The Summer of Television '10: Republic of Doyle
Has anyone heard of this show? I remember a few months ago (read: September) I was lazing around on the couch upstairs (and I almost never do that), watching CBC and they ran a spot featuring all the new shows they were starting this season. Of course, I don’t remember most of them now (18 to Life, which I gave up on because I didn’t really care either way about it but might get back to at some point; and maybe something about a new season of Steven & Chris?), although I do clearly remember the spot for Republic of Doyle. And I thought: Action! Mystery! Main character gets beat up! I think I might like this! And then I promptly forgot about the show didn’t watch any of it. The end.
Ok, not really. I would never write a post without substance.
So the other day (read: sometime in March) I was watching something-I-don’t-know-what (Bones?), and it ended, and I flipped around the channels, and ended up on CBC. And there was the second-to-last episode of Republic of Doyle. So I watched. And... I mean, it’s not off-the-charts awesome or anything, but I like it. Apparently it’s very easy to be a private detective as long as you have a computer, because all the private information you need about your suspects just comes to you, and none of it is stuff you’re really supposed to have, but whatever, semantics. Let’s talk about the people.
They’re all Newfies!!! (While double-checking the spelling of that word, I came across a few discussions about whether or not ‘newfie’ is a derogatory term. There were the usual ‘it is if used by someone who’s not a newfie,’ and the ‘newfies use it to refer to themselves,’ etc type opinions, but here, newfie = from Newfoundland, no connotations.)
It’s a bit mesmerizing. And here I thought only Rick Mercer talked like that. I bet they’re really dumbing it down, too. Just to make the dialogue understandable to anyone not born on the Rock. Newfoundland, and maybe the rest of the Maritime provinces, host a huge range of dialects that vary greatly between neighbouring towns, not to mention what they sound like compared to the English spoken in other parts of Canada. Or so The Nature of Things tells me.
But let me just say this, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, whatever tax cuts you give the film industry are worth it in terms of tourism revenues: I now officially want to visit you and your colourful houses and wind-swept-y-ness.
In short, I watched the whole season (or the course of about two days) streaming on the CBC website (which you can still do if you live in Canada, here), and really hope that CBC has ordered a second season. The people of St. John’s apparently have a lot of issues they need to hire the Doyles et al. to take care of.
Some of the guest stars I noticed in the first season:
Possible guest stars for the future:
Ok, not really. I would never write a post without substance.
So the other day (read: sometime in March) I was watching something-I-don’t-know-what (Bones?), and it ended, and I flipped around the channels, and ended up on CBC. And there was the second-to-last episode of Republic of Doyle. So I watched. And... I mean, it’s not off-the-charts awesome or anything, but I like it. Apparently it’s very easy to be a private detective as long as you have a computer, because all the private information you need about your suspects just comes to you, and none of it is stuff you’re really supposed to have, but whatever, semantics. Let’s talk about the people.
They’re all Newfies!!! (While double-checking the spelling of that word, I came across a few discussions about whether or not ‘newfie’ is a derogatory term. There were the usual ‘it is if used by someone who’s not a newfie,’ and the ‘newfies use it to refer to themselves,’ etc type opinions, but here, newfie = from Newfoundland, no connotations.)
It’s a bit mesmerizing. And here I thought only Rick Mercer talked like that. I bet they’re really dumbing it down, too. Just to make the dialogue understandable to anyone not born on the Rock. Newfoundland, and maybe the rest of the Maritime provinces, host a huge range of dialects that vary greatly between neighbouring towns, not to mention what they sound like compared to the English spoken in other parts of Canada. Or so The Nature of Things tells me.
But let me just say this, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, whatever tax cuts you give the film industry are worth it in terms of tourism revenues: I now officially want to visit you and your colourful houses and wind-swept-y-ness.
In short, I watched the whole season (or the course of about two days) streaming on the CBC website (which you can still do if you live in Canada, here), and really hope that CBC has ordered a second season. The people of St. John’s apparently have a lot of issues they need to hire the Doyles et al. to take care of.
Some of the guest stars I noticed in the first season:
- Nicolas Campbell (looking MUCH better than he did in that Murdoch Mysteries guest spot)
- Gordon Pinsent (!, I honestly didn’t know if was still... around or not)
- Rob Stewart (good job on surviving Painkiller Jane)
- Shaun Majumder (and with a perfect accent!)
- Mary Walsh (I miss 22 Minutes, well, the way it was before)
- Ian Tracey (eventually I will watch the rest of Da Vinci’s Inquest. And maybe Intelligence)
- Mark Critch (ditto 22 Minutes. Oh wait he’s still there)
- Kathleen Munroe (I only ever remember her from The Dresden Files. She will forever be ‘that werewolf chick, but the good one’)
- Victor Garber (he’s also been on Glee recently, but I know there’s probably something else I should remember him from)
Possible guest stars for the future:
- Paul Gross? (*hopes* Or is he too busy with his movies now?)
- Rick Mercer? (I feel like there should be something in parentheses here because everyone else has one...)
- David Hewlett? (would he not be perfect as a panicked client? He could wear those glasses from that SG1 episode “The Road Not Taken.” On second thought, I think something with a chunkier frame would be better... what am I even talking about?)...