Anniversaries are supposed to be celebratory events. But not all anniversaries are. I mean technically every moment in the future is an anniversary of some moment in the past. Many are innocuos moments, but they are still anniversaries of something. That day you ate a cheeseburger from that restaurant, bought a pepsi or even turned on the TV to something new. Everything has an anniversary, we just dont really think of all of them.

Of course anniversaries are more celebrated & bemoaned over more notable moments in your life. Years being married, years being alive, weeks since that first kiss, days since that someone left you, years since that life changing moment & of course deaths.

 I have lots of these large moments, and even more of the smaller ones, as do you. One small 1, that is notable to this article...I dont even remember the date of. I just remember turning on the TV, at an exact moment & got distracted by something so I didnt go looking thru the channel selector for something I would normally watch, I just left Showcase on. A show I had heard about, but never watched came on, I didnt know it at the time, but it would become my favorite show of all time. Of course I am talking about, Dead Like Me.

I didnt get into DLM when most of its fans did, right at the beginning. I caught the show after it had already aired its final episode. But not too long after. This makes it even more maddening for me, since I live where it was filmed... Vancouver, Canada. Having your favorite show filming in your town is something special. You get to pass places you associate with it. But for ME, its disappointing that I didnt catch on sooner, after all I am an autograph hound. So missing a chance to meet the cast sucks for me.

Since the shows cancellation, I, like many others around the world have, fought to get it back. Sure, we were "treated" to an abomination of it in the form of a straight to DVD movie that the writers, director & casting agents should be black listed from Hollywood for ever for having co-conspired to create it. Many fandoms would have been happy with that, but DLM fans wanted a proper ending, with ALL the real cast, not some fake Daisy that either the actress, or director, or both were completely void of the skill set to recreate. No one wanted that guy from Lost stealing Rubes role. ... ok, I am starting to get off topic here *unclenches fist aimed at wall*

Lets bring this back around to celebrating the show. Today is a notable day in the shows short 2 season history, it is the 10 year anniversary of its birth. 

On June 27, 2003 a show, created by Bryan Fuller (creator of the current NBC show "Hannibal") presented us with a story about an 18 year old girl, Georgia Lass (Ellen Muth), who on her first day working at Happy Time Temp agency is killed on her 35 minute lunch "hour" by a toilet seat falling from a  space station. Instead of going to heaven or hell George stays here, to be a grim reaper, a role she is not sure she even wants to have. Soon after her demise, we are introduced to her new "family" the other grim reapers she will work with. 

Rube Sofer (Mandy Patinkin) is her by-the-book (except a couple times when it suits him) boss who is responsible for giving out the assignments to the other reapers. He is sort of like the father figure to the group. 

Roxy (Jasmine Guy) is a tough as nails meter maid by profession, and of course reaps souls on the side. Her death is something she still has resentment over, a murder, that an invention she created was used to complete the task.

Mason (Callum Blue), oh Mason Mason Mason is the typical fuck up who means well, but finds taking the shortest route to success often fits him better. He grows during the series, and its a shame that we never get to see if he would become a competent, stable undead person.

Betty Rhomer (Rebecca Gayheart) is a reaper with a bit of an adventurous streak, she died from jumping off a cliff for fun, and leaves the series much the same way. 

Her replacement, Daisy, Daisy Adair (Laura Harris) seems eager to let everyone know she used to be an actress who cavorted with all types of movie personnel when she was alive. She is also more complex than the shallow persona she lays out to the public.

These were the new members of Georgias family.

Georgia had real family, that were still trying to deal with the real loss of their daughter & sister. Something Georgia herself often had trouble dealing with. 

Reggie (Britt McKillip) was her younger sister, Georgia often ignored her when she was alive, but now that she was "undead" was trying as hard as she could to be there for her. 

Clancy (Greg Kean) is her father, an English Professor that also is sleeping with 1 of his students. 

Joy (Cynthia Stevenson) is the mother that is now focusing on Reggie, after losing her oldest daughter to a tragedy she essentially sent her to by demanding she go to work.  

Although Rube repeatedly warns Georgia to not have contact with her old family, Georgia repeatedly ignores these warnings & spies on them over the course of the series.

Of course the 1 lesson we all learned from this show is... grim reapers dont get paid. They still need places to sleep, eat & whatever else. So they either need to steal, like Mason does, from the recently deceased, or get acctual day jobs, like Roxy has. Leading Georgia, now as Millie, back to Happy Time, where she takes the same job she previously had. 

