WE LOOK BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF ‘MURDER IN A SMALL TOWN’
Vol. 1, No. 18
In this issue of the Reader, your disgruntled correspondent has questions and is looking for answers from the TV network braintrust behind the show ‘Murder In A Small Town’. Also, other stuff.
This week: a 6-minute read
MURDER IN THE BEACHCOMBERS’ TOWN
Many of you will be familiar with the TV show Murder In A Small Town that airs in the U.S. Tuesday nights on Fox. The more vigilant among you will even be familiar with the show’s Canadian distinctiveness.
The entire cast of this crime procedural is Canadian, including the lead actor, Rossif Sutherland, who happens to be the son of a Canadian acting legend. The directors, writers, and production crews are all likewise Canadian. The town where the show is filmed, Gibsons, B.C., on the Sunshine Coast, is famously Canadian. Those of you of a certain, shall we say, vintage will recognize the town’s iconic downtown restaurant, Molly’s Reach, which plays a central role in the show’s storyline. For 19 seasons, the Reach was Ground Zero for the CBC show The Beachcombers, so you’d be forgiven for keeping an eye out for Nick or Relic hanging about the bar.
The show is even based on a series of books by a Canadian author that takes place in a Canadian locale.
The only thing “un-Canadian” about Murder In A Small Town is its premise: there is no way on God’s green earth a Canadian town of that size would have a murder every week. Near as we can tell, there have been only two homicides in Gibsons in the past decade.
Yet this is the thing. The town in the TV series, which is also called Gibsons, is not in B.C. at all, but in Washington State. The Canadian actors are all pretending to be Americans. Even the licence plates on the cars say Washington State, even though they sorta look like B.C. plates and the state slogan is bogus: it reads “Beautiful Mountain State” instead of “Evergreen State.”
Now if I was a resident of Seattle or Spokane, I’d be kinda insulted that a bunch of foreigners were pretending to be locals. It smells like the plot for a bad Cold War movie. But that’s not what the Fox network executives and the show’s producers are banking on. They believe American TV audiences aren’t interested in a show about Canadians living in a Canadian paradise with an unusually high homicide rate. To their minds, the audiences are only interested if it’s Americans living in an American paradise with its customarily normal homicide rate.
The Sunshine Coast, the B.C. lower mainland and Vancouver Island constitute some of the most picturesque landscapes to be found on the planet. Yet in this and in so many other TV shows (hello, Hallmark Channel) all of it is passed off to U.S. audiences as Washington, Oregon, even New England in the firm belief American audiences are so self-absorbed, they won’t accept beautiful unless it’s good ol’ American beautiful.
Don’t believe it. They should give American audiences more credit and stop the charade.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? DUMB AND DEADLY
Be assured, dear readers, there is never even a hint of Artificial Intelligence employed in the preparation of our weekly fulminations. Hell, we have a tough enough time drawing upon real intelligence. So it’s with a certain amount of self-satisfaction that we report the following.
According to the independent website 404 Media, an AI chatbot known as “FungiFriend” is now offering its readers a recipe for preparing poisonous mushrooms. This came to wider attention when FungiFriend was added to a popular Facebook group that helps members identify mushrooms when foraging in the woods. It told users of the group to “sauté in butter” the offending shrooms that evidently hyperaccumulate arsenic.
So you can now add mushroom foragers to the groups of people AI is now trying to kill.
FROM THE MAILBAG
Re ‘So, Where is the Best Pizza?’ Nov. 24. Windsor pizza is still the best, Terry. Its ancestral home was the Volcano Restaurant on Wyandotte Street West at Victoria Avenue. That was the beginning of shredded pepperoni and canned mushrooms on pizza. Larry Carrick, Puce, Ontario
Thanks, Terry. It was a sweet read. Elaine Merriman, Edmonton, Alberta
This is accurate, Terry. Windsor pizza is the best I’ve found—with the exception of the places that do the traditional-style margherita in a wood-fired oven. But that’s universal. Windsor pizza to my mind seems more Greek-inspired with the toppings, even though the places are Italian. And in Windsor, there are a few more places that have opened recently to give Armando’s and Capri a run for their money. That said, there is a pizza joint in Elgin, Ontario, that serves what I would call a good Windsor-like pizza. Ironically, I just had this discussion with friends while in Toronto this past weekend. We talked about how bad the pizza there is. I know this for sure because at the PWHL camp, they served us Pizza Pizza for lunch. Ugh. An abomination. John Wawrow, Buffalo, New York
Capri Pizza on Dougall Avenue in Windsor, Terry, hands down! Patricia Beaulieu Pell, Tilbury, Ontario
Hi Terry. I totally agree that Windsor pizza is the best. I’ve been living in Woodstock for the past five years and missing it every time we order in. Our favourite places include Tecumseh Pizza, Riverside Tavern, the Riviera, and Trevi. I would include Antonino’s but they don’t deliver! Gerald Thibeault, Woodstock, Ontario
Ed. Note: Especially not to Woodstock!
There was always something about pizza in Saskatchewan when I was growing up, Terry. Toppings piled higher than one would think possible. First time I ever tasted pizza was in Nipawin where we were visiting family. Loved it then and still do to this day. Tom Pura, Grande Prairie, Alberta
Forget the best pizzeria in Canada, Terry. Prima Strada in Victoria earned this global accolade. Dennis James Dubinsky, Victoria, B.C.
Hey Terry, the very best pizza came from L&W Pizza at its original location in Jasper, Alberta. The owners, Gus and his wife, lived across the street. I don't think they ever went on vacation. And yes, sadly it did burn down in this year’s wildfire. Joseph Wuest, White Rock, B.C.
If you want to drop me a note (and risk me publishing it here), just reply to this email or, if you prefer send it to mysundayreader@gmail.com.
THE DEAL WITH RESTAURANTS
“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”—Yogi Berra
THIS WEEK’S SHAMELESS PLUG
Well, while the two-week-old postal strike staggers on to its inevitable resolution, the web gurus at terrymcconnell.com have come up with a creative way to circumvent the posties and keep those deliveries going out the door.
Beginning like now, we have availed ourselves of the services of UPS, Purolator and CanPar—at rates lower than what Canada Post was giving us. Yay! You can select whichever delivery option works best for you when you check out. Remember, great Christmas gifts.
Oh, one more thing: you can now add your own reader review of any book in our book shop. You can share your thoughts under the “Leave a Review” tab, as shown below, with each book, regardless of format.
See ya next week. / T.
