Canada's Comedy Crown

DON’T LOOK NOW, but comedy isn’t dead on TeeVee. In fact, if you’re in Canada, it’s in better shape than it’s been for some time.

Call it the Corner Gas effect (if you must.) After six seasons, they may be calling it quits. But the legacy is undeniable. Despite a host of new simulcast-driven timeslots over the years, a million and a half Canadians find the show each week. They buy the DVD’s and they celebrate Brent Butt’s everyman Brent Leroy with loyalty and affection. Affection. For a Canadian show.

It’s been a couple of years since you heard any real carping about Corner Gas. Next to the almost unheard of feat of actually making it through six whole seasons, the show seems also to have outlasted the curious subset of self-hating Canucks who wished to criticize it. Seems that, however grudgingly, like the lumberjack shirt, hockey hair or the toque, people are used to the idea that it’s okay to laugh at a show made by Canadians, for Canadians. Even the show’s export to the USA last year (where it airs on Chicago superstation WGN) caused a smaller than expected ripple. No, Canadians like Corner Gas because they like Corner Gas. Period. And nobody has to tell them it’s okay to like it.

Many have speculated about why this show made it where so many other attempts failed. The usual reasons, trotted out by we who are concerned about such things, go like this: the show’s rural setting speaks to how Canadians like to view themselves, as folksy, rural and not particularly uppity; the humor (sorry, humour) is gentle and not dependent on people suffering or being particularly mean to each other (except for maybe Oscar, and he usually gets his comeuppance) or maybe it’s just that Brent is so laconic and easygoing that he seems the kind of guy a good Canadian might want to have a beer with. A strong, Canadian beer. You know what I’m talking about.

There’s a behind-the-scenes host of reasons why this show flourished where so many others failed, too, of course. Corner Gas was blessed in its early days by a bit of benign neglect from the network, where the (now departed) CTV exec Louise Clark was really the only one putting her fingers in the pie. The Producers, led by Virginia Thompson, ran a tight ship, hired the best writers, and rather than try to make them extensions of some frustrated creative will – actually left them alone to do the writing. Finally, Butt kept the whole thing grounded to his comfort zone, his comic persona.

I dare say that if more shows ran the way Gas did, we’d have no end of comedy hits. Which is why it’s of some comfort to know that the lessons learned from Gas might help birth a couple of other new shows. Not only is Butt developing a new show for CTV starring his wife and co-star Nancy Robertson, but Former Gas Showrunners Kevin White, Paul Mather, and Mark Farrell have teamed with Gas alum Fred Ewaniuk in a pilot called Dan for Mayor. Both pilots have a shot to become a series in 2009.

As for the current crop, the obvious inheritor of the Gas effect was Little Mosque on the Prairie. In its first groundbreaking season, Mosque got all the attention for its novel concept, but viewers and critics were underwhelmed when it came to the actual comedy. The show was laboured and forced, more concerned with “teachable moments” than making people laugh. (Exactly the opposite of the Gas approach.) In a way it was a throwback to a bad old, melodrama-style of CBC show. Whereas Corner Gas was light and enjoyable, Mosque seemed preachy and fitfully plotted.

An injection of two writers (Paul Mather and Rob Sheridan) from the Corner Gas stable in time for the show’s second (much longer) season, brought some of Gas’ light touch – better gags and structure, a surer focus on the ensemble, and an expansion of the world beyond its one-idea premise. People who had written off Mosque slowly drifted back. The show built its audience steadily over the second season, finishing at or around the million viewer mark. For the third season, some of those viewers have fallen away (TV viewership across all channels is down) but there are signs that Mosque’s 700 000 or so viewers might have some room to grow. The show is now closer in tone to Corner Gas – not quite the same level of goofy whimsy, and maybe a little preachier and staler than season two, but with stories that are competently plotted and amiable in their appeal.

Another show is vying for the Corner Gas comedy crown, though, by going for a different tone that still has a Canadian cant to it. Less Than Kind (Mondays, 10:30 Citytv) follows the misadventures of a Jewish family in Winnipeg, as seen primarily through the eyes of their whip-smart, socially awkward, hefty 16 year old son, Sheldon. (Jesse Camacho). Less than Kind eschews the quiet whimsy of Corner Gas for more of an urban – come – suburban take. This family yells, and bickers, and has sex and cheats on their income taxes. It’s a bit like The Wonder Years, but with swearing and psychological conditions like pyromania, and situational narcissism. You have to give credit to a show that shoots Winnipeg for Winnipeg in the winter. That snow aint potato flakes, people.

As much as Less Than Kind goes for the edge, though, there’s still something kind of sweet about it. The relationship between Sam Blecher (Maury Chaykin) and his wife is affecting. There’s a scene where the wife blows up at Sam and he wanders the streets, not knowing what to do. He’s lost without her. Aww.

Less Than Kind also benefits from some truly lucky and superb local casting. You know how sometimes it seems like Canadian shows use the same ten actors? Well, not Less Than Kind. For every Shaun Majumder who shows up, there’s a spectacular newcomer doing a brilliant comic turn. As run by Mark McKinney and created by Chris Sheasgreen and Marvin Kaye, you could call Less Than Kind a quirky delight, except that word ‘quirky’ has been so abused in Canadian film and TV circles that it’s more like an albatross around the neck than a compliment. So let’s just call Less Than Kind what it is: a delight.

With no new season of Trailer Park Boys, the guns and weed and strangely sweet, profane lo-fi sensation, your other pick for Canadian comedy tonight is the premiere of Season 3 of Rent-A-Goalie. RAG doggedly takes on their own promo to try and spread the word on this very Canadian show – it’s Canadian down to its DNA, so much so that format sales are probably the only way this show would export. From the cameos by NHL’ers to the multicultural, not melting pot treatment of ethnicity (the show posits a heightened vision of Toronto where Russians, Italians, Irish, African Canadians and every other ethnicity rub shoulders and don’t subsume who they are – kind of like the real Toronto) this take on the workplace comedy has an egalitarian streak a mile wide. Cake (Christopher Bolton) is a reformed bad boy. Sometimes he’s a genius, sometime’s he’s a knob. But he lives by a code and tries to treat everyone fairly. Even his enemy isn’t such a bad guy – and it’s clear that they have a bond. (Try imagining a drunken convo between Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader where they hug it out instead of going to the sabres.)

RAG mines the territory of the gross-out boy joke, with a bit of gratuitous sex and stupid violence thrown in. It’s like the Farrellys on five, instead of eleven. Someone always gets hit in the nuts, but never too hard, and they always manage to skate it off. People are accepted for who they are – be they lesbians, agoraphobes, sex-crazed councillors, gassy goalies, sex addicts, or Byelorussian goons with attachment issues.

