Schitt's Creek: Schitt's Creek Season 1

December 17, 2018 6:20 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

A wealthy businessman (Eugene Levy), his soap-opera acting wife (Catherine O'Hara), and their 2 adult children have their assets stripped from them from the feds except ownership of a rural town named Schitt's Creek.
posted by fizzix (26 comments total)

This is hands-down the best comedy show I've ever seen. It's been under the radar for way too long. No one I ask about it has ever even heard about it. I discovered it on Netflix and watched all of the episodes in a week; I couldn't stop. Hard to believe no one's ever posted it to FanFare before. All of the characters are so fleshed out. The show gets funnier and sweeter with each episode. Eugene Levy is sublime and Annie Murphy is wonderful, but to me the true stars are Catherine O'Hara and Dan Levy. Also Stevie Budd as Emily. And Chris Elliot! I actually can barely remember season 1, will rewatch it and contribute more.

The new Christmas Special is this week!

“Schitt’s Creek,” Pop, Wednesday, 10 p.m.

In a special holiday episode, Johnny wants to celebrate the holidays with an old-fashioned Rose family Christmas party, but it’s going to take a lot to get everyone on board at the last minute.
posted by the webmistress at 6:51 AM on December 18, 2018 [6 favorites]

Watched the first episode after having three people at the office holiday party enthusiastically discuss it. We're definitely going to keep going.
posted by PussKillian at 7:13 AM on December 18, 2018

My spouse categorically refuses to watch this show based on the title, and yeah, okay.

I started watching the first season via CBC (I live in Detroit, so we get it in the basic cable package) long ago, because of Eugene Levy and Dame Catherine O'Hara*, and sure, Chris Elliott can be fun in support. I laughed enough, but I felt like it was just a touch too cringe-y for me, and of course, the leads were horrible people behaving horribly.

But I left it on the DVR, and I slowly came around -- or the show did. Johnny solidified into the "normal" center. O'Hara really got to flex beyond "soap diva suddenly in real world". David and Alexis got third dimensions.

So, Season 1? Meh. It showed flashes of what it could be, as the Roses navigated this goofy little town and got used to their very sitcommy premise. But once they had proverbially built the set and got the costumes sorted out, yes.

* -- I choose to live in a world where Catherine O'Hara is properly recognized as one of the finest comic actors of her generation and has been ennobled by at least one monarch.
posted by Etrigan at 7:25 AM on December 18, 2018 [5 favorites]

Yeah I really hated cringey "horrible people being horrible" stuff in the first couple of episodes. Especially when it was Chris Elliot doing that awful bullying stuff. I know it's supposed to be funny but that type of stuff is too upsetting to me to be funny. Luckily the rest of it is great.
posted by bleep at 8:14 AM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Count me as someone who didn't make it past the dark, cringy premiere. I have too much stuff in my DVR to watch something that takes a while to find its groove.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 8:16 AM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

You could try starting with season 2. It gets extremely sweet.
posted by bleep at 8:17 AM on December 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I cannot stand Chris Elliott, so I wasn't able to stick with this one. I like Dan Levy though, so I hope he gets a regular role on something I can watch. I see he hosted a season or two of The Great Canadian Baking Show!
posted by soelo at 10:05 AM on December 18, 2018

I was pretty surprised there hadn't been any posts until I made this. Partner and I have watched it over past few weeks and have enjoyed it as a mostly brainless comedy; and I agree, the characters are less entitled and one-dimensional as the show goes on.


I am intrigued to see how the general plot continues; I feel many of them will run out of steam soon (won't Johnny eventually get $? will the kids just finally crash at one of their friends place in SoHo?)

Maybe I should suspend my disbelief more but what $ are they living off right now (for food, toiletries, etc?)

BTW, have they mentioned what state this takes place in? Right now, I feel that it's been generic enough that it could theoretically be set in lower Canada or the US...
posted by fizzix at 12:02 PM on December 18, 2018

BTW, have they mentioned what state this takes place in? Right now, I feel that it's been generic enough that it could theoretically be set in lower Canada or the US...

Metatextually, it's in Canada.
posted by Etrigan at 12:34 PM on December 18, 2018

BTW, have they mentioned what state this takes place in? Right now, I feel that it's been generic enough that it could theoretically be set in lower Canada or the US...

Welcome to all Canadian television ever.
posted by Automocar at 1:49 PM on December 18, 2018 [7 favorites]

My spouse categorically refuses to watch this show based on the title, and yeah, okay.

Between the title and Eugene Levy's string of just awful, awful role choices post-American Pie I avoided this, and now I'm kicking myself for that! Love this show.

