The Aisle Seat: Home Edition takes a look at one of the most popular sitcoms in recent history – a proud product from the Great White North! – as it gets set to take its final bow tonight on CBC.
The doors close for the final time on the Rosebud Motel this evening. Perhaps THIS is a good opportunity, if you haven’t already done so, to take a visit to ‘Schitt’s Creek’.
The much loved Canadian series, created by Dan and Eugene Levy, premiered on CBC back in January, 2015. But archived episodes are currently available for streaming on Netflix, and if you have serious doubts that this program deserves the branding of ‘classic comedy’ – you should do some catching up before what looks to be an emotional farewell tonight. ‘Cause this is one of the best things to come out of Canada since KD & baggage tags.
Conceived by the younger Levy, who wondered how wealthy families frequently depicted on American reality television (hello, Kardashians) would fare if they were stripped of all their money, ‘Schitt’s Creek’ pits the very rich Rose family, including video store magnate Johnny (Eugene Levy), his wife and former soap opera actress Moira (Catherine O’Hara) and their adult children David and Alexis (Dan Levy and Annie Murphy) in a tense situation; thanks to a shifty business manager, their fortune is gone. They are forced to rebuild their lives with their sole remaining asset; a small town named Schitt’s Creek, which Johnny had bought for David as a joke birthday gift in the early ’90s.
The Roses relocate to Schitt’s Creek, moving into two adjacent rooms in the dilapidated Rosebud Motel, doing their best to adjust their suddenly simplistic surroundings, and cope with the offbeat residents of the town, including mayor Roland Schitt (Chris Elliot), his wife Jocelyn (Jenn Robertson) and the motel’s manager, Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire).
Popular? You could say that. During the first week of March, Variety reported that ‘Schitt’s Creek’ was the second most watched program on Netflix, behind only ‘The Office’. And it’s easy to see why – there’s a winsome charm here, blended with a quirky unpredictable tone; think ‘Twin Peaks’ meets ‘Modern Family’, and you’re getting close. The ironic fact that we’re ALL currently isolated, without a lot of the conveniences we’re used to, and forced to re-connect with loved ones (hopefully re-discovered what’s really important in the process) shouldn’t be lost in the impact the narrative of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ has.
The final episode airs at 8pm tonight (April 7th) on CBC and CBC Gem, followed by an hour-long special at 8:30 entitled ‘Best Wishes, Warmest Regards’ which the network describes as “an intimate and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the sixth and final season”.
