable, captivating star, and the rest of the Canadian cast, including Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal) as Katie's husband, is terrific. The show intends to make the audience squirm, and it succeeds--and will give viewers something to think about the next time they tune in to a reality show. Extras include a moving interview with the series' creator and executive producer, Angus Fraser, who relates how he came up with the idea: a cancer scare involving his own mother, in which "the door was open and we could see what it would be like to lose a parent at a very young age." The show itself is dedicated to continuing to look into that scary open door. --A.T. Hurley |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 8 reviews)
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Uneven, watch it for Maria del Mar by Craig Clarke (New England)  3 Stars
March 19, 2009
Katie Sampson has a lump in her breast. This is going to change her life in more than the expected way. On leaving the hospital following a biopsy, Katie is interviewed by the waning medical reality show Post Op!, and her winning personality and openness reinvigorate viewers. Quickly, the producers retool the show to focus on her as both host and subject, and the newly titled No Show is a huge success.
Much like the fictional No Show, the success of Terminal City lies in Katie Sampson -- or, rather, in the actress who plays her, Maria del Mar. Del Mar wins over viewers with her own engaging charm, and she carries this Canadian miniseries (that saw its American premiere on the Sundance Channel) on her shoulders.
Or on her chest, as the case may be. For in many ways, it is not just Katie but also Katie's breasts that are the focus of Terminal City. Creator Angus Fraser (who wrote all ten episodes) and the four directors never let us forget what's at stake, and Del Mar's own toplessness is showcased in different ways. I can't tell if this is meant to be titillating, but that it will undoubtedly be to many viewers is used by the filmmakers to perhaps make us think again, to treat Katie's breasts as just another body part.
However, this is television, a visual medium, and one wonders if lung, bone, or any other cancer would have been as appealing to Fraser as one whose subject can so easily cause such a combination of reactions in the viewer. Also, a good deal of dark humor is present, leading many to compare the miniseries to another dealing with death, Six Feet Under.
In a series of interviews with the cast and crew -- the only extra on this three-DVD set -- Fraser expounds on his inspiration for the Terminal City (his mother's own cancer scare), and he very specifically wants to make us think. Perhaps the intent is partially to keep us uncomfortable in much the same way that Katie's husband Ari (Gil Bellows) seems to spend the majority of his screen time.
In any case, it is a good thing that Katie's story is so compelling because the supporting plotlines involving the other Sampson family members are simply not equal to it, and often seem like filler. The attempt of daughter Sarah (Katie Boland) to seduce her teacher (Nakul Kupur) is completely predictable, though the young Boland has a certain screen presence. The affair older son Nicky (Adam Butcher) has with a married European woman (Stellina Rusich) seems merely an excuse to feature a different pair of breasts now and then.
The problem Ari's father Saul (Paul Soles) has dealing with his past comes across as an attempt to shock and yet appear additionally "thought-provoking" in addressing Holocaust themes. And younger son Eli (Nico McEown) and his crisis of faith are merely annoying. Someone from Katie's past (inspired by seeing her on TV) also suddenly decides to appear, bringing up memories and at least one genuine surprise (though it's obvious long before it's actually "revealed").
In all, it's just really hard to believe that every member of the Sampson family would be going through these major life events all at the same time. They have hardly any time left to support their dying matriarch. And if this weren't enough, the crew of No Show have their own problems to deal with, especially producer Jane Richards (Jane McLean).
The ten 40-minute episodes are certainly watchable (especially if you don't mind fast-forwarding through the slower parts), and the finale is original and moving, if a little hard for a jaded realist to accept at moments. (It's also only effective once you've seen everything leading up to it, but it's still the best of the set and quite a way to go out.) There are several jabs at the reality-TV phenomenon (an easy target, but still), but the primary reason to watch Terminal City is to discover a potential new star in the fine acting of Maria del Mar, and to watch her grasp this opportunity by the hair and steer it where she wants it to go. The actress gets to embody the full range of emotion, and she never once rings a false note. I definitely hope this leads to further substantial roles for her in the future.
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Mixed feelings on Terminal City by Lee Mellott (Frederick, Maryland) 3 Stars
October 19, 2008
Though "Terminal City" is described as "imaginative and fun" on the back of the box by Entertainment Weekly. I have mixed feelings. (BTW, I don't know why Entertainment Weekly would find a woman scared out of her mind and dying of breast cancer imaginative and fun).
The concept was good and the acting excellent. It is just that some of the scenes just didn't feel right.
At the beginning of the series, our lead actress is at a golf course, wearing a ludicrous outfit of a skirt and gloves. The outfit alone was bad enough but then she hits golf balls into other peoples homes (breaking windows) because of her diagnosis.
In another scene she is driving up the road and showing her breast to her daughter as she drives. Just unrealistic.
However, as mentioned the concept of a reality series built around her illness is good. And it kept my attention.
Not as good as Weeds or Six Feet Under but still an interesting show.
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While the last episode was almost beautiful, the rest did not cut it for me by Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) 3 Stars
September 25, 2008
OK. I tried to like this series. We went through a battle with cancer in our family during 2007, so I understand that topicality. And I appreciate the fine work every one of the actors put into their roles. I think the photography is quite good, too. But the script is so awkward and strained that the whole production ends up being less than the sum of its parts. The music also contributes very little to the story. It is just too flat and often just creepy. I know they didn't want to be cliché, but creepy is worse.
