Mayday (Canadian TV series)

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"Air Crash Investigation" redirects here. For aviation investigations, see Aviation accidents and incidents § Investigation.

Mayday
Mayday Air Disaster original logo.png
Logo used since Season 4 (2007)
Also known as
Genre
Created byAndré Barro
Narrated by
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons23
No. of episodes240 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time45 minutes
Production companyCineflix Productions
DistributorCineflix Rights
Release
Original networkDiscovery Channel Canada
Original release3 September 2003 (2003-09-03) –
present

Mayday, entitled Air Crash Investigation in Canada (alternatively known as Air Crash Investigations on Seven Network), New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom (alternatively known as Air Crash: Disaster Revealed on 5Select), India, other Asian countries, and some European countries, and Air Emergency, Air Disasters, and Mayday: Air Disaster[1] in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television program examining air crashes, near-crashes, hijackings, bombings, and other disasters. Mayday uses re-enactments and computer-generated imagery to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to each disaster. In addition, survivors, aviation experts, retired pilots, and crash investigators are interviewed, to explain how the emergencies came about, how they were investigated, and how they might have been prevented.

Cineflix started production on 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13), with a Can$2.5 million budget. In Canada itself, the program premiered on Discovery Channel Canada on 3 September 2003. Cineflix also secured deals with France 5, Discovery Channel, Canal D, TVNZ, Seven Network, Holland Media Group, and National Geographic Channel to take Mayday in 144 countries and 26 languages. The series was received well by critics and nominated for a number of awards. In 2010, Sharon Zupancic won a Gemini Award for her work on the season-seven episode, "Lockerbie Disaster", that depicts the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. A University of New South Wales senior lecturer, Raymond Lewis, conducted a study on teaching strategy loosely based on the series. Lewis's results indicated using the strategy had "a positive effect on learning outcomes" for prospective pilots.[2]

Hallmarks

The series features re-enactments, interviews, eyewitness testimony, computer-generated imagery, and in nearly all of the episodes, voice-actor readings of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcripts to reconstruct the sequence of events for the audience. Several passengers and crew members (whether they survived the incident or not) are picked and actors/actresses play the roles of those passengers and crew throughout the flight, usually starting from boarding of the flight. The flight routines in the air traffic control, cockpit, and cabin are recreated on screen starting from departure up to the moment of the emergency. At the moment of the emergency, external views of the aircraft from different angles are recreated to show the effect and what had happened to the aircraft. The responses and reactions of the passengers, crews, and air traffic control personnel leading up to the eventual crash or emergency landing are then recreated. Scenes in the cockpit and air traffic control centres are recreated using the transcript obtained from the CVR of the aircraft and other recordings made at the time.[citation needed]

Throughout the episodes, the victims (or the relatives and friends of the victims) are interviewed, adding further information about a case as it relates to them personally.[3] In addition, aviation experts, retired pilots, and investigators are interviewed on the evidence and explain how these emergencies came about and how they could have been prevented.[3]

Production and distribution

Cineflix started production for Mayday on 13 August 2002 (2002-08-13), with a C$2.5 million budget, after Channel Five commissioned the six-part, one-hour series.[4] To keep the costs down, most of the production was kept at Cineflix's offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[5] While in production, the series was sold to France 5, Discovery Channel, and Canal D.[6] On 2 June 2003 (2003-06-02), Cineflix announced that it had sold the series to TVNZ, Seven Network, and Holland Media Group.[6] Later that year on October 10 (10-22), a month before the airing of the first season, Cineflix announced that it had secured a major international deal with National Geographic Channel to air Mayday in 144 countries and 26 languages.[7]

In 2011, Smithsonian Networks aired season five, renamed Air Disasters, making it the first time in the United States that Mayday had aired on a channel other than National Geographic. On 25 January 2012, Cineflix Rights announced that it would be selling seasons 8, 9, and 11 (23 episodes) to Smithsonian Networks.[8] On 28 March 2014, Cineflix Rights announced a deal with Smithsonian Networks to air seasons three, four, and 13 (34 episodes).[9]

