Show's end a black day in Hubbards
Wednesday, January 13, 1999
Axed CBC series pumped millions into South Shore By PAT LEE -- Halifax Herald
Will Nick and Katherine rekindle their romance? Will Len ever leave the monastery?
Unless these plot teasers are resolved in the next four broadcasts of Black Harbour, they'll forever remain a mystery. The Nova Scotia-set TV drama has been cancelled by the CBC.
"It's confirmed, it's official, we've been cancelled," said Mike Volpe, the Halifax-based co-producer of Black Harbour, the first dramatic TV series to be set in Nova Scotia.
Filmed in and around Mill Cove near Hubbards, the series employed 80 to 100 cast and crew when in production.
The show also generated economic spinoffs for South Shore businesses and individuals, from people who rented out their homes to cast and crew to convenience stores that supplied Black Harbour employees with cigarettes and milk.
Mike Montgomery, manager of the Mill Cove Park Development Agency, which runs the defunct military base, said Black Harbour pumped about $2 million a year into the community.
The agency, which will seek a new tenant, has done a feasibility study on transforming Mill Cove into a permanent sound stage.
"We knew it would run its course," he said of the show. "But it has been a great run for us and the community.
"The direct spending by the production in goods and services was substantial. It was certainly equal to the spinoff that the military ever had when it was here," he said.
"There isn't a single business in Hubbards that didn't sell products and services to this production. Not one. I've tried to find one, but I can't."
He would not say how much money Mill Cove Park received for leasing its buildings to the show.
Mr. Montgomery said the series' less tangible benefit was its appeal to tourists.
"I've had some anecdotal evidence from tourism operators about the number of people who would arrive in Hubbards asking about Black Harbour and where they could see people affiliated with the production," he said.
Marshall Hector, owner of the local Home Hardware, agreed that the show's cancellation is going to put a bit of a squeeze on sales.
"We'll certainly miss their business," he said Tuesday.
Locals who were hired as extras and crew will also feel the effect because "their wage scale was fairly high."
Terry June Harnish, who lives in the house used as the facade of the Hubbard family home in the show, said the news was "a big stab in the heart of all of us."
Mr. Volpe's Top Sail Entertainment produced the series with Fogbound Films of Toronto.
The cancellation did not come as a complete surprise, he said. "We were expecting the possibility."
Slawko Klymkiw, head of network programming for the CBC, said Tuesday that Black Harbour's three seasons should be looked at as a success, given the highly competitive television market.
"It had a very loyal audience and it did a lot of the things that we as a public broadcaster wanted it to do," he said from Toronto.
Hoping to use the series as a tourist draw, the Hubbards Cove Business Association erected a sign on Highway 103 proclaiming the area Home of TV's Black Harbour.
The show moved into the former Mill Cove military base, which served as Black Harbour's production offices and sound stage.
The cancellation of the series was not unexpected, considering the show's 35 per cent drop from an average 715,000 viewers in its first season.
"Our numbers were solid, but not spectacular," Mr. Volpe said.
The one-hour drama, which airs Fridays at 9 p.m. until Feb. 5, centres on the lives and loves of the residents of the South Shore's fictional Black Harbour, including Katherine Hubbard, played by Rebecca Jenkins, her ex-husband Nick (Geraint Wyn Davies) and the couple's two daughters (Nova Scotia actors Melanie Foley and Barrett Porter).
Much of the show's first season dealt with the family's adjustment to moving from Los Angeles to Katherine's home town, a small fishing village.
This season the action briefly moved to Halifax, where Katherine got dragged into a convenience store robbery and her brother Len was in court for dealing in stolen goods.
Rita Howell, a Nova Scotia actor who joined the cast this season as Katherine's Aunt Sophie, was disappointed to hear the series had been canned.
"I had hoped it would go on," she said from her home in Port Medway.
"But I had fun while it lasted. They were a great company to work for and it restored my faith in television," said the actor, who has worked mainly on the stage for the last couple of decades.
