Made in Canada
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Made in Canada is a Canadian television sitcom, which aired on the CBC from 1998 to 2003. In the United States, France, Australia and Latin America, the show was syndicated as The Industry.
The series, a satire of film and television production, revolved around Pyramid Productions, a viper’s nest of creative incompetence, savage greed and hysterical backbiting in which Richard Strong (Rick Mercer) tried to navigate his way to the top of the corporate ladder. The firm's CEO was Alan Roy (Peter Keleghan), a charismatic but intellectually vacant womanizer who often succeeded more by accident than skill. Accountant Veronica Miller (Leah Pinsent), corporate weasel Victor Sela (Dan Lett) and secretary Wanda (Jackie Torrens) rounded out the main office staff, whose schemes and misadventures in getting their jobs done each day provided the dramatic focus of the series.
The company's projects also provided storylines for the series, as the staff of Pyramid tried to manage the inevitable complications provided by the casts and crews of their film and television productions. The company's cash cows were two series, The Sword of Damacles (sic) (a parody of mythological adventure series such as Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules) and Beaver Creek (a parody of Canadian period dramas such as Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea.) Megan Follows, the real-life star of Anne of Green Gables, appeared in one episode as Mandy Forward, the former "Adele of Beaver Creek", who returned for a reunion movie and discovered that after her previous Beaver Creek reunion movie, Richard had kept the sets up for two more weeks in order to produce an Adele of Beaver Creek porn knockoff.)
The show's third and fourth seasons won the Gemini Award for Best Comedy Series. Its final episode also received a Gemini for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series in 2004. The show's theme song, "Blow at High Dough", is performed by The Tragically Hip.
The series was both produced by and a parody of Salter Street Films and Island Edge Inc, and Pyramid's logo is very similar to that of Salter Street parent company Alliance Atlantis.
After "Made in Canada"
Mercer ended the show's planned five year run in 2003, and can now be seen hosting Rick Mercer's Monday Report on CBC. Prior to creating Made in Canada, Mercer was a popular fixture on another Salter Street series This Hour has 22 Minutes. (He juggled both series until 2001, when he left 22 Minutes permanently.)
Keleghan can also be seen in The Newsroom, another CBC production. Alex Carter (Damacles) can now be seen as a detective on the popular CBS drama CSI.
External links
- Official site (http://www.madeincanada.ca)
- Made in Canada Photo Gallery (http://www3.cbc.ca/imagegallery/television/comedy/made/made.html)
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