Waiter, there's a fly in my soup.
As in Blackfly, a goofy new Canadian comedy series starting tomorrow night at 10 on Global.
The 13-part series, which previewed as a so-so special last season, stars busy Second City grad Ron James (Made In Canada) as a cagy 18th-century fur trader named Blackfly. Fellow Canuck Colin Mochrie, who shines on Whose Line Is It Anyway, co-stars as fussy British redcoat Corp. Entwhistle, with Richard Donat, Shauna Black, James Kee and Cheri Maracle rounding out the comedy cast.
First the good news. Blackfly is like no other comedy on television. It's shot outdoors (on the East Coast), is set in the 18th century and is all about fur traders. Think of it as the whoopie-cushion version of CBC's Canada: A People's History.
The cast is made up of stage players who clearly relish the chance to put on powdered wigs, wear tri-cornered hats and play it broad, baby, broad. Mochrie, in particular, stays deliciously in character as foppish Corp. Entwhistle, blowing up real good like Joe Flaherty in his prime. Donat as Col. Boyle chews so much scenery he needs a bib. Black makes a tasty temptress as Lady Hammond, while Kee spews pure haggis as MacTavish.
If you're looking for penetrating social satire, stick with This Hour Has 22 Minutes or The Simpsons. Blackfly is first and foremost silly, a very Canadian cross between the English Blackadder and the American F Troop, with a pinch of Red Green added to the mix.
There are jokes about peg legs, outhouses, flintlocks, tobacco and beavers. You don't get that on Friends.
The second episode is funnier than the first, with plenty of schtick surrounding the smuggling of tobacco across the U.S. border. Naturally, the first place they encounter in Buffalo is a factory outlet ("Don't pay a cent 'til 1791"). There they encounter a very De Niro-like Yank (also James) who tells them, "Flintlocks don't kill people, people kill people."
Subtle as a sledge-hammer. But that's okay; if anything, the show could use a little more bawdy Benny Hill energy. Go broad or go home.
James, who also wrote most of the episodes, swears he took out every book at his local library on 18th-century Canada in order to research this series. He said a lot of other things, too, and I'd share them, if only I could find my tape of our conversation, which took place months ago, when Global was first supposed to air this series.
The fact that they've waited until now to schedule Blackfly for Thursdays at 10 p.m., opposite CTV's mighty ER, suggests that they weren't exactly waiting for some cushy timeslot to open up. It's either brilliant counter-programming or Global sees Blackfly as some sort of 18th-century cannon fodder.
Make them look smart and give it a shot.