Like the best of the Judd Apatow stuff, though, the gross out stuff is misleading. Every once in a while you’ll catch a joke or a riff that’s entirely more literate and elevated. Hockey, sex, and shenanigans – all performed by an exuberant and likable cast. This is a group that really has life by the pucks. (Disclosure: I helped plot season 2 of RAG and wrote early drafts of two episodes, but I look forward to season 3 merely as a fan.)

So three – count’em -- Canadian comedy shows, all with something to recommend them – airing on the same night. Not bad. There’s only three U.S. sitcoms I watch with any regularity, and they’ve got what, ten times the population?

But of course, we’re not even done. Because as I’ve written before, Canada’s topical sketch tradition continues, thanks to CBC.

Both The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes have come back incredibly strong this year – thanks to an election, and perhaps, a bit more boldness and sharpness in the satire. Mercer and 22 have also continued to evolve apart, with Rick going more for his experiential bits as 22 falls back, with a rejuvenated cast – on its strengths – strong desk jokes and short sketch parodies.

Contrast that to CTV’s attempts to float a sketch show – the horrible Comedy Inc, the underwhelming Popcultured, Jessica Holmes – and you’ll see that taking care actually does make a difference. You can’t write 84 sketches and shoot them all. Something’s gotta hit the floor.

Every few months, it seems, some Canadian journo gets it in their head to do a “why are Canadians so funny?” article, usually based around this or that Canadian who’s gone south for fame and fortune. Most comics and comedy writers you talk to will struggle with the question publicly, and often denounce it as bullshit privately.

Comedy is hard. There’s no question about it. And if Canada has produced a series of substandard comedies in the past (and it has,) maybe that’s because comedy is so delicate, so fragile, so hard to get right – that the catalogue of ways you can screw it up has proven to be a huge hill to climb.

There’s the writing itself. Producers or Execs that want to “fix” the writing. People in power with no sense of humor. Inexperienced cast who oversell every line, or mug, or refuse to throw away a line to make it land, because they don’t trust the material; Directors who don’t stage the scene correctly, or get the right coverage. Editors who don’t give it the right pace – and all this before you get to the P.R. campaign that manages to sell it wrong. Ugh.

Then and only then, if you’re lucky, do you get to be judged by an audience. Who may or may not get you. Most every comic writer I know dreams of getting to that point. They’d rather take their chances with the audience than watch their baby strangled in the crib. (Or worse, being forced to strangle it themselves.)

Yup. It’s hard. Which is one of the reasons why I think the way the Comedy category is administered in the Gemini Awards is a joke.

This Wednesday, the Gemini for Best Comedy writing will be handed out in Toronto. EDIT: A correction... apparently Comedy/Variety writing is on the Gala night, Nov. 28. Look. I got one of the FOUR NIGHTS OF GEMINIS confused! Bizarrely, Corner Gas and Mosque – inarguably the two most successful (in terms of audience) scripted comedies on Canadian TV – received zero nominations.

This could have something to do with the fact that the category is actually called Comedy/Variety. Which means that shows like Gas (or nominees Billable Hours and the low budget IFC show Cock’d Gunns) find themselves up against 22 Minutes and The Mercer Report.

That’s just wrong. I’m sorry. I know there’s a little unintended comedy in asking for there to be actually MORE categories of Geminis. But if you look over the list, you’ll see about four or five awards for what amounts to ‘Best Host.’ There are several different flavours of documentary awards to choose from. Even the category I’m nominated in, Best Writing in a Dramatic Movie or Miniseries, doesn’t have to also absorb entries from the Drama Series category.

A brilliant Rick Mercer field bit, a sublime 22 Minutes desk joke, and a great episode of Corner Gas are all funny. But they’re funny in different ways, for different reasons. Comedy is subjective and difficult to judge anyway. Why would you make the process harder?

There should be a variety or sketch category, and a comedy series category. Fullstop.

In any case, audience, there you go. There are three great Canadian comedies to choose from tonight. With another Reforma-Tory government in play, and an economy about to crater, all I can say is: lucky you. Pull up a chair and laugh til you cry.

The Sounds of Silent Cocktails

SO YESTERDAY THERE was a little cocktail-party-y thing on the set of The Border. Ostensibly, this media event by the PR company Media Profile was put together to try to bump some coverage for the show, post-launch – and also to celebrate an addition to the cast of The Border, Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica.)

Having the thing in situ was a reasonable idea. There’s something about sets that are kind of funky and cool if you’re not around them all the time. And the “ICS Locale” -- really the disused Port Authority Rochester Ferry Terminal (now used for its primary purpose – passenger unloading and customs, only a couple times a year) does have a pretty spectacular view of the Toronto skyline.

Unfortunately, we were running a tiny bit behind yesterday. Director Brett Sullivan and the crew were working hard to get coverage of the monitors in the tech area right after crew lunch – the first half hour of which overlapped with the cocktail party.

So now you have to picture the scene: there are servers and a bartender, and some of the actors who aren’t in the scene are meeting and greeting the intimate group of attendees. (this was not the usual Toronto PR clusterfuck where, you know, you’ve got people with no connection to the biz rubbing shoulders with that P.A. from the dance station, the blogger from Boats & Fish.blogspot.com, that dude who was the host of that thing about ten years ago, the PhD student from Concordia, the random agent who reps ten people you’ve never heard of, that guy in the hat, and the fugly sociopath who writes for [insert publication here]
Oh, and then the drag queens arrive and nobody can quite figure out what they’re doing there.)

So, you’ve got Gillian on walkie there at the entrance door to ICS, and every few minutes she says, “Rolling, quiet please” and the chatter on the floor, as people just sip their wine, just stops. Dead. At a cocktail party.

It was one of the funniest, most gloriously Canadian things I’ve ever seen. Somebody tells a group of people – who all are drinking alcohol, remember – to please be quiet for a minute, and lo and behold, it happens. Silence. You could hear a pin drop. One of the servers had just been asked what the so-and-so was, and I swear to Mike I saw her try to explain what was on the tray entirely in mime.

I told a couple of people that it wasn’t a cocktail party at all – that they were now part of some art installation. Somebody said they saw Banksy outside with a few cans of spray paint.

