Tek’s addictive

cyberdebut

Toronto-made TekWar made u.s. basic cable history when the sci-fi series based on William Shatner’s Tek novels launched on USA Network Jan. 7, garnering a 3.4 rating and racking up 79% more viewers for the time slot than the ’94 average.

Viewers in 2,137,00 homes tuned in, making the Atlantis Films production (in association with WIC Western International Communications, Lemli Productions, CTV Television Network, usa and Universal City Studios) the most-watched premiere on basic cable.

Butterbox breaks record

Attracting 3.2 million viewers on its Jan. 8 cbc broadcast, two-hour tv movie Butterbox Babies has scored another highest Canadian rating record for its producer, Sullivan Entertainment, which also holds the Canadian record for most viewers in the miniseries (Anne of Green Gables, 5.6 million) and series (Road to Avonlea, 2.5 million) categories.

Produced by Kevin Sullivan and directed by Don McBrearty, the mow produced in association with cbc also garnered critical acclaim, particularly for Susan Clark’s portrayal of Lila Young.

In other recent high tv movie ratings, Cinar’s Million Dollar Babies averaged 3.1 million over two nights, while both Small Gifts and the Street Legal finale drew over 1.5 million.

PMP opens in L.A.

Vancouver’s Pacific Motion Pictures is expanding its operations this year with the announcement that it will open a branch office in l.a.

President of pmp Matthew O’Connor says: ‘We’re opening the office because we felt we needed a greater presence in l.a. aimed at both developing more of our own projects and attracting more service production.’

Lapointe named at R-C

Philippe Lapointe has been named director, tv news at Radio-Canada, the French-language television service of the cbc.

Lapointe moves over after 14 years at Tele-Metropole where he was appointed vice-president, news and public affairs in 1990, replacing Tele-Metropole’s current president and ceo, Guy Crevier.

The appointment is effective Jan. 23.

A plum for Simoneau

Montreal-based Yves Simoneau has been named to direct the eight-hour nbc miniseries Gai-Gin, based on the best-selling James Clavell novel. The $35 million shoot goes through to the spring on location in Australia and Japan. Simoneau, a staff director at Cinelande, plans to return to commercial production in June.

New commercial house

Montreal commercial producers Luc Harvey and Jean-Marc Gagnon have formed a new production house, Hurcules Films.

At least two staff directors are known to have signed with the new shop – Carl Ruscica, director on the St-Ambroise campaign, and Maryse Raymond, former director at La Fabrique d’Images.

Raymond has been a film director for five years and a noted fashion and stills commercial photographer for 20 years.

Producer Gagnon has several years’ senior production experience with both Cinelande and La Fabrique d’Images.