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community weblog
Canadian TV needs to get weird again
In the '80s and '90s, English Canadian screens were filled with bizarre, fever dream-like shows.
From Canadian treasure Niko Stratis!
10 of Canada's best (and weirdest) TV classics (also from Niko).
posted by Kitteh on Jan 21, 2026 at 10:07 AM
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Murdoch Mysteries is still airing and yesterday I learned that a certain US movie sidekick was on a recent episode????
posted by Kitteh at 10:08 AM
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None of those shows are weird?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:19 AM
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Excellent, but missing references to Read All About It! (episodes on Internet Archive, oh no, now I know what I'm doing to my kids this weekend), the show that convinced me that you can be a journalist AND fight evil galactic emperors.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:20 AM
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hah...and Read All About it was the show that immediately came to mind when they mentioned weird Canadian TV.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:22 AM
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(CNTRL-F "kids in the hall" = 0)
Huh... what is this article even talking about?
posted by Pedantzilla at 10:28 AM
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No mention of You Can't Do That on Television?
..........
... Murdoch Mysteries, a show about a Protestant detective...
Wait. Murdoch is protestant? I see him crossing himself all the time (usually over a dead body.) That's generally a catholic thing, unless Canadian protestants also do it?
posted by Thorzdad at 10:30 AM
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Niko was specifically talking about a period of time and she mentions why SCTV is mentioned and KITH is not.
It's easy to point to The Kids In The Hall or Baroness von Sketch Show as examples of Canada's improv comedy bona fides, but SCTV is the point from which all points diverge. It featured an all-star lineup of Eugene Levy, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Robin Duke and more. The premise of SCTV, presented as a typical broadcast day of the fictional Second City TV station, introduced regular in-universe shows like The Days of The Week, Monster Chiller Horror Theatre and Great White North, which gave us legendary hosers Bob and Doug McKenzie.
posted by Kitteh at 10:30 AM
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Twitch City was kind of weird.
posted by mazola at 10:31 AM
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None of those shows are weird?
Maybe not in the first article, but the top 10 list includes Lexx, which is inarguably weird.
posted by bigge at 10:43 AM
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I adored Today's Special when I was a kid. I was surprised that it was an 80s show, though. The costumes and characters scream 1970s to me.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:44 AM
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Yeah, most of these shows (with the possible exception of Today's Special) don't even approach the weirdness of the children's programs featured on Ontario public broadcasting in the '70s and '80s.
Readalong wasn't just a fever dream, it was a nightmarish world of hideous, poorly articulated puppets that was meant to teach a love of reading to preschoolers.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:47 AM
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Listen, one of the best and weirdest things about being married to a Canadian is hearing about some absolutely bonkers shit that you all had to watch as children.
posted by Kitteh at 10:53 AM
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Ivan Fecan was one of the people who decided to actually broadcast some of this stuff, which is something.
CODCO was not only weird but at times incomprehensible in an interesting way (at least House of Budgell was). It really deserves its own post.
Angela Anaconda had that uncanny half analog/digital animation style.
PJ Katie's Farm was a low-tech puppet show with a small but intent cult audience. Arguably best Canadian television show evah.
It's true, everything filtered into and out of SCTV. They squeezed everything that you could out of parody that reflected and started to turn into real life...
posted by ovvl at 10:55 AM
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ReBoot was amazing and it got more ambitious every season. Not many kids shows are going to spend an entire episode recreating The Prisoner, but I wish more would try.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:56 AM
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Not to mention the crazy PSAs. And heritage minutes. Which my husband and I quote on the regular.
I was thinking about this, since heated rivalry is now huge and also made in Canada... not to mention late bloomer... we kinda just go there in terms of content. Like in late bloomer the Sikh protagonist goes to a church and in voice over calls Jesus a cockblocker. And like degrassi we just kinda put it out there like hey this is what happens. The tragically hip have been telling hyperspecific stories since before Taylor swift was born. There is a kind of lack of self consciousness in term of image management inherent in Canadian shows that is palpable compared to American tv. Yeah we definitely need to up the Cancon.
