FFWD Weekly
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Television by Julie Pithers Twitch City Wednesday, March 15 CBC The character Curtis (Don McKellar) in Twitch City could be the illegitimate love child of Peter Seller’s Chauncy in the film Being There. Just like the famous gardener, he likes to watch TV. But unlike Chauncy, who treated TV like a hypnotic fish bowl, Curtis not only gets it, he dissects it. In the first installments of Twitch City, six to be exact, it was a series dedicated mostly to gags and quirky moments from the point of view of a self-directed shut-in who makes it his mission to watch the tube and yet manages to get a live-in girlfriend (played by the talented Molly Parker). The long-awaited second season is finally upon us, and it is a far superior show. Production values are better, the characters are more rounded, and the storylines are more fulfilling without veering toward run-of-the-mill sitcom. The second season is well worth the wait. "The delay was frustrating," says McKellar, series creator and star, of his dealings with the mighty CBC, which produces and broadcasts the show. "We made this show a year ago and I don’t fully understand why it’s taken so long, but on the other hand, they really did let us do this show without any interference, and that’s a pretty luxurious situation anywhere in the world. "I talked to American networks about getting involved in this and it was immediately a nightmare." The CBC is indeed being very lenient with the show. It will be run in prime time even though there is a big bare arse being branded in one episode, gay-Nazis kissing in another, and a fair amount of good old-fashioned swearing. "At first they gave me a whole list of things we shouldn’t do, but this time they were more lax. They just put it to me, they said, ‘The more "fucks," the later in the day you run.’" Besides Twitch City, McKellar has written films such as The Red Violin and 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, and most recently wrote, directed and starred in the award-winning film Last Night. As well, he’s taken on the slightly askew characters in Bruce McDonald and Atom Egoyan films. That means he’s saddled with being known as the "Renaissance Man of Canada." In spite of this, he thrives. Twitch City is full of inside jokes for the TV initiated. There are spoofs of critically acclaimed shows like the brutal prison series OZ; there are shows within the show; and old TV tricks like keeping the same character in a series though the actor’s been replaced mid-run à la Bewitched. For McKellar there is a lot of fun writing in the jokes that only some of the audience will get, but he also puts a great deal of effort into making the show palatable to those who don’t have a deep appreciation for TV trivia. "People always say television is sort of for morons and that television writing is condescending," says TV aficionado McKellar. "I really believe that is not the case. I actually think people are very informed when they’re watching television. The Simpsons really sort of proves that, there is a barrage of references that you can’t believe anyone is getting, but you get them." So many people are getting what McKellar is doing that they are asking to be guests on the show. In the upcoming episodes you can see members of Sloan, the great actor Kenneth Walsh, and even Jennifer Jason Leigh.

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