The series has conflicting premises. It seems to want to be satire or farce about reality TV, but it also wants to treat Katie's breast cancer seriously. This is a conflict that cannot be and is not resolved. Some of the characters are caricatures, and even Katie is damaged by being ridiculous in her TV host role and yet, being vulnerable and human in her illness. The all powerful crazed show producer is a cartoon and would have been wonderful in a farce, but he seems awfully out of place in this series. The actor plays this role wonderfully, but the role is wrong for this piece.
Jane McLean as Jane Richards is the only character that bridges both worlds and her struggle with her family is the only aspect of the story that I wish had been better developed. Otherwise, I think the story would have been better in five episodes instead of ten. In the extras the producer lists a bunch of topics he thinks his series "tackled". But it doesn't "tackle" any of them! It uses them and puts them on screen, but simply showing a picture of a problem is nothing! You have to have a point of view that actually says something rather than merely exhibiting the "topic". Supposing that you have tackled something by showing it is really an odd notion.
Frankly, every one of the central characters is an awful person. (Again, the actors did a fine job). I would not want to know or be friends with any of these people. Their language is unnecessarily coarse. I mean really awful language. At one point the mother praises the "f" word to her daughter. If "real" people swear like this, I don't associate with them and I certainly find it unnecessary in TV shows. Every one of Sampson family members, including the teenagers, thinks that sex is the most important aspect of life and should be indulged in rather indiscriminately and any kind of bad behavior to obtain it is justified. This is still quite immoral in my book.
As for the cancer, the series obviously cannot show how awful it really is. After all the actors are not sick, but Emma Thompson in "Wit" pulls it off much better. First of all, Katie doesn't get sick enough soon enough. She has too much energy for someone several months into chemotherapy. You do a lot more than just vomit inconveniently every now and again. Also, much more should have been done with Katie's mother. She just sort of shows up and nothing much gets resolved or explained. Yes, we learn about Katie's lost brother, but the series never explores the way that loss affected Katie or why mother and daughter were so deeply estranged for so long and they never talk about Katie's illness and death in anything approaching the way real people set the past aside and reach out to each other in such extremity.
Still, the last episode is something special. It is not a mere natural history of the last stages of Katie's illness. Maria del Mar should be especially praised for her performance in this episode. The blending of the real, the longing, the emotional presence, and bewilderment is moving and memorable. Gil Bellows is very good as Katie's husband, Ari. But the role is not much. Ari is quite passive and does little to actually father his children except encourage them in what ends up being awful behavior. Paul Soles as Ari's father Saul is very good, but Saul is also a cartoon. He is so off the wall that his transformation can't get to our heart. We wonder why his long life experience hasn't already taught him these lessons.
So, if you want a series that makes a reality TV show out of breast cancer, enjoy coarse language, focuses on sex like a mania, has some nudity, and treats immoral behavior as a normal part of life, this show could be for you.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
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Cancer and Reality Television by Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas)  5 Stars
September 16, 2008
"Terminal City"
Cancer and Reality Television
Amos Lassen
There is nothing like a good mini-series to get one's mind off of the troubles of the world. The soap operas have been using the technique for years with "the you think you have troubles well come see mine" syndrome. The producers of "Terminal City" felt that his would work during prime time and so we get "Terminal City" (Koch Vision), the story of what happens when fame and family come head to head. Originally produced for Canadian television, here is a show that pulls the viewer in and it is now available on DVD.
Katie Simpson (Maria Del Mar) is a 43 year old mother of three who is diagnosed with breast cancer and is then recruited to host a reality show that is hospital based. Katie has quite a family--her husband (Gil Bellows, a father-in-law (Paul Soles) who is a holocaust survivor, a daughter (Katie Boland) who is rebellious, a teenage son who adores marijuana and older women and a seven year old son who is obsessed with death and God. Katie is facing a serious battle and immediately after she has had her biopsy, she accidentally runs into "Post Op!" a TV reality show which airs from the hospital but is not doing very well. Katie takes over the show and with her warm personality, she manages to electrify the small audience as the hostess. She quickly rises in television and becomes the most watched woman on the Canadian television screen. As the cancer takes over her body and her life begins to change, her viewing audience continues to grow.
With a plot about cancer, this is no comedic fare but the excellent writing and emotional plot lines; we find that we are drawn into the story. Cancer is treated here with a smirk and a giggle and this causes the series to work.
Here is a family with problems and they deal with them. I found myself caring about all of the characters even if some of them are stereotypes. We see that real people do get sick and suffer. The story is raw and uncompromising and it makes one wonder if some wrongs need to be righted. There is great humanity here and playing the theme of cancer as black comedy was a brilliant suggestion and we watch how the ideas of a television and fame are carefully examined. Maria Del Mar is a fantastic actress and she proves that once again in "Terminal City". This exploration of a family in time of crisis which lives on the edge is a series that you should want to see.
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Couldn't turn it off.... by Jennifer P. Sheets (Wolf Creek, OREGON) 5 Stars
August 24, 2008
Watching this series made me think about how when faced with a situation like terminal illness or just normal stressful times in your life...People still try to stay composed and focused. I think that they do this for their loved ones because on the inside, in their own minds, they must be going insane with worry or fear and the like.
I loved how the writers of this show let the lead actress "go a bit nuts" and how the husband supported that.
I compare this show to series like Weeds, Dead Like Me and Six Feet Under...
Don't be fooled by the title or the topic....It will keep you watching.......and thinking, I know it did me!
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