Leverage (TV series)

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Leverage
Title screen
Genre	Drama Thriller
Created by	John Rogers Chris Downey
Directed by	Dean Devlin
Starring	Timothy Hutton Gina Bellman Christian Kane Beth Riesgraf Aldis Hodge
Composer(s)	Joseph LoDuca
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	22 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Dean Devlin John Rogers
Location(s)	Chicago (pilot) Los Angeles (Season 1) Portland, OR (as Boston) (Season 2)
Running time	approx. 42 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	TNT
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	December 7, 2008 (2008-12-07) – present
External links
Official website
Production website

Leverage is a U.S. television drama series on TNT that premiered in December 2008.^[1] The series is produced by director/executive producer Dean Devlin's production company Electric Television. Leverage follows a five-person team of thieves, computer experts and con artists, headed up by former insurance investigator Nate Ford, who use their skills to right corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on common citizens.

The first season of Leverage consisted of 13 episodes, which writers John Rogers and Chris Downey, and producer Dean Devlin intended to be a complete story, should the series not be renewed. Second season production moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon,^[2] and premiered on July 15, 2009. The second season will run in two parts: a nine-episode summer season followed by a further six episodes in the winter. On August 27, 2009, TNT announced Leverage had been renewed for a fifteen episode third season, and the series returns January 13, 2010 at 10/9c. ^{[3] [4]}

Contents 1 Overview 2 Cast and characters 2.1 Main cast 2.2 Recurring cast 3 Episodes 4 Ratings 5 DVD release 6 Technical 7 International broadcasters 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Overview

Former insurance investigator Nate Ford and his band of cohorts act as modern-day Robin Hoods, pulling elaborate scams targeted against the greedy and the corrupt. The team was formed in Chicago before moving to Los Angeles headquarters in Season One. Although disbanded at the end of the season, the team members gathered, then reformed in Boston after persuading Ford to lead them again, and have set up a new base in Ford's loft apartment.

[edit] Cast and characters

[edit] Main cast

• Timothy Hutton as Nathan Ford, a former insurance fraud investigator for IYS Insurance and the team's mastermind. Raised in South Boston, Nate originally intended to become a priest, spending a short period in seminary prior to becoming an insurance investigator. While working for IYS, Nate's young son became seriously ill; IYS refused to pay for the experimental treatment he needed, resulting in his death. The aftermath leads to Nate's drinking, his divorce from his wife, Maggie and his subsequent dismissal from the company. As a result, Nate is an angry alcoholic as the series opens. Nate never intends to be a hero: on a visit to Chicago, an aviation executive named Victor Dubenich plays on Nate's desire for revenge, drawing him into managing an operation to recover stolen plans from Dubenich's corporate rival. When Nate discovers his three-person team has been conned, he crafts its subsequent retaliation, adding a fourth member, a grifter named Sophie with whom he has a complicated relationship dating back to his days at an insurance investigator. When the team persuades him to remain as their leader, he moves them to Los Angeles and sets up an elaborate headquarters. A skilled planner, Nate draws on his experience as an insurance investigator to anticipate the moves of his team's marks. Initially operating behind the scenes, he soon becomes an active member of the team's cons, drawing the attention of his old rival, James Sterling. Throughout the first season, his drinking remains problematic, even after he goes through detox during a con in a rehab center. When Sophie sees the opportunity for Nate to be revenged on IYS and its chair, Ian Blackpoole, Nate plans a two-part con that allows him to gain the revenge he sought, to get Sterling off his back and make peace with Maggie. But his revenge comes at a price when he discovers Sophie's real agenda and the team's headquarters is destroyed, leading him to break up the team. After six months, the team has other ideas, and finds a newly sober Nate in Boston, where he is reluctantly drawn back into leading the team again. Still unresolved are the effects of the demons from Nate's past and his increasingly complicated relationship with Sophie.

• Gina Bellman as Sophie Devereaux, a British actress and accomplished grifter with a taste for art theft. Sophie is a talentless actress onstage, but her true talent is as a grifter, where she effortlessly plays the role needed to draw the team's target into the con. Particularly adept at the use of accents, Sophie is seen to portray, among many others, a German athlete, a Southern horse broker, an American television producer and a reporter from New Zealand. Sophie also has a collection of aliases, but has never revealed her real name, even to members of the team. Sophie has a long history with Nate, dating back at least ten years to when he pursued her as an art thief. At some point, they recognized they are attracted to one another, but have never acted on it, leaving Sophie alternately frustrated, angry and disappointed. Nate's drinking is also a source of conflict between them throughout the first season. After the team disbands in Los Angeles, Sophie is instrumental in reuniting them in Boston. Sophie has begun to question whether she's lost herself in the names she's used and the characters she's played, and has embarked on a journey of discovery, temporarily leaving the team.

