The Hollywood Reporter gave a deservedly rave review to my friend David Breckman’s hilarious pilot UNDERFUNDED, which the USA Network is quietly burning off tonight at 8 pm. It’s about a spy for the Canadian Secret Service and it’s great fun, closer to THE ROCKFORD FILES than GET SMART.
Why is it that nothing about Canada can be taken seriously? Is it the
speech pattern that ends everything in "Eh"? The fact that the populace
seems so sweetly guileless and lily-white? The complete lack of
pretension? Whatever the case, the Great White North takes one on the
chin again in this lighthearted and surprisingly entertaining subtle
procedural spoof, a rare TV movie that plays it all for laughs."Underfunded"
is a production freak of nature: a movie filmed in Canada (Vancouver)
that’s actually about Canada, featuring no name stars and a scrappy,
unassuming, take-nothing-seriously tone that proves mostly endearing.
Kudos to USA for greenlighting something this far outside the telepic
norm.
Now if only USA would greenlight the series…
Jeff Foxworthy On Ontario:
If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 36 ” of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you live in Ontario.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in Ontario.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Ontario.
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in Ontario.
YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE ONTARIAN IF:
1. “Vacation” means going south past London for the weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day and then back again.
5. You can drive 110 kph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
7. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
8. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
9. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
10. Down south to you means Windsor.
11. Your 1st of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
12. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
13. You find 0 degrees “a little chilly.”
I got a chance to see an advance copy of this and I really enjoyed it. High production values and also highly entertaining.
It seemed like a pilot, but that cool with me, I’d love to see it as a series.
I thought it was okay ~~ I missed some of the beginning/set up, so it could just be that I missed how Daryl was the only intelligent field agent in the CSS (was he the *ONLY* field agent in the CSS?). Maybe if it’s developed as a series, it won’t seem so “1 vs. 100” and just once in a while, someone’ll agree with Daryl or at least say: “Maybe you’re right …”
Daryl’s Gal Friday annoyed me to no end! Oh, I just wanted to shove her field-agent duffle bag in her mouth!
OTOH, having to take the bus to/from DC was hilarious! “Thanks for the sweat.” “You’re welcome.” LOL!
I’ll watch it if it becomes a series … for a while, at least.
This sounds delightful. Since I lack USA net, will have to wait for DVD.
it was pretty funny!
i have it on my DVR, and told my (Canadian) brother-in-law he has to come over & watch it.
Watched a later airing of this after seeing your post. Its a hoot. I love the line “Canadian Secret Service, yes we have one too”. Its similar to Adderly from the 80s. I would love it if this was picked up.