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Twitch City is a Canadian sitcom produced by CBC Television,"Twitch City a weird look at television addiction; Former King of Kensington gets whacked tonight". Edmonton Journal, January 19, 1998. which aired as two short runs in 1998 and 2000."Twitch City returns- naked and unashamed". Toronto Star, March 4, 2000. The series also aired in the United States on Bravo, and in Australia. The show's surreal humour was popular with critics. The show was never a mainstream ratings success in Canada, although it had a devoted cult following.
The show was directed by Bruce McDonald and produced by Shadow Shows and Accent Entertainment in association with the CBC. Music was composed by Bob Wiseman.
In the first episode, Nathan is sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food. The homeless man was played by Al Waxman, who had been the star of the 1970s sitcom King of Kensington, although the producers claimed that they did not intend for the homeless man to be seen as the same character."Curtis's (offbeat) charm Don McKellar's cereal-crunching TV addict veges at the centre of an off-kilter new sitcom". The Globe and Mail, January 17, 1998. Nathan remained in prison throughout the run of the series; the first episode of the second season opened with an Oz parody in which he criticized the hip hop-inspired slam poetry of his cellmate."Riveting world of Oz returns to Showcase Friday". Ottawa Citizen, August 25, 1999.
Throughout the series, Curtis and Hope's ongoing attempts to find a new roommate to replace Nathan provide one of the show's major plot threads. In one episode, Curtis rents Nathan's room to a mysterious businessman who uses it to store drug abuse cookies, while in another, Hope unwittingly rents it to two she mistakes for a gay couple. That episode includes a Nazi rally which features all four members of the rock band Sloan among the extras. At the end of the episode, the two Nazi roommates renounce Nazism and promptly kiss each other, vindicating Hope's judgement.
Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney (both from The Kids in the Hall) also starred in the series as Rex Reilly, the Jerry Springer-like host of Curtis' favourite TV talk show. McCulloch played Reilly in the first season, and McKinney played him in the second. The change in Reilly's appearance is explained in his autobiography, Tyrannosaurus Rex, which refers to his "on-air cranium transplant."
Guest stars on the series included Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom McCamus, Valerie Buhagiar, Charmion King, Kenneth Welsh, Hugh Dillon, Kim Mitchell, Stefan Brogren, John L'Ecuyer and Joyce DeWitt. DeWitt plays herself as a guest on The Rex Reilly Show, meeting lookalikes in an episode devoted to the theme "I Look Like Joyce DeWitt".
Plot
Set in the Toronto, Ontario neighbourhood of Kensington Market, the series is about Curtis (Don McKellar), a television addict who refuses to leave his apartment, and his friends Nathan (Daniel MacIvor), Hope (Molly Parker) and Newbie (Callum Keith Rennie)."Twitch City: Is Canada Ready?". Calgary Herald, January 15, 1998. McKellar was also one of the show's creators.
DVD release
All thirteen episodes were released on DVD in 2006.
Episodes
Most episodes of the series are titled for the theme of the Rex Reilly Show episode depicted in the script.
Season One
Season Two
External links
Categories: 1998 Canadian Television Series Debuts, 2000 Canadian Television Series Endings, Cbc Television Original Programming, Television Shows Set In Toronto, Kensington Market, Television Shows Filmed In Toronto, 1990s Canadian Sitcoms, 2000s Canadian Sitcoms, Canadian English-language Television Shows
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