My wife and I are moving to Toronto from the States this fall, so I’m looking for guidance about classic pieces of Canadian cultural content. What should I read/watch/listen to, Canadian Talking Tyrants?
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Can I CanCon?
- Thread starter Exposition Owl
- Start date
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
You don't need to watch all of it but SCTV and The Kids in the Hall are key Canadian comedy touchstone for people in their 40s or older.
I mean, what's the goal? Because, sorry to disappoint you, but, broadly speaking, Canadian content isn't very good! This is why CRTC rules about Cancon felt so stifling! And the stuff that is good (ex: Schitt's Creek) tends to make it south of the border anyway!
That said, some random stuff off the top of my head:
-The Red Green Show is good, harmless, timeless fun.
-I often used to hear The Newsroom come up in conversations as the best Canadian tv show, but history seems to have largely forgotten it. I still think it's quite good! Note that it's *not* the same show as the US shows called The Newsroom, which came later.
-I'm a big fan of Made in Canada, a bleak sitcom about the Canadian television industry starring Rick Mercer, who's a relatively famous Canadian celebrity.
-Murdoch Mysteries is an old-timey mystery show with a million episodes, if that's your bag. I think it's still running?
-The Racoons was a pretty good cartoon from the 80s about a bunch of racoons trying to save their forest from an evil capitalist.
-The Nature of Things is a very well-regarded documentary series that started in the 60s has like a thousand episodes. The original host, David Suzuki, is a beloved household name.
-Wind at my Back & Road to Avonlea are both shows about poor old-timey rural communities. The latter is loosely based on the Anne of Green Gables universe.
-The Littlest Hobo is a cultural touchstone for many, but I doubt it holds up. A dog flits from town to town and helps randos with their problems.
-Other older tv touchstones include Danger Bay and Degrassi Junior High. I doubt either of those hold up well either.
As for stuff other than tv...
-I'm quite fond of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, an epic fantasy series penned by a Canadian anthropologist and archaeologist.
-The Peanut Butter Solution is an absolutely deranged/surreal 80s movie that used to get shown on TV up here all the time.
That said, some random stuff off the top of my head:
-The Red Green Show is good, harmless, timeless fun.
-I often used to hear The Newsroom come up in conversations as the best Canadian tv show, but history seems to have largely forgotten it. I still think it's quite good! Note that it's *not* the same show as the US shows called The Newsroom, which came later.
-I'm a big fan of Made in Canada, a bleak sitcom about the Canadian television industry starring Rick Mercer, who's a relatively famous Canadian celebrity.
-Murdoch Mysteries is an old-timey mystery show with a million episodes, if that's your bag. I think it's still running?
-The Racoons was a pretty good cartoon from the 80s about a bunch of racoons trying to save their forest from an evil capitalist.
-The Nature of Things is a very well-regarded documentary series that started in the 60s has like a thousand episodes. The original host, David Suzuki, is a beloved household name.
-Wind at my Back & Road to Avonlea are both shows about poor old-timey rural communities. The latter is loosely based on the Anne of Green Gables universe.
-The Littlest Hobo is a cultural touchstone for many, but I doubt it holds up. A dog flits from town to town and helps randos with their problems.
-Other older tv touchstones include Danger Bay and Degrassi Junior High. I doubt either of those hold up well either.
As for stuff other than tv...
-I'm quite fond of The Malazan Book of the Fallen, an epic fantasy series penned by a Canadian anthropologist and archaeologist.
-The Peanut Butter Solution is an absolutely deranged/surreal 80s movie that used to get shown on TV up here all the time.
As soon as I saw the thread title I said “Kids in the Hall, full stop”, but I have a lot of fondness for Corner Gas as well. It’s a quirky small town sitcom based around a gas station in Saskatchewan.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Also, respect our fauna
You Cant Do that on Television and Kids in the Hall are things I have enjoyed that are Canadian! But like I watched them in the States...
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Ita not my cup of tea (I like it but I don't love it) but the Tragically Hip is THE quintessential Canadian rock band for gen x/millennials.
Thanks so much for all these, folks! Keep ‘em coming! I’m certainly picking up some strong recommendations for Kids in the Hall.
The goal is mostly to celebrate and learn about our new home country, and not to be the kind of ugly Americans who assume that Canadian culture is just like U.S. culture. Also to get more of the references in Octo’s Canada Day posts.
My wife is a huge Murdoch fan!
I remember seeing this one when I was a kid. Run with us!
I think I’ve seen this one, too, though I don’t think I’ve thought about it in like 35 years.
So, when I was a mere Exposition Owlet, my first real venue of social interaction on the web was an R.E.M. fan forum. One of the regular members (who was Canadian) had a Tragically Hip reference in her profile that I literally just got this week. I haven’t listened to them enough to form much of an opinion, but that genre and era of music plays a big enough role in my life that I really should check the Hip out more seriously.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
I don't know ifnits specifically "Canadian" but I think of Cribbage as a very Canadian game that I never bothered to learn.
This is crokinole for me (although I know well how to play both crokinole and cribbage and played a ton of both as a kid).
If you want to go far back with Canadiana then Mr. Dressup is our Mr. Rogers. Another Canadian kid's show in a similar vein was Fred Penner's Place. A show I quite liked in the early 90s was The Odyssey, about a kid who tries to escape the fantasy world of his mind while in a coma.
If political satire is what you're looking for then the Royal Canadian Air Farce was the show to watch, especially in the 90s.
More recently, Kim's Convenience was a fun Canadian sitcom that ended way too soon (and gave us Simu Liu). I've heard similar good things about North of North but I haven't watched that myself. More locally (for me) Son of a Critch is a Newfoundland-based sitcom, and in that same vein I'd also have to recommend Republic of Doyle.
If political satire is what you're looking for then the Royal Canadian Air Farce was the show to watch, especially in the 90s.
More recently, Kim's Convenience was a fun Canadian sitcom that ended way too soon (and gave us Simu Liu). I've heard similar good things about North of North but I haven't watched that myself. More locally (for me) Son of a Critch is a Newfoundland-based sitcom, and in that same vein I'd also have to recommend Republic of Doyle.
Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Everyone seems to think Letterkenny is the good shit for Canadian comedy but I haven't gotten into it yet.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Start chewing Thrills gum. I know it's not a form of media but hey It Still Tastes Like Soap!
I kind of have to hand it to them for just owning it like that.
Anywho...
I've enjoyed a bit of Corner Gas in my time.
Technically, I believe Mega Man: Fully Charged, Sonic Prime, ReBoot, Transformers: Beast Wars, and Transformers: Beast Machines all qualify as CanCon, but as noted, those all made it over the border.
My wife and I are also big fans of The Untalkative Bunny, but it's really underrated, I think.
It's surprising, some of the other cartoons that fall under CanCon, apparently. The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3? Hell yeah, brother!
Pretty much anything DiC or Nelvana, really.
Oh, and while I haven't really watched it at length, I have enjoyed several clips from Letterkenny...
Worked great for bolstering tv network lineups, mind.
I also suggest the podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself, it’s not, like… a cultural touchstone or nothing, but spending a couple of hours a week listening to two pleasant Canadians gab with. Fellow comedian is weirdly satisfying
I also suggest the podcast Stop Podcasting Yourself, it’s not, like… a cultural touchstone or nothing, but spending a couple of hours a week listening to two pleasant Canadians gab with. Fellow comedian is weirdly satisfying
Digging deeper on that, I have little idea of what made it over the border after about 2001, so I'm just hedging my bets.
