Slings and Arrows

Alright, who thinks that Canadian television sucks? Hmmm ... I suspected as much. Well, then you MUST watch Slings and Arrows. Right now. Like any good Canadian show, it is actually more of a miniseries of two 6-episode seasons (and a third that hasn't been released on DVD yet), proving that once again (like in Once a Thief) the best shows know when to end and do not go on for many years past the point of shark-jumping. Mocking the Stratford Festival, Slings and Arrows follows the misadventures of the actors, directors and office staff of the New Burbage Festival. While it will appeal to all drama or english geeks, I think everyone else should watch it too, as it is just plain hilarious, and stars many great Canadian actors like Paul Gross, Don Mckellar, Mark Mckinney, Geraint Wyn Davies, Rachel McAdams, and Colm Feore, to name a few (and there are many more that pop up to great delight, like Jonathon Crombie, who was Gilbert Blythe on the CBC Anne of Green Gables). While Paul Gross is truly inspired, all the other actors do a great job, and the writing (done in part by Mark McKinney and Susan Coyne, another actress on the show) is actually intelligent - that's right, intelligent writing, and on a tv show, no less! The first season followed the production of a version of Hamlet starring a hot-shot American movie actor (that suspiciously resembled Keanu Reeves in the Winnipeg Hamlet a few years back) directed by Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross), the crazy artistic director who last appeared on the stage several years before when he was starring as Hamlet, and consequently went mad. He comes to the aid of the festival after their previous director gets killed by a pig truck, and his ghost haunts Geoffrey, and all future productions. But I think the second season, about the staging of a disastrous Macbeth, was even better ... and in the third season they apparently perform King Lear. But why are you still reading this? Go watch the fucking show!