People often ask why an American would have a blog about Canada. I have struggled to come up with a succinct answer.
I always thought fondly of Canada. I visited southern Ontario as a child. I even spent a few days in Toronto in March as my "spring break" in university. I visited Windsor for the reasons young men visit Windsor e.g., Windsor Ballet.
I really didn't spend time thinking much about Canada until Twitch City ended up on my cable in the United States in 2000.
Bravo used to show offbeat programs way back when. The promo above is what Bravo ran to promote Twitch City as part of its Counter Culture programming. "It's like a sitcom but without the laugh track." Twitch City was much much more than that.
This was my introduction to Don McKellar, Molly Parker, Daniel MacIvor, and Callum Keith Rennie. I didn't know anything about Kensington Market. I knew who Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney were, but the TV within the TV wasn't the most interesting part of the show.
McKellar, who is also one of the creators of the show, stars as Curtis who likes to watch a lot of television and almost never leaves the house. His favourite show is the The Rex Reilly Show hosted by McCulloch in Season 1 and McKinney in Season 2.
Curtis lives with Nathan (MacIvor), who is as anal retentive as Curtis is laid-back. Nathan goes out for cat food one night and accidentally kills a homeless person. The homeless man turns out to be Al Waxman, who was the lead in the King of Kensington and known in the States for Cagney & Lacey.
Hope (Parker), Nathan's girlfriend, moves into the apartment while Nathan is in jail. Curtis convinces her to live in a closet while they rent out Nathan's room while he is in jail. This opens the door literally to offbeat guests, including Tracy Wright, McKellar's long-time partner and later real-life wife.
Parker's Hope doesn't have the fear of going outside but has her own personal issues. She was the first of the cool Canadian women I have enjoyed on screen.
Rennie plays Newbie, the convenience store clerk, who is a friend of Curtis. Hope becomes the go-between for Curtis and the real world but you get the impression that Newbie filled that role. Parker and Rennie later starred in the U.S.-Canada remake of John Grisham's The Firm.
Americans would recognize a few faces besides the Kids in the Hall alumni. We've mentioned Kenneth Welsh in our recent look at Wet Bum. Welsh played Hope's father. Joyce DeWitt played herself on The Rex Reilly Show where she met lookalikes on I Look Like Joyce DeWitt. Jennifer Jason Leigh has a really impressive performance as a graduate student who takes an obsessive liking to Curtis. Leigh worked with McKellar on Childstar and acted with him in the David Cronenberg film Existenz.
This show was poignant about commenting on television without being overwrought. The characters were quirky with depth. The oddball temporary roommates got more strange as the show went along. It was dark and funny.
Twitch City was the trunk of the tree that piqued my curiosity. I discovered Last Night from McKellar about the last 6 hours of the world that features Rennie in the film with Sandra Oh in a major role and Sarah Polley in a minor role. The Five Senses has Parker and MacIvor but in separate stories. Marion Bridge has Parker and the screenplay is based on a Daniel MacIvor play. I stumbled upon Double Happiness starring Oh after seeing Last Night.
The branches has spread over the years, but one film brought them back together. Trigger featured Parker and Wright as women who used to be in the same rock and roll band getting back together for a night. The tight group of friends revised a MacIvor script that was sped up since Wright was dying in real life from pancreatic cancer. Bruce MacDonald, who directed the series also directed the film. The film features smaller parts from MacIvor, Polley, McKellar, and Rennie. Trigger opened at TIFF 2010, 3 months after Wright passed away in June 2010 at the age of 50.
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage
CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage
CanadianCrossing.com television coverage
Twitch City ran on CBC Television with 6 episodes in 1998 and 7 episodes in 2000. Bravo carried the show in the United States and the show ran in Australia. The show is available on DVD.
When I think of the Canadian sensibility, I think of Twitch City. Complex characters, great writing, a show where you are entertained and you think a bit. The show is more than a guy who watches a lot of TV, but TV is used as a medium for a lot more while you are watching a TV show about this world.
video and photos credit: Bravo/CBC/Twitch City
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