La Femme Nikita (TV series)

Last updated
La Femme Nikita
La Femme Nikita title card.jpg
Also known asNikita
Genre
Based on Nikita by Luc Besson
Developed by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran
Starring
Theme music composer Mark Snow
Composer Sean Callery
Country of origin
  • Canada
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes96 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
ProducerJamie Paul Rock
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time45–48 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseJanuary 13, 1997 (1997-01-13) 
March 4, 2001 (2001-03-04)
Related
Nikita (2010–2013)

La Femme Nikita (French pronunciation: [lafamnikita] , literally "The Woman Nikita"; called Nikita in Canada) is a Canadian action-drama television series based on the French film of the same name by Luc Besson. The series stars Peta Wilson as the title character. It was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It was created and adapted for television by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. The series was telecast in the United States on the USA Network cable channel on January 13, 1997, and ran for five seasons until March 4, 2001. The series was also aired in Canada on the over-the-air CTV Television Network. La Femme Nikita was the highest-rated drama on American basic cable during its first two seasons. It was also distributed in some other countries.

Contents

Comparison with the film

In the original Luc Besson film—and in the American remake Point of No Return (also released as The Assassin), released by Warner Bros.—Nikita is a drug-addicted juvenile delinquent who kills a police officer in cold blood during an attempted robbery of a pharmacy. She is later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in Nikita, and to death by lethal injection in Point of No Return, upon which she was secretly drugged by the government, faking her death. Nikita is then "recruited" by a secret government organization and transformed into a highly skilled assassin who cannot be traced.

The television series differs from the film versions in one fundamental aspect: Nikita (Peta Wilson) is innocent. She is not a killer, nor a drug user, just a homeless young woman in the wrong place at the wrong time. Section One—an elite, top-secret counter-terrorism organization—sets Nikita up to be accused of murdering a police officer and sentenced to life in prison where she supposedly commits suicide and is brought into Section One. Because Nikita will be killed (or "cancelled") if she fails to comply, she is forced to carry out the organization's ruthless methods of fighting terrorism, while attempting to keep her moral integrity intact. This personal struggle becomes the primary conflict of the series. A key scene in the two theatrical films involves Nikita's first assignment—to murder a VIP in a crowded restaurant. Although the Nikita of the television series eventually does become, by necessity, a ruthless killer, in the television version of this first mission she avoids killing the VIP (whereas the film versions of the character completes the assignment). However, despite the machinations of others in power around her, Nikita retains her compassion and humanity.

Over time, Nikita's secretive and risky romantic involvement with her trainer, the mysterious Michael Samuelle (Roy Dupuis), will become another source of conflict, and the series' most significant relationship. Just before the conclusion of the series, Nikita also learns the truth of why she was recruited into Section One.

Cast and characters

Characters are listed in order of title credit and by appearance on the show.

  = Main cast (credited)
  = Recurring cast (2+)
  = Guest cast (1)
ActorCharacterSeasons
12345
Main cast
Peta Wilson Nikita Main
Roy Dupuis Michael SamuelleMain Recurring
Don Francks WalterMain
Matthew Ferguson Seymour BirkoffMain
Eugene Robert Glazer Operations (Paul Wolfe)Main
Alberta Watson MadelineMain Guest
Cindy Dolenc Katherine “Kate” QuinnRecurringMain
Recurring cast
Anais Granofsky CarlaRecurring
Julian Richings Errol SparksGuestGuest
Ingrid Veninger Siobhan LawrenceGuestGuest
Carlo Rota Mick Schtoppel / "Mr. Jones" / Reginald “Martin” HendersonGuestRecurring
Nigel Bennett Egran PetrosianGuest
Douglas O’KeefeDavid FanningGuest
Yvonne Scio Lisa FanningGuest
Tara Slone GailGuestRecurring
Lindsay CollinsDevo One (Elizabeth)GuestRecurringGuest
James Faulkner DominicGuestGuest
Stephen Shellen Marco O’BrienGuestRecurring
Bruce Payne JurgenRecurring
Jill DyckBelindaRecurring
Roman PodhoraMowenRecurring
Kris Lemche Greg HillingerGuestRecurringGuest
Siân Phillips AdrianRecurringRecurring
David Hemblen GeorgeRecurring
Evan CaravelaAdamRecurring
Samia Shoaib ElenaRecurring
Josh HollidayDevo Two (Henry) 1 RecurringGuest
Lawrence BayneDavenportGuestRecurring
Matthew FergusonJason CrawfordRecurring
Larissa GomesNaomi HillRecurring
Kira ClavellJasmine KwongGuestRecurring
Polly Shannon MichelleRecurring
Edward Woodward Mr. Jones (Philip) / "Flavius"Recurring
Aidan Devine GraffRecurring
Conrad Coates HaledRecurring
Note
  1. ^ For the first two seasons, Devo Two was portrayed by two different uncredited extras.

