Season 2 of The Border arrived in my mail box and even though I'd only seen roughly six episodes of the season I had to pop in the extra features disc. Overall it was fairly interesting stuff (I haven't listened to the commentaries) but there was one tiny interview with Catherine Disher in the 'Cast and Crew' featurette. In the interview she relates an incident that had the entire cast in stitches courtesy of Mark Wilson (Moose). I've uploaded it for viewing here.

All the other actors got to speak about their characters at some point in the extras and I was a little bummed that we didn't get Catherine talking about Maggie. But hey, I'll take what we can get. Plus, it's amusing to see her waving her arms around as she imitates Mark Wilson's gestures on set.

Nominations for the 24th annual Gemini Nominations Awards were announced today and Catherine Disher has snagged the 6th of her career for her supporting work in The Border episodes "The Sweep" and "Unacceptable Risk".  Yay Cath!


She was nominated for her work on the series last year, as well as twice in the role of Natalie for Forever Knight. She won in 2004 for her lead role in Snakes & Ladders and was nominated for the TV movie Grand Larceny.

In total, The Border received 9 nominations, including one for Best Dramatic Series.

Being Erica, the absolutely delightful and whimsical time travel show also received 9 nominations, including one for lead actress Erin Karplunk and will be up against The Border for Best Dramatic series. Big yay there as well.

"I love this character," Disher raves. "Wayne wrote the best role for a woman over 40 (she's 43) I have seen. I get to be childish, volatile, passionate and humorous. It took me until the third episode to realize I was the male lead. The female lead usually asks questions like 'Are you all right?' and says 'Help.'--Catherine Disher on her Snakes & Ladders character Audrey Flankman.


So, according to imdb.com today is Catherine Disher's birthday. Big yay! In honor of the occasion here's a posting of one of my favorite interviews with her just prior to her Gemini win in 2004 for Snakes & Ladders.

She's rather low key when it comes to the press so there aren't too many interviews are out there so this one is a real gem and it's a delightful read. Borneo? Flightless birds and creeping eruption hookworm larvae? Say what?

A brief aside, the article mentions that Cath has a sister who works as a film editor. In the first half of Forever Knight's first season a Charlotte Disher is listed as an assistant editor. It might be a coincidence but it's fun to think the sisters worked on the same show for a while.

( Ingenue hair and eyes )

I was reading my Google News this morning when this headline from the Toronto Star jumped out at me.

Back in the summer of 1994 Geraint Wyn Davies and Catherine Disher joined other actors in a benefit performance of A. R. Gurney's Love Letters. About a year or so ago I posted over at forkni-l asking for information on the performance. Surely someone from the list must have attended and I was hoping they could share their memories. Unfortunately, if anyone had, they were no longer on the list.

The loss of the venue is extremely tragic but the show must go on. Articles state that plans are underway to continue with the theatre's 60th season.

For those interested, the Toronto Star article that mentioned Geraint Wyn Davies' and Catherine Disher's participation in the benefit is behind the cut.

( Red Barn fund-raiser attracts a star lineup )

Cue the Atari-like font and synthesizer opening credits music because here comes The Vindicator aka Frankenstein '88! A B-grade action/horror movie shot in Montreal circa 1984 (according to the closing credits copyright) with Frankenstein themes and as is expected for its genre, has a very high body count. Our protagonist and title character, Carl, before he's turned into a walking, talking cyborg is a robotics engineer for NASA. He's living a pretty charmed life. His wife Lauren has just announced that she's pregnant. The only dark spot is that his NASA project budget is continually slashed and funneled into his superior's top secret project.  Carl raises hell and is therefore "accidentally" locked inside a reactor as it reaches a critical point. It blows and gives him the worst facial this side of your local strip mall beauty salon. A funeral ensues, mourning begins and then the fun begins. Insert sarcasm here. Carl's brain is kept alive by his killers for use in the top secret project, which consists of creating a cyborg for Mars exploration. Carl manages to escape but forgets to take the remote control that keeps the emotion of rage in control. I hate it when that happens. The scientists pursue, Carl kills almost everything he encounters, tries to contact Lauren, mercenaries lead by Foxy Brown herself, Pam Grier, get called in to capture Carl, and more people die. End of story.