The crew got their takes, and moved on to another part of the terminal, dressed to look like an airport lounge.
Meanwhile, back at the soiree, I was now into full field spotting mode. For those of you making your way gently in the early stages of your media career, here is the field spotting guide to Canadian P.R. events:

In the corner, you will find scriptus serius. These are the common TV writers. They are there only for the command performance aspect of it. They talk mainly to each other, about other things, blissful in the knowledge that there is absolutely no way whatsoever that anyone will wish to speak to them. There is much dissection of the various types of hors’ d’oeuvres, and the relative merits of each. Eventually, the writers will scatter – one will go to a play, one to a screening, and the remaining one will toddle back to set having had two (ish) glasses of wine to guiltily watch the crew work. The buzz will wear off somewhere around nine, when he will find himself shivering outside on Cherry Beach, watching Nick Campbell smoke.

Interviewus Big Getus is the star people are there to talk to. She will be charming, and introduce herself when there’s no one there to lead her. She will disappear to do one on ones every few minutes with this camera crew or that one, and just generally show how it’s to be done. The writers in the corner will look upon her as an exotic and different species, because, let’s face it, she is. The relation between the two groups is only similar on the DNA level.

Printus Reportorius just keeps jotting everything down in his notebook. He never looks up. Ever.

Savvius Thespius is the cast member who always manages to be talking to the most important person in the room. They also get in all the pictures. It’s uncanny.

Flackus Professionalus are the P.R. people. They all have ponytails. They smile a lot and are enthusiastic and nice when you talk to them. They have suspiciously nice teeth. They guard their screener DVD’s like leprechaun’s gold. (They are also not to be confused with Communicatoris Directorius, who works directly for the Production and who I apparently owe a burger at that-watering-hole-I-like-to-go-to.)

Classiest Beenaroundtheblockius is the cast member who asks you to borrow twenty bucks, only to go over and put it in a glass in front of the Bartender to tip them and all the servers. Classy. (Especially when he indeed repays the 20, as promised, the next day.)

Networkius Promosaurus are the promotion types at the network. They are wonderful and mythical creatures who always have clean, strong teeth and perfect hair and shower lots and lots and lots of shiny promo time on the show like beneficent and golden gryphons. They may also provide ad copy to the papers. The cutlines are always awesome, and the names of the shows’ characters are always spelled right.

So, there you go. Promo in action. It’s a dirty business, but hey, it’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.

Wish you could have seen the silent cocktail party. That was something else entirely.

My Next Border Pony. Um. No. Episode. Right. Episode. I don't secretly love Ponies. Really.

OH HERE'S SOMETHING. This is the preview for my next episode of THE BORDER, on CBC this coming Monday night at 9pm. Like the first ep I did, Ep.2, this one's directed by Michael DeCarlo, who I also worked with on ACROSS THE RIVER TO MOTOR CITY.





That's an interesting promo because it doesn't really reflect the change of pace ep this is supposed to be. Almost like CBC promo was afraid of it. Something else they were afraid of? Three letters: FLQ.

That's right. Next week on The Border, we actually tackle a domestic Canadian terrorist group.

Funny how that's not in the promo.

(by the way, just to be clear....I know why it's not in the promo. I just think it's interesting.)

The Old Rumply Bumply

SO. OVER THE next few days it strikes me that I'm going to hit a milestone. Something I've never done before. The first sex scene I wrote is going to be committed to film.

Well, I mean, it's not the first one. It'll be the first one produced. But, you know what? It's not even that much of a milestone.

Because what I learned was this:

Writing a sex scene is like writing an action scene. Which is to say it's like being the date of a supermodel.

Oh man, it is so NOT about you.

Sex scenes, action scenes, they're directors' areas. The only voice the writer really has in any of that, is context. What does it mean?

I'm not concerned about what happens, who does what, goes where, holds whatever, what the motion is, exactly how the earth moves, or the bedspread tears, or the breakaway bed shatters, or anything else like that in the whole world. I just. don't. care. I care about context. I can so far as to say something like, "I want this to be about two people who have been together a few times, and it's not just sex anymore, and that's a little scary." But then, I'm done. To me that scene is about what the actors and the director wants to bring about it. I don't know. Is that weird?

In any case, Jill Golick's got a good post up about some memorable sex scenes in TeeVee. Well worth your read. Go and comment.

If you think I'm vamping, oh yeah. I am. Guilty. Day six of eight for my last ep of The Border, but from here on in we're at home base. I'm happy to be winding down. And I love being on set. My God, people work so very, very hard. I have thoughts on the writer on set and how they can be un-useless, and even improve their stock by learning to be production friendly... but those posts will start next week.

I am giddy at the thought of sleep, and free time, and also, um...I don't know...socializing. We'll see.

For now...Handwaving, handwaving, handwaving...

Then, At Least, We Could Have Bought Our Own Sweaters.

FIFTY-EIGHT PERCENT of Canadians bothered to vote yesterday. 58. Lowest total ever. On the one hand, can't blame them. We've had three federal elections in four years. That's not great. But it does raise the question, with twenty-one million eligible voters, and an election campaign that costs about 240 million dollars a pop, wouldn't it just have been easier to give everyone who voted last time twenty bucks?

Just sayin.

See you in the election of 2010. Or not.

Vote you Varmint

NO POST TODAY. Go the polls. Do your duty, or don't complain about anything that happens starting tomorrow.

Horn O'Plenty on the Tee Vee Tonight.

BLEARY EYED. THREE hours sleep -- the sleep goddess she giveth and she taketh away -- before I drive off to my "just another workday" Thanksgiving, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that with a little VCR Shuffling, you can have yourself a heckuva good homegrown TV night to night -- the better to digest your mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie with. Mmm. Pumpkin pie.

First, at 9:30 pm on CTV -- it's hard to believe that there's only 19 more visits to Dog River, Sask. But there you go. The venerable and much loved Corner Gas returns for its final season. If you can't get enough Gas (yes, yes, I'm 12) etalk has a special tribute show at 7pm.

Then, at 10:30 on Citytv -- a rare original series entry from the now Rogers-controlled group of five stations. Less Than Kind is a funny and scabrous family comedy set in Winnipeg. It stars Maury Chaykin (who really needs to STFU about Little Mosque in every interview he gives about the show) as the put upon patriarch, and Jesse Camacho as the preternaturally wise teenage son, Sheldon. The show, created by my friends (full disclosure) Marvin Kaye and Chris Sheasgreen, is also lucky to have former Kid in the Hall Mark McKinney showrunning. I hope to have a bigger feature on this show in the weeks ahead, but for now, here's what I wrote about it when I saw a screening earlier this year.