In 2020, The Weather Channel in the United States began airing several episodes of the series under the title Mayday: Air Disaster.[1]

Starting in 2021 and continuting to this day, the Wonder and On the Move YouTube channels (owned by Little Dot Studios, a subsidiary of All3Media[10]) uploaded the first nine seasons of Mayday and the Crash of the Century special with the episodes in their full uncut versions and are available in all countries, with the exception of the United Kingdom, where they are geoblocked.[11][12]

In the United States, the show's tenth and twelfth seasons are available for streaming online on free, advertiser-supported streaming services Tubi and Freevee under the title Mayday: Air Disasters, while the show's first season is also made available for streaming online on Amazon Prime Video, provided by MagellanTV, under the title MayDay: Air Disaster Investigations.[13][14][15]

In the United Kingdom, from August 2022, 5Select began rebroadcasting Seasons 2 and 3 under the alternative name Air Crash: Disaster Revealed. These series had previously been owned by Channel 5 in the initial runs. From 7 October 2022, Sky History 2 will rebroadcast Season 1 using a slightly modified version of the name used by 5Select: Air Crash: Disaster Uncovered. In the Sky History 2 rebroadcasts, the episodes were edited to remove content in order to keep the episodes to 45 minutes in length (including advertising breaks), meaning some minor inconsequential scenes which would have no impact on the episode had been taken out. Some other notable changes occurred in the versions aired on 5Select, including:

  • The opening credits sequence used the name Mayday as is used in the United States, not Air Crash Investigation as is common in Europe and the UK.
  • A significant number of episodes have been edited to remove scenes deemed to be offensive or distressing, such as certain swear words, blood and gore, or anything deemed "excessively violent". In addition, episodes have also been edited to remove references to any interviews conducted with experts, relatives or survivors who have either chosen not to be included, cannot be included due to perceived association to a company they do not work for, or have passed away since airing.
  • Despite not being billed as Mayday episodes, the episodes in Season 3 titled as the spin-off show Crash Scene Investigation were broadcast, but incorrectly labelled as though they were, leading to EPG issues.

Episodes

Main article: List of Mayday episodes

As of February 2022, a total of 230 episodes of Mayday had been aired, including five Science of Disaster specials, three Crash Scene Investigation spin-offs, which do not examine aircraft crashes, and a sub-series labelled The Accident Files that aired four seasons. A 23rd and 24th season is in production.[16]

Seasons[17]EpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
163 September 2003 (2003-09-03)22 October 2003 (2003-10-22)
2623 January 2005 (2005-01-23)27 February 2005 (2005-02-27)
31314 September 2005 (2005-09-14)7 December 2005 (2005-12-07)
41015 April 2007 (2007-04-15)17 June 2007 (2007-06-17)
5109 April 2008 (2008-04-09)11 June 2008 (2008-06-11)
6316 December 2007 (2007-12-16)2 March 2008 (2008-03-02)
784 November 2009 (2009-11-04)17 December 2009 (2009-12-17)
8210 June 2009 (2009-06-10)17 June 2009 (2009-06-17)
988 September 2010 (2010-09-08)27 October 2010 (2010-10-27)
10627 February 2011 (2011-02-27)28 March 2011 (2011-03-28)
111312 August 2011 (2011-08-12)13 April 2012 (2012-04-13)
12133 August 2012 (2012-08-03)15 April 2013 (2013-04-15)
131116 December 2013 (2013-12-16)9 May 2014 (2014-05-09)
14115 January 2015 (2015-01-05)2 March 2015 (2015-03-02)
15104 January 2016 (2016-01-04)17 February 2016 (2016-02-17)
16107 June 2016 (2016-06-07)13 February 2017 (2017-02-13)
171020 February 2017 (2017-02-20)3 October 2017 (2017-10-03)
181013 February 2018 (2018-02-13)4 July 2018 (2018-07-04)
19102 January 2019 (2019-01-02)11 March 2019 (2019-03-11)
20109 January 2020 (2020-01-09)12 March 2020 (2020-03-12)
21104 April 2021 (2021-04-04)6 June 2021 (2021-06-06)
22103 January 2022 (2022-01-03)12 February 2022 (2022-02-12)