Catherine Disher plays Catherine, Lauren's kooky, new agey and primary color clad best friend. In short, she's awesome and if you ask me there should have been an entire movie based on her character. Yeah I'm biased but she was that awesome.

( If you want privacy, use the bedroom. )

I have to admit that I've yet to see a single episode of The Border's new episodes but I have checked out their snazzy new website. It looks like their going to be pushing the younger agents as well as the new American Homeland Security agent and the British MI-6 agent. I guess that's fine but I hope they don't forget to give the older crowd their share of stories.

( Maggie! )

Both The Border and Murdoch Mysteries came out pretty well in the nominations department for the 23rd Annual Geminis, the highest honor in Canadian television.

The Border received 9, including Best Dramatic Series, Lead Actor, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress for Catherine Disher. That last one of course makes me very happy. I'm such a fan of Catherine Disher and I believe this will be her 5th nomination. She was nominated twice for her work as Natalie on Forever Knight, she won in 2004 for Snakes & Ladders and her first nomination was for her ultra adorable and hilarious turn in the TV movie Grand Larceny as a ditzy showgirl. If you haven't seen it you should track it down immediately.


Ben Bass who played Vachon on the final season of Forever Knight also scored a nomination for his work in the mini-series Would Be Kings as Best Lead Actor. I've heard lots of great things about this but I've yet to get my hands on it. This certainly is an incentive.

Murdoch Mysteries made out like gang busters with 14 nominations. They're well deserved. It's a highly enjoyable and unique show. Although I was disappointed that Geraint Wyn Davies didn't get any recognition for his role in either one of his two guest performances as Arthur Conan Doyle. GWD really makes me happy. Phooey!


It also would have been nice to have Ger and Catherine together in the same auditorium. They presented together back in 1993. kristin1228 has screengrabs up at KnightVision here.

Nigel Bennett didn't get a nomination either for his supporting work in The Border but for me it's not completely unexpected. At times his character is too much of a one dimensional bad guy and he really hasn't been given anything to work with. Hopefully during the upcoming second season this'll change.

All this reminds me how behind I am in screengrabbing The Border. At least the Maggie and Mannering scenes. I've meant to and I keep getting sidetracked. Bad me!

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that Erica Durance also received a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for I Me Wed.

Since last week I posted some older screengrabs of a young Nigel Bennett I thought I'd do something similar for another FK actor. I haven't done anything for Deborah Duchene but since the caps aren't ready I thought I'd post an old Toronto Star article with Catherine Disher. It's from late 1991.

I love the visual image of CD being all rustic and chopping wood and then fibbing to the local doctors about being a concert pianist. And it has a Street Legal reference. After Grand Larceny, which I have, it's the holy grail for me because she plays an integral role in it. It's interesting to note that her character's lover in that two parter is mentioned as being Gina Wilkinson. Coincidentally she played Seline in "A More Permanent Hell" and was LaCroix's mistress and Divia's mother. The 12 actors in Canada strikes again!

And bungee jumping? Oh my!

( Idle Disher just axing for trouble in the woods )

I whipped up a fic banner for my Forever Knight/Smallville crossover fic "What Would Happen". There's actually two versions. For the longest time I tried maniping an image of Tom Welling as Clark Kent alongside an image I have of Catherine Disher from a guest stint on Friday the 13th: The Series. However that never quite turned out well. Then Smallville kindly obliged by having Welling's Clark dress up as his future iconic self in the alternate future episode "Apocalypse". It would be criminal to have a fic with Clark and not have his handsome mug on the cover in some way. However there's still something not quite right about the positioning of his image. Unfortunately photoshop has decided to turn against me and for some reason I can't move any of my layers. Oh well, later when I'm not so tired I'll at least get the text off his face, lol. For now this'll do. That's why I'm primarily sticking to the Clark-less cover.

I've already added one to the appropriate post but I thought I'd give them their own post as well.