What is due South?

Due South is a Canadian-made television program produced by Alliance Communications. The show began as a made-for-television movie, but when the movie earned better ratings than expected, the networks decided to turn it into a series. due South was the first Canadian-made series to earn a prime-time slot on a major U.S. network.

The shows premise was that of a 'fish out of water.' Constable Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has been assigned to the Canadian Consulate in Chicago, Illinois. How a Mountie who is more adept at kayaking then diplomacy ended up at the Chicago Consulate is a long story. . .one that takes exactly two hours to tell. (To find out more visit William & Elyse's due South site. They have an excellent episode guide, as well as lots of other information on the show.) Coming with Fraser to the United States is Diefenbaker, a supposedly deaf, lip-reading half-wolf.

Fraser is teamed with an obnoxious, whiney Chicago detective named Ray Vecchio. During the course of of the first two seasons the Mountie and the detective team to solve cases that range from the bizarre and almost-silly to to the deadly serious.

Things changed drastically for the third season. Detective Ray Vecchio went deep undercover with the mob in Las Vegas. To cover the switch another Chicago detective, Stanley Raymond Kowalski (who goes by Ray), was brought in to pretend to be Ray Vecchio.

On a purely personal note. . .While I enjoyed the first two seasons, I really fell in love with the show during it's third season. The character of Ray Vecchio always annoyed me. Ray Kowalski, pretending to be Ray Vecchio, was a much better match with Benton Fraser. There was a real chemistry between the two that truly fueled my obsession with things Canadian.

due South, while technically a drama, is full of comedic moments. The show also explores some of the stereotypes that exist between Canada and the United States and tends to poke fun at them.

The *Canadian * Stars of due South

Paul Gross as Constable Benton Fraser.

Callum Keith Rennie as Ray Vecchio (Ray Kowalski).

**Since this is a web site devoted to things Canadian I haven't included the actor who played Ray Vecchio. Besides, I'm not fond of the character and can't stand the actor who portrayed him. . .so there.