Has anyone else ever noticed that the wind never blows on Corner Gas?
How do they do that?
31 Replies to “Reality TV”
just the hot air when PMPM shows up for the cameo
Never watched it- but it can’t possibly be any duller than that thing on the Go-train. (And we actually pay people to do this mindless crap.)
Corner Gas is actually a good show. That’s why CBC passed on it. Train48 is (was?) painful to watch.
I quite like Corner Gas myself. I was quite amused when they had PMPM on at the start of the show. He was giving a speach to the nation and they basically booted him off! Great show that is.
How about …. they don’t bother to film the show on windy days. Isn’t filming all about controlling what on the tape? the sets? the effects? the really stupid predictable lines?
Hey, a shit-come is a shit-com, usually written for people who can’t understand regualar dialog, plot, story .. you know … stuff like that.
It’s the sycronized swimming of TV entertainment.
It’s the only thing on the show that doesn’t blow
The wind doesn’t “blow” on that statesubsidized show because of the countereffect from all Canadian programming SUCKING !!
Wow … a lot of posters on this site seem to hate pretty well everything in their world. I’ve been reading posts here for about six months, and all the negativity gets to be a bit much at times. I started frequenting this site because I’m anti-Liberal and I enjoy Liberal bashing, but you guys seem to hate everything and everyone except George Bush. Lighten up, the world isn’t that bad. And Corner Gas is simply a comedic sitcom. You don’t have to like it, but venomously cutting it up is kind of like kicking a lost dog.
Lyle,
This is where we come to vent our frustrations. There are those who prefer to burn cars and shoot police …. so you might say … we are lightened up if this is as bad as it gets.
Part of liberal bashing is what one commenter stated, this show is tax funded …. get it?
And FYI the world is a bad place with some pockets of goodness here and there.
Only in Canada can tv programs suck and blow at the same time. Some examples:
The Beachcombers (cheesy, although Relic was a cult hero of sorts!)
Front Page Challenge (Mostly because Fotheringham (later years episodes) was the quintessential elitist know-it-all eastern Canadian pussy-in a plaid suit coat no less!)
Danger Bay (I’ll never fly on Harbour Air after watching this show!)
Corner Gas (Tries too hard to be funny-typical Canadian trait, IMHO)
The Nature of Things (Chicken Little/Wing nut alert!)
Rough Cuts (Does ANYONE watch this show, aside from terrorist ass-kissing “new Canadians”?)
The National (pinko-Pravda slant, studio lights slowly being dimmed over the years as Mansbridges’ bald spot expands)
The Tommy Hunter Show (remember Mike, Mark and Jack, “The Rythym Pals”? How about that frog on the banjo? Maurice something)
The Irish Rovers (“And dee loveliest of all was dee you-knee-corn”…uhh…’nuf said)
Traders (although I’m sure it as a hit amoungst yuppie wannabes-many of them I’m sure invested in Bre-x and Nortel, never missed an episode and lost their shirts!)
THE ENTIRE ANN OF GREEN GABLES SERIES/SPINOFFS (yes I know I’m shouting)
The Forest Rangers (actually I liked this show! Joe Two Rivers was cool-he could talk to the bears! The character named “Chub” had a funky tan leather coat with lots of fringes! I remember searching the aisles of our local “Robinson’s” store looking for a knockoff copy of my own!)
How’s that for a trip down memory lane, Canadianna style? heh heh!
cue Don Messer playing Turkey in the Straw, fade to black…..
No wind on Corner Gas, and it always seems to be summer. I quite enjoy Corner Gas AND Trailer Park Boys. So there!
If you search the archives, you’ll find a post on the Forest Rangers.
The wind never blows on Corner Gas because it’s actually filmed on a secret soundstage at the Canadian equivalent of Area 51 (Nokomis, Saskatchewan!). And it’s always summer because, well, ‘ceptin’ for the Lower Mainland, pretty much everywhere else in Canada isn’t pretty in the winter…
(And I like Corner Gas — I have to send off the Season Two CD to a buddy of mine in Sacramento…)
Wait a tick… what are those black helicopters doing hovering over my houAhjahklj;lKkl*7%42…[LOST CARRIER]
Ooh, don’t forget the Trailer Park Boys and Theodore Tugboat (what a crossover THAT would make!)
