Return to Dog River so much fun you could spit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2014 (4277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a place that, by its own theme-song description, doesn’t have a whole lot going on, Dog River certainly seems to have a whole lot going on.

Financial scandal. Corporate takeovers. Power outages. Public-service layoffs. Water shortages. Illegal gambling. Horse thievery. Courtroom drama. Private-eye intrigue. Romance.

Yes, romance. In Dog River.

All that, and even — though it’s entirely possible that this might be a dream — robots and werewolves in a fight to the death.

After a brief but successful foray into feature-film theatres, Corner Gas is back where it belongs — on prime-time Canadian network TV — with a movie-length adventure that both embraces and defies the nothingness-in-nowheresville ethos proclaimed by its ear-catching theme song.

And while it’s true that Corner Gas: The Movie — which airs tonight at 7 on CTV — needs to have quite a bit going on in order to justify its 90-minute run (which translates to two hours on commercial-driven TV), the truth is that the vast majority of those goings-on are of so little consequence that there’s little chance the show’s fans will feel betrayed by this sudden outburst of Dog River doings.

Regardless of what its TV-listings logline says it’s about, Corner Gas: The Movie is simply a chance for viewers to reunite briefly with arguably the most popular cast of Canuck-TV characters ever assembled. And that part of the job is done with all the charm, wit and fun-filled familiarity that made the show a huge ratings winner throughout its six-season (2004-09) run on CTV.

The storyline, for what it’s worth, brings viewers back into Dog River approximately five years after their last visit (and a comfortably coincidental half-decade after the sitcom’s finale). As expected, there’s not much happening in the lives of Brent (Brent Butt), Lacey (Gabrielle Miller), Hank (Fred Ewanuick), Wanda (Nancy Robertson), Oscar (Eric Peterson), Emma (Janet Wright), Davis (Lorne Cardinal) and Karen (Tara Spencer-Nairn).

Except… things seem to be on the downturn for Dog River. The lights are constantly flickering, and the water supply has become unreliable. When Toronto-transplant diner owner Lacey calls a town meeting to try to find out what’s gone wrong, she’s surprised to catch town mayor Fitzy (Cavan Cunningham) packing up his SUV and trying to hit the road rather than attending the community summit.

When pressed, he confesses to having made a series of bad investments (buying real estate in Detroit) that have left Dog River bankrupt. Without a plan for a financial bailout (or, given Corner Gas’s small-town-Saskatchewan setting, would that be bale-out?), Dog River may have to shut down, or — God forbid — consider being annexed by rural rival Wullerton (insert spitting sound here).

Given the desperate circumstances, everyone is forced to consider ideas that might help save the town. Brent doubles-down on his local-business commitment (and, in the process, achieves a lifelong dream); Lacey seeks to capitalize on Dog River’s quaintness; Hank flips through his Rolodex of lamebrained schemes and comes up with one that’s not all that crazy; and Wanda opts for a self-serving, wise-assed approach.

Davis, facing a forced-retirement exit from the police force, hangs out a private-eye shingle; Karen goes on a law-and-order-obsessed ticket-writing binge; and Oscar acts like a jackass while wife Emma tries to keep his jackassyness from doing added harm to the town.

How it all plays out only matters a little bit; what’s important is that Brent and the gang get to do what they do best (or worst), resulting in lots of smile-inducing charm, ample scythe-sharp wordplay and enough laugh-out-loud sight gags to make the many extra minutes in this feature-length sitcom episode fly by.

If you weren’t a fan during Corner Gas’s original prime-time run, there’s little reason to venture out into the canola belt now. But if Butt’s ground-breaking comedic creation made you giggle, now is exactly the right time for one last Dog River drop-in.

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @BradOswald