Finally, time to go back and set that PVR/VCR -- because I know you don't want to miss tonight's thrilling and vurra kina sexy episode of The Border. (9pm, CBC)

(I'd link to the trailer here on Youtube, but it isn't up there, because I didn't nag them to put it up there this week. Sigh. Canadian Tv. In a miraculous turn of events, though, you actually can see the trailer on the CBC website.)

As you gather round the hearth to recriminate, argue about the relative merits of the new Hockey Night in Canada theme, and out cousin Timmy, make time for the TeeVee, won't you?

Much obliged.

Thankful

WRITERS RUN DARK. That's just part of the gig. But as an unseasonably warm autumn continues and extends, I find the mood that has of late run indigo lightening several shades.

To Americans struggling with the credit crisis, and the apparently buried story that the whole idea of investing directly in banks was suggested by Democrats three weeks ago and roundly rejected by Republicans, (but oh no, both sides are equally to blame for the mucking about, right?....wait ... no... colored leaves. Pie. mmm.)

--anyway, yeah, the finish of that thought is that tomorrow in Canada is Thanksgiving. I look ahead over the next few weeks and see my workload lightening (and the commeasurate instinct and jones to begin new projects) and one naturally pauses to think about what you're thankful for.

• First and foremost this year, I've made and deepened a lot of important friendships by throwing myself headlong into my industry, and giving up on the notion of keeping my work and my social circle separate. Yup. It means a lot of shop talk, but usually you can push past that. My writer friends are funny, and literate and odd, and they have passionate opinions that somehow never fully embrace the orthodox. They keep me on my toes, and in the end, can you ask for anything better from your friends?
  
  
• I'm thankful and humbled by getting a bit of recognition from my peers, with the Canadian Screenwriting Award I won in April, as well as the Gemini nomination I picked up recently for Across The River To Motor City. It really is nice just to be nominated. I thought that was a cliche, but no...
  
  
• I'm thankful to see other friends experience success, whether it be one of my oldest friends Mark, who along with his wife Stephanie created Flashpoint, a show that's received a bit of attention this year. There's also my friend Marvin Kaye, who's managed to have himself quite a Canadian Thanksgiving weekend -- welcoming a daughter with his wife Marla yesterday, and birthing another baby tomorrow night, when his series Less than Kind (co-created with Chris Sheasgreen, and showrun by Mark McKinney, premieres on Citytv (10:30 pm.)
  
  
• I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve other writers in Canada by trying to make our lot better, through the Writers Guild of Canada Council. Everyone on council really is as nice as Maureen said they were.
  
  
• I'm thankful that the new Hockey Night in Canada theme actually doesn't suck. CTV may have nyah-nyah rights to the old song, but we're still waiting for you to step up and give us a venerable institution like HNIC, especially now that the one you fluked into is going off the air...
  
  
• I'm thankful that a long-ago post "How Corner Gas Ruined Everything," continues to be discovered about once a week by Americans, presumably who've Googled the show and landed on this blog. I'm thankful for that, because the comments that come from the American viewers inevitably offer a perspective that I find familiar, that I wish was available here more often: a generosity of spirit and praise, and context. Take this recent comment by "Big Joe Rice,"
  
  

  "We've recently discovered Corner Gas on WGN Chicago and are addicted - but then we love Red Green too. The ensemble cast has a subtlety and timing usually associated with the better Britcoms. I'm surprised to read that Canadians prefer the crap that comes up from south of the border when clearly they have plenty of talent at home. You'd watch According to Jim over Corner Gas? Too many slap shots to the head by the sound of that."

• I'm thankful that every time I get feeling that I'm too negative, there's a ready example waiting to show me that, shit, son, I'm not even close to how low can you go? (Check out any of the boards where anonymous idiots bitch about the CBC if you don't believe me.)
  
  
• I'm thankful that I just got to mail off my absentee ballot voting for Barack Obama for President of the United States, and that it looks like it might actually mean something.
  
  
• I'm thankful that every once in a while, even though I've mostly been turning down story editing work, I get to read a script by a friend that actually excites me with its possibilities, and reminds me why I love screenwriting. It's nice to read a script and feel that rush of possibility. Where'd you go?
  
  
• I'm thankful that in a precarious business, I've worked hard enough and been lucky enough to make a little bit of money and buy my parents a decent TV.
  
  
• I'm not thankful about having to deal with Rogers customer service. But who is?
  
  
• I'm thankful for an agent who returns my calls, even though that's the way it should work, I know. But still.
  
  
• I'm thankful that the Reform-a-tories withdrew that stupid provision in Bill C10, and that people like Mark Leiren-Young can write summations that are so much more clear-headed than Harper's inane mixed-Noah's Ark metaphors. No matter what happens Tuesday, there will be some of us that they'll have to kill by looking us in the eye. I'm talking to you, sweaterhead. You're a punk.
  
  
• I'm thankful that This Hour Has 22 Minutes is back, and sharp, and funny. And I was thankful for that even before I got a nice note from Geri Hall, Ms. Avery Adams. Hubba!
  
  
• I'm thankful for other people who understand why culture, and homegrown TV, is important. Whichever way things ultimately go, we fought a good fight.
  
  
• Finally, I'm thankful for every joke that gets through, and every minute of finished film I don't hate, and every note that goes into a script with my name on it that makes me look smarter and cleverer, and for the opportunity to do the thing that I always wanted to do. And for all my readers, weirdoes and lurkers that you are, I'm thankful for you too.
  

How

AWESOME IS IT to work with Patrick McKenna and Grace Park? And to sit back and watch Jonas Chernick make you laugh? And to watch James McGowan say so much with the most minimal look?

Pretty awesome, I must say. Pretty, pretty, pretty awesome, indeed.

Wasn't That a Rally?

EARLIER TODAY on the set of The Border, Nazneen Contractor (Sgt. Layla Hourani) did a double take when she saw me sitting in the boardroom set. "You were here this morning," she said, "and you're here now, but an hour ago I was in my trailer and you were on Citytv, live."

Um. Yeah.

Big arts rally. Big crowd. Good passion. Some speeches. Wind me up and I really do just go.

The great Cory Kinney provided this collage:



For my part, I was gratified to see the Writer Mafia representin -- not just the hardworking Maureen Parker, Kelly Lynne Ashton, Terry, Tannis, David Kinahan and all from the guild, but also Peter Mohan, and Shelley Eriksen in her smart cocktail dress. And James Hurst, Little Mosque's Robbie Sheridan, Playback "next 25'er" Vera Santamaria, my colleagues Janet MacLean, Greg Nelson and Sarah Dodd from The Border, and many many more.