Her boss Delores Herbig (Christine Willes) is a far too chipper former drug addict who is committed to Happy time & takes people leaving the temp agency hard, often throwing them going away parties to celevrate their time at Happy Time. 

Crystal (Crystal Dahl) is the receptionist at HT & 1 of the more mysterious characters on the show. Shes observant, sometimes mean & also helpful. when she catches Georgia & her co-workiers using Happy Time 1 night to do their own work, she doesnt even blink an eye, just joins in & helps them with their task. Many have wondered if she was also a reaper, as she seemed unphased by them & in the final episode, after seeing Georgia leave HT, typed her name into the database at HT.

The group of course, always meets every morning at Der Waffle Haus (pictured below) for their assignments & sometimes, even some food. Their regular server Kiffany (Patricia Idlette) seems unfazed as well by the odd behaviour of the group leaving many to wonder what her role in all of this is as well.

There are questions we will never know the answer to. Although DLM did well enough ratings wise, decisions made by higher ups (mainly Bob Goldblatt) decided they wanted to bring in all new shows & wiped out many of Showtimes current shows, including DLM. Untill "Shameless" came in 7 1/2 years later, DLM still held the network record for highest rated pilot ever on the network.

Years after its cancellation, people still go looking for answers about many things with the show. I know, because my blog on Der Waffle Haus location 
http://canadagraphs.weebly.com/1/post/2011/06/dead-like-me-fans-i-give-you-the-original-der-waffle-haus-set.html averages about 3 views a day still, with over 3300 views in its 2 year existence, it shows that even now, after all these years, people still want to know about the show.

As this is the 10 year anniversary, I felt compelled to do a follow up to my DWH blog & post a few more locations I am familiar with in town. So here are a few that I managed to track down (I have many more that I just havent had time to get to....but will try to eventually get to....and maybe add onto this blog post.)

The Lass Home

On a quiet side street in Shaughnessey. (skytrain - get off at King Edward Stn & take a short 3 minute bus to Oak, about 3 min walk from there) near Oak & King Edward lies the Lass home. 3851 Osler Street was where a lot of scenes were shot. I dont know if the interiors were done there, or in studiom but all the exteriors. The garage sale, George & Rube sitting on the steps waiting for the milk man to arrive, and many more moments took place here.

Georgia's place of death

A walkway connecting Hastings & Cordova street (skytrain - 1 block south & 1 block west of Expo/Millenium Line Waterfront Stn west exit) at the end of Hornby St in the north end of the downtown core, it has changed very little since the untimely death of Georgia Lass. Flowers grow in the area where she was torpedoed. You can stand there, look towards the buildings, which are more or less still the same as then & see the path the toilet seat took.

The Banana Peel death of BM Moore from the Pilot

On Granville Street at Pender (skytrain - 1 block north of Granville Stn, 1 blk south of Canada Line Waterfront Stn Granville St exit), this place is now a downtown campus for Simon Fraser University. The spinning door that caused BM Moore's death is no longer there (sad). But the outside achitecture & some of the inside still remains the same.

Betty Rhomer standing atop a building in the opening scenes.

The Sun Tower building at the corner of Pender & Beatty (skytrain - 1 block downhill from Stadium Skytrain Station) has been seen & used by many film crews over the years. Of course, over Bettys shoulder they zoom in to an office building where Happy Time is supposed to be... One of these days, I have to find the right angle  see if that building is infact there.

Ronnie Dobbs sees gravelings & watches a window washer fall to his death.

One of the more interesting deaths in the series was that of Ronnie Dobbs. The reason, he could see gravelings. Considered crazy by his Doctor & probably society, Ronnie was proven right when he figures out that Georgia is there on behalf of death to get him, sadly, no one but him will ever know. I havent tracked the church he dies at yet, but where he 1st sees Georgia & gravelings is at the corner of Cordova & Howe (skytrain - right at the top of 1 of the exits for the Expo/Millenium Line Waterfront Skytrain Station) infront of a Pricewaterhouse Coopers office tower. You can see in the scene where he looks out the window at the guy falling to his death that its a view from this side, as the Waterfront Centre Hotel is in the background, which is behind where these photos were taken.

