Thanks to my Canadian friend from back home in lovely New Jersey (don't laugh), I watch "Degrassi: The Next Generation" and "Trailer Park Boys" -- two amazing discoveries that have set my expectations high for how good TV should be.
When describing "Degrassi," which is named for the high school the main characters attend, it is easy to compare it to "The O.C.," with the caveat that "Degrassi" is probably about 10,000 times better. "The O.C." suffers from the all too common problem among American television productions -- redundancy. How many ways can you spin the love triangle theme without it getting old? Apparently, a lot, if the "The O.C." is an adequate gauge, but soon everyone will tire of it.
Though "Degrassi" definitely has its love triangles, it bucks the trend by confronting more difficult topics as well. The show has covered abortion, teen pregnancy, drugs, STDs, school shootings, homosexuality, self-injury, child abuse and mental illness, among other sensitive subjects. Though the acting and writing may not always be considered "quality" by traditional American standards, it works for the show.
However, "Degrassi" is not an overly preachy or educational television show. It just happens to use controversial topics to create the most drama possible. No joke, more bad things happens to the characters in one episode of "Degrassi" than in an entire season of "The O.C." Although this seems impossible, after watching just one episode, it quickly becomes self evident.
"Degrassi" also contains priceless and edgy dialogue. For example,when two of the female leads, Manny (Cassie Steele) and Emma (Miriam McDonald) are conversing in one episode, Manny tells Emma, "[The principal] said, 'No visible underwear,' and do you see any underwear? That's right. Because I'm not wearing any."
Like "Degrassi," "Trailer Park Boys" is also hugely popular in Canada, though for some reason neither show has crossed over to U.S. audiences yet. Set in Sunnyvale trailer park in Halifax, Nova Scotia, "T.P.B." centers on three friends: Julian (John Paul Tremblay), Ricky (Robb Wells) and, my personal favorite, Bubbles (Mike Smith). What do these three do? Well, nothing really, but Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer never really did anything substantial either.
The show simply revolves around their lives in the trailer park, which mostly consists of getting into fights with the park supervisor Mr. Lahey (John Dunsworth) and trying to get their lives together through various schemes, like growing dope or using siphoned gas to set up an illegal gas station.
Of course, there are many episodes in which the three deal with other issues of critical importance, like acquiring Rush tickets. This may not sound funny, but it is.
It's the little touches that help make "T.P.B." so great. Julian nearly always has a drink in his hand regardless of the time of day or situation. Ricky sometimes forgets he's smoking a cigarette, which becomes problematic when trying to drink his beer. And Bubbles is an enigma all his own. He somehow makes money by stealing shopping carts and wears glasses about as thick as Arnold Schwarzenegger's bicep in "Predator."
Another key to the show's comedy success is the documentary style in which it's filmed. Unlike the characters in other "reality" TV shows, those in "T.P.B." frequently refer to the camera crew; for instance, Ricky tells the camera crew to "f*ck off" when he wants some privacy with his family.
The unfortunate dillema concerning these two fantastic examples of Canadian broadcasting is that they are difficult to find here at Dartmouth. "Degrassi" airs on The-N, which is available on satellite TV, and "T.P.B." plays on Showcase Network, which, to my knowledge is not available in the States. However, the DVDs are available for purchase in this country; hopefully Jones will soon acknowledge my desperate pleas.
Now, I will leave you with some sage wisdom from Ricky, which I hope you all will take to heart and inspire you to watch more Canadian TV: "F*ck community college [or four year college, for us], let's get drunk and eat chicken fingers."