Here's a scratchy video of Eric Peterson and me, courtesy Jennifer Smith.



There's coverage of the rally here, and here. And look, Jill Golick got my good side, courtesy of the fine pictures of Will Pascoe.

Here's my quote in the Canadian Press article:

Personal turmoil brought on by a difficult economy will have Canadians turning to their culture more than ever before, added Denis McGrath, a screenwriter for the TV show, "The Border."

"I think we all understand that times are tough and ... that traditionally is exactly when society turns to the comfort that storytelling provides, that's when we do our most important work," he said.

"Sharing stories in words, in images, on stage, in dance, in music; this is how we think, this is how we learn to be Canadian."

I'm so tired I can't even boldface this post. Another fourteen hour day tomorrow. Til later, then. If you came out, thanks. Vote culture on the 14th.

Best.

Sometimes You Win One

A WEEK BEFORE the Canadian Federal Election, and the Conservatives have finally released their platform. Details are here, and here, but the important thing from an Arts point of view is that the censorious, industry-crippling portion of Bill C10 will not be reintroduced.

I don't know if there's any other way to spin this than this: we won.

The Conservatives thought they were going to ride on the back of increased Quebec support to a majority. But their anti-culture baiting has had a deleterious effect in the part of the country that actually venerates and fiercely supports homegrown culture.

Is it too little too late to bring their fortunes back? I must say, it's quite an interesting turnaround. Guess we'll see.

Meanwhile, if you're in Toronto tomorrow around lunchtime, why not come help keep the heat on, and help make culture an election issue. At 11:30 there will be a rally outside the CBC building on Front Street.


I'll be popping over from set of my last ep of The Border to give one of the (hopefully mercifully short) speeches. Truth to power, my friends. Sometimes it works. Come on out and show how ordinary Canadians populate our cultural industries.

And be sure to say 'hi.'

Notes from a Read Through

BY THE TIME you get to the read through, when you're a writer in production, you're pretty pooped. The script has long since stopped making sense to you. There are distinct stages to this. There's the early draft where you might have had some half-baked things that hadn't really gelled, but had some hopes for. Then notes sharpen that and make it more distinctive. Other people have stuff to pile on. Things aren't clear, can they be clearer? This line, what does it mean again? And you dutifully copy it all down. Somewhere between the WHITE and the PINK draft there can be a danger zone, where you're asked to make changes that at first seem innocuous, but that are secret little logic time bombs waiting to detonate in your script.

You know the script better than anyone, at this point. Even though in this case, there hasn't been a lot of time for me to get the draft from notion to script, I've still been thinking about it for months. You timeline out scenes, figure out the logic, put a thread forward and back and see how it resonates. And then sometimes someone says, "well I think you can just do this," and you agree, and then you find yourself driving to the drugstore for Advil at the precise moment it hits you why you can't do that.

The next stage is when you start fearing you've overreacted the other way -- that you're resisting and being obstreperous for no good reason. Toward the end of my current script, a plot comes together, and one of the other writers wanted to remove one element. I thought it couldn't come out but I was trying, trying to get it and asked the writers to walk me through it. And when they did, in the end, I realized they were right. Poof. It's out.

So you have to defend your stuff so it won't be compromised except when you really need to compromise because you're too close to the script and don't see how the simplication being floated actually clarifies the line through your narrative.

Whoo. And you wonder why experience matters, and why new writers having their own shows isn't maybe the best idear?

But back to the read through. So that's the mindset you're bringing to this puppy: you've had a million and one little things, little changes, production driven, story driven, and the words are now a big pile of mush on the plate in front of you.

And then the shiny faces of the actors appear, with all their good lookingness and rangy energy. And they come in and put it on its feet, and lo and behold, that does two things at once:

At the precise moment they take your script away from you, they also give it back.

Never again will it be words on a page. It'll be what it's meant to be -- blueprints for a performance. But it's the first breath of that performance that breathes meaning back into the words for you. It's a nice trade.

I love the read through. It's a wonderful time, hearing the show read aloud. You hear the torturous constructions that somehow slipped through, where you have some poor performer hissing like a cobra through a sea of esses, or unintentional rhymes or rhythms. The first couple of shows I staffed, there weren't read throughs. It makes a big difference. It really does. Yup, it's a pain in the ass for the A.D.'s to arrange, and it's not ideal to give up a lunch break -- but it pays dividends in spades by making the script better, looser, and more real. Cutting the read through for the sake of expediency is like cutting quality control. Why spend all that money if you're going to be cavalier right from the start?

So someone reads the descriptions, eliding the boring or tech-y bits, and you distribute the minor parts, and then you flip the script open and people begin to read. And you sit back, pen poised to strike, and watch it come alive.

Occasionally an actor adlibs, and you dutifully copy down their alts, while scowling cause they changed a line. (Cause that's what you're supposed to do.) Later you will revise and include all the best stuff they came up with, grudgingly, knowing that the folks at home think they make it all up themselves anyway.

It's nice to hear laughs during the read through. It adds to the energy; makes you feel good. At the same time, this is the final graveyard of where your not-quite-working jokes go to die. Very sad. It never had a chance. Skkkrik, goes the pen. It's out. Let's rewrite the line.

Then there are the specific, random moments. You like to think of yourself as a smartypants, oh yes, you do. Then Mr. Jonas Chernick comes up to you and cavalierly points out that that uber-casual reference you dropped in to the Davros Economic Forum probably should be Davos. Davros, in fact, is the guy who invented the Daleks on Doctor Who. You nod and smile, horrified that you made a Doctor Who reference unintentionally which might indicate to people that you like Doctor Who, which is the furthest thing from the truth. And you think for a moment whether maybe you should actually say that but then, to be fair, you would probably have to qualify that by saying you have watched and do enjoy the Russell T. Davies reboot, and Torchwood's a pretty good spinoff, and okay, okay, maybe you watched Tom Baker for a bit, but fuck, you were a kid, and that does not make you a Doctor Who fan, okay? And yeah, you decide it's probably best not to say anything, so you thank Mr. Jonas Chernick for his diligent actor research and hope he enjoys the new scene where he has to root around in a filthy dumpster.

That's coming in the GREENS, Chernick. You're welcome.

About halfway through, you look around the table and you really take stock of what a great group of writers and actors are there before you. You realize that in one episode, besides the great regular cast, you get to write words that will be said by Grace Park, Patrick McKenna, and Nicholas Campbell. Jesus, you think to yourself. Three years ago you couldn't imagine writing for any of those actors. And now, there's all three in the same ep.

