A New Obsession

As previously mentioned, I received the complete series of Slings and Arrows for Christmas. Now, this was a bit of a risk seeing as I had never watched the show at all before. But I needed more Cancon to fill my days and from what I read about it, it seemed like something I liked. So we watched the first two episodes. At first, I thought it seemed a bit slow, though there were lots of moments that made me laugh. But at the end of each episode, I couldn't wait to see the next one. I just had to know what was going to happen. And now I can't stop watching it! I heart it. The downside is that there are only 3 seasons and to make it even worse, there are only 6 episodes per season. So I'm torn between needing to see them at once or making them last...I'm going to watch them all at once. But there are two things that I feel the need to point out:

(1) The show is SO Canadian. Aside from the subtle slowness (we Canadians don't like to rush a story) and the financial trouble of the festival, forcing them to always look for funding (ah, good times), it stars pretty much Canadian royalty: Paul Gross, Mark McKinney, Don McKeller, Martha Burns, Rachel MacAdams, Colm Feore, Stephen Ouimette and Michael Polley, who is, of course, the father of Sarah Polley who also pops up in season 3. I could spend the rest of the challenge just going through all the amazing things these people have done but I won't. It has the touches of bizarre which always feels so Canadian. And such great lines like "Darren, everybody cries when they get stabbed. There's no shame in that."

(2) Related to the first note, it's made me realize how much the theatre plays a role in Canadian culture and it's cinema and television. I mean, the majority of those actors listed above have done or got their start in theatre. And it's not hard to see the similarities between the New Burbage festival in the show and the Stratford Festival in real life. But in the first season, an American actor is sent to send in to play Hamlet in order to get crediability. It's funny because it's kinda how it works (and was inspired by Kneau Reeves playing Hamlet in Winnipeg) but that's not how it works in Canadian. Most actors here already have theatre experience, thus are more "legitimate". Or else they've started their own comedy troupe. In the states, they all just start on soap operas (just kidding - sometimes they don't even bother with them anymore). I'll leave everybody to draw their own conclusions about who has better actors...