Emily running off with a sleazy Spanish trawler… *snerk*
Hey Eskino,
You forgot “Uncle Chichimus ” on CBC!
Eskimo: You also forgot the unforgettable ‘Seeing Things’! There’s CBC Canadiana for you.
And Duke, how is it tax funded? I understood it to be a private production. From the CTV website: “Corner Gas was produced in association with CTV by Prairie Pants Productions, comprised of Virginia Thompson of V�rit� Films (Incredible Story Studio) and 335 Productions, a partnership of Brent Butt and David Storey. Corner Gas was produced with the support of the Groundbreaker Fund, a strand of the BCE-CTV Benefits Package. The Corner Gas Web site is produced by Calgary’s White Iron Communications.”
I’m not familiar with all of these organizations, but it seems that none of them are government funded.
TB Cerberus
Well, allow me to clarify – there’s a post here somewhere on the Forest Rangers, but I can’t seem to find the right keywords to bring it up.
Okay Eskimo and all the rest: Do you remember what was on after the only “REAL” Canadian reality show… Hockey Night in Canada?
Those of you that grew up with more than two channels can ask some of the other old farts here 😉
And who could forget Friendly Giant…
S-Kay-Mo is only hitting the tops of the waves – the shows that really illustrate the brilliance of early Canadian television aren’t the hit series to which he refers, but the hidden gems, to wit:
This Is The Law: a short vignette of seemingly everyday life followed by panelists trying to determine what strange, obscure law had been broken. The Charter made a show depicting how silly and ridiculous could be Canadian law somehow less funny.
Definition: essentially “hangman” for the small screen, but regarded, because of its literary nature, as yet another example of how much more sophisticated and urbane were Canadians than the “Price is Right”-loving yokels to the south of us.
Take 30: public affairs show where the hallowed former Governess General commenced compiling her dizzying array of public achievements.
Of course, tweren’t all dreck – not a day goes by without me finding myself humming some tune I first heard on my personal favourite Corpse show from before the time they got all “progressive”, Hymn Sing.
This is the Law! I remember that one! Growing up in rural northern Alberta awarded us but one tv channel. Bet you can’t guess which one!
Kate: I tried to find the Forest Rangers post, but like you, couldn’t find the right keyword combo
And who can forget the amazing adventures of the Plouff family. Like watching the entire Crouton family on a mega dose of Prosac
Is there something wrong with me that I remember “Our Pet, Juliette”
The Raccoons. ‘Nuff Said.
Yes ,yes, very nostalgic.
“Trouble With Tracy”
That ought to snap your heads back to the real point.
There are a hundred dogs for each gem.
Let them do it with their OWN money.
Not all Canadian TV sucks. I’m really gonna miss Red Green. That was a diamond in the rough. It actually started in 1991 so it wasn’t a liberal shit show.
No wind, No rain, no snow. OH MY GOD!!!! David Suzuki was right we have global warming.
The Trailer Park Boys is one of the funniest shows to come on the tube in years. Bubbles makes me laugh my ass off (Remember the episode where they were hauling the trailer full of dope out of the park, followed in hot pursuit by the cops, with Bubbles at the wheel; they rolled the damn thing, and Bubbles pretended he was a farmer, started yelling at the cops “You’re scaring my cows!”, and got off scot-free while the cops hauled Julian and Ricky to jail… ahhh, good times, good times).
Red Green? WAY funnier than Smith & Smith.
SCTV: Didn’t get really funny until they ditched the CBC and Harold Ramis and moved to Edmonton. You want highbrow humour? Who can beat Dr. Tongue’s 3-D House of Stewardesses?
The perfect cure for insomnia: Hinterland Who’s Who.
Nobody does kids shows like Canada: The Friendly Giant. Mr. Dressup. The Uncle Bobby Show (featuring Bimbo the Birthday Clown). In Edmonton, Popcorn Playhouse was always a big hit. The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Kidstuff. (hmmm… none of those shows are on anymore, except for reruns of Mr. Dressup)(isn’t there something a little creepy about a guy who builds a treehouse in his backyard for some neighbourhood kid to come to play in? while he dresses up in costumes he gets from the “tickle trunk”? oh well, I suppose it isn’t any creepier than a guy who puts on green tights and pretends he’s a leprechaun named Harrigan)
And now a musical interlude to bring everyone back in time twenty-five years:
… and he goes burling down and down the white water
that’s where the log driver learns to step lightly
yes burling down and down the white water,
the log drivers’ waltz pleases girls completely
I had a girlfriend who had to stop whatever she was doing and watch whenever “Log Driver’s Waltz” came on. Actually pretty catchy tune.