I watched all these shows and I remember as a kid being *shocked* when Jeff from today's special showed up on broadway as the phantom in phantom of the opera. WHO LET YOU OUT OF THE DEPARTMENT STORE JEFF??
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:05 AM
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Kids shows shouldn't count since they're all weird, every last one of them.
The Starlost is before the 80's and only kind of weird but...Harlan Ellison! Keir Dullea (from 2001)! Ben Bova!
If I recall correctly, and it's entirely possible that I don't, Seeing Things had some weirdness from time to time. This show, I don't think that I've ever seen an article on it over the decades - it seems to have disappeared.
posted by ashbury at 11:07 AM
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I learned that when Heated Rivalry was initially pitched to a US producer, they didn't want the sex at all! They even wanted Shane/Ilya to wait UNTIL THE FIFTH EPISODE to even kiss. I can tell you I am so proud to have my taxpayer money show two hot hockey players going at it.
I mean, honestly, America can't even.
posted by Kitteh at 11:08 AM
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Blackfly was a truly bizarre Canadian comedy, set in an 18th century fur trading post.
And there was the weird kids' sci fi show Space Cases
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:09 AM
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Loved Reboot and love loved LOOOOOOVED The Odyssey, which to this day is my go-to example of the sort of creepy/dreamy/melancholic/sinister vibe that I am forever chasing in all SFF media that I consume. I have no idea if my perception of what the show was is true, or some combination of false memory/actual dreams/conflation of various things....but hot damn I long to recreate (what I think was) the feeling of watching that fucked up show as a kid. (Note: I had no idea Ryan Reynolds was one of the Nazi kids in it. TIL!)
Was disappointed not to see Size Small on the list. Like, whatthefuck even was that nonsense?!
posted by Dorinda at 11:16 AM
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No Maniac Mansion, huh? Somewhere, Joe Flaherty weeps.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:19 AM
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Also, my claim to CanCon fame is that I once took a tap dancing workshop/masterclass from Jeff Hyslop (of Today's Special fame, but who was "my" Phantom in Phantom of the Opera when it did its first (?) Canadian tour) while he was touring his one-man show "Feet First" in the 90s. Legit highlight of my dance-kid/theatre-nerd childhood. He signed my tap shoe and my t-shirt and I still have both.
posted by Dorinda at 11:21 AM
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Calling Lexx a Canadian Doctor Who is like calling Neon Genesis Evangelion a Japanese Duck Tails
posted by phooky at 11:21 AM
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I'm not sure there is any show that can be compared to Lexx.
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:24 AM
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Also, we had Doctor Who. It was broadcast on our public television pretty close to simultaneously with the UK broadcasts. I think they may have even found a few "lost" episodes in the TV Ontario archives.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:27 AM
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Telefrancais!!! Fuck ya l'ananas! I haven't thought about that in like, thirty five years.
In conclusion, can con rocks.
posted by Alex404 at 11:37 AM
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No mention of You Can't Do That on Television?
Where noted export Alanis Morrisette got her start.
posted by mhoye at 11:42 AM
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Calling Lexx a Canadian Doctor Who is like calling Neon Genesis Evangelion a Japanese Duck Tails
An astounding but 100% correct take.
posted by mhoye at 11:46 AM
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Isn't Lexx more of a German Red Dwarf?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:46 AM
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Twitch City was kind of weird.
posted by mazola at 10:31 AM on January 21
I remember sitting in my basement suite watching TV one night (this is VCR era, pre-DVD era, never mind pre-streaming, so I tended to watch what was on at the moment) and Twitch City came on. I watched the whole thing and afterwards was like wtf did I just watch? But I was riveted and watched it faithfully after that until it was cancelled. So bizarre and so good. Don McKellar! Molly Parker! The King of Kensington (well, for like a minute at the beginning, anyway).