• Christian Kane as Eliot Spencer, a highly skilled martial artist, weapons expert and retrieval expert. His role in cons is often to play small roles while protecting the team, often leading him into hand-to-hand combat that draws on his martial arts skills. Eliot has a long history as a soldier-of-fortune, and has seen violence much of his life. He is proficient with guns, despite his distaste for them, as well as knives and a variety of other small weapons. Eliot appears to be adept with women, but tends to keep his romantic life private, as he does much of his background. He is very protective of the group, jumping in to fight anyone that attacks them.

• Beth Riesgraf as Parker, an expert thief, cat-burglar, pickpocket and safe-cracker. Known only by her last name, Parker is a risk-taker who loves money above anything. The product of an abusive childhood spent in more than one foster home, Parker has a decided lack of people skills. She is awkward or will say inappropriate things in most social settings, although Sophie attempts to help her develop these skills, with mixed success, as the series progresses.

• Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison, a computer/Internet specialist and hacker. He is a self-proclaimed geek and science fiction fan, with a dry, unusual wit and a catch-phrase for every situation. Like Parker, he was raised by a foster parent, an older woman he refers to as "his nana". Hardison can hack into most—if not all—forms of electronics and rarely is caught. Hardison developed the electronics for the team, and is responsible for the electronic applications used by the team on their cons.

[edit] Recurring cast

• Mark A. Sheppard as James Sterling, Nate's rival in the insurance business. Always second-best to Nate and with no love lost, Sterling learns of Nate's new life and begins to follow him, thinking that Nate wants his job at IYS back. Nate soon realizes Sterling is on his trail, but foils his efforts to dismantle the team's first con. Sterling warns Nate they'll meet again and renews their rivalry when Nate and the team attempt to bring down Nate's former boss, Ian Blackpoole. At first, Sterling seems to have defeated Nate and scattered the team, but they soon regroup, and this time, it's Sterling who's defeated.

• Jeri Ryan as Tara Cole, a self-assured grifter Sophie sends to help the team while she takes a break. Initially, she appears to be a naïve lawyer the team must work with, but reveals her real identity at the end of their first con. Although suspicious, the team reluctantly accepts her, but are surprised to discover she is a con for profit.

• Kari Matchett as Maggie Collins, Nate's ex-wife. Although no longer in love with him, Maggie still cares for Nate, but cannot live with his drinking, which led her to divorce him. Maggie is an art expert who re-enters Nate's life when he attempts to steal a maquette of the David from Ian Blackpoole. She is unaware of IYS's role in her son's death, but learns the whole story as she's drawn into Nate's con, allowing them to come to terms with his death and begin to rebuild their relationship. She demonstrates a flair for Nate's new work, and ends up helping the team complete their con, and Nate to gain his revenge.

• Rick Overton and Gerald Downey as FBI Special Agents Taggert and McSweeten, who have (unwittingly) worked with Leverage Consulting & Associates on at least three occasions, believing Hardison and Parker to be FBI agents. Credited with catching the bad guys two of the team's cons in small towns, they have now earned a more prestigious assignment in Boston.

• Robert Blanche as Lt. Patrick Bonanno. A Massachusetts State Police detective who arrests the culprits in two of the team's cons. Like Taggart and McSweeten, he does not realize he plays a role in the con.

[edit] Episodes

Thirteen episodes were commissioned for the first season.^[5] The series began airing on December 7, 2008.

