Being Canadian is a huge part of my identity – I have a major case of national pride! I’m of mixed descent, French and Algonquin, which means a lot to me too. I’m ecstatic when I see these represented on television.   

Some great shows have come over the Canadian airwaves with a distinct feeling – apart from character development and plot– that I attribute to the production’s WORLDBUILDING.   

Many of the successful TV series I’ve watched feature regional culture in a way that makes it as concrete as the local geography. The combination makes it tangibly Canadian.   

One of my TOP 5 all-time favourite worlds, mentioned in an earlier post, is Anne of Green Gables. Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Anne series was the inspiration for Kevin Sullivan’s TV mini-series and Road to Avonlea and, more recently, in the CBC’s Anne with an E.   

The new series portrays a gritty, dark side to Anne’s world that I’m not keen on. The idealism is lost and, in its place, the stark reality of what may be more accurate to life but not in keeping with Montgomery’s vision.   

That said, Anne with an E has a vivid world with the lush countryside of Prince Edward Island, historic homes and turn of the century prejudices – it’s a great example of worldbuilding done well with a Canadian feel.  

A stone’s throw from Avonlea, PEI, but in an entirely different dimension, is fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia – the home of the infamous Trailer Park Boys. A wildly popular production that began as a movie aired at the Atlantic Film Festival and skyrocketed into a twelve season TV series with spin-offs.   

Most of the episode’s mock life in the trailer park, and great props, from beater cars to piss jugs, make this world rich. Aerial views depicting rows of trailers shape it into a community, and the non-stop profanity adds a whole fucking lot to the worldbuilding of this show.   

Photo credits: www.trailerparkboys.com, www.cornergas.com, www.imbd.com/title/tt0106087, www.degrassi.tv

A few provinces over and “40 kilometres from nowhere,” is Corner Gas. The show focuses on a 50s diner and gas station with an attached convenience store in the fictional town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. A sitcom, movie and animated series centred around “The Ruby Café,” the store and wide-open spaces have made this world an icon of the prairies.   

To the north, in fictional Lynx River, Northwest Territories, snowmobile riding police officers solve crimes out of a log cabin in the series North of Sixty. Those details virtually scream Canada! The show has been off the air for a couple of decades. However, the complete series is re-airing on APTN. Recently the cast had a virtual reunion! I wonder if there’ll be a reboot or a sixth made for TV movie?  

I grew up on the award-winning series Degrassi. Considering it ran from 1989 to 2017, many others have too. Junior High and High School are universes of their own, and they became distilled versions in this long-running drama. The fictional Toronto schools made up the bulk of this ultra-relatable world.    

Programs, like Murdoch Mysteries set in early 1900s Toronto, announce they’re in Canada in the first episode. Others like the award-winning sitcom, Schitt’s Creek, wait until the third season to hint – using vistas of open fields and country roads and name-dropping home-grown celebrities. If Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara as Johnny and Moira Rose don’t bring Canada to mind, then places like “The Blouse Barn” and “Bob’s Garage” will inspire a small-town Ontario feeling.

Keeping the Rose’s world small at first and allowing it to broaden later was a brilliant example of using WORLDBUILDING as a tool. In the beginning, a motel was the extent of the Rose’s world but as the characters evolved – so did their world.

What makes a show feel Canadian to you – the set, cast, dialogue? Something else?

Marsha Masseau

I’m Marsha, an avid virtual-world-traveller! Digging into the fictional worlds – in books, plays and films – of other writers has become a passion. To my mind, every story fits a broader context, and I want to understand what makes them work or not.