Terminal City: The Complete Series DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Terminal City: The Complete Series DVD Release Date: 4th August 2008

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Terminal City: The Complete Series DVD Review:

Terminal City is being shown on The Sundance Channel, but it was originally shown on Canadian television. Since then the television show created by Angus Fraser from what was originally the concept for a feature film has been called a Canadian “Six Feet Under”. With a dysfunctional family brought together and pushed away by a family tragedy the comparison is clearly warranted.

When Katie Sampson (Maria del Mar) discovers that she has breast cancer it turns her life around. Although she is a mother of three and married to a supportive man, Ari (Gil Bellows), Katie begins acting strange upon the receiving the news and when she stumbles onto the set of a reality show being filmed in the hospital she announces her diagnosis for the world to hear. She turns out to be a big hit and the television show’s producer, Jane Richards (Jane McLean), hires her to be the new host of the show. Frankly discussing her cancer and other issues without any censorship, Katie’s new show “No Show” becomes a big hit, although her celebrity status to forget her illness.

Although Katie puts on a brave face during the television taping and cancer treatment, her family isn’t able to contain the pressure as easily. Ari’s father Saul (Paul Soles) struggles to relate to his son and grandchildren, determines to pass on some of his heritage to them with the increased inevitability of death lingering in his mind. Sarah (Katie Boland), Katie’s teenage daughter, decides she wants an affair with her literature teacher and is willing to push the limits to get what she wants. In one of the poorest choices of the series sixteen-year-old son Nicky (Adam Butcher) is also involved with someone much older than him. Nicky meets a woman on the bus and starts a relationship that is never appropriately explained. The actual moment that they first kiss is in public but it happens during a fantasy Nicky is having about a girl from his school. The whole thing is forced, especially since Sarah is rebelling in the same way.

The youngest son, seven-year-old Eli (Nico McEown), remains twice as interesting as either of the other cliché children. Eli becomes fascinated with death and religion with the news of his mother, which is not helped by the increased discussion now that his mother is on television. The reality show draws more trouble when Katie’s health gets in the way of the ratings. Only the continued interest in her honest outlook keeps the show true, although the owner of the hospital and the show seems more interested in the ratings.

This was a ten episode miniseries, and all ten of the hour-long portions are split onto three discs.

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Terminal City: The Complete Series DVD review written by: Ryan Izay