Does Canada Produce Good TV Shows?

[ALF]

Trailer Park Boys is absolutely hilarious.

Mr. Lahey: He's takin' the shit tornado right back to Oz!

***

Mrs. Lahey: Randy, when I want advice on eating cheeseburgers and not wearing shirts, I'll ask you!

Yes, and indeed, shame on this thread for taking a full 17 posts before even mentioning it!! I guess all the fans are busy studying their fuckin' solar systems for their grade 10. Or getting drunk, listening to Kim Mitchell and eating chicken fingers.

 

[Garak]

Yes.

The Trailer Park Boys.

Kids in the Hall.

Star Trek: The Animated Series

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Men with Brooms was adorable.

I haven't seen it but I actually went to highschool with one of the actresses in the movie, Polly Shannon. We were lab partners in Chemistry class a few times. I doubt she'd remember me though.

I recognize that name! She was on the "Human Operators" episode of the new Outer Limits.

 

[The Wormhole]

Another shout-out for Trailer Park Boys. Fun fact: the vocational school Ricky attends in season 5 is in real life a high school. The very same high school I attended.

 

[Owain Taggart]

And who can forget Bubbles! He's pretty much cemented himself as part of our Canadian culture.

 

[TheSeeker]

I confess I watch very little Canadian programming, including the Trailer Park Boys.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's also Kids in the Hall, but I was never really into that. The only KITH sketch I liked was this one:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JinJ7NY5_E[/yt]

 

[auntiehill]

Slings & Arrows, for the win.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Traders for the WIN!

 

[ATimson]

Canada has produced, what, 90% of TV sci-fi over the last 20 years?

Sure, if you count American shows produced in Canada for tax breaks, like The X-Files.

Stargate was produced in Canada (for a U.S. company).

That's an example of what I mean (though for the most part it wouldn't count as "good" TV.)

Stargate was paid for by MGM, but the entire production was Canadian. A better example of what you mean would be, as you said, The X-Files, or Battlestar Galactica - they filmed in Canadia but the writers and producers were still American.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

^With Stargate, not only were the actors & crew largely Canadian, but so were the writers. That's why production on the series was uninhibited by the 2008 WGA strike, whereas the 2nd half of the 4th season of Battlestar Galactica was delayed because of it.

Lost Girl.

Yes. Lost Girl has become my most recent addiction. And while the show plays it very coy about exactly where it's set, at least 1 episode definately establishes it as being in Canada. (In "Vexed," Kenzie refers to a death row inmate as being "across the border.")

If you're into really sick, dark, twisted humor, Puppets Who Kill is good for a laugh.

But I am stunned that we've gotten this far without mentioning Canada's greatest ever contribution to the medium: Made in Canada. It was a scathing satire about unscrupulous Canadian TV producers. It starred Rick Mercer (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) & Peter Keleghan (Ranger Gord from The Red Green Show). It lasted 5 seasons, but only the 1st 6 episodes were ever released on DVD before Salter Street Films went broke. (And that barebones DVD is so out of print that it costs about $74.94 on Amazon.com.) My greatest wish would be for Seasons 2-5 to get released on DVD. Does no one else remember this show?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Ken Finkleman's The Newsroom (Move along, this is not he News Room you are thinking of.), followed by something else, followed by Good Dog, followed by Good God.

Just hilarious.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Puppets Who Kill, Made in Canada and The Newsroom were great. Still haven't seen Good Dog or Good God. I like Ken Finkleman's work, but it can get a little weird and incomprehensible at times.

 

[WHF]

Yeah, The Newsroom and Made in Canada were fantastic. For comedies I would add The Tournament, this was like the Trailer Park Boys but with hockey parents (they made a British version of this show called The Cup). And Twitch City (Molly Parker and Don McKellar) which was about a guy obsessed with TV and unable to leave his apartment. And of course SCTV. I would also include Lexx in the comedy category.

For drama you can't beat Intelligence and Da Vinci's Inquest.

A few others worth mentioning: This Hour Has 22 Minutes (still running), North of 60 and Wayne and Shuster, both long since finished.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Twitch City blew me away because I used to be that bloke.

It wasn't the obsession with watching tv, but the religion in finding TV, studying the TVGuide and circling the minutes in the day that you needed to be observant and dedicated to abide with the transmission scheduling... I remembering being that guy. But then I figured out how to use my VCR timer, and then I moved onto bit torrent and I was no longer a slave.

Well, I'm still a slave to the oncoming storm of media, but I'm not a slave to time anymore.

God bless timeshifting.

I walk funny when I think about Molly Shannon.

 

[lennier1]

Some of my favorites:

- Due South
- Little Mosque on the Prairie
- Road to Avonlea
- Being Erica
- Murdoch Mysteries
- Flashpoint
- ReGenesis

 

[Agent Richard07]

Yes, North of 60 is another good one.

- ReGenesis

I've only seen the first season. It looked like pretty good HBO quality near future scifi. I have to finish the series.

 

[Owain Taggart]

But I am stunned that we've gotten this far without mentioning Canada's greatest ever contribution to the medium: Made in Canada. It was a scathing satire about unscrupulous Canadian TV producers. It starred Rick Mercer (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) & Peter Keleghan (Ranger Gord from The Red Green Show). It lasted 5 seasons, but only the 1st 6 episodes were ever released on DVD before Salter Street Films went broke. (And that barebones DVD is so out of print that it costs about $74.94 on Amazon.com.) My greatest wish would be for Seasons 2-5 to get released on DVD. Does no one else remember this show?

Ahh, good point about the show! I somehow never really got around to watching it much, but I did like what I've seen of it. It's almost like Arrested Development in the humour department.

I'm currently watching Arctic Air, another good recent show; a scripted drama about aviation in the Canadian north. And love watching Ice Pilots, which is in its 4th season.

 

[lennier1]

Yes, North of 60 is another good one.

- ReGenesis

I've only seen the first season. It looked like pretty good HBO quality near future scifi. I have to finish the series.

Give it another try if the opportunity presents itself. It'll be worth your time.

 

[LightningPRS]

I can't believe no one has mentioned one of the staples of 80s TV for kids: You Can't Do That On Television. Though the show has been off the air now for 23 years, most people I know who grew up in the 1980s remembers this show a lot!