Reception

The series has been well received by critics.[3] Franck Tabouring from DVD Verdict said, "It's a well-produced show with plenty of compelling information about tragic accidents, telling how some people survived and others didn't."[3]

The senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Raymond Lewis, conducted a study on teaching strategy loosely based on the series. The study was done with prospective pilots studying the "Aircraft Systems for Aviators" undergraduate course by including "study of air accidents and incidents associated with aircraft systems." The results of the study showed "the use of air accidents and incident scenarios had a positive effect on learning outcomes."[2]

Awards and nominations

Overall, the series has been nominated for nine awards, winning two, both for film editing.

Year Nominated work Recipient(s) Category Result
Canadian Society of Cinematographers
2004 "Flying Blind" Michael Boland Best Cinematography in Docudrama Nominated
2008 "Final Approach" Damir I Chytil Nominated
"Gimli Glider" D. Gregor Hagey Nominated
2009 "Air India: Explosive Evidence" Paul Tolton Nominated
"Fatal Distraction" D. Gregor Hagey Nominated
Gemini Awards
2009 Mayday: Season 5 Simon Lloyd • Larry Bambrick • Katherine Buck • Alex Bystram •
Greg Lanning • Samantha Linton •
Glen Salzman • John Vandervelde 		Best General/Human Interest Series Nominated
2010 "Lockerbie Disaster" Sharon Zupancic Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series Won
Canadian Screen Awards
2014 "Focused on Failure" Brian Eimer • Jessica Moniz •
Josh Vamos • Matt Vandersluys •
Michael Bonini • Nadia Awad 		Best Sound in an Information/ Documentary or Lifestyle Program or Series Nominated
2015 "Into the Eye of the Storm" Dan Hawkes Best Picture Editing in a Factual Program or Series Won

Home media release

In 2009, Entertainment One released the complete first season of the show on DVD in Region 1 in Canada.[18]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The UK broadcast of season one was hosted on Channel Five and narrated by David Bamber

References

  1. ^ a b "Original Show – Mayday: Air Disaster | The Weather Channel Television Network". weathergroup.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b Lewis, Raymond (December 2009). "Air Crash Investigators — comments on a pedagogical strategy to increase intrinsic motivation to enhance student learning" (PDF). 20th Annual Conference for the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, 6–9 December 2009: Engineering the Curriculum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d Tabouring, Franck (23 April 2009). "Mayday — Air Disasters". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011.
  4. ^ "New Cineflix science series Mayday starts production" (Press release). Cineflix. 13 August 2002.
  5. ^ Luke, Donna (1 January 2003). "No Borders" (Interview). Interviewed by Susan Zeller for Realscreen.
  6. ^ a b "Cineflix goes global with popular science series Mayday. Germany's Prosieben latest channel to acquire the show" (Press release). Cineflix. 2 June 2003. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010.
  7. ^ "Cineflix International strikes NATGEO deal for new popular science series Mayday" (Press release). Cineflix. 22 October 2003. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010.
  8. ^ "Cineflix Rights seals North and Latin American deals" (Press release). Cineflix. 25 January 2012.
  9. ^ "Cineflix Rights seals multiple deals in advance of MIPTV 2014" (Press release). Cineflix. 28 March 2014.
  10. ^ "Wonder". littledotstudios.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Wonder – YouTube". Retrieved 4 January 2022 – via YouTube.
  12. ^ "On the Move". YouTube. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Watch Mayday Air Disasters". Tubi. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Watch MayDay: Air Disaster Investigations". Amazon Prime Video. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Watch Air Disasters". Amazon Prime Video. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Cineflix in the best of both worlds" (Press release). C21Media. 17 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Mayday: Air Disaster - Program Overview". Cineflix Rights. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Mayday: Air Disasters". Amazon. Retrieved 26 October 2022.

External links

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