best Schitt's Creek character

I enjoyed how the arrival of the Roses, particularly Moira, gradually increased Jocelyn's lip-biting anger.

the silly way Bob runs and his general social awkwardness made him a favorite for a while, esp his audition for Cabaret

Stevie's deadpan slays me.

but idk, David seems like he will win this for me. he seemed like the most realized character of them all, plus his general sarcastic disarms always had me in hysterics.

Johnny Rose was funnier in earlier seasons when he was getting driven up the wall by everybody around him, he kinda just became your typical warm patriarch over time.

so many choices.

lots of good choices but this has got to be moira

Moira's baffling amalgamation of accents plus ridiculously robust vocabulary are the best

Herb Erfling…ger. Burt Herngeif. Irv Herb-blinger. Bing Livehaanger. Liveling. Burt Herkurn. Ban bingo ling-fucker!

the raw milk episode, just rewatched. Roland crumbling under the pressure of the cop slayed me.

as did Johnny flipping the fuck out at Alexis over the milk fiasco.

his exasperation at David not understanding "write-off" in a previous episode was also amusing, esp since that part of his character largely was gone by the final season.

I think this has to be David. Although I would vote for a Statler & Waldorf-esque David & Stevie pairing were such an option available.

(We just watched the entire series early this year and my gf recently decided she wanted to rewatch and I was all like 'go for it but maybe not quite yet for me' but yeah, I've totally wound up watching while futilely attempting to do other things. Because it's just so goddamn good.)

moira, and also i will never ever stop fping anyone who votes for chris elliott

Voted David. The only main character I don’t love is Roland which is painful to say bc I love Chris Elliott

my mother refused to watch it for a while because she's hated him since he was on Get a Life

moira always

https://media3.giphy.com/media/f5w2NWbVkgzWwAimEQ/giphy.gif

her calmly telling Johnny "her eyes are....aqua" during the two truths and a lie game, revealing to Johnny that Alexis has just admitted to bribing a drug lord with sex to get out of the trunk of his car was a dope moment

literally stopped watching this because of roland/chris elliott

I think this has to be David. Although I would vote for a Statler & Waldorf-esque David & Stevie pairing were such an option available.

Yes if it were for a pairing then stevie and David; Stevie’s facial reactions to some of David’s more fish out of water moments are absolutely priceless.

I love them all but I think Moira FTW.

I would genuinely love to see a Best Wishes, Warmest Regards spin-off series that consisted of nothing but David stopping into the motel office to riff bitchily with Stevie for half an hour.

Speaking of, for those with Netflix, I highly recommend the behind-the-scenes special, particularly if you like the thing where Schitt's Creek makes you cry.

i'm also in the "love chris elliott, not a fan of roland" camp. jocelyn is great though, she's got that canadian/midwestern "simmering anger barely repressed behind a polite exterior" thing.
iirc it took about a season for alexis to come into her own as a character but she gets very funny after that.
i can't decide how i feel about stevie. the actor's expressions and acting choices are very strange. i don't know if it works or not.
bob is definitely my favorite minor character.

the silly way Bob runs and his general social awkwardness made him a favorite for a while

His run is just the best.

https://telltaletv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/source-2.gif

I guess he's an OG SCTV writer/performer? There's a lot SCTV folks involved in this show. I really love the idea that this was made by all these people who've known one another for decades and their family members.

Roland gets a lot more tolerable and less over the top as the show goes on imo

Glad to see some Bob love, but disappointed not to see more Ronnie appreciation. Her withering glare at Moira's ridiculousness is perfect. The episode where she's doing the bathroom for Rose Apothecary is terrific.

oh I loveeeeee Ronnie. one of the few people who doesn't let Moira just bulldoze her and can occasionally disarm her.

I do find it amusing that the Jazzagals are first heard singing a really bad, overtly simple arrangement of....."It's Raining Men", I think? and by season 6, they're singing complicated, layered arrangements at David/Patrick's wedding.

I also enjoy Twyla's aloofness. another Levy!

