Flashpoint, the drama that features a team that responds to hostage situation's and gang busts while exploring the criminal's mind to try and save lives, has returned for its second season after debuting with strong Friday-night ratings.  And due to the success of the CBS-CTV co-production, CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler is now looking at partnering with other “foreign countries” on future TV projects.

"Flashpoint has been such a positive experience," Tassler said during the TV Critics Tour.  "It's a terrific business model for us."

While some of the big networks have struggled to find viewers throughout the fall season, CBS has been able to brag about their numerous successes.  NCIS is hitting all-time ratings highs, The Mentalist is one of the most popular new shows of the year, and of course the network still has heavy hitters like Survivor, The Amazing Race and the CSI franchise.  While NBC and ABC are canceling shows left and right, CBS is enjoying a string of good luck.

Will that good luck continue in 2009?  CBS recently announced their mid-season programming plans, which includes new seasons of Survivor, Flashpoint and The Amazing Race, and the long-awaited premieres of two new shows.

Canada's CTV has just announced that it has renewed the police drama Flashpoint for yet another season.  The series, for those who are not familiar, is about an elite Canadian metropolitan police force called the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), who are tasked to resolve extreme situations that regular officers cannot handle including hostage taking, bomb threats and heavily armed criminals.

According to the press release, the network has ordered 13 episodes of Flashpoint, which stars Enrico Colantoni, Hugh Dillon and Amy Jo Johnson, to begin production in Toronto in early 2009.

Canadian police drama Flashpoint is set to premiere on CBS on July 11, simultaneously with its opening on its parent network CTV, Canada's largest privately owned English language broadcast network.  It was picked up for U.S. broadcast during the writers' strike.

Flashpoint stars Amy Jo Johnson (Felicity) and Enrico Colontoni (Veronica Mars, Just Shoot Me).  It centers around the elite Canadian metropolitan police force called the Strategic Response Unit, patterned after Toronto's SWAT-like Emergency Task Force.  The unit is tasked to perform highly sensitive scenarios, such as hostage crises, gangs, bomb threats, and, on more than one occasion reportedly, talking down suicidal teens.  As such, members of the highly-skilled technical team are also trained in negotiating, profiling, and getting inside the suspect or victims' head to ultimately save lives.

Flashpoint is CBS' newest police drama launching this summer.  The series, which consist of 13 episodes, is about an elite big city Strategic Response Unit (SRU) that is inspired by Toronto's Emergency Task Force.

Originally developed by CTV, Canada's largest privately owned English language broadcast network, and Toronto-based Pink Sky Entertainment, Flashpoint follows the dangerous lives of a group of cops that rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, climbs the sides of buildings and talks down suicidal teens.  As they race against time to find out what brought these people to their respective breaking points, members of this highly skilled team use their expertise in negotiating, profiling and getting inside the suspect's head to diffuse the situation in attempt to save lives.