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:17 PM
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Yeah, most of these shows (with the possible exception of Today's Special) don't even approach the weirdness of the children's programs featured on Ontario public broadcasting in the '70s and '80s.
The thing is that Today's Special was born out of those shows - it was their attempt to compete with the Children's Television Workshop - and they did a genuinely good job at that.
ReBoot was amazing and it got more ambitious every season.
ReBoot had one of the best meditations on trauma and toxic masculinity in an animated show.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:24 PM
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Regarding Read All About it, I posted about that back in 2009. While the mention above mentioned journalism and the evil galactic overlord, it didn't mention the time travel, materializing characters from books, or that the leads were all kids. It was very much like early Doctor Who, down to the quality of the "special effects."
posted by JHarris at 12:26 PM
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Oh and my favorite thing about ReBoot is the episode where they're roaming around inside of a D&D-style dungeon adventure, and one of the monsters, in a two second sight gag, was a letter of the alphabet.
posted by JHarris at 12:29 PM
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With some of my formative years in the upper midwest US in the late 80s, early 90s, I got my share of Canadian kid's tv via WGN (I think) and other regional American tv stations, and of course Nickelodeon. My guess is that rebroadcasting the Canadian tv shows was much cheaper than creating their own shows. One I remember, and which I found the name of just now by googling "canadian kids game show racecar" was apparently called Kidstreet. Today's Special and You Can't Do That On Television have already been mentioned. And I have fond memories of The Polka Dot Door. One I remember which I'm surprised to learn just now was not Canadian (it seemed low budget and had a beaver as a main character!) was Zoobilee Zoo, produced by Pittsburgh's PBS station.
Nickelodeon seemed to get a lot of shows from other countries. I can immediately think of shows from The Netherlands (Dr. Snuggles), Spain (David the Gnome), Japan (Noozles, Maple Town, and many Special Delivery one-offs), and the UK (Dangermouse, Bananaman, The Tomorrow People).
posted by msbrauer at 12:29 PM
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Wait. Murdoch is protestant? I see him crossing himself all the time (usually over a dead body.) That's generally a catholic thing, unless Canadian protestants also do it?
no, that's a small mistake in the article. I have just started watching Murdock mysteries and he's catholic. It's got a lot of very silly corny things in it and oh god I am addicted
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:53 PM
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Missing some Traboulidon in that list. A weird mid-80s kid show about 2 characters trapped in a videogame and trying to get out. Basically Tron, but without a budget or effects.
posted by WaterAndPixels at 12:54 PM
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Nickelodeon seemed to get a lot of shows from other countries.
YouTuber PopArena has discussed this in their Nick Knacks series - until the success of Double Dare which gave the network money to really do actual development with, the network was reliant on being able to pick up shows on the cheap, which led to a lot of overseas acquisitions and partnerships. And this meant a lot of CanCon - after all, the network's signature green slime is just as Canadian as maple syrup. And even once they had the money to do internal development, they still would make deals with the True North, as shows like Are You Afraid Of The Dark? and the aforementioned Space Cases illustrate. Cartoon Network was no stranger to CanCon either, being a frequent host to Canadian animation.
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:54 PM
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Murdock is explicitly Roman Catholic. It's a major plot point in the first few seasons as he's highly discriminated against for it. It explains why he's hit a glass ceiling, why he gets falsely accused of a crime and why he gets imprisoned etc.. I had assumed this was done for a few reasons, it show persecution of RC and french-origin people in Protestant Toronto at the time, and, I assume intentionally, parallels the persecution of gay-coded males in police culture of the present day.
posted by bonehead at 1:00 PM
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I used to get up EARLY for The Hilarious House of Frightenstein
posted by cotton dress sock at 1:01 PM
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'Hilarious' does a lot of lifting in that title (it was kind of hilarious the way that show creeped me out!).