And Canada still makes some decent cartoons for young kids, like Caillou.
But yeah, by and large Canadian TV is a vast wasteland of taxpayer-funded crapulence.
Speaking of kids’ TV, remember “Kidstuff”? And then there was “Switchback” later. Then there was “Shantytown”.
Need I even mention “The Littlest Hobo”?
Texas Canuck–after Hockey Night in Canada was Bonanza—–is that right? Or was it Rat Patrol?
I tried – valiantly – to watch just ONE episode of Corner Gas, with an open mind.
Halfway through, I lurched away from my TV, into the corner, having gas.
Why must these POS programs insist on stereotyping Canadians? There’s the mandatory native character – kind of stoic, but a bit bumbling. The crusty greasy spoon cook. The wry, self-deprecating main character with the silly half-assed grin that annoys to no end (Brett whatshisname).
I’ve not seen anything so formulaic since I bottle-fed my infant son last night.
Do people in the prairies really have that annoying, forced accent? Do you actually know anyone in Canada who pronounces the word, “today”, as “todeey”?
God, I hate that phoney accent.
Canadian programming (sitcoms, especially) seem to be lacking in talent to really be interesting and innovative, but succeed beyond all wildest hopes in being truly annoying. And any Canuck drama that is moderately interesting tends to imitate American programming in style and plot.
Go figure.
Here’s a question for you. Do you actually think CTV would pay for this pap if it weren’t for Canada’s moronic Cancon requirements? Would they plump for CG if they could show reruns of Seinfeld or Friends?
As for Train 48… the only thing I can say is this show makes CG look cerebral by comparison.
Anybody know if there’s any update on the Quebec lawsuit where the chap took the government to court for the right to lawfully purchase DirectTV? There’s the answer to escape Canadian mediocrity in programming… and no more Ministry of Truth (CBC) propaganda, either!
sjd(at)cogeco(d0t)ca
just the hot air when PMPM shows up for the cameo
Never watched it- but it can’t possibly be any duller than that thing on the Go-train. (And we actually pay people to do this mindless crap.)
Corner Gas is actually a good show. That’s why CBC passed on it. Train48 is (was?) painful to watch.
I quite like Corner Gas myself. I was quite amused when they had PMPM on at the start of the show. He was giving a speach to the nation and they basically booted him off! Great show that is.
How about …. they don’t bother to film the show on windy days. Isn’t filming all about controlling what on the tape? the sets? the effects? the really stupid predictable lines?
Hey, a shit-come is a shit-com, usually written for people who can’t understand regualar dialog, plot, story .. you know … stuff like that.
It’s the sycronized swimming of TV entertainment.
It’s the only thing on the show that doesn’t blow
The wind doesn’t “blow” on that statesubsidized show because of the countereffect from all Canadian programming SUCKING !!
Wow … a lot of posters on this site seem to hate pretty well everything in their world. I’ve been reading posts here for about six months, and all the negativity gets to be a bit much at times. I started frequenting this site because I’m anti-Liberal and I enjoy Liberal bashing, but you guys seem to hate everything and everyone except George Bush. Lighten up, the world isn’t that bad. And Corner Gas is simply a comedic sitcom. You don’t have to like it, but venomously cutting it up is kind of like kicking a lost dog.
Lyle,
This is where we come to vent our frustrations. There are those who prefer to burn cars and shoot police …. so you might say … we are lightened up if this is as bad as it gets.
Part of liberal bashing is what one commenter stated, this show is tax funded …. get it?
And FYI the world is a bad place with some pockets of goodness here and there.
Only in Canada can tv programs suck and blow at the same time. Some examples:
The Beachcombers (cheesy, although Relic was a cult hero of sorts!)
Front Page Challenge (Mostly because Fotheringham (later years episodes) was the quintessential elitist know-it-all eastern Canadian pussy-in a plaid suit coat no less!)
Danger Bay (I’ll never fly on Harbour Air after watching this show!)