Yeah Twyla's great, especially her occasionally suuuuper dark asides.

this was surprisingly tough but I gotta go with Stevie

xpost I did enjoy that the first game David had them playing at the game night in Season 1 is a game that actors always enjoy playing at game nights - where you write down the name of ten famous people, and in the first round, you can give unlimited verbal cues and hand gestures, second round can only use three words + hand gestures, third round just one word + hand gestures.

though it didn't seem they got very far into it!

I recently watched the absolutely terrible Hulu holiday movie 'Happiest Season', which really made clear how talented Daniel Levy is as a comic actor, and how effortless he makes it look. He's paired with Kristen Stewart as the friend and I basically started laughing in relief as soon as he appeared on screen.

Yeah, the only redeemable parts of that movie had Levy or Aubrey Plaza in them. I don't understand the rabid praise for it. Stewart's girlfriend never once shows why Stewart should give a shit about her selfish ass at all.

We shouldn't sully a Schitt's Creek thread talking about it, but there's praise??!

Tons of it on Twitter, 83% on Rotten Tomatoes (84% audience score) for whatever that's worth. But yeah, enough of this particular derail.

Back on track, anyone that votes Mutt earns the permanent side eye from me.

lol yeah, Mutt's definitely one of the least interesting. was kinda glad when he peaced out on the show - think he existed mostly just to wreck Alexis-Ted.

patrick is a sleeper here, he started out a little bland but i think has come into his own - his underplayed sarcasm and irritation work really well against david

I loved Patrick - their relationship was beautiful and I got choked up when he sang "Simply the Best" to David and David sat there beaming as Patrick kept looking at him during the song.

but yeah, he was also hella funny, when he'd try to navigate David's many eccentricities. Particularly the ep where David peed the bed.

Alexis was pretty one-dimensional, even for this type of show, but that scene with Ted (will not spoil with details) had me choked up too. Best five minutes of the entire run.

The behind the scenes special showed them shooting that scene and pretty much everyone onset was bawling.

Yeah, Eugene Levy couldn't hold it together at all for that one.

Patrick and David had one of the best rendered relationships in a recent sitcom, for sure. And I love how Patrick's sarcasm and irritation stayed consistent throughout. So many shows, once two characters like that get together, write out those tics and quirks, but Patrick was pretty consistently low-key exasperated by David's eccentricities until the end.

I love David's head shake/nod when he doesn't want to agree to something.

You know what, Alexis is growing on me. The lice episode where she's like CONSTITUTIONALLY INCAPABLE of telling Ted she has lice but she's desperate for help and she knows she can trust him, said a lot, I think. No spoilers I have not gotten to "that scene with Ted" yet, don't break my heart before time.

Love David and Patrick, obv, and I admire that Patrick has the confidence to stymy and annoy David esp in his first gay relationship that obviously means a lot to him--I'm in my 40s and I don't know if I could be that annoying without fearing losing someone early on.

Schitt’s Creek made a point to make viewers feel safe by showcasing women without harassment, queer love without trauma, sexual fluidity without shame, economic disparity without mockery, and creativity without limitation. What they built is just so special. They deserve it all. pic.twitter.com/a6xCPX9eUl

— Sarah McGonagall (@gothspiderbitch) September 21, 2020

that is what I enjoyed about the show. and there's no shortage of conflict, but it's not the destructive kind. everybody in the town drives each other nuts but they love each other whether they'll admit it or not.

it's also nice watching the Roses go from hating the town and wanting to gtfo to becoming fully integrated within it and having it feel like home.

I wonder if anyone will vote for Ted...

I did enjoy his dadjoeks

I admire that Patrick has the confidence to stymy and annoy David esp in his first gay relationship that obviously means a lot to him--I'm in my 40s and I don't know if I could be that annoying without fearing losing someone early on.