I say that as a fan.
posted by mazola at 1:04 PM
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It's weird seeing SCTV and Lexx together on a list of weird Canadian TV. Because, sure, they're both Canadian, and they're both weird, but the ways in which they're weird couldn't be more different. Lexx is "let's give $50 to some guy who is totally baked to make a science-fiction action show." SCTV is fairly normal (but excellent) sketch comedy that occasionally goes Peter Greenaway level of high concept with entire episodes dedicated to an adaptation of "Ordinary People." Or a spoof of "One from the Heart" (itself an obscure, high-concept movie).
posted by adamrice at 1:04 PM
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@mazola oh sure, Vincent Price creeped me right out! And probably some of the jokes would have been over my head. But Billy Van's physical comedy was superlative and understandable to even a kid (Griselda!), and the vibe of the show overall felt like a party (especially given the wolfman and his psychedelic dancing).
I also liked The Edison Twins (and who wouldn't! Problem-solving science geek twins and a great theme song!).
posted by cotton dress sock at 1:17 PM
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On into the '90s and 2000s: I was yesterday years old when I discovered The Collector, a Vancouver-set, Vancouver-shot, Vancouver-budgeted TV show about a guy who has collected souls for the devil for hundreds of years and then Satan decides in a fit of whimsy to try to let him save those souls instead. You know it's serious because all the title fonts have that cross in the "O" that was mandatory for every Supernatural-styled entertainment product from about '95 to 2010.
See also: Forever Knight, the Toronto based cop-vampire-detective show.
Truly as a nation we have strayed from the light.
Frightenstein lore: years ago when I was a student in Ryerson's Radio and Television Arts program, a visiting industry guy who worked on the show told us that all the Price segments were shot over two days, and everyone incuding VP got pretty liquored up and it was a rollicking good time. Apocryphal? Maybe, but it felt true.
posted by Shepherd at 1:40 PM
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Murdoch Season 1: Murdoch meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in turn-of-the-century Toronto and they solve a period mystery together!
Murdoch Season 6: Murdoch flies the first airplane!
Murdoch Season 9: Murdoch helps launch the first suborbital rocket!
Murdoch Season 12: Murdoch builds a house with the first walk-in potato-cooker!
(Murdoch is really weird)
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:46 PM
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There are weirder shows but to be honest when are we, as Canadians, not weird at some point.
Yeah you got stuff like Twitch City, Seeing Things (its about a journalist who has premonitions) but if you extend it to the 60s and 70s you have stuff like Hilarious House of Frightenstein and Starlost, but also the Adventures in Rainbow Country episode with the clown or the Canadian take on Dark Shadows Strange Paradise, Wonderful World of Kreskin was filmed in Canada, Sol Et Gobelet, the Canadian Swiss coproduction of George (based on the movie), Les Lye's (who was on You Can't Do That on Television) Uncle Willy & Floyd, Zig Zag, Monster By Mistake, Celebrity Cooking with Bruno Gerussi, Maniac Mansion created by Eugene Levy and based on the video game, Puppets Who Kill, Comedy Mill (which introduced us to Red Green), The David Steinberg Show (the one from 1976), CBC show Indian Legends, Big Wolf on Campus, Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, the Chris Isaak Show was shot in Vancouver with loads of Canadian actors.
So many weird shows...
Isn't Lexx more of a German Red Dwarf?
Red Dwarf is no where near as horny as Lexx or as nihilistic. One whole season has them going to hell. It used a lot of Canadian actors - Mr. Lahey of Trailer Park Boys appears in the musical episode.
Apocryphal?
I've heard Billy Van say in interviews that those scenes were shot over a day or 2.
posted by Ashwagandha at 1:57 PM
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In Toronto history specifically, until about the 1960s, you needed to be a member of an Orange Lodge in order to work for the police department (or any municipal service, really). Anti-Catholic discrimination was particularly extreme in a city that had a strong Scots Presbyterian institutional culture going back to almost its founding.
