What’s the name of the show? Schitt’s Creek
When does it premiere? Wednesday, 11 February, at 10pm EST on Pop
What the heck is Pop? It used to be TVGN.
What the heck is TVGN? The TV Guide Network. Remember that channel with the endless scroll of all the shows that were on cable that we needed before you could click “guide” on your remote to see a grid of everything that’s on? Apparently that is now a channel called Pop which airs actual shows.
What is this show? The Roses are a rich family who lost all their money after their business manager was convicted of fraud and the IRS took all their assets to pay off their back taxes. The one thing they’re left with is a backwater town called Schitt’s Creek, which patriarch Johnny Rose bought for his son as a joke. They’re forced to live there until they can get back on their feet.
So this is just Green Acres mixed with Arrested Development? Yes, but Canadian.
What’s the show’s pedigree? This show is an import from the CBC, where it was a bit of a hit and has already been renewed for a second season. Eugene Levy and his son Daniel (the MTV Canada host) created the show and also star in it. Catherine O’Hara, who successfully paired with Levy in many of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, was enlisted to get the old gang back together.
What happens in the premiere? Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy) and his wife Moira (O’Hara) are kicked out of their mansion by the IRS and have to move into a motel in the town of Schitt’s Creek. They bring their dilettante son David (Daniel Levy) and clueless daughter Alexis (Annie Murphy), and everyone is miserable. Though Johnny owns the town, he pisses off the mayor, Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott), who makes the family’s lives miserable.
Is this show any good? Eugene Levy, a wonderful comedic actor, sadly wore out his welcome in the early aughts playing a bunch of nebbishy good-for-nothings in cinematic gems like Bringing Down the House, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and everything having to do with American Pie Presents. I’m happy to say that here he is in much finer form, providing a strong, stern control over his family of otherwise outlandish lunatics. Thank god for that, because his bumbling simpleton routine would just be too much to handle.
It’s really O’Hara who carries the show, playing an updated version of her vain socialite character from Beetlejuice. Her constant threats of suicide (“I need a bathtub and a very long extension cord”) are as hilarious as they are relentless. Her harried asides are delivered with the sort of timing only a life-long professional could muster – and if they are ad libbed, well, that’s just another layer of her genius.
So, yes, it is great fun watching these two, even if the situations they find themselves in are a bit simple and overused. They get more inventive as the family has to learn to settle into the town. The nice, normal people of Schitt’s Creek could so easily have been drawn as hillbillies, but they show that the real freaks are these rich interlopers with their silly careers, cellphone charms and dozens of wigs. The deeper into the series we get, the more it finds its rhythm and starts inventing unique scenarios for the Roses to play out in their captivity. By the end of this show’s 13 episodes, it should be a nice, fun confection to keep you company on a Saturday afternoon when you remember it’s in your DVR.
Which characters will you love? Snarky and snobby son David is fun to watch in his sullen anger, and he is matched only by Stevie (Emily Hampshire), the employee at the motel where they live. They’re a great odd couple whose chemistry is as good as Eugene Levy and O’Hara’s. However, as I said above, this is O’Hara’s show. She has an Emmy-worthy performance in the third episode where she goes off the rails after Googling herself.
Which characters will you hate? I have never been a fan of Chris Elliott, and his one-note mayor Ronald doesn’t add very much to the proceedings. Though his defense of the town’s inadvertently pornographic sign is pretty darn funny.
What’s the best thing about it? The characters are despicable but not necessarily unlikeable. While they’re all outrageous, they’re drawn with enough humanity and nuance that none of them are monsters. Larry David and Ricky Gervais have made careers of writing characters no one would want to be friends with; thankfully, the Roses and the townsfolk around them never descend into that.
What’s the worst thing about it? The fact that the Roses “own” the town is never really explained. What does that get them, exactly, other than two free motel rooms? The particulars of their situation need to be sketched out a bit more firmly. Also, the “rich people hate small-town life” joke is going to get old really quickly. If this show doesn’t find new veins of comedy, it’s going to be up, well, you know.
Should you watch this show? Yes, if you can find Pop on your dial.