Corner Gas (Tries too hard to be funny-typical Canadian trait, IMHO)
The Nature of Things (Chicken Little/Wing nut alert!)
Rough Cuts (Does ANYONE watch this show, aside from terrorist ass-kissing “new Canadians”?)
The National (pinko-Pravda slant, studio lights slowly being dimmed over the years as Mansbridges’ bald spot expands)
The Tommy Hunter Show (remember Mike, Mark and Jack, “The Rythym Pals”? How about that frog on the banjo? Maurice something)
The Irish Rovers (“And dee loveliest of all was dee you-knee-corn”…uhh…’nuf said)
Traders (although I’m sure it as a hit amoungst yuppie wannabes-many of them I’m sure invested in Bre-x and Nortel, never missed an episode and lost their shirts!)
THE ENTIRE ANN OF GREEN GABLES SERIES/SPINOFFS (yes I know I’m shouting)
The Forest Rangers (actually I liked this show! Joe Two Rivers was cool-he could talk to the bears! The character named “Chub” had a funky tan leather coat with lots of fringes! I remember searching the aisles of our local “Robinson’s” store looking for a knockoff copy of my own!)
How’s that for a trip down memory lane, Canadianna style? heh heh!
cue Don Messer playing Turkey in the Straw, fade to black…..
No wind on Corner Gas, and it always seems to be summer. I quite enjoy Corner Gas AND Trailer Park Boys. So there!
If you search the archives, you’ll find a post on the Forest Rangers.
The wind never blows on Corner Gas because it’s actually filmed on a secret soundstage at the Canadian equivalent of Area 51 (Nokomis, Saskatchewan!). And it’s always summer because, well, ‘ceptin’ for the Lower Mainland, pretty much everywhere else in Canada isn’t pretty in the winter…
(And I like Corner Gas — I have to send off the Season Two CD to a buddy of mine in Sacramento…)
Wait a tick… what are those black helicopters doing hovering over my houAhjahklj;lKkl*7%42…[LOST CARRIER]
Ooh, don’t forget the Trailer Park Boys and Theodore Tugboat (what a crossover THAT would make!)
Emily running off with a sleazy Spanish trawler… *snerk*
Hey Eskino,
You forgot “Uncle Chichimus ” on CBC!
Eskimo: You also forgot the unforgettable ‘Seeing Things’! There’s CBC Canadiana for you.
And Duke, how is it tax funded? I understood it to be a private production. From the CTV website:
“Corner Gas was produced in association with CTV by Prairie Pants Productions, comprised of Virginia Thompson of V�rit� Films (Incredible Story Studio) and 335 Productions, a partnership of Brent Butt and David Storey. Corner Gas was produced with the support of the Groundbreaker Fund, a strand of the BCE-CTV Benefits Package. The Corner Gas Web site is produced by Calgary’s White Iron Communications.”
I’m not familiar with all of these organizations, but it seems that none of them are government funded.
TB
Cerberus
Well, allow me to clarify – there’s a post here somewhere on the Forest Rangers, but I can’t seem to find the right keywords to bring it up.
Okay Eskimo and all the rest: Do you remember what was on after the only “REAL” Canadian reality show… Hockey Night in Canada?
Those of you that grew up with more than two channels can ask some of the other old farts here 😉
And who could forget Friendly Giant…
S-Kay-Mo is only hitting the tops of the waves – the shows that really illustrate the brilliance of early Canadian television aren’t the hit series to which he refers, but the hidden gems, to wit:
This Is The Law: a short vignette of seemingly everyday life followed by panelists trying to determine what strange, obscure law had been broken. The Charter made a show depicting how silly and ridiculous could be Canadian law somehow less funny.
Definition: essentially “hangman” for the small screen, but regarded, because of its literary nature, as yet another example of how much more sophisticated and urbane were Canadians than the “Price is Right”-loving yokels to the south of us.
Take 30: public affairs show where the hallowed former Governess General commenced compiling her dizzying array of public achievements.
Of course, tweren’t all dreck – not a day goes by without me finding myself humming some tune I first heard on my personal favourite Corpse show from before the time they got all “progressive”, Hymn Sing.
This is the Law! I remember that one! Growing up in rural northern Alberta awarded us but one tv channel. Bet you can’t guess which one!