Annie Murphy's performance as Alexis becomes one of my favorite comedic performances ever over the course of the show. Her flailing t-rex hands and twitchy microexpressions and gestures and vocal tics are just perfect. She just totally embodies the character and every look and move and line is hysterical - and she's doing this with such a broad, stock character that it's insane that she can even elevate it above cliche, let alone take it to this level.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:27 PM on December 18, 2018 [15 favorites]

I couldn't get past the title for a long time either. Eventually I decided if it had Eugene Levy, Dame* Catherine O'Hara and Chris Elliott, even if it was garbage, it was going to be interesting garbage.

I'm at the end of the third season right now. I think it might be second only to The Good Place on my list of favorite shows about people learning lessons and being better.

One of the things that impresses me is that, Chris Elliott's character notwithstanding, none of the townies are ridiculous caricatures. They're funny, but you get the sense that they all have interior lives and they're part of the fabric of the community. It would have been easy to go the way of Green Acres (and I love Green Acres) and sacrifice character for the sake of a gag, but they generally avoid that.

And fizzix, I think I remember a line in the first episode about how they had just enough money to have a modest stipend for living expenses, but it's been a while since I watched that episode.

*with you 100%, Etrigan.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:52 PM on December 18, 2018

We've watched a few episodes and I'm kind of Meh. It gets better?
posted by k8t at 1:42 PM on December 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

Way better. It’s a weird show. I don’t know how it works but it does.
posted by amanda at 6:06 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was also turned off by the title, but just started watching it a few weeks ago. We're about 2/3 of the way through season 1 and I love it. I love how all of the characters seem like real people--like MrBadExample says, they have interior lives. I'm looking forward to later seasons.
posted by apricot at 8:04 AM on December 20, 2018

I hope people who are turned off by the title or the earliest episodes give it another chance - this show just gets better and better as the seasons progress.

The Christmas Special was a fun flashback to their Pre-Creek lives and also shows how much their familial relationships have changed. I can't wait for the start of the new season.

Thing I'm wondering about: Did David just always wear his hair straight before they came to the town or does he only straighten it for his Mommy / Son performances?
posted by Julnyes at 11:23 AM on December 20, 2018

This thread just made me think about what a great and sweet arc David has.
posted by bleep at 4:46 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Christmas Special was so good. I felt all the feels. I want the Christmas tree they ended up with in their room at the end.

I felt badly for Johnny Rose - the gifts he picked up at the yard sale were actually very sweet and well-chosen, and none of the recipients appreciated his thoughtfulness at all. Or how he "got them". The pouch of coins, the tin for wig pins.......the "stickers with old men on them"....so sweet! Makes me really anticipate the new season.
posted by the webmistress at 6:34 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I tried it out and watched several episodes -- three, I think. I didn't care for it. I don't like farcical humour.
posted by orange swan at 2:00 PM on December 21, 2018

Not sure if anyone else noticed or if this is common knowledge, but my partner and I noticed that David everything that David has worn (on his torso) is black, white, or gray. (We're now through season 2).

Is this a fashion statement or a literary device?
posted by fizzix at 2:52 PM on December 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

I find that it makes things more enjoyable to watch to assume that everything is a character choice and think about what it means for the character. It makes you think about the character in new ways that you wouldn't have if you didn't notice that detail. Even if in the actual timeline it wasn't a character choice that those individuals made, what difference does that make if it made you think about things in a new way?
posted by bleep at 4:25 PM on December 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Love this show so much. I've have binged it the last few weeks and am finishing up season 4. I adore every character. It has much more heart than I expected from Season 1.
posted by gatorae at 7:05 PM on December 23, 2018

David ran an art gallery in New York before the family lost all their money, so a wardrobe entirely made up of black, white and gray clothing seems pretty normal.

(we wear a lot of black in New York)
posted by Julnyes at 11:11 AM on December 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

My girlfriend and I have often wondered about if there’s meaning behind the few times David and his Mother wear color.
posted by flaterik at 10:37 PM on December 24, 2018

My name is David and now my wife and daughter only refer to me using Moira's or (usually) Alexis's vocal inflections. Ew, David.

I generally hate cringe-comedy, but this is one of my favorite shows of all time.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:19 AM on January 8, 2019 [8 favorites]

This show was hard to watch in season 1 but it so rewards perseverance! I just finished season 4 and *heart eyes*
But to be honest I still fast forward through most of Chris Elliott’s scenes.
posted by exceptinsects at 10:19 AM on October 2, 2020 [1 favorite]