Thursday, August 9, 2007

TV: Slings and Arrows

Slings and Arrows was a 2003 miniseries about the goings-on—the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, as it were—at a Shakespearean theatre festival which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Ontario's long-running Stratford Festival. In a rare occurrence for a Canadian television series, particularly one with such a "highbrow" premise, it turned out to be popular, so much so that it was revived for two more six-episode runs.

Why do I mention it? Well, because it was cleverly written (by Mark McKinney, Susan Coyne and Bob Martin) as a darkly-comedic drama, well-acted by Paul Gross, Martha Burns and Stephen Ouimette, as well as a host of other talented Canadians including Rachel McAdams, Don McKellar, Colm Feore, Sarah Polley and William Hutt... and because the third-season DVD arrived in my mailbox today. Joy!

Ratings

  • Season 1: ****
  • Season 2: *** 1/2
  • Season 3: *** 1/2

3 comments:

Tammy said...

great post! i've yet to have a Canadian tv series really pull me in, but some are certainly quite popular.

Anonymous said...

Now this sounds interesting. Those are some big name Canadian actors.

Anonymous said...

Season 1 starts on Showcase Diva on September 16 at 7pm... or, as noted, I do have the DVDs....