Craig Ferguson once said, “To be honest, Canadians are just happy to be included. It’s just like, 'he’s talking about us.'” Truer words have never been spoken. Whenever a Canadian person, place or thing is mentioned on TV outside of our borders, you can be assured that in Canada there’s hosers pointing at the television with their beer-free hand going, “that’s us!” That said, Canadian TV shows have never had a wider audience than they do now. Whether it’s the advent of streaming services desperate for content, or wildly popular shows like Schitt’s Creek or Orphan Black that draw attention to what else Canada has to offer, Canadian television is growing past its borders. With a new series featuring The Kids in the Hall streaming on Amazon Prime, it’s a great opportunity to see what other Canuck shows are on the global radar.
Heartland (Premiered 2007)
Heartland is a family dramedy series, based on the Heartland book series by Lauren Brooke. Set on an Alberta-based family ranch, Heartland follows the trials and tribulations of Amy Fleming (Amber Marshall), her older sister Louise aka 'Lou' (Michelle Morgan), grandfather Jack Bartlett (Shaun Johnston), and their dad, Tim (Christ Potter). The show fills a programming gap that often gets overlooked or misunderstood: a show that the whole family can watch together. It's inoffensive, heartwarming, and displays age-old values of hard work and family, without coming across as corny or melodramatic.
Workin’ Moms (Premiered 2017)
Workin' Moms is a sitcom about a group of friends who support, challenge, and remain objective with one another as they deal with the ups and downs of being working mothers. The series begins with four working moms: Kate (Catherine Reitman) is a PR executive freshly returned from maternity leave, and the heart of the series; Anne (Dani Kind), a mother of two, is a psychiatrist that shoots from the hip; Frankie (Juno Rinaldi) is a bright, charming and quirky realtor; and Jenny (Jessalyn Wanlim) is an IT specialist and new mom. Like Sex and the City, except much funnier and realistic, tackling issues like post-partum depression and the angst of separation from one's child.
Coroner (Premiered 2019)
Coroner is a police procedural crime drama, inspired by the series of books by M.R.Hall, about a widowed Toronto coroner, Dr. Jenny Cooper (Serinda Swan), who investigates suspicious, unnatural, or sudden deaths. She also suffers from clinical anxiety, and deals with her own grief while trying to help her teenage son Ross (Ehren Kassam) with his own grieving over the loss of his father. The diversity of the Toronto area is utilized effectively in the series, and the character of Cooper is developed well, using intellect, intuition and hear to solve crimes.
Transplant (Premiered 2020)
A medical drama television series centering on Bashir “Bash” Hamed (Hamza Haq), a Syrian doctor refugee who is rebuilding his way back to practicing medicine as a medical resident. Transplant is a fairly standard medical show, but what sets it apart is how the series highlights the struggles that immigrants have in being accepted by their new country, and the frustration of having to start from the bottom despite years of training and a natural set of skills. Transplant benefits from not falling into the soap-opera moments of shows like Grey's Anatomy, with its supply room flings and competition between doctors.
Children Ruin Everything (Premiered 2022)
The show follows biracial couple Astrid (Meaghan Rath) and James (Aaron Abrams) as they struggle futilely to hold on to their pre-kid life as they raise their two young children. Children Ruin Everything is highly entertaining and funny, while showing a more realistic depiction of the reality for new parents. The kids are a handful, there are toys everywhere, and the situations they face - trying to have a nice family dinner, the longing for alone time, organizing birthday parties - ring true for many people.
Murdoch Mysteries (Premiered 2008)
Based on the Detective Murdoch novels from author Maureen Jennings, Murdoch Mysteries follows William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson), a police detective in Toronto, circa 1890. The approach he takes in solving crimes is progressive and scientific, using methods not readily available at the time, like creating prototypes of things like sonar and faxes. An old-time Canadian MacGyver, if you will, with a skill set that eludes his conventional superior, Inspector Brackenreid (Thomas Craig). The show also leans on actual historic people and events, with the likes of Nikola Tesla and Queen Victoria crossing paths with the detective.
The Porter (Premiered 2022)
The show depicts the history of Black Canadian and African-American men, Pullman porters who created the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925, the first Black-led labor union. It shows the challenges the Black community faced on both side of the border at that time, but also celebrates the stories and key achievements of the Black train porters. What has really garnered praise for The Porter, however, is the scale of which the Black community is involved in the show on both sides of the camera. It's a Black-led show, from Black creatives, starring many talented Black actors, a touchstone moment of racial representation in industry.
Family Law (Premiered 2021)
Family Law is a legal drama focusing on Abigail Bianchi (Jewel Staite), a recovering alcoholic and lawyer on probation who can't get a job because of her situation. The only firm that will give her an opportunity is run by her estranged father Harry Svensson (Victor Garber) and two half-siblings she doesn't even know, Daniel (Zach Smadu) and Lucy (Genelle Williams). So it's a dysfunctional family that practices family law, helping dysfunctional families.
Sort Of (Premiered 2021)
Sort Of is an example of Canadian television going places that American television is reluctant to. Sort Of is about Sabi Mehboob (Bilal Baig), a gender-fluid 25-year-old Pakistani Canadian in Toronto. They hold down two part-time jobs, one as a bartender at an LGBTQ bar and another as a nanny for the kids of a power couple, while also navigating her family life as a child of Pakistani parents that do not understand them. The show has been praised for how it represents the community with a gentleness, humanity, and humor without being preachy, in essence treating their story not unlike any other depiction of society.