Realistically speaking, Murdoch would likely never have even been hired by the police.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:58 PM
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You needed to be a member of an Orange Lodge
Toronto was called Little Belfast for a reason. That Scots Presbyterian institutional culture directly influenced a lot of our 19th Century politics.
posted by Ashwagandha at 2:03 PM
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And 20th, for that matter.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:11 PM
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Corner Gas did not make the list because it was a documentary and its events happened in real-time.
posted by delfin at 2:14 PM
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Thorzdad: "Wait. Murdoch is protestant? I see him crossing himself all the time (usually over a dead body.) That's generally a catholic thing, unless Canadian protestants also do it?"
Yeah, she's wrong on this. I love Murdoch Mysteries, and he's definitely Catholic (in an officially Protestant city, which is explicitly why he can't get promoted.)
posted by adrienneleigh at 2:17 PM
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I've always felt that Murdoch Mysteries is Canada's version of Doctor Who: mystery of the week to be solved, main character that always seems to come up with the answers, companions at his side helping/"helping" out along the way, and often with some crazy technological contraption involved in the end (bless you forever, horse-drawn microwave ray gun). Not to mention that he seems to be friendly with a remarkably wide range of historical figures.
Of course the Doctor might not be around as a reference point without some Canadian involvement in the first place.
posted by mzanatta at 2:27 PM
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Canadian weirdness, 90's theme songs, Raccoons, all intersect here with the Cybertronc Spree's great cover version of Run With Us. I wondered if this link would ever come in handy.
Full disclosure, I worked for the CBC in Vancouver in the 80's and 90's and can confirm there was a certain weird air about the industry at the time. We had our own local weird shows, Pilot 1 as an example. A show with a variety of "youth oriented" (i.e. weird) content all mashed together.
posted by Zedcaster at 3:02 PM
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I enjoyed The Red Green Show at first, but when they got a budget, it wasn't as good anymore. That was my impression.
Also, someone needs to resurrect SCTV - I don't know if it was Canadian, but it sure felt Canadian.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 3:16 PM
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Seems pretty Canadian [YouTube].
posted by mazola at 3:24 PM
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Where's Made in Canada? (PBSed in the US as The Industry.) Amazing show, very weird.
"I! AM! DAMACLES!"
posted by humbug at 3:31 PM
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SCTV - I don't know if it was Canadian, but it sure felt Canadian.
Dude, that shit is as Canadian as the St. Lawrence Seaway (which was also a CBC show in the 60s).
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:55 PM
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Lexx is gloriously weird and horny. Imagine if Farscape was written one-handed, and the bondagey influences of its character design and costume were turned up to, if not 11, at least 8-9. Lexx does tend to turn away from its eroticism into goofy humor, it is late night broadcast TV fantasy.
Reboot was genuinely genius- I can only imagine how the premise and setting could have been realized, if the budget and graphics were 5-10 years later in history. Their monster of the week was- Oh no, the Player has suddenly dropped a new Game in our lap and we have to survive the PG rated suspenseful experience! And the cackling antagonist viruses were well hammed.
If you're looking for other furry/kids' media I recommend:
Don't Eat The Neighbors
The Longhouse Tales
posted by panhopticon at 3:55 PM
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Canadian PSAs were the best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKdvLafGLRc
posted by mmb5 at 4:00 PM
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I remember on Sunday nights in between shows, instead of ads sometimes YTV would air clips of The Mind's Eye. Watching those in the dark alone fascinated and creeped me out, definitely a "I don't even know what drugs are but this is drugs" moment of my childhood.
posted by thebots at 4:03 PM
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I suspect You Can't Do That On Televison played an oversize role in shaping Gen-X's sense of humor.
Early Nickelodeon couldn't afford a lot of programming, so the show was on *heavy* rotation.
