‘Cured’ of Corner Gas, now she has Hiccups

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This article was published 30/05/2011 (5609 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s easier, Nancy Robertson admits, now that there’s a bit more distance between her Canadian-made sitcom, Hiccups, and that other CTV show she co-starred in for half a dozen seasons.

Corner Gas was an amazing thing to be part of, and we’re so proud of it, but in a way it was easier to really sink into this show now that there’s some distance,” says Robertson, who spent a half-dozen seasons playing wiseacre Corner Gas clerk Wanda Dollard before transitioning to Hiccups, in which she stars as anger-management-challenged children’s author Millie Upton. “It’s also better for the other cast members and the crew, because this is their show.

“It feels really, really good. It’s very much like home now.”

Reviews were mixed during Hiccups‘ first season, which is not surprising given the iconic stature to which Corner Gas had ascended — the first and only truly successful major-network sitcom in Canadian TV history, at its peak attracting multiple millions of viewers every week.

As was the case for the allegedly cursed Seinfeld cast members, chances of the Corner Gas gang replicating that show’s success in their subsequent TV-series efforts were much closer to none than slim. But Hiccups gained creative momentum as its rookie season moved along, and CTV saw enough in the show’s growth to offer it (and CG regular Fred Ewanuick’s show, Dan for Mayor) a second-year renewal.

Robertson says the key to surviving Hiccups‘ first season was remaining realistic about what was at stake and what was achievable.

“It was a new thing for all of us to have to deal with, but honestly, there are certainly worse problems to have,” she says of those post-Gas concerns. “I mean, cry me a river…. With this show, we had to try hard to not focus on expectations. It was never an attempt to say, ‘If you loved Corner Gas, well, buckle up and watch this.’ It was just a matter of doing what we do, which is try to be creative and funny and to experience new characters and situations moving forward.”

As the new season of Hiccups opens, Millie and mildly effective life coach Stan Dirko (series creator/co-star Brent Butt) find themselves headed for Hollywood to chat with movie-studio heads who are interested in developing a movie based on the author’s Grumpaloo books. Of course, inappropriate outbursts occur.

In subsequent episodes, Millie tests Stan’s patience by refusing to speak, tries her luck with a herbal cleanse, plans a living funeral and becomes an unwitting test subject after Stan takes hypnotism lessons.

Robertson says her working relationship with Butt — whom she dated and then married during Corner Gas‘s run — is, if anything, more relaxed than ever.

“I’m very comfortable working with Brent; that’s how we got to know each other in the first place,” she says. “This is the first project we’ve actually gone into as a couple, but in many ways it just felt like business as usual. It’s probably more different for me than for him because I’ve got more responsibilities now, and he’s used to having a boatload of responsibilities on his projects.

“The biggest way it feels different this year is that as a producer, I’ve got more or a role and a voice in the creative end…. As an actor, you’re just brought in when we start principal photography; as a producer, I was involved in pre-production and post-production — it’s all new to me, and it was very exciting to be part of it.”

One thing Robertson takes as a positive sign for Hiccups‘ future prospects is the fact she’s being recognized in public by fans who know her as Millie almost as often as those who still cling to an abiding Wanda love.

“I think the reruns (of Hiccups) really helped with that,” she says. “When it first aired, because it wasn’t Corner Gas, people had certain expectations. But after the network re-ran it, more people got on board, and I started to notice a lot more Millie attention.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with having people still talk about Wanda — I mean, there’s nothing lousy about having someone come up and say something nice about your work. How lucky are we to have that?”

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

TV PREVIEW

Hiccups

Starring Nancy Robertson, Brent Butt, Laura Soltis, David Ingram, Emily Perkins and Paula Rivera

Monday at 7 p.m.

CTV