The reading's over. People jump up. Some are heading back to set. They need the room to light for a scene this afternoon. The Executive Producer suggests you do final notes sitting outside on a unseasonably warm October day. So you do, sun shining down and reflecting on the water, brilliant skyline in the B.G. And the meeting is loose, and the lines come fast and the changes are small, and fun, and precise. And the script makes sense to you again. And there goes a sailboat. And now there's a breeze, and everything everybody says is funny, and for the first time you can remember in a while, you're at work and completely relaxed.

And you know what? Tomorrow may bring a new world of B.S. and compromise and strange little hiccups and difficulties, but for now, it's not such a bad way to make a living, is it?

And the best part? Another script: Done. Now it's the Director's script.

And so it goes.

One Shakes One's Head, and Tries Not to Bang It

THERE ARE THINGS that amuse, or vex one -- not in a big, "oi I am vexed" kind of way, nor in a "I am so delightfully amused that it makes me feel groovy" sort of way. No, these are low key, Canadian sorts of amusements, just perfect for a Monday in October.

First, let us visit a plug for The Border on Torontoist today. Their amusing TV columnist (and sometime Q-Tube Team Associate) Christopher Bird, writes what has got to be the most Canadian plug I have ever, ever read:

The Border has been back for a couple of weeks now and it is still pretty good in its competent, Canadian way. Televisualist does not watch it as a matter of course, but every so often sits down to watch a couple of Tivoed episodes, and it never fails to entertain us moderately. So this is our low-key, relaxed recommendation of the show. (CBC, 9 p.m.)

So, there you go. Christopher, thank you ever so much for that mention today, and thank you also for being a member of a very desirable demographic. If you could clone yourself and get a Nielsen box, the CBC would be very happy. Also, if you could please befriend two women between the ages of 25 to 54 and have them watch (uh, hang on...I'm just getting word, um...yes... preferably closer to 25,) that would really be super, thanks.

Secondly, if you've got a PVR you're probably aware of the little blurbs that come up when you cycle through the menu. I was quite amused to see this yesterday when I was setting up to record my episode tonight (CBC, 9pm)

The Border: CBC 9-10 P.M.: An international terrorist targets a cartoonist in Toronto.

I know what you're thinking, "has Family Circus finally gone too far?" But no. Boiling down plot elements to loglines is a bit of a glib gift, especially when you're supposed to have twists and turns in a show.

What's funny, of course, besides the fact that it's about as "grabby" as, well, a turnip, that logline would be like taking an episode of Law & Order that was about, oh, I don't know, a society murder related to Hormone Replacement Therapy gone wrong and describing it as "The detectives interview a Korean Grocer."

Ah well. Live and loin.

For all I know, we might have supplied this to the cable co's. For all I know somewhere in the dark past I might have even read this and approved it with the old thumbs up. All I'm trying to say is, last night at 11:30, it was pretty hilarious. But it's not exactly representative of the show.

Finally, here's a short behind the scenes for Ep. 2. If you feel like it, tune in The Border tonight and let me know what you think. And if you come back to this space in the next couple days, I'll be talking about what I learned writing that episode, and what I think I could maybe have done better.

Now, I'm off to a read through for Episode 12. Enjoy the beautiful fall day.

Friday Trailer Park

CBC'S PROMOS HAVE been anemic at best. So, just in case you might have missed it (Why dat?) here's the promo for the first of my Border episodes this season, which is on Monday night:

Math is Hard

THOMAS SCHALLER in Salon today has a very trenchant, short piece on one of the big problems in McCain's stump speech. In a week where lots of 'illions have been thrown around, it's worth getting into:

A sage Washington observer with whom I dined this week pointed out to me something that politicians and even the media are not allowed to say, so I will: Too many Americans struggle with basic math and, knowing this, politicians prey on widespread innumeracy to manipulate facts and distract people from more important debates.

Take, oh, John McCain, he of the repeated stump line about the government wasting $3 million to study bear DNA. For the sake of argument, let’s concede that money spent studying bear DNA is wasteful. But $3 million during a week in which the government is set to approve a $700 billion bailout -- are you kidding me? McCain had the audacity in last Friday's debate to fret publicly about that? What a joke.

Millions, billions and trillions all sound the same. But a million seconds takes about 11 days to expire; because a billion is a thousand million, a billion seconds takes about 30 years to expire; because a trillion is a thousand billion, a trillion seconds takes about 30,000 years to expire. These are not interchangeable orders of magnitude, folks.

Our federal debt is headed toward $10 trillion, which means if we stopped adding to it immediately, and all credit holders (yeah you, China) stopped charging us interest, and we started paying down the debt at $1 per second, it would take about 300,000 years to retire.

Millions, billions, trillions -- they aren't the same. But McCain doesn't care about that, and he is perfectly happy to suggest that ridding the budget of small pork-barrel projects is a big idea. In a campaign already scarce on big ideas, it isn't. And a million more ideas like it wouldn't make much difference, either.

Slow on the Uptake

FUNNY THING, Canadian Politics. Though the campaigns here are lightning fast (usually about 33 days, total) the actual speed at which engagement happens in this country seems to me to be slow, slowwww, slowwwww.

First, there's the fact that the CBC didn't jump to get its comedy shows on the air earlier -- even in a special version.

Next, here's -- and I kid you not -- the first EVER personally created election themed YouTube thingie I have EVER been sent. I got drubbed by a few people a couple months back for suggesting that Canadian fans weren't as ... I don't know ... quick to jump on and engage and go out and create fan-like things as U.S. fans. But this is politics. Where are the YouTube Videos and fan forums and stuff? Seriously. Nobody's making anything. Is it that Canadians are really that passive? I don't know.



Finally, here's a Liberal site, presumably, that takes that strong "Liberal" band and does the thing to Steve Harper and his (Neo) Conservative Party that should have been done MONTHS ago...

22 Woo Hoo

I HONESTLY DIDN'T think that I was really missing Canadian political satire. And then, dragging my ass home at 10:30 P.M. after pushing out a draft revision, I settled in for the hour or so before sweet, sweet unconsciousness settled in to catch the season premiere of This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
And I laughed like a drain.

Seriously, Geri Hall's character "Avery Adams" -- who made news a couple weeks back when she was briefly hoosegowed thanks to the Harperites -- rocked two segments, both with Harper and later, Stephane Dion. Harper seemed briefly nearly human (though clearly about as spontaneous as any statement of his that eventually gets arount to blaming the previous Liberal government) and Dion seemed like, well, a dork. But a well meaning dork.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May forcing her way into a high school debate plus a sharp satire on Maple Leaf Meat Scandals and a whole bunch of other goodness made for about an hour's worth of entertainment packed into the 22.

