Cable-TV keeps filling in the edges, giving us things that big networks overlook. And now it bringa the Kids in the Hall back to American TV.
"Death Comes to Town" is inconsistent, but the parts that work are wonderful. And the notion of a comedy mini-series -- eight half-hours over four Fridays -- lets the humor build.
If you get the Independent Film Channel (via satellite or digital cable), you're in luck. If not, you'll have to check the videostores; anyway, here's the story I sent to papers:
By MIKE HUGHES
For decades, The Kids in the Hall were
masters of short-burst comedy.
They did sketches on stage, on HBO and
beyond. They did one movie and zillions of short bits.
Now, after 26 years, they have
something larger, an eight-week comedy mini-series. “Death Comes to
Town” is on the Independent Film Channel (via satellite or digital
cable) and at video stores.
The notion started, Bruce McCulloch
said, when a single image popped into his head – “Death getting
off a Greyhound bus in a small, hick town.”
He talked up the idea when the group
was on tour in 2008. Last summer, everyone was available.
That included Scott Thompson, who was
wedging this between successful treatments for non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
“I finished the chemotherapy, then did the series and then went
into radiation,” he said.
In between, the Kids – now ages 47 to
51 – had their adventure in fairly big-scale filming.
The idea was to use a real town as the
backdrop for their fictional one. It was a chance, McCulloch said,
“to make the biggest-looking show for the least amount of money.
You can have the old hospital for $500, as a location. (You) could
phone the fire department and say, 'We need a fire truck.'”
They chose North Bay, a northern
Ontario city that has 54,000 people and little commotion. “They had
never had a traffic jam before,” Dave Foley said.
The calm atmosphere fit the Kids, who
grew up watching British sketches, American sitcoms and Canadian
people. “There's a certain English sensibility,” McCulloch said.
“But we're also outsiders.”
He's from the furthest outside, born in
Edmonton. It was in Calgary – at the Loose Moose Theatre Company –
that he met Mark McKinney, a diplomat's son who had grown up around
the world. They did sketch comedy, then moved to Toronto, where Foley
and Kevin McDonald had created an early version of Kids; the two duos
merged.
A “long period of failure”
followed, McDonald said. The guys started doing all the female roles,
because they couldn't afford to hire actresses.
Actually, McCulloch said, the group was
doing fine by comedy-club standards. “We got quite successful,
doing sold-out shows.”
The big step, he said, was when Scott
Thompson became the fifth Kid, bringing a fresh bundle of gay and
straight characters. “Scott came in and added a lot of characters
...He loves to perform.”
This was the quintet Lorne Michaels –
a Canadian and the “Saturday Night Live” boss – discovered.
“Lorne waas obviously pivotal in our
career … He had the option of breaking the troupe up and picking
people off for 'Saturday Night Live,'” Foley said. “(Instead,) he
chose to create a show.”
The Kids spent six years on HBO and
late-night CBS. Afterward, they began finding individual work.
“SNL” had two seasons with McKinney
as an actor and McCulloch as a writer-filmmaker. Other work ranged
from Foley starring in “NewsRadio” to McCulloch directing movies
and creating a series.
That was “Carpoolers” an ABC show
molded in the American style. “You've got a room full of writers,”
McCulloch said. This series avoided that; “we got to do eight
episodes and write them all.”
And they could make instant changes,
without getting studio approval. Doing “Death” was more fun –
illness and all – than doing “Brain Candy,” Thompson said. “It
was tougher to fight Paramount … At least with cancer, you can
win.”
– “Death Comes to Town”
– 10 and 10:30 p.m. Fridays, starting
Aug. 20.
– Independent Film Channel, generally
via satellite or digital cable; also via CBC Home Video