I love the banter between David/Patrick and David/Stevie, but it does bring to mind people who insist on only communicating via sarcasm, which can be exhausting irl

Don't want to come off too negative but to me Eugene is the weakest actor in this show. He just plays the straight man and does a bug eye thing whenever anyone else says something goofy. And I am disappointed his character didn't have a strong trait besides default naive and unsure of himself in ever situation.

Moira is a nightmare, I dread every scene where she makes normal things a complete disaster.

lol like the drug skit episode

Given how often he is surrounded by three larger than life personalities, I think it's the best move to have Eugene Levy play the befuddled straight man.

plus he's really good at it.

exhibit A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg1Uk60rBsc

He came by those eyebrows honest

Levy brows are legit

they could clean a chalkboard

I'm occasionally caught off guard by Eugene's handsomeness.

Now it's bugging me - where was a recent discussion of how Eugene Levy had surprisingly blossomed into a silver fox here or on Twitter?

It was here, sometime prior to the existence of any dedicated Schitt's threads (maybe the Netflix one).

Of course. Thank you:

Netflix Watch Instantly Recommendation Thread

My wife was finally worn down by all of the recommendations and started watching this again, and I think she's finally hooked. I, on the other hand, keep getting drawn in and pulled out, over and over again, often times in the middle of an episode. It's so reliably amusing, and yet ... rarely goes beyond that. At the same time, it's so good natured about the way it's amusing and so committed to being good natured and amusing that I can sometimes go along with it, but then other times it's so lazy about it, so generically sitcom-y, that I can't. Like, I expect a funny twist or reveal but no, it's just goes exactly where you think it'll go. (fwiw, I think we just finished S2). I'm not sure I've been so consistently thrown off by a sitcom since ... Happy Endings? (Which is also of course usually pretty funny, but sometimes similarly so square it seems like a parody of a sitcom.)

That's a very S1/S2 reaction! I broadly felt the same until halfway through S3, when the show really starts hitting its mark.

I'm going to be really curious to see what Annie Murphy brings to S2 of Russian Doll, that's an interesting addition.

Whoa, didn't realize that happened. But it makes me happy. I hope to see a lot more of her because she's crazy good.

And yeah, I sound like a broken record, but if you get through the third season and you still don't find the journey of any of the main cast emotionally gripping then the show is decidedly not for you.

the david/stevie/patrick trifecta's arch sarcasm just becomes totally insufferable sometimes but that's life ay

can't believe anybody hates roland, he probably makes me snort more than anybody else

moira starts becoming positively THOUGHTFUL in S5 which i never saw coming

annie murphy also has a new show on AMC called "Kevin Can F*ck Himself" (censorship not mine). it looks bad but hayes and sean from hollywood handbook are writers on it.

schitt's creek is a good cheesy sitcom. that's all it is. that's OK.

annie murphy also in russian doll 2

lol, does like 85% of the board have me killfiled at this point?

did somebody just say something?

(sorry jon)

we finally made it to the episode where jake invites patrick and david over to "have some whiskey.. or whatever" and this reinforced the fact that jake really is the best character. also, stevie's "must you take everything i have" line was hilarious (the whole ep was great really).

OK, we must have hit the aforementioned season 3 sweet spot, since we've had a few really funny episodes in a row. It's interesting, while I know there are as many exceptions as there are examples, sometimes it seems like comedies take a season or so to hit their stride, whereas dramas often start out strong but quickly lose steam or go off the rails.

i’m halfway through S6 and already dreading it ending. it gets stronger and stronger. alexis’ story gets unfeasibly touching.

Maybe I'm a bitter old cynic, but I've watched it to the end and the smattering of good jokes did not compensate for the endless sickly deluge of characters saying how much they loved each other.

LOOK MAYBE I NEED THAT IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW

xpost spoilers

I finished it and yyyyeaaah it gets pretty self-indulgent in the last ep or 2, but I feel like that's allowed. It does become slightly too much 'The David Show' which is maybe less allowed. And I'm not sure I buy David resisting the allure of New York. Surprisingly affecting moment for Roland in that boardroom - genuinely unexpected.

I've been enjoying imagining favourite albums for each of the characters.

