Monday, March 12, 2007

Corner....GASP!



Big series...er, season finale this evening. Lot's of Drama. Excitement. Surprise guests. Cliffhangers. Plenty o' balls tossed up in the air --- and then it was all a daydream...or was it? Nevertheless, t'was some good clean fun. And some good funny, too (props to writer Mark Farrell (aka mef) - very tight script...was the ep called 'Pump N'Gophers'?). And how was it spelled in the script..."a 'Farrell' beast" perhaps?

Yeah yeah I know...my comedy writing doesn't 'pop' or 'sizzle', more like 'drizzles'.

Watching 'Corner Gas' for me has been a little like watching home movies. The show shoots its exteriors down in Rouleau, Saskatchewan (where I once shot a TV movie years ago), and their interiors in a studio here in Regina about three blocks from where I live. I probably know 80% of the crew...in fact, most of them got their start working on shows I did over fifteen years ago. I also know two of the producers quite well (the ones from Verite Films). And I recognize most of the background performers, and met a lot of the main cast, albeit briefly, when I worked on another show produced by Verite last fall. But I've never met Mr. Butt. I've noticed him at the local video store (I think he was renting 'Richelle Richelle'), but never met him.

Anyway, I've casually eye-balled the show for the past three years or so...enjoying it but suffering from some 'hey I had that idea' envy that inevitably comes with this industry. As in, around 15 years ago I co-developed a series for the CBC entitled Sweetgrass about an East Indian Toronto lawyer who returns to his roots and moves back to small town Saskatchewan to open a law practice and ends up helping run the town...gas station. Yep. We did a bible and three scripts and then watched it get killed during a regime change at the Corp. Not that that has anything to do with anything that is 'Corner Gas'...it was a long time ago and Ranjit Chowdhry is no Brent Butt. Still, you always wonder 'what if'...

But this wasn't supposed to be about me...congrats to CG cast and crew for another successful season - here's to many more.

"That network will put anything on the air."


Also, 'Robson Arms' sailed smoothly in the slot after CG - the two shows seemed almost like a perfect match (though the water pipe bong smoking scene on at 7:30 pm had my youngest daughter asking too many questions...and saying things like they 'wouldn't smoke' on CG). But way to go, David Moses, writer of the ep. It was very cool to have two blogger/reader/writer's shows air one after another. Made me proud...proud of our little, dare I utter it, family.

Yikes. Did I say that out loud? I meant to say "pass the salt." (or the banana bread)


SONG&ARTIST? "They shot a movie once in my home town
Every body was in it from miles around
Out at the speedway some kinda Elvis thing
I ain't no movie star, but I can get behind anything.
Well I can get behind anything..."

8 comments:

Mef said...

hey thanks for the shout-out Will.

I still haven't seen a final cut; so many elements were shot of sequence and then I forgot to pvr it yesterday.

I'll have to catch it on Comedy later.

Frank "Dolly" Dillon said...

Mef:

Not sure if you'll see this comment but I thought last night's episode was a remarkably assured piece of writing. I enjoyed it very much. thanks.

ME said...

Nice job, Mark! It was splendid. I especially loved the bits with Sea-moose. He's a total git but at least he recognizes it and doesn't mind taking the mickey out of himself.

Didn't watch Robson Arms right after but PVR'd it, so I am sure Dave's work is good too ... I just haven't seen it yet :-)

Mef said...

Blueglow:
I did see this. thanks, it means a lot.

(btw, the story department kicked in some really great jokes and helped sort out some plot contortions, including some messy Oscar/Emma stuff in the first act.)

And thanks to you too Caroline, glad you liked it

Mark

gdott said...

Thanks for the RA props too Will. Hopefully we'll be a perfect match more often. Yeah...the bong thing...hmmm.

Diane Kristine Wild said...

I'm almost ashamed to say this, except I'm already outed to Mark as not a Corner Gas viewer, but it was the first full episode I've watched and it was hilarious, and kinda sweet. I hope it gave a boost to Robson Arms, too.

Dave said...

hey, dix, thanks for the shout-out too.

and an honour to be mentioned in the same post as mef!

i understand we did much better numbers-wise last night, so thanks for the boost too.

and i hope you enjoy the ep. caroline. the big thing for me is that i've moved into a new place and got digital cable with HD-- i can't believe the difference. seriously, these shows look awesome.

why didn't anybody tell me.

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