Sketch comedy, where the only on-camera adults were obstacles to be overcome (ranging from clueless to villainous). Plus, this is the origins for Nickelodeon's later-ubiquitous green slime.
posted by cheshyre at 4:08 PM
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2 more shows that were loved by me as a kid - Guess What which was a very gentle Mr. Rogers type show hosted by a grandfatherly Jan Rubeš, a Czech-Canadian singer & actor on a minimal almost Brechtian set and The Adventures of Timothy Pilgrim, a story of a kid from inner city Toronto who finds a portal to the 19th Century via an old trunk.
Canadian PSAs were the best
Hard to beat Hinterland's Who's Who for putting you in a strange liminal state (the SCTV parody) as you eat your cereal.
Not particularly weird but before there was Quincy, there was Wojeck.
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:23 PM
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Murdoch has also provided a lot of work for Canadian actors over the years, both stage and screen. Errrrybody's been on that show. It's the link that brings any two Canadian actors' degree of separation down to two.
posted by Capt. Renault at 4:58 PM
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Even Stephen Harper appeared in an episode of Murdoch (only the Canadian cut of that episode apparently).
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:06 PM
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Not total WTF but laid back quirky: Live it Up was a general interest compilation with odd moments.
posted by ovvl at 5:19 PM
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4 on the Floor -Mr. Canoehead. I don't care if comedy shows after SCTV don't count. Iconic!
posted by ashbury at 5:20 PM
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I think there's been an FPP in the past about regional children's shows, but my peak Canadian Weirdness in kids TV (along with Frightenstein) is the abyssal cosmic horror of Bimbo the Birthday Clown on The Uncle Bobby Show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKaWxwO0mLw
I remember when Kris Strab's "Candle Cove" was making the creepypasta rounds, and thinking "fuck, dude, you think you made this up? It was for-fucking-real if you lived in broadcast range of Hamilton as a kid."
posted by Shepherd at 5:26 PM
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Anyone remember The Secret Railroad?
The show was about a kid who finds a hidden train station in his apartment building's basement and goes on surreal adventures with a guy named Mr. Passenger. They often run into a mysterious star-haired girl named Stella, who seems to be a different person in each of the places they visit.
It was so secret that no one else I knew had seen it, and there was very little evidence of it on the internet for a long time. A lot of it is up on Youtube now, though: The Secret Railroad 1977 playlist
posted by rodlymight at 5:34 PM
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If I recall correctly, and it's entirely possible that I don't, Seeing Things had some weirdness from time to time. This show, I don't think that I've ever seen an article on it over the decades - it seems to have disappeared.
I was just watching some old episodes on YouTube last month! I was really into Seeing Things when I was, like, eight years old for some reason -- I have no idea why my parents let me watch it. I think it was both weird (I liked Doctor Who) and this kind of odd window into unfiltered adulthood that TV generally didn't provide. I was probably the youngest Seeing Things viewer in the world, excepting trapped babies in cribs.
Watching it now, no, man, the whole thing is weird. Not only in the "psychic reporter solves murders" aspect, but it's just so unmarketable that it's completely astounding it ever got made at all.
posted by Shepherd at 5:55 PM
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Where's Made in Canada? (PBSed in the US as The Industry.) Amazing show, very weird.
Well I think that went well. I say that all the time but naturally no one gets it.
I love this show. It's streaming on Disney and I've got it on in the background all the time. So glad it aged well and didn't get cringe.
Also loved LEXX but I'm afraid to watch it lest it not have aged well.
posted by Mitheral at 6:12 PM
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Seeing Things totally holds up. Lexx, I watched a few years back, I think it is kind of fine? It is uneven show generally but if you jive with its humour it works I think. The writers have claimed that the show was made for people who were not fans of sci-fi, in fact, may have hated sci-fi. I recall stumbling on a website from a Russian fan of Lexx who posted his poetry about the characters and the individual episodes. One of my minor brushes with fame was that I bumped into Nigel Bennett who played Prince on Lexx and is probably better known to a generation of Canadians for being the Scot in Oatmeal Crisp commercials (some featuring Chris Wiggins another beloved Canadian character actor fondly remember for the weird Friday the 13th: the Series).
