arts // no. 12 theotherpress.ca Lots of catching up: ‘Schitt's Creek’ » The rich repair a schitty rural town Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist | the commercials for Schitt'’s Creek and I thought that it was not going to be funny, and we were probably going to see the Rose family getting roasted by country folk. The show is created by comedy legend Eugene Levy and his son Daniel (famous for MTV Live)—and the show also stars his long-time collaborator and comedy legend Catherine O’Hara. Annie Murphy is another star on the show who was not known until Schitt’s Creek aired. This comedy got a lot of major awards for the later seasons and includes awards won at the Canadian Screen Awards (Best Comedy) and a sweeping of the nominations overall; Schitt’s Creek also garnered some fame at the Emmy Awards as it collected a few awards and became the first Canadian show to get Best Comedy. There were a few connections to Kim’s Convenience, one of my favourite shows, in Schitt’s Creek because one of the people that made Kim’s (Kevin White) wrote episodes for the show. Christina Song, in Schitt’s Creek. The first season is straightforward but will tackle important topics, especially those concerning the LGBTQ2+ community, in the later seasons. I watched the first six episodes, and the show begins with tax auditors collecting most of the Rose family’s belongings because Johnny (Eugene Levy) was involved in a money laundering scheme. The entire family finds out that Johnny bought a small town called Schitt’s Creek as a joke for his son, David (Daniel Levy). Both Johnny’s wife Moira (O’Hara) and their daughter Alexis (Murphy) move to the town and live in the local motel. They are welcomed by the mayor of the town, Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott), and he gives them a hard time as the family settles in the country lifestyle. Out of the entire family, Moira who is a well-known actress is the most unprepared and Alexis easily gets around the town while randomly kissing a guy named Mutt (Tim Rozon) at a party and gets involved in a love triangle with a waitress at the Café Tropical named Twyla Sands (Sarah Levy). Meanwhile, David gets along with the motel’s receptionist Stevie Bud (Emily Hampshire and their relationship peaks when David questions his sexuality in a later season. Throughout the show’s six seasons, the Rose family tries to get their wealth back by repairing the town while spendin more time together and experiencing the simple life. There is a bit of swearing in th show and that is the first time that I hearc Eugene Levy saying the f-word while also saying “son of a bitch” frequently. Moira is a passionate actor and wears a lot of wigs throughout the run of the show. In episode two, there was a debate on the town’s sign which will make you think if it should be standing. Schitt’s Creek looks promising so far and J have a long way to go to find out why it might be the greatest Canadian show of all time. Illustration by Janis McMath who plays Mrs. Lee, makes appearances cc Schitt’s Creek swept the awards and became the first Canadian show to get Best Comedy Predictable Candies? >» 2021 Canadian Screen Awards nominations announced Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist ast year, the major award shows in Canada had to be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the case of the Canadian Screen Awards, they were shown on YouTube and pre-taped which made the ceremony look automated—and the narrators of the awards show knew who won already. With the success of recent awards shows presenting them virtually including last year’s Emmy Awards where Schitt’s Creek swept the comedy categories and became the most successful Canadian show internationally, this year’s edition of the Canadian Screen Awards should be a major improvement from last year’s edition. The nominations for this year’s awards were announced two weeks ago and while it is unknown if there will bea host this year, can we still get Kim’s Convenience Andrew Phung to host it? He will be very fun and he isa cool guy. In film, the films that were nominated for Best Film are Nadia, Butterfly, Beans, Funny Boy, The Nest, and Underground. Funny Boy which involves a boy in India coming of age and embracing his sexuality got the most nominations with nine nominations and recently aired on CBC. Another childhood film except this time a young Indigenous girl during the Oka Crisis called Beans got five nominations including Best First Feature Film and tied with The Nest. The athlete study on a Canadian swimmer reflecting on her career during an Olympics that may not actually happen Nadia, Butterfly got three nominations. A local documentary about a Vancouver man solving a cold case The World is Bright got two nominations. In TV, some of the shows that won the big awards last year were nominated again for their last seasons. In drama, the shows that were nominated for Best Drama are Cardinal, Transplant, Vikings, Departure, and Burden of Truth. Cardinal and Trickster got the most nominations with 15 nominations. In the case of Trickster which mainly has an Indigenous cast, most of the people in the show were nominated but the show is not nominated for Best Drama. If Departure was not nominated, then Trickster would have been nominated. (It looked interesting and I could watch it.) But Departure has the late Christopher Plummer who is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor ina Drama so that may have helped (but even then, Departure still may be cancelled). Also, Transplant got six nominations including Best Actor in a Drama for Hamza Haq. For the comedy categories, they merged them with the variety categories since that there were not a lot of variety shows airing last and it is very likely that The Baroness von Sketch Show will sweep the awards. The shows that were nominated for Best Comedy are Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, The Baroness von Sketch Show, Workin Moms, and Letterkenny. For the second year in a row, Schitt’s Creek got the most nominations of any show with 22 nominations including almost everyone in the show. If you'd like to see my thoughts on it, see this week’s “Lots of Catching Up.” Kim’s Convenience which will surprisingly end this season (though Shannon will get her own show next season with Strays) got 11 nominations including nominations again for Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Illustration by Jessica Berget Jean Yoon, Phung, and Amanda Brugel. In news, The National got 10 nominations, CTV News at 11 got three nominations, and News Hour and CBC News: Vancouver at 6 got nominations as well. Canada will be kind of finally celebrating Canadian content with this year’s Canadian Screen Awards and it could be as exciting as the Emmy Awards last year. The Canadian Screen Awards will air between May 17 to May 20.