E.N.G.

For other uses, see ENG (disambiguation).
This article is about the Canadian television drama. For electronic news gathering, in broadcasting, see Electronic news gathering.
E.N.G
Created by Bryce Zabel and Brad Markowitz
Composer(s) Micky Erbe and Maribeth Solomon
Country of origin Canada
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 96
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Release
Original network CTV
Original release October 31, 1989 (1989-10-31) – March 17, 1994 (1994-03-17)

E.N.G. is a Canadian television drama, following the staff of a fictional Toronto television news station (the initials stand for electronic news-gathering). The show aired on CTV from 1989 to 1994. The series ran for 96 episodes, produced by the Alliance Entertainment Corporation.

Plot

Headlining the show was Anne Hildebrandt (Sara Botsford), the senior executive producer of the news broadcasts on fictional Toronto television station, CTLS channel 10. She was bright, assertive and she was also having a clandestine affair with the star cameraman of the news, Jake Antonelli (Mark Humphries), who was younger than she was (Jake was married and later divorced from Martha, and had two children, one of whom, his son, Jeff, lived with him, while his daughter lived with her mother).

Into her orderly world came Mike Fennell (Art Hindle), the station's newly appointed News director (Anne had been expecting to be promoted to News Director but was passed over in favor of Mike), who was interested in bringing up the ratings of the newscasts and his coverage philosophy was in obvious conflict with hers. Despite this however, Anne and Mike had the station's and their staff's best interests in mind. Later on, besides being professional, they later became romantically involved, creating awkwardness, as Anne, being very independent, and didn't want Mike being protective towards her. Mike also had a troubled teenage daughter from his previous marriage named Carrie from Vancouver.

Other members of the CTLS staff included Jane Oliver, the station's weather caster, and Seth Miller (who was worried about being pushed into retirement due to his age), who were the main anchors of the nightly newscasts; Kyle Copeland, the station's general manager who sometimes clashed with both Anne and Mike over news department issues and pretty much everything else; Bobbi Katz, another camera person who worked alongside Jake; J.C. Callahan, the station's assignment editor, who was alcoholic, cranky and was, later in the series run, also injured in an accident, which left him wheelchair-bound; Marge Atherton, the station's video editor, who was very motherly and was also the one who gave her co-workers solid advice, and a compassionate shoulder to lean on; Dan Watson, a senior reporter who was smarmy and occasionally would put his foot in his mouth. Janice Roberts, a news researcher, who began working for channel 10 the same day Mike did. Janice committed suicide after getting too emotionally involved in an immigrant success story that turned out to be about immigrants being sent back to their country where they faced certain death. Bruce Foreman, a very devious and scheming assistant assignment editor; Eric "Mac" MacFarlane (who was openly gay), the newscast's floor manager; and Terri Morgan, a nasty and scheming reporter, who tended to be very cut-throat. Actor Victor Garber had a recurring role as ruthless tycoon Adam Hirsch, who owned CTLS during the series final three seasons.

At the end of the series, Anne and Mike (Anne and Jake had finally broken up) were trying to balance their personal and professional lives, when it was revealed that CTLS was now going from a hard news format to a lifestyles format. Mike received a new job offer in Japan, and invited Anne to go with him. Anne thought about this very hard (she would not be permitted to work, by Japanese law) after making peace with Jake, who urged her to have a life with Mike, she decides to accept his offer.

However in the last episode titled "the cutting edge" Clark Roberts (Janice's brother) dares Anne to get back in the trenches, and help him with a hard news story. She does, finding how much she loves the excitement. She is offered a job at another news station, (much like CNN), by the station owner (Simon MacCorkindale). After talking to Mike, they decide they want different things. Mike goes to Japan to begin his new job. Anne is last seen standing outside the building where her new job, as station manager will begin.

E.N.G. was also screened in the United Kingdom on Channel 4, which aired the first four seasons but chose not to present the fifth and final season. In the United States, the show aired in syndication, and was mistakenly labelled by some television critics as a copy of the American series WIOU, which in fact had its debut after E.N.G. was already on the air in Canada. It also aired stateside on cable's Lifetime Television during the 1990-91 season, originally in the 7 PM (EST) slot, but due to poor ratings, was moved to late nights after only several weeks. In Spain the series aired on Antena 3TV dubbed into Spanish and with the title "E.N.G. Reporteros" in a weekday 530pm slot. The channel screened a great number of episodes but never completed the entire run. The series has never been repeated on Spanish TV. In Macedonia it aired on the national MRT.

Main cast

Sherry Miller, who played weathercaster turned co-anchor Jane Oliver, was a real life former news anchor on Global Television in Canada from 1986 -1988, and brought her experience from those two years to her role of Jane.

External links

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