'Corner Gas' set to pump out laughs
Brent Butt gets set to serve up a new season of high-octane laughs tonight.
Nobody feels like laughing anymore when the word "gas" comes up.
So considering the widespread anger over the price of oil, the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas may be facing an uphill battle this fall.
Corner Gas already is dealing with the price of success, which manifests itself in increased scrutiny. As the Brent Butt creation and surprise smash hit begins its third season tonight on CTV, the big question is this: Has Corner Gas lost any of its fuel-injected charm?
Well, to put it bluntly, the episode scheduled to air tonight won't be making any "best of" reels. But wait a week and you'll be rewarded.
For a while there was some confusion about which new episode -- one titled Dress For Success, the other Key To The Future -- was going to kick off season No. 3 of Corner Gas. If the idea is to inspire confidence on opening night, the decision to go with Dress For Success was misguided.
When characters are drawn as broadly as the ones in Dog River, Sask., there is a danger in making them too ridiculously simple, merely to propel a goofy plot. That's the problem tonight, as one of the main storylines has Oscar and Hank (whose exaggerated eye movements seem to be channeling Kramer from Seinfeld, Jim from Taxi and Guy Caballero from SCTV) involved in a faux stock-market competition.
Oscar and Hank start with $10,000 in imaginary funds apiece and endeavour to out-invest each other. But when an agitated Oscar demands his son Brent -- played marvellously by Butt -- fork over an additional $10,000 as an imaginary loan, the whole concept just seems laboured.
It's like the Georgette character on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show. Sometimes you say to yourself, "Okay, even within the parameters of this fantasy sitcom bubble, no one would be THAT stupid."
That's not to say Dress For Success is devoid of chuckles. There are funny consequences when Wanda breaks with tradition and wears a skirt to her job at the gas station. And a broken dishwasher at the diner leads to this amusing exchange between a customer and Lacey, the exasperated proprietress:
Customer: "There's some dirt at the top of my glass."
Lacey: "That's why I didn't fill it up all the way."
Still, if you want to see Corner Gas at its best, we refer you to next week's episode, Key To The Future. Hank believes he has ESP and the local newspaper, The Dog River Howler, picks up the story. A huge frontpage headline -- with letters befitting the fall of the Berlin Wall or an average Maple Leafs game in Toronto -- literally reads, "HANK IS PHYCIC." Wanda then asks rhetorically, "Honestly, how much does a spell-check program cost?"
Regardless of the pros and cons of individual episodes, the prairie setting of Corner Gas is a treat for the eyes. Canada has been accused of being a country of fake pioneers, in that most of us live in cities or decent-sized towns, but we consider frontiers and big skies to be an integral part of our identity. The remote visuals in Corner Gas tap into that psyche.
The casual pace of Dog River meticulously can erode the batteries on your cornball detector. But as season No. 3 progresses, the staying power of Corner Gas will be tested. Having seen the first two episodes, there's one miss, and one hit.
If the show you see tonight starts with Brent and Hank discussing cartoons, that's good news. It means there has been a last-minute change of heart and you're actually watching the funnier of the two newest episodes.
Otherwise, fans of Corner Gas will have to wait till next week to get pumped.
Dan Still Locked Out
In addition to running this website I am also a locked out CBC employee.
I have missed five weeks of shows (so far) - including my second anniversary weekend - and my personal financial situation is currently less than ideal.
I love the work that I am able to do and I just wish I could do it! I know the day will come again when I can, but I want that day to be today!!
With few exceptions I think I have been dealing with this whole situation, including my money problems, quite well.
But on Sunday I reached my boiling point.
That is because the opportunity to produce a show for that day - Sunday, September 18th - had been lost.
On Sunday thousands of people across Canada marked the 25th Anniversary of The Terry Fox Run. Terry Fox is our greatest Canadian and I was going to produce a show that morning to honour his remarkable legacy.
In addition to features about Terry, the show would have included several volunteer Run organizers from across Saskatchewan, all of whom have inspiring stories about what Terry and his accomplishments mean to them.
We would also have spoken about the fact that The Terry Fox Foundation works hard to ensure that all money raised in Terry's name actually goes toward finding a cure for cancer. Currently, 87 cents of every dollar raised in Terry's name goes to fund cancer research.
Unfortunately, as CBC management continues to refuse to allow my colleagues and I to return to work, I didn't have a show on September 18th, and I might not have one again anytime in the foreseeable future. Thus, the opportunity for me to commemorate and promote the 25th Anniversary of The Terry Fox Run has faded away.
But even though I couldn't do a show about it, I still took part in The Terry Fox Run and I still made my donation, as did many other locked out CBC employees.
In 1980 Terry said: “If you’ve given a dollar, you are part of the Marathon of Hope.” Even if others are making my financial decisions right now I still wanted to be a part of Terry's Marathon, as I have almost every year since 1980.
Since I have been walking for four hours a day, five days a week, for 36 days now, I was able to walk the 10 kilometre course with relative ease. But as I watched other participants who are still fighting cancer, and even some in remission, walking without the benefit of ease, I couldn't help but think how much additional money could have been raised to fight cancer if CBC management hadn't locked out it's 5308 employees.
So, in addition to crying for those I know who have been affected by cancer, I also cried on Sunday because I felt so helpless.
I know any radio show I do won't ever be the reason that cancer is beaten, but my show yesterday would have helped promote The Terry Fox Run. I remain convinced that the more people who knew about the Run, the more people who could have helped - either through donations or by participating in the Run themselves.
As I mentioned, I reached my boiling point on Sunday, but I am fine now.
The fact that I didn't get to publicly commemorate and promote the 25th anniversary of The Terry Fox Run by CBC management has strengthened my resolve!
I am prepared to stay locked out however long it takes so I can ensure that CBC's legacy is protected, no matter how much it costs me financially!
Yes, I will stay on the picket line as long as it takes to ensure that my colleagues and I get to do the work we love for the people of Saskatchewan - and Canada - who enjoy it!
Thus, I will walk the picket line from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every week day until I am once again allowed inside the Broadcast Centre in Regina to do the work I feel blessed to have the opportunity to do.
And I do feel blessed!
But please remember this, no matter what happens with us at CBC in the next few weeks or (God forbid) months, we must always continue what Terry Fox started 25 years ago because, as he said in 1980, "Somewhere the hurting must stop."
Sincerely,
Dan Reynish