Several months after Intelligence fans' hearts were broken after its second-season cancellation by CBC, the first season has been released on DVD.
"Finally, huh?" Chris Haddock joked in a recent TV, eh? Blogtalkradio interview, before it evolved into a conversation between two CBC titans on the state of the Canadian public broadcaster, with Roger Abbott of Royal Canadian Air Farce joining Haddock in the dissection.
Prior to that, TV critic Bill Brioux had pointed out that DVD was the perfect way to experience an "orgy of Intelligence."
"A lot of people do say they find it extremely addictive that way," confirmed Haddock. "It's like reading a book: you read a chapter, then one more chapter, and get hooked into it."
Though he rarely revisits his shows, he had to study Intelligence prior to writing a version as a pilot for FOX. "I can't stop watching it myself and I've seen it 9,000 times."
"The cumulative effect of watching this show is powerful. So I'm hoping everyone will run out and buy it. I just want people to watch it, so I don't care if people steal it, quite frankly. I'm not encouraging it, but I just want people to watch this thing because it's so much fun."
Acorn Media has released the DVD with minimal bonus features, which Haddock seems to find a mixed blessing. "Sometimes I think too much talking abut it can spoil it. How do you explain the magic?"
Still, he hopes the exposure will bring Intelligence to the larger American market. "It doesn't yet have the kind of broadcaster that Da Vinci's has. I'm hoping I don't have to wait seven years," he said. "But it's got a cult following. There's a lot of people talking about it. If the FOX thing blows up – the FOX thing won't have the same title – but if we make that, maybe it will drive people to the DVD and appreciate it for what it is."
The interview was conducted before the upfronts last week, when American networks announce their 2008/09 seasons. However, since Haddock explained "I'm not in that package of things," the US version of the show could still on the table even though nothing's been announced yet.
"I've jumped through every flaming hoop they've held out so far," he said at the time. "The great thing is that I'm working with John Wells [ER, The West Wing]. It's a very different game when you're going in with a guy who's at the top down there. So we're nursing it along and we're going through every hoop as it arises and we're in really good stead."
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