In the pilot, Victor Dubenich persuades Ford, a retired insurance investigator with intricate knowledge of scams, to lead a team of talented criminals to steal back aeronautical plans allegedly stolen from him by a competitor. After a successful heist, Dubenich double-crosses them, withdrawing their payment and attempting to blow them up in an abandoned warehouse. In retaliation, the group decides to run a con on Victor, eventually exposing his corruption and implicating him in a bribery attempt, and having him arrested by the FBI. At the end of the episode it is revealed that by short-selling stock in Dubenich's company each team member made over $32.7 million; however, rather than retire, they decide to keep working for the thrill each gets doing the work they are best at, and the added bonus of how effective they are as part of an elite team. Ford's condition for continuing is that he is allowed to select their jobs, steering them from crimes engaged in for pure profit to jobs undertaken to benefit those with a genuine need who cannot use the legal system or other 'legitimate' methods to redress their grievances. As later episodes play out, their typical client is someone victimized by an individual or corporation with the wealth and influence to avoid reprisal within the legal system. (As everyone is now independently rich, and the only real reason to continue taking on jobs is the thrill, not money, they are all more or less agreeable to this.) The episode ends with a couple mourning the death of their 17 year old daughter, who died in a similar fashion to Ford's son. Ford reassures them that while they are suffering under an enormous weight, his team "provide[s]… Leverage."

In the first regular episode, The Homecoming Job, the team (now operating as Leverage Consulting & Associates) runs a scam on the head of a military contracting firm responsible for critically injuring their client, a US Army reservist. Ford's old insurance company is mentioned in this episode. They learn that the company has stolen taxpayer money from the government, and Nathan insists they arrange to return it to the government (although they do keep a portion for the hospital treating the injured veteran.) During this episode, the team members realize they enjoy their work not just for the thrill of excelling at their criminal craft, but because they are actually doing good things and helping people who deserve to be helped.

[edit] Ratings

The series ranks as ad-supported cable’s #1 entertainment program in the Tuesday 10 p.m. (ET/PT) time slot among viewers, households and adults 25-54. The Dec. 7 premiere was watched by 5.6 million viewers and scored TNT’s best original series telecast ever in delivery of adults 18-49 during the regular broadcast season. Through its first nine episodes, Leverage has averaged 3.2 million viewers and 1.4 million adults 18-49 in Live + Same Day viewing. The first six episodes scored strong growth when comparing Live to Live + 7 numbers, with total viewership rising 33% to 4.1 million and adults 18-49 rising 42% to 1.9 million.

[edit] DVD release

On July 14, 2009, CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment) released the First Season of Leverage on DVD in Region 1 (US only).

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date
The 1st Season	13	July 14, 2009

[edit] Technical

Leverage is shot using Red One video cameras. Extensive use of Steadicam helps the audience participate in the scene. 'Filming', editing, and all post-production work is done digitally, with no actual film or videotape being used at any point in the process. Macs and Apple's Final Cut Studio Pro 7 are used for editing and post-production. Mini documentary on the Leverage all-digital production work flow.(Flash video software or a web browser supporting H.264)

'Filming' is in 4096 x 2304 at 24 fps, though resolution is reduced in post production to 1080p.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] International broadcasters

Country	Broadcaster	Series Premiere
Australia	FOX8	January 7, 2009	EXTRA	December, 2009
Brazil	Space	March 17, 2009
Portugal	AXN	March 19, 2009
Netherlands	RTL 5	April 2, 2009
South Africa	SET	April 2, 2009
Spain	AXN	April 16, 2009
India	AXN India	2009
Italy	Joi La7	April 17, 2009 November 5, 2009
Israel	Yes stars Action	April 18, 2009
Indonesia	AXN Asia	May 18, 2009
Malaysia	AXN Asia	May 18, 2009
Philippines	AXN Asia	May 18, 2009
Poland	nScreen	May 18, 2009
Singapore	AXN Asia	May 18, 2009
Thailand	AXN Asia	May 18, 2009
Lithuania	TV3	May 27, 2009
Denmark	TV3 Puls	June 6, 2009
Hungary	Viasat3	June 9, 2009
Bulgaria	Nova Television	July 29, 2009
Poland	Canal+	September 5, 2009
Turkey	CNBC-e	September 6, 2009
Russia	TV3 Russia	September, 2009
France	TPS Star	October 5, 2009
Norway	Viasat 4	October 12, 2009
Slovenia	TV3 Slovenia	October 22, 2009
Belgium	2BE	October 25, 2009
New Zealand	Prime	November 3, 2009
Serbia	Nacionalna	November 15, 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website at Turner Network Television
• Official Leverage Wiki at Turner Network Television
• Kung Fu Monkey: Official blog of series creator John Rogers
• Leverage at Allmovie
• Leverage at the Internet Movie Database
• Leverage at TV.com