Main

Recurring

Broadcasting history

Ratings success

La Femme Nikita was the number-one drama on basic cable channel USA Network for its first two seasons. [1] It had been "greenlighted" by the network's founder and "cable network pioneer" Kay Koplovitz and nurtured by former USA Network president Rod Perth, a "key player" in its development. [2] But, after Barry Diller assumed control of the network in April 1998, he replaced Perth with Stephen Chao as network president. [1] Heyn observed, "Although both Diller and Chao praised La Femme Nikita publicly, it soon became obvious that the series was no longer a priority. The non-stop publicity the series enjoyed under Perth began to dry up, and the only attention that La Femme Nikita received was the occasional promo spot, and even the frequency of those began to decline." [1] During Nikita's third season, following Chao's "bizarre request that La Femme Nikita cast wrestlers in key terrorist roles as a way to cross-promote USA's broadcasts of the World Wrestling Entertainment" despite evidence that the shows did not have compatible demographics, Chao also began retooling USA Network's successful "Sunday Night Heat" bloc of action dramas, which also included Pacific Blue and Silk Stalkings ; he canceled Silk Stalkings and replaced it with a slate of new series that included The War Next Door , G vs. E , Manhattan, Arizona and Cover Me , all of which ultimately failed in the ratings and were also canceled. [1] Consequently, La Femme Nikita tumbled in the ratings too, although the series still remained the top-rated drama on USA Network, even during its fourth season, when promotional advertisements for the series all but disappeared. [1] Negotiations to continue Nikita for a fifth season and beyond failed owing to "disagreements between USA Network and Warner Bros. over La Femme Nikita's renewal terms[,] [which] spilled out publicly into the pages of [industry trade publications] Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ." [1]

"Save LFN"

Following the series' cancellation in 2000, its dedicated viewers mounted an extensive fan campaign to revive it. "Save LFN" [3] was not the first successful fan campaign to use the internet to rally fans and renew a canceled series. "These kinds of efforts had resurrected canceled series before, beginning with the original Star Trek on NBC in 1968 all the way up to UPN's Roswell in 2000". [1] However, "Save LFN" is notable for its size and inventiveness, including an "online renewal petition" which led to a full-page advertisement placed in The Hollywood Reporter that requested USA Network and Warner Bros. reconsider their decision. The campaign also amassed over 25,000 letters sent to both companies containing everything from dollar bills featuring images of co-star Roy Dupuis to sunglasses (Nikita's signature accessory) to old TVs, VCRs, and remote controls. [1] [4] A group of organizers calling themselves "First Team", based on the term for the lead members of a mission used frequently in the series, coordinated most of these efforts through their Save LFN fansite. [1] [4] As a result of these efforts, Stephen Chao announced in September 2000 that La Femme Nikita would return for a truncated fifth season of eight new episodes, which began airing in January 2001. [1] [4]

CW series

On January 28, 2010, it was reported that The CW Television Network would develop a new TV pilot based loosely on the French film Nikita. The new show, which shares its name with the film, is executive-produced by McG, with Peter Johnson and Craig Silverstein serving as executive producers and writers. It is a joint production with Warner Bros. Studios and Wonderland Productions. [5] On May 18, 2010, it was picked up to series.