So much, in fact, that I didn't stay up the extra half hour. Yes, my quality of life was raised enough by the show that I happily blew off my 30 minutes of free time, and trundled off to sleep dreaming of Avery Adams.

You can see the best clips for yourself on the 22 Minutes website. Thank god somebody's back and ready to make Canadian news look as ridiculous as it should.

Stephen Harper mistaking a baby for a ATM. Seriously. You have to see it to believe it.



(and no, none of the clips will make much sense if you're not Canadian)

EDIT: supposedly the embed is dead but if you click the link above you should be able to see it.

Oh Dear. Then there's This.

ALL I CAN say for certain is that I promise you, I have never been to either a dog, or a cockfight.

For reals.

Ahem.

TORONTO — When it comes to attracting voter attention, don't underestimate the cringe factor.

The prospect of a spectacular crash-and-burn by U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in Thursday's televised debate is too good to resist for many Canadians, even though their own leaders will be vying for votes in a debate the same night, say observers.

The scheduling of Canada's English-language leadership debate had political junkie Denis McGrath ranting over the "boneheaded" decision to pit it against the U.S. vice-presidential debate. Despite his ardent interest in Canadian politics, he declared would not be watching the Canadian tussle.

"There's no way in hell I'm watching that thing," said the Toronto-based McGrath, an American screenwriter with dual citizenship.

"Compared to the fake Tina Fey? Is (Palin) going to be bad, is she going to be good? This is actual drama. It kills me again that the United States manages once again to trump Canada in terms of the great political narratives," McGrath added.

"I couldn't write something as wacky as the Sarah Palin rise to power, and I'm looking forward to that debate on Thursday kind of like some people look forward to a cock fight or a dog fight."

Indeed, a perverse curiosity seems to pervade much of the lead-up to the Palin showdown, in which the Republican Alaskan governor/hockey mom will spar with the more experienced democratic candidate, Senator Joe Biden.

Many pundits predict a poor showing by Palin, who has been skewered on both sides of the political spectrum for her dubious grasp on the issues and was famously mocked in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch featuring look-alike comedienne Fey.

Still, there are some who suggest the bar has been lowered so much that Palin could do well against Biden, who himself has been known to put his foot in his mouth when left to ramble. Alternatively, Biden could trounce Palin so decisively that he could come away looking like a bully, said McGrath.

and on, and on. and on...

Hey, You Know Something Else Ordinary Canadians Aren't?

F@#%ING PLAGIARISTS.

TORONTO — Stephen Harper plagiarized from a former Australian leader's speech when he supported the Iraq war as Opposition leader in March 2003, the Liberals alleged Tuesday in releasing transcripts and video of striking similarities in the two speeches.

The speech delivered by former Australian prime minister John Howard on March 18, 2003 and one by Harper two days later in the House of Commons share the same tone, ideas and, in some instances, have phrases that are nearly identical, according to the transcripts.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called it "plagiarism" but added the context in which it occurred is "even worse."

"It's about Stephen Harper saying that Canada should go with the war in Iraq," Dion said in Gatineau, Que.

"He's unable to choose his own words, he chose the words of (U.S. President George W. Bush's) coalition of the willing."

Even Harper's critics thought the speech was eloquent at the time, but now it appears to be a case of lifting someone else's words, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said in Toronto, where the material was released.

"(Harper) couldn't and didn't find Canada's voice, so he begged borrowed or stole someone else's voice," Liberal Bob Rae said.

"This isn't just deeply embarrassing for Mr. Harper. I suspect he would've been expelled from (his high school) Richview Collegiate, let alone a university, for pulling this kind of a stunt."

The only thing I'd like to add to that as a former resident of Etobicoke who lived within the Richview Collegiate school area but didn't go there...ahem...

Richview Sucks.

Drifting Out to Sea

WELL. THERE'S A BIT of nailbiting going on. Would viewers come back to TV? Has the blood pouring out of the open wound of broadcast TV been stanched, finally? Or is gangrene setting in? (Okay, I'm setting aside that metaphor right now. )

The pre-spin about the TV season started to sound increasingly like the McCain campaign trying to defend Sarah Palin; it's too early to judge, it's not as bad as it seems, when you factor in PVR's the picture is rosier.

And based on Mediaweek's analysis, that just might be true. (Except for NBC, which is like, totally screwed, dude.)

If anything, the first four days of the official start of the 2008-09 broadcast prime-time season has affirmed one basic truth: When the networks produce programming viewers like, they will draw a big audience.

CBS procedurals CSI: Miami (with 17.2 million viewers), CSI: NY (14.5 million), NCIS 18 million) and Criminal Minds (17 million) all drew a bigger audience this year on premiere week than last year. Same for the net’s hit Monday sitcom Two and a Half Men, which drew 14.8 million viewers, up from 13.5 million last year.

Among the new series to premiere last week, the CBS drama The Mentalist pulled in 15.6 million viewers leading out of NCIS, nearly 5 million more than The Unit attracted last season leading out of the same show during premiere week.

So much for the disappearing TV viewer. While four days is not enough to make season-long projections, of course, those numbers indicate that it’s still possible for the networks to draw a mass audience.

Not every returning show came back stronger, but the big shows of last season nevertheless fared well. ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy pulled in 18.4 million viewers, 10 percent fewer than last season’s premiere, while CBS’ Survivor drew 13 million viewers, down 7.7 percent from last season.

That's great news. I guess. Except. Except.

I've read people suggesting that the slump in comedy, and the death of the broad-audience hit sitcom, can be fobbed off on the fact that there just isn't enough mass experience to draw upon. We are penned in our niches, all of us, and the days where a Cheers or even a Seinfeld could make people of differing economic, social, and educational levels laugh is over. Whatever one says about hit comedy Two and a Half Men, the fact remains that it's remarkably middle of the road.

So what to make of the great debut of The Mentalist? I watched it, or part of it. Yes, Simon Baker is an appealing lead, much as he was on The Guardian. And yup, it's a perfectly serviceable show. But that's it. It's wallpaper. There's nothing about it that sets a fire, that hooks me, nothing that makes me excited to be watching it, instead of something else.

And maybe that's what you need to do to be a network hit in 2008. Maybe the days of the challenging-in-any-way network drama truly are over. But that causes a problem for me. Because I don't really want to watch that kind of show, much less write it.

