In the CBS series "Due South," a straight-laced Canadian Mountie, Fraser (Paul Gross), is a fish out of water when he moves south and teams up with a street-smart Chicago cop, Ray (David Marciano).
But behind the scenes, the situation is completely reversed. "Due South" (7 p.m., Ch. 5) is a Canadian production, filmed in Toronto with a Canadian crew, a Canadian production team - headed by Canadian creator/executive producer Paul Haggis - and headlined by a Canadian actor (Gross).It even airs on both CBS and the Canadian network CTV.
It's Marciano, the U.S. citizen, who's the fish out of water.
"I'm the token American in the show," Marciano told TV critics.
As a matter of fact, Marciano admits he doesn't always understand all the jokes in the scripts.
"They have to explain everything to me. I don't get any of them," he said.
Neither do most American viewers, who don't understand references to serviettes and Chesterfields - let alone when characters are named after former Canadian prime ministers.
"But I think that's part of the fun," Haggis said. "I mean, a lot of (times) we're poking fun at Americans and Canadians both ways. I think the Canadians like the fact that we're offending Americans, and the Americans like the fact that we're offending Canadians."
"As long as we offend everybody, we're really on track," Gross added.
"We're trying to start a border war is basically what we're trying to do," Haggis said.
The pilot of "Due South" began with the odd couple of Ray and Fraser in the Yukon, where it was Ray who was out of place. And it's possible we may see more of that before the season is over.
"We're toying with the idea of taking David up the Yukon and stranding him there in mukluks and stuff. That would be a lot of fun," Haggis said. "So we'll see. We're going to try to get back there this year."
"My wife especially likes the Yukon," Marciano added, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
DON'T WORK WITH ANIMALS: In "Due South," Fraser is accompanied by his trusty sidekick, a wolf.
Of course, the wolf isn't really a wolf, it's a dog.
"You just have to believe they're wolves," Gross deadpanned. "Wolves are really hard to work with."
Actually, the wolf has been a series of dogs.
"We worked with a couple of them (on the pilot), and I think they've all been retired," Gross said. "And now we have a new one."
"We go through dogs like this on the show," Marciano interjected.
While Fraser is exceedingly fond of his "wolf," Gross is considerably less thrilled about working with the dogs.
"It's a nightmare," he said. "The first day on the set, I arrived in the Yukon and the first shot involved a dog. It was Frankie, and Frankie was a Samoyed, but retarded - a little cross-eyed.
"And I'm walking along, and the (dog) handlers . . . start screaming, `Frankie, mark! Frankie, go! Frankie, stay!' And we're trying to act.
"It's a good thing my name isn't Frankie, or I'd be lying down, jumping around."
BIG SURPRISE: When "Due South" premiered as a Saturday night TV movie this past spring, not much was expected of it - even from the man who created it. So it was somewhat more than a surprise when it not only got good ratings and was picked up as a fall series, but that it's turned into a fairly successful series.
"It was dead shock," Haggis said. "Because we didn't have huge stars. We have just fine actors. We were the little show that could.
"I think we were perfectly prepared to go off and do other projects. But the people at CBS kept saying, `No, no, no. Trust me. This is going to go.' And I said, `Yeah, yeah, yeah.'
"So it was very surprising."
ANOTHER PLANET: Gross has appeared in a number of American productions, but the actor/writer has spent most of his career toiling in Canada. So making publicity appearances in Hollywood isn't exactly what he's accustomed to.
"It's so different, it's really unimaginable," Gross said of the difference between the American and Canadian entertainment industries. "The Canadian market is tiny, and there's almost no hope of anything you make in Canada ever making any money. So the pressures brought to bear on the show are really minimal."
But having "Due South" air in both Canada and the United States makes a big difference.
"It's extraordinary. This is just bizarre to me," Gross said. "It's like being on another planet. Or an asteroid. I've never seen anything quite like it.
"And then suddenly you think, `Geez, I guess we've got to be really good."