Up Schitt’s Creek
I have just started to catch up on the Dan and Eugene Levy cable TV comedy that aired from 2015 – 2020. What prompted it was that I needed a gap-filler TV show to watch while I wait for Kim either before dinner, after dinner or while she is getting her PJs on. I guess I am just more sedentary than Kim because when I sit down for the evening and start the TV, I pretty much stay put. That’s not a concept that works for Kim and neither is missing any portion of a movie that she has decided to watch. That all means that I can either be a bad partner and just watch what I want when I want to, or I can agree to start and stop a movie when Kim needs it started or stopped and find things to entertain myself in between. I’ve opted for the latter and that means I need something to watch, preferably something that doesn’t require me to switch back into DirectTV mode since that is several added clicker steps. The other thing is that having something to fill gaps that is a 30-minute show is also helpful for other purposes. Sometime we end a movie too early to go to bed or know that we will be leaving in less than an hour. In any case, having a go-to series like Schitt’s Creek is very helpful.
I first met Eugene Levy on screen during the opening of National Lampoon’s Vacation. He played the car salesman that managed to convince Chevy Chase to take the American Truckster rather than the sleek blue station wagon he had intended to order. He next hit my screen as Jim’s dad in American Pie, trying his best to be an understanding dad to a teenager filled to the brim with adolescent testosterone. Then he joined Christopher Guest’s fabulous entourage in Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Who could forget Gerry and Cookie Fleck with Levy walking the prize-winning pooch around the ring with two left feet much to the amazement of Fred Willard in the color-commentator booth. He went on to do A Mighty Wind where he solidified his position in the Christopher Guest firmament of stars.
Eugene Levy is a sight gag all by himself with his thick, black, Groucho Marx-like eyebrows. His other dominant feature is his slow, deep, Canadian drawl that always makes him seem ever-so-slightly less than cool. As a symbol of his thespian success, he portrays the exact opposite sort of dapper character as the father in Schitt’s Creek. He is Johnny Rose, the patriarch of the family that was once a video-store multi-millionaire who managed to lose it all by virtue of his corrupt business manager. In this creative depiction of a family fallen from not only from grace, but from the highlife that they had all come to enjoy, Johnny Rose may be the most grounded in reality of any of his family members. He always seems to get it and become the straight man to most of the inane comments of his wife, son or daughter.
Each of the characters in the Rose family are worthy of a spinoff series all their own. Moira, his wife is a minor wannabe soap opera actress and singer who has a wardrobe that not only sets her apart each and every day from the common folk of Schitt’s Creek, but also matches the mood or situation she faces that particular day. She is as disconnected from reality as any wealthy matron might be, but she does seem to have a conscience that makes her want to be liked and respected. By the same token, as she repeatedly fails at making herself blend, she has a teflon spirit that gives her the stamina to carry on despite her family’s greatly reduced status and spending power. Johnny and Moira’s daughter is Alexis and she is the spoiled little girl we can all recognize as an urban Jewish American Princess who has grown into a young woman on the prowl for her next conquest. Son David is played by Daniel Levy who is the co-writer of the series, and he is my favorite character. He is a total metrosexual who is also multi-sexual in orientation and arrogant to a level that makes him supercilious. He wears nothing but black and white that are especially arranged in the most abstract manner conceivable. He is the all-knowing member of the family that has the ability to always find himself in some sort of opportunity or delicate situation that exceeds one’s expectations for a little town in the middle of nowhere.
I find myself thinking about the cadre of comedic actors that spring from the various entourages that prowl the small screen. First there were those from The Second City (meaning Chicago), which started in 1959 and produced such greats as Alan Alda, Alan Arkin, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, John Candy, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Carrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Stephen Colbert, and, yes, both Eugene Levy and is stage wife, Catherine O’Hara. This seems like pre-history for the devotees of Saturday Night Live (SNL), which got its start with an original cast that included some of The Second City greats like Belushi, Radner and Aykroyd. The list of greats that sprang from that crew and went on to form other syndicates like the National Lampoon Vacation family (Chevy Chase, Eugene Levy, John Candy et al) and any number of spin-offs are too many to mention. Lorne Michael’s reputation for identifying, developing and spinning off great comedic talent is legendary and may never be surpassed. He started with George Carlin as SNL’s first host and hasn’t looked back since (despite a five year hiatus in the early eighties).
Christopher Guest was a product of both National Lampoon and SNL. He is literally show business royalty since his father was a member of the British House of Lords. Earning his writing chops at such fine groups as NL and SNL caused him to create perhaps the best mockumentaries in creation, often anchored by Eugene Levy, Bob Ballaban, Catherine O’Hara and, let us not forget, Jennifer Coolidge. She got her start in another record-setting comedy series, Seinfeld, a product of Larry David, who is his own comedy generation machine. Coolidge has now anchored herself as the diva of The White Lotus, and god only knows where that will go from here.
In addition to all of these comedy circles, I am well aware that there are others that deserve mention including the whole Norman Lear repertoire starting with All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Golden Girls and who knows what else in the ensuing generations. Let us not forget Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner starting with The Dick Van Dyke Show, and It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and going off into Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Producers and The 2000 Year Old Man. I think Steve Martin, who started as a writer for The Smothers Brothers’ Comedy Hour, deserves a nod for all of his comedies ranging from The Jerk to Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I suppose I have to mention Adam Sandler and all of his works even though I tend to be less of a fan. And that takes us back to the whole Borscht Belt crowd of Catskills comedians that haunted the Friars Club and its roasts for years. Kim reminds me that somewhere between Jack Benny and Sid Caesar with his Your Show of Shows, it all began.
This morning I started to explain this road I have found myself on in Comedy Central to Gary and Oswaldo. Comedy is a funny topic. Different people respond differently and are more or less aware of the various comedic circles that spawn the people who fill our entertainment lives with laughter, As it turns out, Gary is on the less rather than more side of that equation so I didn’t get very far in my diatribe on the subject. In fact, if I were Eugene or Daniel Levy, I could have turned that dialogue into a pretty funny scene for Schitt’s Creek.