Daisy flashes a driver to get his car

Right around the corner from the Ronnie Dobbs spot (skytrain - use same directions as Ronnie Dobbs spot & go 1/2 block west) is a crosswalk on Cordova (and the start of the pathway for Toilet Seat. Situated between Howe & Burrard on Cordova, the crosswalk & its surroundings are mostly all the same.

Georgia & Mason look at themselves in a mirror & see UnGeorge & UnMason

We of course all remember the scene where Georgia first realizes she doesnt  look the same to the living. At the corner of Howe & Robson (skytrain - 1  block south, 1 block west of Vancouver City Centre Stn. 1.5 blocks South, 1  block West of Granville Stn Granville St exit) you will find the building. The scene was filmed on the Howe side of the building. The building that was filmed in front of hasnt changed, but the window display sure has. The book store Chapters (a long time resident of the location.. uses the spot to promote whatever sales they have now).

I have a few other locations I plan to work on. Still want to track down Happy time (was told where abouts it is, but havent gone.... its quite out of the way for me). I would REALLY like to track down the "toilet tree" but judging by the background, its going to be well out of the way as well. I know where the spot is that Georgia sees gravelings & Rube explains them to her (also where Roxy lets a piano drop on a woman), I also know where the bowling alley that George bowls a winning strike for Happy Time is. A lot of the house locations are quite hard, to nearly impossible to figure out. Maybe someday I'll find the place that Mason, George or Daisy lived but probably wont.

I had hoped to have this blog up earlier in the day, but I simply cornered myself into a spot where I had to cram (procrastinated). I will look this over some day soon & hopefully addto it & edit any problems I see. But for now, here are some of the season 1 filming spots for Dead Like Me, on the 10th anniversary of its 1st ever episode airing.

Now excuse me, I have to go marathon thru 2 seasons of a certain show.

As promised in this blog http://canadagraphs.weebly.com/6/post/2013/06/usa-networks-longest-running-program-psych-films-an-episode-for-season-8-where-the-stars-go-to-london-england.html Psych-o's, here is a handful more photos from the shoot a couple weeks ago with Dule Hill & James Roday in "England".

Those of you who follow Dule on twitter know, he answered some fan questions during the filming of these scenes. The 1st couple of pics are of him doing his video response to one of them (I saw him doing this a couple times and wasnt sure what he was doing till later... I thought maybe he was chatting with someone).

Later Holmes & Watson, I mean Black & Tan moved to an alley behind the Lamplighter Pub (aka "The Bloody Bucket") to do a scene that ended with Shawn throing a temper tantrum, stomping furiously around Gus & yelling something (couldnt tell if it was No or maybe "nein" German for "no") what was clear was, he wasnt pleased with something.

Of course fans have seen a bunch of pics of this episode, as Dule has tweeted photos of him with Vinnie Jones & Pierre Despereux himself Cary Elwes.

So, here is anothersmall batch of Dule Hill & James Roday on the set of their episode that is set in England.

Last week I caught The Killing filming a few scenes in a neighbourhood in southwest Vancouver.

For the second time in a row, no sign of the shows 2 main leads Mireille Enos or Joel Kinnaman for the scenes I saw being filmed. Instead, I was treated to a "wow, I didnt recognize him" moment when the I saw the actor who plays "picasso kid" Adrian Seward, the son of the death row inmate Ray Seward (played by Peter Sarsgaard) & did not recognize it was Rowan Longworth, who I know from "Fringe" where he was bald.

I saw Rowan film a couple scenes. The first saw himw alking up a street, bouncing his soccer ball like a basketball. He stops a couple times, looking behind him, clearly feeling uneased about something. Then, he sees something right infront of him that freezes him in terror as he drops his ball & just stares blankly. What, or who, is it?

Later they filmed a scene of a car coming down the street towards Adria (obviously what he sees), but who is driving it? What importance is it to the story? Did he see the killer? Or someone else?

Later they moved on to a school, where they filmed him leaving the school ground, as I left, they were prepping the car to put a camera in the back seat.

Since this wasnt filming for the finale (I think.. theres a 0.01% chance they shot scenes out of episode order) I doubt Adrian saw the killer (or he did, and they will draw us away from, then back to this person?) , and the driver didnt look like his dad Ray, so who did he see? and what will their relevance be to the story arc?

Tonight is the series premiere of another Canadian made crime drama "King & Maxwell" on cable network TNT.