Merchandising

Home media

The complete series is available on DVD through Warner Bros. Home Video. [6] The box sets use the USA/international title, La Femme Nikita. [6]

Each DVD boxed set features a solitary image of Peta Wilson on the cover, with the remainder of the cast featured on the interior artwork. Only the covers for seasons one and five feature images of Wilson taken specifically as promotional photographs (for advertising campaigns and later marketing purposes) during those seasons. The DVD cover images for seasons two and three again feature promotional photographs used during the first season, while season four features a promotional photograph from advertisements for the second season.

Soundtracks

An official soundtrack, released in June 1998, is still available on CD from TVT Records. It features the title theme from composer Mark Snow, as well as numerous songs heard during the first two seasons of the show from artists like Depeche Mode and Afro Celt Sound System. [8] A "promotional release" in a limited run of 2000 CDs of Emmy-award winning composer Sean Callery's selections from his orchestral score for Nikita was first made available by Callery during the Close Quarters Standby 4 fan convention in May 2001. [9]

Series merchandise

According to Christopher Heyn, "To many long-time viewers, La Femme Nikita had always been a natural for merchandising. Besides the usual array of T-shirts, jackets, coffee mugs, posters and other trinkets, the action content of the series lends itself perfectly to the development of video games, comic books, toys and action figures. Yet, during the entire run of the series, Warner Bros. released only one piece of merchandise—the soundtrack CD on TVT Records. Beyond that, there was nothing. This frustrated [former president of USA Network and key player in the series' development] Rod Perth to no end."(20) Heyn quotes Perth as saying: "'Warner Bros. never had an interest in this show ...'" (20). Nevertheless, Heyn reports, he himself "successfully brokered an official merchandising agreement between the Specialty Products division, a vendor in Toronto that already produced merchandise for the series' cast and crew, and the Sidekicks Society, the organizers of Close Quarters Standby 2", the second in a series of four La Femme Nikita fan conventions held in Toronto in October 1999.(Heyn 20) Such items included jackets, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and key chains emblazoned with the series logo and the copyright notice "©1999, Warner Bros." below the logo (photograph in Heyn 21). "Because of a delivery mixup," Heyn's photo caption reads, "most of the coffee mugs and keychains never made it to the convention in time for sale," and he adds, "The remaining boxes of jackets, T-shirts and coffee mugs sold out in less than an hour, leaving many empty-handed attendees frustrated and upset."(21) Moreover, Heyn observes, "That unfortunate outcome only validated Warner Bros.' reticence to merchandise La Femme Nikita on a larger scale. The studio lost money on the internet broadcast and made next to nothing from the limited merchandising deal, which echoed their attitude toward the series' financial construction."(Heyn 20)

In 2001, a video game based on Nikita—featuring dialogue written by La Femme Nikita supervising producer Peter Lenkov—was announced for the Xbox system, but the project was later cancelled. [10]

Critical response

On Metacritic, the first season received a score of 68/100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [11] Andrea Higbie, writing for The New York Times said, "The show, which has received good reviews in publications including New York magazine, USA Today and The New York Times, is like a long MTV video, with few words but lots of music and action." [12] Tom Gliatto, writing for People, gave the first season a B+, and commented, "Peta Wilson, an Australian actress with the harsh blonde hair, snub nose and oversize, depthless blue eyes of your average mass-produced doll, makes a sexy, amusing Nikita." [13] Todd Everett, writing for Variety, said, "What was stylish in original version here becomes muddy and confusing attempt at MTV cutting and loud electronic soundtrack, and title may leave many USA watchers, accustomed to more conventional (and arguably superior) Renegade , Silk Stalkings and The Big Easy , confused. [...] Locations are nondescript, with darkish production design and lighting suggestive of some unnamed European country." [14]