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:27 PM
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I can't believe nobody's mentioned Camp Cariboo yet.
"We follow the path where the Cariboo walked. Our Cariboo headgear is off... on... locked!"
posted by Imperfect at 6:46 PM
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Meanwhile, I really wanted my own House Hippo.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 6:56 PM
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Also, Bizarre, featuring Super Dave Osborne! Still funny!
posted by cotton dress sock at 7:14 PM
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Eureka!
Maybe not weird, but it was unique: a series of 30 short animated cartoons that explained principles of physics. The theme song certainly was weird and amazing.
posted by Kabanos at 8:11 PM
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It was wild traveling outside of Canada and discovering that, "I smell burnt toast." as shorthand for a stroke had escaped containment.
How has no one mentioned Total Recall 2070? Bizarre and existential cyberpunk cop show that was filmed in Toronto in the 90s. Canada is great for sci-fi, especially. Look at Orphan Black. Or Killjoys, if you want a perfect The US Could Never. Feminist space bounty hunter princess goes on complicated queer political adventure with her boytoys. Lots of sex, for which no one is punished. (In fact, there's only one sexual threat in the entire show and it's in the first episode so they can explicitly say. "We don't do that here ") It's incredibly fun. Top ten TV shows, for sure.
posted by foxtongue at 9:52 PM
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Oh, the littlest hobo just stunk to high heaven. But that theme song... pops into my head every few years and refuses to leave.
It whispers to me... maybe tomorrow I'll try to settle down, maybe tomorrow I'll just keep movin on
posted by Superreggie at 10:33 PM
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Canada is great for sci-fi, especially.
A lot of the sci-fi I remember fondly and lament being cancelled early is associated with Canada in some way. At the same time as Killjoys was Dark Matter, and I've got vague memories of a show about a time-travelling officer of a privatised police force that was shot in Vancouver.
As for Lexx, to my mind the closest sci-fi in both weirdness and horniness is Farscape, but even that had to bend to the constraints of somewhat more prudish TV locales AIUI.
posted by entity447b at 11:31 PM
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and I've got vague memories of a show about a time-travelling officer of a privatised police force that was shot in Vancouver.
I'm thinking Continuum? (yt trailer, wikipedia)
posted by juv3nal at 12:14 AM
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The CBC died culturally and morally when they cancelled Brave New Waves in support of Q. That was the turning point.
They could've become something relevant world wide but fucking blew it spectacularly.
So, like we are continuing to do.
posted by converge at 2:36 AM
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Where's Made in Canada? (PBSed in the US as The Industry.) Amazing show, very weird.
I remember watching Made in Canada (as "The Industry") here in the US on BRAVO of all places in the late 1990s.
The show was so good that I really didn't understand what all the fuss was about when the U.S. version of The Office debuted.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:28 AM
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I love that Red Green made the cover photo for this article. The Red Green Show was a big favourite growing up, and when I was a kid I would sometimes go trick-or-treating in the part of Hamilton where Steve Smith lives, and he would be out in full Red Green costume and character giving out full bars. Living legend.
Also, recently I got to do a bit of a work on a show that was filming here in NS, and one of the guest stars was Patrick McKenna, aka Harold Green. Really lovely and friendly guy. Big career highlight for me, for sure.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 8:06 AM
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Fred Penner getting no love? he wasn't zainy but he still deserves a shout out
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:26 AM
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littlest hobo just stunk to high heaven
Just because they had 3 tainted meat episodes...
