Canadian TV Shows
When you think of Canadian television
shows, expertise and execution are not always what first come to mind. Most of
the time you think of campy storylines, bad acting or you don’t even bother
thinking about them at all. Over the years, though, there have been a few TV
shows that could easily pass for an American show. There has even been a show
that being taken and remade for American TV (Being Erica). The shows on this
list could (on a slow TV day) possibly pass for a show from the States, or at
least a BBC show.
10. Rookie Blue
The tenth spot came down to two police
dramas, Flashpoint and Rookie Blue. Of the two only Rookie Blue has been turn
into a quickly canceled American television show, and that being the case it
makes the list. Rookie Blue has some strong Canadian talent in the cast lead by
the beautiful Missy Peregrym.
9. Continuum
Continuum debuted this year on
Showcase and is about a cop and a group of terrorists who time travel from 2077
to 2012. The whole show takes place in beautiful Vancouver and although you’ll
recognize that the main actress (Rachel Nichols) is not Canadian most of the
other actors are Canadian citizens (Erik Knusden, Victor Webster, Tony
Amendola).
8. Dragons’ Den
If you are from the United States of
America then you would be surprised to know that before Shark’s Tank there was
a successful entrepreneurs-get-pitched-ideas-and-fight-over-them reality TV
show called Dragon’s Den. Canadian business men Kevin O’leary and Robert
Herjavec even made the jump from the Canadian Dragons’ Den to the American
Shark Tank.
7. Degrassi High
Degrassi is the original teen high
school drama. The show followed a bunch of Canadian kids through high school
(the kids were followed from Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Junior High
too). The topics and storylines of many of the episodes were very
controversial, dealing with such things as abortion, sex, suicide, drugs and
AIDS. The show is so popular in Canada that it has spawned a modern version
(Degrassi: The Next Generation) a decade after it ended its initial run.
6. Rent-a-Goalie
The main character of this half hour
comedy was Cake (Wikipedia describes him as: “a hockey-mad,
recovered-from-everything go-to guy, who runs a rag-tag hockey goalie rental
service out of cafe Primo, a family owned coffee shop in Toronto’s Little
Italy.”) The show was full of all sorts of
hijinx and really only failed because it didn’t get enough viewers. Today if
they marketed it like FX does with It’s always Sunny In Philadelphia they
wouldn’t have had a problem.
5. The Kids in the Hall
The original kings of Canadian sketch
comedy (yeah I see you SCTV), if you have never laughed at a skit where Mark
McKinney and Scott Thompson are in dressed in drag then you are missing out.
Not to mention Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald at their comedic prime, these were
the days. (I’m squishing your head!)
4. Less Than Kind
This show was a half hour based comedy
set in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I don’t know if this show resonated with me
so much because it is set in my home town or because the main character is an
awkward, overweight teenager with a dysfunctional family, but either way I’m
glad I did. The show has been on hiatus (I don’t know if it’s coming back)
since the passing of legendary Canadian actor and one of the leads on the show,
Maury Chaykin. I’ll end this segment with a quote from the late and great
legend himself that I found on Wikipedia (because obviously that’s where I do
all my research).
“We
understood that the value of the show was in the fact that it’s not a sitcom –
it’s a shoe that’s beautifully written, with characters that are less than
perfect, that are real... We’re not wrapping every episode up nice and neatly,
because it’s all in the sloppiness – that’s where the gold is.” - Maury Chaykin
3. Kenny vs. Spenny
Is t just me or has one of the best
reality series’ of all time came and passed already in our lifetime? I cannot
answer that with utmost certainty but what I can say is this, I loved Kenny vs.
Spenny. It was one of the most polarizing shows because you found yourself
rooting for the villain (Kenny) to cheat and win the competitions most episodes
(unless you are soft and felt bad for Spenny). The fact that no other two
humans on earth have ever tried to recreate the things they did, (or if they
have, had very little success at it) says something about the originality and
utter craziness that they unleashed on the world.
2. Trailer Park Boys
The States has many mockumentaries on
TV nowadays and I wouldn’t put any of them up against TPB is a face off of
great mockumentaries. TPB is the story of a film crew that follows around low
level criminals, Ricky, Julian and Bubbles, during their everyday life in
Sunnyvale Trailer Park. The show is utterly ridiculous at most points and has a
lot of very familiar yet unfamiliar storylines (especially for Canadians). The
whole concept was made even better when the cast were at Ali G levels of commitment
and doing many of their interviews and off screen appearances as their
characters.
1. Corner Gas
The Canadian Seinfeld, Brett Butt has
less of “what’s the deal with...” feel and more of an “eh that’s kind of
strange” thing going on. They do have a lot in common though, both were stand
up comics who took their routines and adapted them for TV. Both seem pretty
cynical and lazy. And both of their shows are more or less based on “nothing”.
The differences between their shows
were apparent, middle of nowhere Saskatchewan is not New York, Jerry’s
apartment isn’t the Corner Gas Gas Station, and The Ruby is no Monk’s. Again,
though, comparisons can be made the wacky friend (Hank/Kramer), the will they won’t
they female opposite (Lacey/Elaine), both shows even had the older couple that
always bickered (the Leroys/the Costanzas). Both shows even developed much
divided fan bases that either loved them or hated them.
I know that comparing Seinfeld and
Corner Gas is like comparing apples and oranges and to all the Seinfeld fans
out there, there will never be another Seinfeld. At the same time though, all
the Canadian fans of Corner Gas know that there will never be another Corner
Gas either and it all ours.
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