Canadian writers aren’t cool enough for TV
Global TV debuted its new series The Jane Show last night, and man, was it terrible. First of all, it’s a Canadian sitcom, two words that strike fear in the hearts of TV-lovers everywhere. And boy, do we know it’s Canada – there are shots of Canadian flags, and the hero is seen stepping smartly out of a TTC subway entrance. Yuck.
To make matters worse, it’s about a failed novelist. Great. The sad-sack protagonist whines about her unpublished novel and wasted life and, after the death of her hotshot author boss (who throws around references to PEN and the Gillers with glee ’cause he’s a capital-w Writer, you see) and suffering condescension at the hands of a snotty publisher, drags her feet over to a job in the workaday world. Le sigh.
Add in dreadfully unfunny cutaway scenes (à la Scrubs), and this one’s a real stinker. But don’t take our word for it: the Toronto Sun damns it with “The Jane Show is not The Office, for better or for worse. Nor is it Sex and the City or even Ally McBeal“, and then delivers the death blow with “the odd joke thuds embarrassingly hard, some of the scenarios are too forcefully contrived (even for a sitcom) and there seem to be a lot of segues to commercial breaks that come off a flat, throwaway line. And for a series that can get away with dropping s-bombs, there’s surprisingly little edge.”
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Check out the Toronto Sun lambast here
