Twitch City

Twitch City

A comedy series that aired on CBC in 1998 and 2000.

Disclosure: I screwed the pooch. I could have sworn this was only one season, but apparently there were two. I didn’t realize it until I hit the second season on the DVD. Since only 13 episodes were made and I invested three and a half hours in the first season, I’m going to continue along as if nothing is amiss. I invite you do to do the same.

The Set-Up: Agoraphobic Don McKellar (eXistenZ) spends all of his time on the couch watching TV. All of it. His favorite show is the Springer-esque Rex Reilly Show. One day his obsessively neat roommate, Nathan, goes out to buy cat food and kills some gay homeless dude. McKellar must then find someone to rent the room out to while he shuffles his roommate’s girlfriend, Molly Parker (Deadwood), to a room that was once used as a closet. But it’s not a closet. Honest. Newbie (eXistenz) works at the local convenience store. Sometimes he shows up and makes comments.

Typical episode: McKellar rents the room out to someone who seems nice and normal. Turns out they are a dangerous freak. Meanwhile, Parker tries to find a job to make herself useful. McKellar watches a lot of TV.

The style: Friends divided by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The plots are pure sitcom, but the treatment is dry and ominous.

Typical dialogue: “Anyway, that’s why I will not speak any French. I mean they can’t make me. I will not speak even one word of French. Like even au contraire is an expression and I would rather just say, “No, actually. I beg to differ or something.” Are you going to show me your room? I’ll show you mine. When we were in high school, there was supposed to be this gang who lived in the sewers. A gang of tough kids. They lived underground. And we had to go home and we had to go through the ravine. We were afraid they were going to come out and beat us up. And there were lots of les- legends. I almost said lesbians. I don’t know why I said that. I must have lesbians on my mind for some reason.”

More Dialogue: “Do you believe . . . this!?” [The speaker then stabs a carton of milk to death.]

More Dialogue: “I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer honestly . . . When you asked me to move into your room, did you do it because you loved me or had some affection, or because you wanted the extra rent?”

More Dialogue: “I’ll be killing Curtis in a little while, and I don’t want people to hear him screaming, because they might try to stop me.”

Typical exchange: “I think I killed someone!”
“Well, you just keep that outside.”

Special Guest Star: Jennifer Jason Leigh in Single White Female mode.

My favorite episodes:

• 1.1 “I Slept With My Mother” McKellar’s roommate, after fruitlessly attempting to get McKellar to respect the job wheel, goes out to get cat food, but ends up beating a homeless man to death. Immediately, it presents itself as the kind of show where you’re not really sure if what you’re seeing is supposed to be funny or sad. Or scary.
  
• 1.3 “I Look Like Joyce DeWitt” The new crazy ex-roommate leaves behind a mysterious box that smells like “meat.” Parker realizes that McKellar never leaves the apartment. Ever. To a crippling degree.
  
• 1.5 “I’m Fat and I’m Proud” McKellar’s friend, Newbie (“I’d be surprised if I had a friend named Newbie.”) becomes the new roommate. Initially, Newbie is excited to see his old friend again (McKellar has become a shut-in), but they soon become rivals because they each claims to love television more than the other.
  
• 2.1 “Return of the Cat Food Killer” A riff on HBO’s Oz. This episode stays almost exclusively with Nathan, who destroys the TV in the prison. Nathan’s roommate’s flashback is awesome. A great anti-cliffhanger cliffhanger.
  
• 2.3 “Klan Bake” Faux finishes. They’re all the rave. The sweet old meals-on-wheels lady is awesome. Trying to guess the mystery disease McKellar is faking makes for a nice running joke!
  
• 2.4 “People Who Don’t Care About Anything” The cliffhanger to episode 2.1 is finally addressed. Were these aired out of order? One of the broader episodes, but the humor is black enough that I don’t mind.
  

Least Favorite:

• 2.5 “Planet of the Cats” Cats take over the world. A human resistance group springs up. This episode goes off the deep end. And yet, the series subtly(?) telegraphed this episode from very early on. We were warned about Lucky. “”Lucky is my human name.” I still kind of like this episode, but it sticks out like a sore thumb. The cat playing Lucky has his own page on IMDB. Maybe the cats really are taking over.
  

How many episodes were produced? 13.

Is there much continuity? Generally. There is a lot of running jokes – like the pineapple cookies. Certain twists are telegraphed far in advance – like Lucky the cat warning McKellar of his plans to take over the world after McKellar east some of the mysterious pineapple cookies. Even the crazy cat lady from episode 1.3 is onto lucky.

The actor playing Rex Riley changes between seasons. Yet, this is explained via a passage in his autobiography.

There’s only one incongruity with the roommates that sticks out. Where did Clinton come from? He seems to hang around for three episodes, before fleeing.

Why was it canceled? I can’t find any information regarding how well this show was received at the time.

Was there closure? Barely. There is an ending. But it’s mostly artificial. McKellar creeps outside of his comfort zone in order to be with Parker, but there is obviously going to be a lot of issues to be resolved between them. After 13 episodes, it’s weird to see them in a different setting. It’s like the final episode of Fraggle Rock.

Any unattended issues: Nathan’s story remains unresolved. Lucky the Cat lives on.

The verdict: A weird surreal comedy. It uses an ominous eeriness for comedic effect. The characters all share an indifference to life. The show also has a sleaziness to it – mostly due to the rundown state of the apartment and its mysterious stains. All of these are pluses in my book. The character flaws run deep and the humor barely keeps depression at an arm’s length.

The show becomes looser and wackier in the second season, but it still never comes close to the silliness of most sitcoms. I bought this show based only on a description I read online. The end of the series is weak. It could have really addressed the sad state of McKellar’s character. Still, a good purchase.