Network: CTV Television Network
Broadcast Run: 2009
Broadcast Medium: Television
CTV and production partners Fox Television Studios and Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions Limited announced on July 3rd 2009 that Defying Gravity, a new CTV drama beings hot in Vancouver, would also air on ABC in the U.S.
The series premiered on ABC and CTV on August 2nd 2009. The series continued on CTV to September 18, 2009, but the remaining four episodes were aired on the SPACE Channel. ABC’s final episode aired on September 13th, and the series was cancelled.
The series was released to DVD on January 19, 2010.
Executive produced by series creator and award-winning writer/producer James Parriott (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Michael Edelstein (“Desperate Housewives”), “Defying Gravity” followed the journey of eight astronauts, from five countries, who embark on a mysterious mission through the solar system.
“Defying Gravity” was a co-venture produced by Fox Television Studios and Vancouver’s Omni Film Productions Limited in association with CTV. Inspired by the fictional BBC docudrama Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, and dubbed “Grey’s Anatomy in space” by series creator James Parriott, “Defying Gravity” was set in the very near future against the background of the solar system, in which eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertook a mysterious six-year international mission in the space vehicle Antares, covering eight billion miles.
The series’ cast was led by Ron Livingston as Antares flight engineer Maddux Donner, Laura Harris (24) as ship’s geologist Zoe Barnes, Malik Yoba as Antares commander Ted Shaw, Christina Cox as biologist Jen Crane, Florentine Lahme as pilot Nadia Schilling, Paula Garces as pilot, scientist and on-board documentary producer Paula Morales, Eyal Podell (24) as psychiatrist and medical officer Evram Mintz, and Dylan Taylor as theoretical physicist Steve Wassenfelder.
The cast on planet Earth was led by Andrew Airlie (Reaper) as Mission Control Commander Mike Goss, Karen LeBlanc (ReGenesis) as scientist Eve Shaw, Zahf Paroo (Battlestar Galactica) as grounded flight engineer Ajay Sharma, and Maxim Roy (MVP) as flight surgeon Claire Dereux. Episodic Director Peter Howitt also plays the role of BBC journalist Trevor Williams.
Defying Gravity was created by award-winning, Emmy-nominated writer/producer James Parriott (executive producer on “Grey’s Anatomy”).
“Defying Gravity” was produced by Fox Television Studios and Omni Film Productions (producers of Robson Arms)in association with CTV and Germany’s ProSieben.