THE RED GREEN SHOW – DO AS I DO
Friday, April 7 on CBC
"It was fantastic – just the right gap between sadness and euphoria." That’s how Steve Smith describes the memorable experience of taping the very last episode of The Red Green Show.
The episode, shot in early November of last year, and its upcoming airing on CBC marks the end of the road for Steve Smith as the flannel shirt-wearing, duct-tape wielding handyman that somewhere along the way became a Canadian comedy legend.
Tipping its hat to the wildly successful and unexpected 14-year run of the series, the final Red Green instalment – without being maudlin – leaves no doubt that this is the end.
"It’s clearly the final episode," the 60-year-old Steve Smith explains. "In Handyman Corner, I make a perpetual motion machine, so where is there to go from there?" Also, he says, "Harold (Red Green’s nerdy nephew and sidekick, played by Patrick McKenna) gets married. In our word game, the word is finale, and my advice to middle-aged guys is how to say goodbye."
Some might think all the promotional fuss around a final Red Green episode might be a transitional lead into an ongoing series of specials, but Smith makes it clear that’s not the case. "Red and Steve Smith are both done as far as being on TV is concerned," he offers plainly. "I am going to keep writing, and we have an animated show in development that I would do the voice of Red for, but no more on-camera stuff for me. I have had my turn and I need to get out of the way now."
Smith won’t suffer from a lack of things to do. He remains a driving force behind S&S productions, a company that also employs his sons Max and Dave, and is responsible for many shows, including Balance: Television for Living Well, History Bites and the Sons of Butcher animated series on Teletoon.
The long television ride of The Red Green Show has been an unusual one. The show, dealing with the quirky, often intellectually challenged residents of the fictional Possum Lodge, began airing in 1990 on what is now CHTV in Hamilton, Ontario.
The show was cancelled in its second season, only to be revived a short while later as a kid-friendly series on the YTV network. Since then it’s aired on the Comedy Network, the CBC, PBS in the United States, and wherever else the show had to go to serve its extremely loyal fan base.
"I didn’t care where the show was on," says Smith. "It could have been on the Weather Network. We’ve been all around the dial and we’ve always rated well."
While there is relief in knowing his work on The Red Green Show is over, Smith takes pride in running down the show’s accomplishments.
"It could be the lowest-cost program aired on any channel after six o’clock, yet it gets one of the largest audiences (in Canada). It’s the longest running Canadian show in America of any kind. We were a question on Jeopardy, and NASA once got in touch with us, because we had to provide very small tapes so they could take the show to the MIR space station."
Smith is grateful for the runaway success of The Red Green Show, but still mystified by it. "It was supposed to be just a summer job back in 1990. It’s certainly the most specific show I have ever done. It has a very narrow point of view and seemingly a very narrow audience, but it’s had the widest reaction I have experienced.
"I hope there’s a lesson in there somewhere, but I don’t see it." |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.