David - Violator.
Alexis - What's an album? Any playlist with "Ibiza" in the title
Moira - The Way We Were soundtrack by Marvin Hamlisch
Johnny - Jim Croce, I Got A Name

Come on, Alexis's favorite album is a total gimme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKoxky2h2qc

We are somewhere in season 4, and this remains something like a cross between Local Hero and Three's Company.

haha that's dead on

started mainlining this show again in the wake of last month's events, strictly for the positive vibes, and already on S6. I think everyone in the show is pretty great but it's probably Annie Murphy for me, just the absolute ability to make such a character actually likable and hilarious and moving in ways that go beyond the writing and a character arc that makes sense within the show, plus the sort of unexpected ending for her. and that scene when she realizes Mutt has given her a bicycle is one of the most A+ of all time.

and jesus, i could watch Bob happily half-run into rooms all day.

Annie Murphy as Alexis grows so much over the seasons, and the arc of her relationship with Ted and its dissolution are very moving. She is my favorite character

gotta say Stevie carried first few eps for me

for the minor characters, i'm a big Jake fan. virtually every scene with him is a gold mine.

the goofy way Bob runs kills me

Alexis and David both had great arcs, will admit I got misty eyed at the latter's wedding.

Bob feel’s like he’s on some kind of improv venn diagram w Colin Mockery - i think it’s the rubbery body movements

*Mochrie

I was discussing the show with a friend who never got into it and my appreciation for how vexing Roland is came out.

The actor who plays Bob was apparently a long time improv guy, at Second City Toronto, I think?

kills me every time

https://media4.giphy.com/media/23k7z58XMbZJgvGX6l/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952sxjzio25ng0lhcwznci1lbqyccmdghuy6pn9yet7&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g

He (John Hemphill) was a featured performer on SCTV during its final days, when it appeared on Showtime; I don't know if he played any characters other than Happy Marsden, who hosted kids' TV from a barstool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAnS8g0HhIQ

Holy Cow Myonga didn’t know (or remember) he was on the show!

We don’t talk enough about Ted’s hotness.

kind of a bargain bin Chris Evans

Ehh, CanCon hot.

the Alexis-Ted relationship arc and Mutt's part in it is completely fascinating to me. She meets him and he's a genuinely nice awkward dude who is more than a bit square, but really adores her. Then she keeps connecting over and over again with this compellingly charismatic brotastic dude and they have this thoroughly cinematic moment where they declare their attraction to one another, have a brief relationship that has zero depth. And then Ted returns, and he hasn't changed but her perceptions have completely altered and she realizes what she threw away for something emptier. And I think the show is very, very smart to not have had Ted change at all, but her reactions to him change. So many lesser shows and movies lead with a character who's with someone and throws it away for someone a bit flashier, and it's shown to be the right decision, and maybe they have that discarded partner wind up with a similarly supposedly dull secondary character as a consolation prize. I'd be curious if it was their narrative plan from the start, because it feels like a very crafty and heartwarming bait and switch.

That's interesting but I can't think of those shows and movies! I thought the classic thing was for someone to go off with the flashy person then realise the unflashy person was who they really wanted

Yeah the show is at heart all about the family’s growth.

these types of shows and movies definitely exist, I’m not talking about a movie where there’s someone sitting on the sidelines pining for someone else while the latter wastes their time in a crappy relationship and then they get together in the end. It’s more about how Ted was presented as a really square guy, maybe even somewhat of a placeholder til the real thing came along, and the entire arc of Alexis and mutt brought them to the point of this huge moment where they declared how they felt to each other. That’s absolutely the traditional route of some of these stories, but this felt like it was an intentionally misleading arc.

And Mutt wound up being someone who simply vanished and no one seemed to notice.

Sleepless in Seattle is a key example of this. Poor old Bill Pullman. And, if you want to go back to the early days, there's Cary Grant's loving fiancee and secretary in Bringing Up Baby, whom he merrily discards for exciting Katherine Hepburn. I think there are probably loads more.