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:35 AM
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I've used Hinterland's Who's Who "Flute Poem" theme as my cell ringtone for two decades now. It... attracts attention in puyblic. And it's very easy to pick out from the background even in a noisy room. Recommended. But please don't, because I want to be able to recognize my phone easily.
posted by bonehead at 10:11 AM
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I just introduced my SVU-loving spouse to DaVinci's Inquest a couple of weeks ago to grand reviews.
posted by transient at 10:13 AM
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My nomination: War of the Worlds? SO MUCH EYE-GOUGING. SO MUCH.
posted by eamondaly at 10:56 AM
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I won't lie, I loved that show as teenager. Though second season isn't as good.
posted by Ashwagandha at 11:05 AM
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Metafilter: a nightmarish world of hideous, poorly articulated puppets.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 1:09 PM
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(sock)puppets, surely.
posted by mazola at 1:17 PM
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None of those shows are weird?
I mean, Lexx was pretty weird. But I agree otherwise.
posted by asnider at 2:09 PM
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PJ Katie's Farm was a low-tech puppet show
Calling it a puppet show is generous. PJ Katie plays with farm toys. I don't know that this counts as puppetry. It was delightfully weird, though.
posted by asnider at 2:17 PM
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What? Degrassi and the doggie hobo, but no Ready or Not? I protest.
posted by house-goblin at 6:22 PM
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Oh I remember one that hasn't been mentioned yet! Prisoners of Gravity
it's a trip to look back and think in those days that was probably how I learned what any of those guests looked like
posted by juv3nal at 8:41 PM
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The Littlest Hobo (starring London!) was well made but even my 10 year old self knew that it was some tepid bullshit taking up valuable cartoon time during afternoon programming. A truly great theme song though.
I am truly surprised that nobody got around to rebooting Forever Knight. Police procedurals and supernatural drama s make up 80% of scripted TV these days, so why not combine them again?
posted by AndrewStephens at 10:07 PM
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Wow a lot of hard words for Littlest Hobo. Watching them now they can be seen as an incredible example of storytelling economy and maximalism. The episodes get a remarkable amount of plot into a half hour show. Also it is rare for there to be such a gentle show filled with so much unambiguous Canadian identity.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:33 AM
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AndrewStephens: "I am truly surprised that nobody got around to rebooting Forever Knight."
It's only cop-adjacent, but Moonlight and Blood Ties are about private detectives/vampires (and Blood Ties is Canadian). I could swear there was another cop/vampire show, but I can't find it now.
posted by adamrice at 9:32 AM
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Wow a lot of hard words for Littlest Hobo. Watching them now they can be seen as an incredible example of storytelling economy and maximalism. The episodes get a remarkable amount of plot into a half hour show. Also it is rare for there to be such a gentle show filled with so much unambiguous Canadian identity.
Not here! Listen, that dog had a lot of adventures!
posted by Kitteh at 9:47 AM
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There were actually 4 or 5 dogs used in the show (they each did different types of stunts or behaviours). I am an unapologetic superfan.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:56 AM
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I could swear there was another cop/vampire show, but I can't find it now.
Maybe this? It's an immortal, not a vampire, but that's sort of close.
posted by juv3nal at 5:59 PM
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I almost hate to suggest this but maybe it's time for a Bordertown sequel set in the current timeline when US/Canadian tensions are high causing tensions amongst law enforcement officials, or possibly an Adderly update where the Miscellaneous Affairs department has suddenly come into the spotlight for having predicted the most ridiculous intelligence threats scenarios during some "war games" scenario, only to find out that they're surprisingly accurate predictions for the rantings of an unhinged leader of a neighbouring country.
And yes, "weird" is an entirely inappropriate description of most of the shows listed by the original author.
posted by sardonyx at 7:52 PM
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Yeah, weird is high bar. Most are odd though.
posted by mazola at 6:00 AM
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Lexx is streamable from Prime, I have discovered.
posted by bonehead at 3:53 PM
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