Twitch City

Twitch City was a Canadian sitcom produced by CBC Television. The series aired as two short runs in 1998 and 2000. The series also aired in the United States on Bravo, and in Australia.

Related Topics:
Canadian - Sitcom - CBC Television - 1998 - 2000 - United States - Bravo - Australia

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Set in the Toronto, Ontario neighbourhood of Kensington Market, the series is about Curtis (Don McKellar), a television addict who refuses to leave his apartment, and his friends Nathan (Daniel MacIvor), Hope (Molly Parker), and Newbie (Callum Keith Rennie). McKellar was also one of the show's creators.

Related Topics:
Toronto, Ontario - Kensington Market - Don McKellar - Television - Addict - Daniel MacIvor - Molly Parker - Callum Keith Rennie

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The show's surreal humour was popular with critics. One Australian television critic actually called it the best television show ever made. The show was never a mainstream ratings success in Canada, although it had an extremely devoted cult following. In Australia, however, it was a smash hit.

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In the first episode, Nathan is sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food. (The homeless man was played by Al Waxman, who had been the star of the 1970s sitcom King of Kensington, although the producers claimed that they did not intend for the homeless man to be seen as the same character.)

Related Topics:
Al Waxman - 1970s - King of Kensington

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Throughout the series, Curtis and Hope's ongoing attempts to find a new roommate provide one of the show's major plot threads. In one episode, Curtis rents Nathan's room to a mysterious businessman who uses it to store drugged cookies; in another, Hope unwittingly rents it to two Nazis she mistakes for a gay couple. (That episode includes a Nazi rally which features all four members of the rock band Sloan among the extras. At the end of the episode, the two Nazi roommates renounce Nazism and promptly kiss each other, vindicating Hope's judgment.)

Related Topics:
Drugged - Nazi - Gay - Sloan

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Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney also starred in the series as Rex Reilly, the Jerry Springer-like host of Curtis' favourite TV talk show. (McCulloch played Reilly in the first series, and McKinney played him in the second. The show's explanation for this is only revealed near the end of the series, when Curtis reads a passage from Reilly's autobiography about the host's on-air head transplant.)

Related Topics:
Bruce McCulloch - Mark McKinney - Jerry Springer - Talk show

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Guest stars on the series included Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom McCamus, Valerie Buhagiar, Charmion King, Kenneth Welsh, Hugh Dillon, Stefan Brogren, John L'Ecuyer and Joyce DeWitt. DeWitt plays herself as a guest on The Rex Reilly Show, meeting lookalikes in an episode devoted to the theme "I Look Like Joyce DeWitt". (Reilly, at one point, asks DeWitt about the enduring popularity of Three's Company, to which she responds, "It's the writing.")

Related Topics:
Jennifer Jason Leigh - Tom McCamus - Valerie Buhagiar - Charmion King - Kenneth Welsh - Hugh Dillon - Stefan Brogren - John L'Ecuyer - Joyce DeWitt - Three's Company

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In another episode, the world is taken over by cats.

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The show was directed by Bruce McDonald and produced by Shadow Shows and Accent Entertainment in association with the CBC.

Related Topics:
Bruce McDonald - Shadow Shows - Accent Entertainment - CBC

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