The second season received a 7/10 score from Sergio Non, who wrote for IGN : "It's dark, esoteric and morbid, offering up one dose of suffering after another. I couldn't stop watching." [15]

Awards and nominations

CableACE Awards

YearCategoryNomineeResultRef.
1997Guest Actor in a Dramatic Special or Series - "Gambit" Harris Yulin Nominated [16]

Gemini Awards

YearCategoryNomineeResultRef.
1998 (March)Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role Peta Wilson Nominated [17]
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series - "Noise" Matthew Ferguson Nominated
Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series - "Innocent" Maury Chaykin Won
Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series - "Rescue" Nancy Beatty Won
Best Direction in a Dramatic Series - "Gambit"Jon CassarNominated
Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Dramatic Program or Series - "Noise"Rocco MatteoNominated
Best Costume Design - "Noise"Laurie DrewNominated
1998 (October)Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series - "New Regime" Alberta Watson Nominated
Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series - "Spec Ops"Nikos EvdemonNominated
Best Costume Design - "New Regime"Laurie DrewWon
Chrysler's Canada's Choice AwardJamie Paul Rock, Jay FirestoneWon
1999Best Dramatic SeriesJamie Paul Rock, Jay FirestoneNominated
Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic RolePeta WilsonNominated
Best Costume Design - "Off Profile"Laurie DrewNominated
Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Program or Series - "Looking for Michael"Daniel Latour, Scott Shepherd, Al Ormerod, Steve BaineNominated
2000Best Costume Design - "Getting Out of Reverse"Laurie DrewNominated
Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Program or Series - "Sympathy for the Devil"Daniel Latour, Scott Shepherd, Al OrmerodWon
Best Sound Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series - "Sympathy for the Devil"Craig Henighan, Steve Baine, Jill Purdy, Rose GregorisNominated

OFTA Television Awards

YearCategoryNomineeResultRef.
1998Best Actress in a Cable Series Peta Wilson Nominated [18]
Best Direction in a Cable SeriesNominated
Best Sound in a SeriesNominated
1999Best Guest Actress in a Cable Series Margot Kidder Nominated [19]
Sian Phillips Nominated

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Heyn
  2. Heyn 21-23; 5
  3. "LFN" refers to La Femme Nikita, the title of the series as televised in the United States and in other international markets outside Canada.
  4. 1 2 3 "Careers That Won't Quit: 'La Femme' Again", CNN.com, January 1, 2001 (December 29, 2000), accessed June 23, 2007.
  5. Hibberd, James (2010-01-27). "New 'Nikita' set for CW". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 Hofstede, David (2006). "La Femme Nikita (1997–2001)". 5000 Episodes and No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows On DVD (1st ed.). New York: Back Stage Books. p. 165. ISBN   978-0-8230-8456-2.
  7. Foster, Dave (8 April 2004). "La Femme Nikita Season 2 in July". DVD Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2004. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  8. "TVT Records page for La Femme Nikita soundtrack". Archived from the original on June 4, 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  9. "Soundtrack.net listing of La Femme Nikita soundtrack by Sean Callery" . Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  10. "IGN.com news article on the cancellation of the La Femme Nikita video game". Archived from the original on March 5, 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  11. "La Femme Nikita - Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  12. Higbie, Andrea (9 March 1997). "Making the Femme Just a Bit Less Fatale: The New Nikita Is a Killer, but Sweeter". The New York Times . Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  13. Gliatto, Tom (3 February 1997). "Picks and Pans Review: La Femme Nikita". People . Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  14. Everett, Todd (12 January 1997). "La Femme Nikita". Variety . Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  15. Non, Sergio (16 March 2005). "La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season". IGN . Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  16. Variety Staff (24 September 1997). "CableAce Nominations". Variety. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  17. "awards database". academy.ca/. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  18. "2nd Annual TV Awards (1997-98) - Online Film & Television Association". www.oftaawards.com. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  19. "3rd Annual TV Awards (1998-99) - Online Film & Television Association". www.oftaawards.com. Retrieved 25 November 2016.

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References