With Gerrie Grevatt, South Shore Bureau
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Wednesday, January 13, 1999
Axed CBC series pumped millions into South Shore By PAT LEE -- Halifax Herald
Will Nick and Katherine rekindle their romance? Will Len ever leave the monastery?
Unless these plot teasers are resolved in the next four broadcasts of Black Harbour, they'll forever remain a mystery. The Nova Scotia-set TV drama has been cancelled by the CBC.
"It's confirmed, it's official, we've been cancelled," said Mike Volpe, the Halifax-based co-producer of Black Harbour, the first dramatic TV series to be set in Nova Scotia.
Filmed in and around Mill Cove near Hubbards, the series employed 80 to 100 cast and crew when in production.
The show also generated economic spinoffs for South Shore businesses and individuals, from people who rented out their homes to cast and crew to convenience stores that supplied Black Harbour employees with cigarettes and milk.
Mike Montgomery, manager of the Mill Cove Park Development Agency, which runs the defunct military base, said Black Harbour pumped about $2 million a year into the community.
The agency, which will seek a new tenant, has done a feasibility study on transforming Mill Cove into a permanent sound stage.
"We knew it would run its course," he said of the show. "But it has been a great run for us and the community.
"The direct spending by the production in goods and services was substantial. It was certainly equal to the spinoff that the military ever had when it was here," he said.
"There isn't a single business in Hubbards that didn't sell products and services to this production. Not one. I've tried to find one, but I can't."
He would not say how much money Mill Cove Park received for leasing its buildings to the show.
Mr. Montgomery said the series' less tangible benefit was its appeal to tourists.
"I've had some anecdotal evidence from tourism operators about the number of people who would arrive in Hubbards asking about Black Harbour and where they could see people affiliated with the production," he said.
Marshall Hector, owner of the local Home Hardware, agreed that the show's cancellation is going to put a bit of a squeeze on sales.
"We'll certainly miss their business," he said Tuesday.
Locals who were hired as extras and crew will also feel the effect because "their wage scale was fairly high."
Terry June Harnish, who lives in the house used as the facade of the Hubbard family home in the show, said the news was "a big stab in the heart of all of us."
Mr. Volpe's Top Sail Entertainment produced the series with Fogbound Films of Toronto.
The cancellation did not come as a complete surprise, he said. "We were expecting the possibility."
Slawko Klymkiw, head of network programming for the CBC, said Tuesday that Black Harbour's three seasons should be looked at as a success, given the highly competitive television market.
"It had a very loyal audience and it did a lot of the things that we as a public broadcaster wanted it to do," he said from Toronto.
Hoping to use the series as a tourist draw, the Hubbards Cove Business Association erected a sign on Highway 103 proclaiming the area Home of TV's Black Harbour.
The show moved into the former Mill Cove military base, which served as Black Harbour's production offices and sound stage.
The cancellation of the series was not unexpected, considering the show's 35 per cent drop from an average 715,000 viewers in its first season.
"Our numbers were solid, but not spectacular," Mr. Volpe said.
The one-hour drama, which airs Fridays at 9 p.m. until Feb. 5, centres on the lives and loves of the residents of the South Shore's fictional Black Harbour, including Katherine Hubbard, played by Rebecca Jenkins, her ex-husband Nick (Geraint Wyn Davies) and the couple's two daughters (Nova Scotia actors Melanie Foley and Barrett Porter).
Much of the show's first season dealt with the family's adjustment to moving from Los Angeles to Katherine's home town, a small fishing village.
This season the action briefly moved to Halifax, where Katherine got dragged into a convenience store robbery and her brother Len was in court for dealing in stolen goods.
Rita Howell, a Nova Scotia actor who joined the cast this season as Katherine's Aunt Sophie, was disappointed to hear the series had been canned.
"I had hoped it would go on," she said from her home in Port Medway.
"But I had fun while it lasted. They were a great company to work for and it restored my faith in television," said the actor, who has worked mainly on the stage for the last couple of decades.
With Gerrie Grevatt, South Shore Bureau
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