Let's also add this little local log to the fire: a show as straight-ahead and been there done that as The Mentalist, were it to debut as a Canadian show, would most likely get murdered by critics in this country.

What to do? What to do?

I'm really asking. I don't know.

What I do know is that the few shows that I do enjoy watching now on network tv seem almost to be refugees from a cable universe: House is forumlaic, but the character interactions keep it fresh. (Even if I am a little disturbed that the House-misanthropy seems to be dialed up to 11 this year, almost daring you to stop watching.) The Office eschews punchlines for moments, and I love them for it. But what in heaven's name is it doing on a network? Same too to 30 Rock. Oh, 30 Rock, writers everywhere may have a secret case for worshipping their replica Tina Fey glasses, but that doesn't mean you're a hit show. Far from it.

Beyond that, I've been lost utterly to the wilds of Cable. Californication, a show that I'd given up on early last year, I now recant. I've seen the first two episodes of Season 2 (as well as the last four of Season 1 which I'd never bothered to watch) and the scabrous, ludicrous elements are more than balanced by the strangely compelling relationship between Madeleine Martin (as the daugther) and David Duchovny. Then they drop in Callum Keith Rennie, and the most over-the-top coked-up argument between Pamela Adlon and Evan Handler that I've ever seen -- and that's it. I'm laughing. I'll follow you, Duchovny and Tom Kapinos, I'll follow you to the ends of the boner-snipping, sex addicted earth.

Then there's the only women I could ever love: Holly Hunter on Saving Grace. Kyra Sedgwick on The Closer. Mary McCormack on In Plain Sight. Jennifer Carpenter on Dexter. Heck, even Gabrielle Anwar on Burn Notice does it for me. Then, from that show, add in the cool spy takeaways, and Bruce Campbell. Dude! Bruce Freaking Campbell...and it hits me...

I'm drifting, drifting, drifting. There's the mass audience. I can see them there, on the shore. They seem shiny, shiny as ever. But maybe they're a mirage. Maybe I'm really in an innertube and I've been here for thirty days and I'm delirious and dehydrated. And I close my eyes and think I'm Don Draper or the one guy at Sterling Cooper who sees Joan for truly who she is, a woman out of her time and trapped in her limited role, and then maybe I score a bit of meth from Bryan Cranston on Breaking Bad or Nancy Botwin on Weeds slips me a load of chronic, but it's not enough. Now I want the pure stuff. I want Skins, or stuff we can't even begin to get on the air here yet.

And I don't want to do a series wank that's all self important. I just want to do good work. I want to be able to write the things I like to watch.

And that shit just aint The Mentalist -- no matter whether it gets 15 million viewers or not.

And that's when I realize the cold, hard truth:

I might be fucked.

Border's Got Back

WAITING, WAITING, WAITING. You spend a lot of time waiting when you're a writer. Waiting for people to read the outline. Waiting for people to read the draft. Right now I'm waiting for the Story Coordinator to finish fixing the typos and send me the file of my script so I can do one more set of changes before sending off the draft to CBC.

Edit: Okay, now that's done. Now I get to wait for notes. Again. Tom Petty was right. The Waiting is the hardest part...

Hmm. It's very weird to be sitting here contemplating the broadcast premiere of Season 2 of The Border, cause right now I'm struggling to get out the 2nd to last episode of the season.

(I just got told that I have a couple of sentences in my dialogue "that are like Cormac McCarthy, but bad." On the one hand, hahahahahahhaha. On the other? Ulp.)

Every season of TV has its challenges and triumphs, and this certainly is no exception.

Sure, Sure, would have been great if CBC had managed to get the Season 2 website up in time for the launch, but, you know, it's not like this is Prime Time or anything. Sigh.

Just pimpin today, that's all. And hoping that you tune in tonight for the premiere, and return next week for my first episode of the season.

First here's the promo:



Next, some link lovin.

James McGowan talked to the Canadian Press.

And here's a lovely little profile of Graham Abbey (Gray Jackson) from The Toronto Star.

"This show presents a great forum for Canadians to debate and think about what that border means. Usually we hear the voices from the south, so it's nice to give voice to our point of view as well."

During the first season, Abbey mainly dealt with what he calls "the action stuff," which gave him enough to worry about.

"I joked with the guys on the show that I spent 10 years learning how to fight with a sword, and now I have to learn how to carry a gun."

Having done a convincing job of that, Abbey has been rewarded by having the scripts delve more deeply into his personal life.

"Nick Campbell has been brought on to play my dad, which is great. On stage, I learned from Bill Hutt. Here on TV, I'm learning from Nick. You don't get luckier than that."

This year he also gets a relationship with Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica).

Abbey jokes, "Hey, you even get to see my apartment. You look at the set they've designed for the first time, and you say, `Oh, that's what my character is supposed to be like!'"

Meanwhile we got some stone cold love from people looking at the social issues raised in the shows, and whether it was realistic, or TV realistic.

OTTAWA — "The Border," CBC-TV's drama about terrorism and smuggling that kicks off its second season Monday, has "its fingers on the right pulse," says a top security expert.

"It handles (issues) in quite a sophisticated manner . . . (and) works out some of the difficulties faced by Canada as well as some of the moral questions and the political realities of issues," says Jez Littlewood, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University.

In particular, Littlewood said he was impressed by the way the show deals with border security and intelligence in Canada.

"This is definitely not an American-made TV series, partly because you get debates or discussions characters are having - there's nuance in issues," Littlewood said.

"(The show) gives a flavour of some of the main issues there, the tensions between bureaucracies, the importance of having to consider politics in decision making."

Littlewood hopes "The Border" becomes classic water-cooler TV that gets people talking about the issues raised.

"If it gets people thinking about the national security of Canada, (that) it can sometimes be a necessary and compromising business, just as the security of any state can be a necessary and compromising business - that's a good thing."

"Things aren't always clear cut and . . . it's good that people can understand that. It's not always a simple question of what's right and what's wrong. Tough decisions have to be made."

And if you're just interested in the stone-cold critic carnage...you can always take your choice between smiley Bill Harris, or the frowny thumbs- downy from main man John Doyle in the Globe. (Though I have to admit I agree with some of what he says.)

That long ago adage says, hey, so long as they spell your name right, right? And get the timeslot right, too! Cause it's not like they can get that info off the website! Sigh.

Won't you tune in tonight and see what you think? Tell them Mr. Bombastic sent you.

The Border Season Two: Behind the Scenes

THE SECOND SEASON of The Border starts tomorrow night (Monday, Sept 29th, 9pm) on CBC. Here's a little behind the scenes promo from the making of Episode 1.