Preview
THE NEW BEACHCOMBERS
Monday, November 25
CBC-TV
As soon as you say it –The Beachcombers – the sound of a flute courses through your brain and before you know it that familiar pre-pajama theme song has you mentally winging across the surf looking for the perfect log.
Bruno Gerussi starred as Nick, Rae Brown as Molly, and Robert Clothier as the ultimate crank named Relic, the so-called antagonist log poacher. The only star from the original series who is still alive is Pat John, who played Nick’s "business" partner Jesse. Still, there are those who think there is enough spirit of The Beachcombers left in the Canadian psyche to test the waters for bringing it to life again.
It’s hard to believe the series of 380 shows about small-town life with reasonably small problems survived that long, especially when compared to shows that consist of countdowns to mass destruction.
"It’s characters in small-town Canada," says Jackson Davies, the man who spent 16 years as a Mountie on the show. "Our characters don’t go ballistic and shoot up the town, they just maybe steal a log." He goes on to act out a possible scene: "God! They got away with another log! I hate it when that happens!"
After beating a path around producers’ offices and the Banff TV Festival, the actor and now executive producer managed to convince the CBC brass that an injection of The Beachcombers is just the thing Canadians need right now. He must have liked telling people about his idea, because he’s also taken it upon himself to travel across this log-ridden land to tell us The New Beachcombers are coming!
CBC originally had Davies doing the press for this gig from Toronto – the city that is known as "The Place that most hated the Beachcombers" – but Davies knew better. The people who kept that show on the air for all those years weren’t dining in Canoe.
"Sometimes when you do a show, the critics like it or the network likes it.… Beachcombers was this strange bird," says Davies from a stop on his tour in Regina. "I’m sure (CBC) Toronto was saying, ‘We’re trying to do this refined stuff and these guys are running around chasing logs,’ and the critics are saying, ‘I can’t believe this show’s lasted so long.’ But the only thing is... the audience loved it."
So now we are going to witness The New Beachcombers, a "Movie of the Week" that brings young Gibsonites back together to save the venerable Molly’s Reach diner from destruction – Davies hopes it will be so popular it will launch another series. So why would a recalcitrant network even consider anything more than a lovely reminiscence down memory lane?
"Basically how I sold the show to CBC… I said, ‘...And Dave Thomas is Molly,’" Davies says.
Yes, it’s true. The Canadian icon of Canadian icons, Doug MacKenzie, is the new cook at Molly’s Reach. Even Graham Greene has taken up residency in Gibson’s Landing as the publisher of the local rag.
With the passing of three of the main characters from the original series, The New Beachcombers could hardly be the same, which Davies obviously realizes.
"We did some very bizarre shows. We bounced around from some very high farce slapstick to kids getting drowned," he says. "But I think The New Beachcombers would be a little more focused on small-town life and how it deals with the new world."
Well, since they are talking about giving away free crack pipes in Sechelt, only a few minutes up the road from the real-life Gibsons, the new world might be too much for the quaint and the quirky Beachcombers. |