Set in Washington, DC. This series will star Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me) & Jon Tenney (The Closer, The Newsroom) as 2 Private Dectives who used to be in the Secret Service solving crimes in the U.S. Capital.

The pilot, shot in Toronto, ON will air tonight at 10 PM ET/PT on TNT. The 2nd episode on, were shot here in Vancouver.

I caught up to the production in its 1st week here & found the shows leads, Jon Tenney (Sean King) and Rebecca Romijn (Michelle Maxwell) filming a scene where they talk to Chris Butler & Michael O'Keefe (Agents Carter & Rigby of the FBI).

I'll have a few more photos up later this month of another shoot with just rebecca Romijn, along with a small set of recurring character Ryan Hurst (Sons Of Anarchy).

For now, I give you my 1st set from King & Maxwell.

As I'm typing this, the 2013 Leo Awards are going on at the Westin Bayshore Hotel & Convention Centre n Vancouver. I will have a run down of the eveing & the red carpet arrivals later this weekend.

I decided to put editing photos off for a bit, so I can bring you a short, exclusive quick 1 minute chat I had with Ben Cotton about his current role as the seemingly do-good Pastor for the street kids on season 3 of AMC's The Killing "Pastor Mike".

I knew going in, he wasnt going to let any show secrets go, but it didnt mean I couldnt ask. Mostly just his experience worrking on the show & with the street kid characters.

I've been a fan of Bens for a while. First caught my eye on "Harper's Island", then on "Hellcats". If you ever get to see his adult themed mockumentary puppet movie "Sunflower Hour" (so far still not available on DVD anywhere, or Netflix....WHY??) you must, its worth the time. I was really excited to see him added on to The Killing because I know how good he is, and was hoping he wouldnt be a quick 1-2 episode cast off on the show. With him portraying Pastor Mike, a character that a LOT of the fans on different boards are suspecting could be the killer...its safe to say, he'll be around a lot more this season.

Ben is a nominee at the 2013 Leo Awards as a Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama - for his role in "In No Particular Order" & Best Performance by a Male in a Short Drama for "Late"

THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR AN EPISODE FROM SEASON 8 OF "PSYCH"
Do not continue reading, or viewing photos if you want to know nothing about the season before it airs.
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last warning
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On Wednesday, the cast & crew of the longtime USA Network dramatic Comedy "PSYCH" took over part of historic Gastown in downtown Vancouver to shoot scenes for an episode of season 8 which will feature the fake psychic & his best friend a little out of their Santa Barbara comfort zone.... London, England.

They shot scenes on Water Street of the James Roday as Shawn Spencer dressed in a Smokey And The Bandit outfit, and Dule Hill as Burton "Gus" Guster as a Harry Potter character, individually. Then inside the Lamplighter Pub which was re-named the "Bloody Bucket" for the scene, and later in Blood Alley.

The scenes, as most Psych film sets often do, didnt make a lot of sense yet. First scene I saw was Gus walking the streets of London asking passer bys if they had seen someone of an approximate height. Later, Shawn did a scene where he walked down the same street, before heading into the Bloody Bucket. A scene was also shot of a cop moving along a drunk man outside on the street, unsure if it was the main part of the scene, or background, to be seen thru the windows of the pub.

Cool bonus for me this time was, Steve Franks was on set. I believe he was directing the episode, but I didnt find out for certain. The creator & writer for the show was quite pleasant when I asked him for a photo with (and ended up getting 14... after I didnt warn the photo taker it was on continuos mode) & talked with me about the unexpected shortened 7th season, which only had 14 episodes after the Musical episode was pulled & pushed to the fall/winter.

Later that afternoon, the production moved to Blood Alley. I will have another blog with a handful of photos from that scene later this week. I also have a short video of Shawn doing a scene, but I wont post that till closer to season 8.

Recurring villian Pierre Desperaux (Cary Elwes) has been in town shooting for this episode, as Dule Hill and Cary have tweeted photos of them together for this episode. Dule has used the hashtag #LockStock, so will that have something to do with the title or the theme of the episode? With Gus being in England, will he try to track down Rachel, who just dumped him in the season 7 finale? Will the rest of the gang go to England too? Cant imagine Lassie...or Woody, in England. But would love to see it too.

For now...here is your fix Psych-o's Of Shawn "Smokey And The Bandit" Spencer & Burton "Harry Potter" Gusteron the streets of "London".