Here's a possible answer. I just asked A.I. who "Elaine Byrne" is.

Turns out she's an actress who plays Dr. Amanda Keller on the show, and has been in other Canadian productions. 

[Edit: Another A.I. says she played a character named Elaine Lewis. But I can't find her name in the IMDB directory of actors who appeared on the show. So I'm starting to doubt she's connected with it at all and this is just another A.I hallucination.]

Still, a possible cast member trying to embarrass producers into bringing back one of her co-stars? This just gets even more bizarre.  

Last edited by RadioActive (September 28, 2025 8:31 am)

This is an odd one! For someone to take out a full page ad in a major market newspaper is very unusual and gets me wondering just what is the story here. I was aware of the dog in this show had passed last season but didn’t know the lead actor was replaced and obviously not everyone is happy about it. I would love to see a response from Citytv/Rogers but doubt that will happen, as they avoid dealing with the public over things like this! Time might tell…..

They'll probably find the ad was bankrolled by London, from 'The Littlest Hobo'.  A lot of money in residuals.

BowmanvilleBob wrote:

Canadian Press did a whole story on this a few days ago and it was picked up by the Star and a number of other outlets:

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/hudson-rex-star-john-reardon-says-he-didnt-leave-tv-series-by-choice/article_1d83a9d6-5392-58a6-995a-ffe8c6504ba5.html

Here's the same story from CP in case you're blocked by the Star's pay window.

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/entertainment/hudson-rex-star-john-reardon-says-he-didnt-leave-tv-series-by-choice/article_4f3957ba-0a44-5c39-a05b-f4df9438d466.html
I'd still like to know who the woman is that felt it worth the money to take out a full page ad on this. 

RadioActive wrote:

I'd still like to know who the woman is that felt it worth the money to take out a full page ad on this. 

She is "just" a superfan of the show and animal fan apparently based in Texas and seems to regularly post on X (Twitter), Facebook, etc. in connection with the show. Realtor by trade: https://www.fivestarprofessional.com/Spotlights/40477

Not unheard of for a show with devoted followers to get a letter-writing campaign (like the original "Star Trek") or even a single fan mailing out letters/newsletters or even newspaper ads.

Personally I think she takes her TV a little too seriously, but if she's invested after that many years and a "loyal viewer", good for her. I tend to watch series with the premise that they could be cancelled at any time and shrug that off - "win some, lose some".

Last edited by AspectRatio (September 28, 2025 12:02 pm)

RadioActive wrote:

 
Clearly the ad placer doesn’t understand exactly how this works. City TV commissioned the show but is not its producer per se, and likely had very little to do with any casting decisions. Nonetheless, the odd ad goes on – and on and on – asking accusing questions about changes to the hour-long drama.

False. The originating network has a lot of say over these matters. 

So speaking as a writer, I understand why she did this. Studios and producers often underestimate the fact that fans, and especially super-fans like this one, get attached to the specific characters, not just the premise of the TV show (i.e. cop and his best friend dog detective).

As a die-hard fan, she already knows that the original dog is dead and that in itself means that when she watches the TV show, she inherently knows that she's not watching the "real" Rex onscreen anymore, it's a substitute. That's already tough enough for a super-fan to get used to.

But now the central hero is also gone, not even substituted by a different actor (not that a sub would work for her anyway), so she's right -- from her perspective, Hudson AND Rex are now both gone, probably the two most important characters that she is emotionally attached to. Short of finding a cure for death, she can't do anything to bring back the real Rex, but John Reardon is alive and now healthier and she's hoping to spur on a big fan campaign by pressuring the producers and the network.

I doubt it will work, but I do suspect that the show is now not going to survive for as long as it could have had they kept Reardon. This has been done before with Airwolf, Battlestar Galactica, Two and a Half Men (Charlie Sheen was a total hot mess but the show wasn't the same without his character), The Dukes of Hazzard (hi there, Coy and Vance), etc.

That said, when it's a secondary character e.g. Becky on the Roseanne show, few fans really cared all that much. That emotional attachment just isn't as strong. It's usually when the hero or a really major character that vanishes or is replaced, that the show begins its descent to cancellation.

 

Hansa wrote:

My guess was going to be this was an attempt by City or the producers at guerrilla advertising to stir up publicity and interest in the show. However, it looks like it's just an obsessed fan with more money than brains.

 
I could see the pre-Rogers Citytv pulling off something like this as a publicity stunt, but I don’t think the current owners would, for starters it would cost them something to do it and they’re pretty cheap.

RadioActive wrote:

We now know how much that Texas real estate agent paid for the full page ad in the Toronto Star: $25,000!

Now THAT is a fan. 

Some ‘Hudson & Rex’ fans feel betrayed. One took out a $25K ad demanding answers. Inside the backlash over a cast shakeup

$25,000 Canadian?  $257.56 U.S. funds.  And as a real estate agent, probably claimed it as a business expense on her federal taxes. 😁

But for many viewers, Reardon isn’t someone who can simply be swapped out.

Elaine Byrne, a real estate broker from Texas, says she was so shaken by Reardon’s exit she became “physically ill”  — so much so that she spent $25,000 on a full-page ad in The Toronto Star last weekend demanding answers

Maybe she claimed it as a medical expense?  Only half-joking, You don't spend that kind of money unless something is really causing you some kind of suffering.

 

Last edited by TomTV (October 5, 2025 11:20 am)