Kate: I tried to find the Forest Rangers post, but like you, couldn’t find the right keyword combo
And who can forget the amazing adventures of the Plouff family. Like watching the entire Crouton family on a mega dose of Prosac
Is there something wrong with me that I remember “Our Pet, Juliette”
The Raccoons. ‘Nuff Said.
Yes ,yes, very nostalgic.
“Trouble With Tracy”
That ought to snap your heads back to the real point.
There are a hundred dogs for each gem.
Let them do it with their OWN money.
Not all Canadian TV sucks. I’m really gonna miss Red Green. That was a diamond in the rough. It actually started in 1991 so it wasn’t a liberal shit show.
No wind, No rain, no snow. OH MY GOD!!!! David Suzuki was right we have global warming.
The Trailer Park Boys is one of the funniest shows to come on the tube in years. Bubbles makes me laugh my ass off (Remember the episode where they were hauling the trailer full of dope out of the park, followed in hot pursuit by the cops, with Bubbles at the wheel; they rolled the damn thing, and Bubbles pretended he was a farmer, started yelling at the cops “You’re scaring my cows!”, and got off scot-free while the cops hauled Julian and Ricky to jail… ahhh, good times, good times).
Red Green? WAY funnier than Smith & Smith.
SCTV: Didn’t get really funny until they ditched the CBC and Harold Ramis and moved to Edmonton. You want highbrow humour? Who can beat Dr. Tongue’s 3-D House of Stewardesses?
The perfect cure for insomnia: Hinterland Who’s Who.
Nobody does kids shows like Canada: The Friendly Giant. Mr. Dressup. The Uncle Bobby Show (featuring Bimbo the Birthday Clown). In Edmonton, Popcorn Playhouse was always a big hit. The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Kidstuff. (hmmm… none of those shows are on anymore, except for reruns of Mr. Dressup)(isn’t there something a little creepy about a guy who builds a treehouse in his backyard for some neighbourhood kid to come to play in? while he dresses up in costumes he gets from the “tickle trunk”? oh well, I suppose it isn’t any creepier than a guy who puts on green tights and pretends he’s a leprechaun named Harrigan)
And now a musical interlude to bring everyone back in time twenty-five years:
… and he goes burling down and down the white water
that’s where the log driver learns to step lightly
yes burling down and down the white water,
the log drivers’ waltz pleases girls completely
I had a girlfriend who had to stop whatever she was doing and watch whenever “Log Driver’s Waltz” came on. Actually pretty catchy tune.
And Canada still makes some decent cartoons for young kids, like Caillou.
But yeah, by and large Canadian TV is a vast wasteland of taxpayer-funded crapulence.
Speaking of kids’ TV, remember “Kidstuff”? And then there was “Switchback” later. Then there was “Shantytown”.
Need I even mention “The Littlest Hobo”?
Texas Canuck–after Hockey Night in Canada was Bonanza—–is that right? Or was it Rat Patrol?
I tried – valiantly – to watch just ONE episode of Corner Gas, with an open mind.
Halfway through, I lurched away from my TV, into the corner, having gas.
Why must these POS programs insist on stereotyping Canadians? There’s the mandatory native character – kind of stoic, but a bit bumbling. The crusty greasy spoon cook. The wry, self-deprecating main character with the silly half-assed grin that annoys to no end (Brett whatshisname).
I’ve not seen anything so formulaic since I bottle-fed my infant son last night.
Do people in the prairies really have that annoying, forced accent? Do you actually know anyone in Canada who pronounces the word, “today”, as “todeey”?
God, I hate that phoney accent.
Canadian programming (sitcoms, especially) seem to be lacking in talent to really be interesting and innovative, but succeed beyond all wildest hopes in being truly annoying. And any Canuck drama that is moderately interesting tends to imitate American programming in style and plot.
Go figure.
Here’s a question for you. Do you actually think CTV would pay for this pap if it weren’t for Canada’s moronic Cancon requirements? Would they plump for CG if they could show reruns of Seinfeld or Friends?
As for Train 48… the only thing I can say is this show makes CG look cerebral by comparison.
Anybody know if there’s any update on the Quebec lawsuit where the chap took the government to court for the right to lawfully purchase DirectTV? There’s the answer to escape Canadian mediocrity in programming… and no more Ministry of Truth (CBC) propaganda, either!
sjd(at)cogeco(d0t)ca