This is one of the better stories I’ve posted on URBMN.  A Picnicface television series, imaginatively titled Picnicface, has been added to Breakthrough Films & Television’s website.  Both Breakthrough and The Comedy Network are responsible for the series.

Breakthrough announces Picnicface as “in keeping with the great tradition of Canadian sketch comedy shows like SCTV or Kids in the Hall.”  While I’m not sold on Breakthrough’s hype, Picnicface have gained their own measure of notoriety.

APTN has recently released its September 2010 schedule, as it debuts its 2010-11 season.  Of note is its Tuesday night schedule, which begins on September 7:

9:00 PM ET: The Candy Show
9:30 PM ET: Bionic Bannock Boys
10:00 PM ET: CAUTION: May Contain Nuts
10:30 PM ET: Arbor Live

CAUTION: May Contain Nuts and Arbor Live are in their second seasons.  Bionic Bannock Boys and The Candy Show will make their debuts.  Arbor Live is the only non-comedy, though The Candy Show and Arbor Live are both variety shows.

CMCN‘s second season has already debuted, albeit in the form of two episodes aired during the Olympics.  In the meantime, CMCN has posted material to Funny or Die.

I have reviewed Bionic Bannock Boys‘ pilot.  I’ll probably give the show another look, just to see if BBB has improved since then.  There are a couple of trailers for the show, found here and here.

As for The Candy Show, I was actually surprised to see CBC News mention it back in April 2010.  Host Candy Palmater has done some pieces for CBC Radio One’s Definitely Not the Opera, which I don’t hold against her.

Arbor Live features mainstream acts like Joe Satriani and Velvet Revolver alongside aboriginal artists, though the musical guest lineup is rather disjointed.  Eric Schweig is on the show for some odd reason.

At the same time, CBC doesn’t mount shows like Arbor Live.  Joe Satriani and Velvet Revolver aren’t the freshest of acts to feature on a music variety show, but at least APTN tries.  When was the last time CBC mounted an actual variety show?  ZeD?  Rita and Friends?  Devin Townsend would be perfect for a variety show.  I’m just saying.

Canadian Comedy Shorts (The Comedy Network: twelfth season premiered Sunday, July 11, 2010, 10:30 PM ET/PT) is another of those series that I think CTVglobemedia is burning off, not that CTVgm will admit to this.

The copyright date for the new shorts compilation says 2009.  It’s summer, you know?  Unsold pilots bloom.  Reality television is in season.  Programs are dumped onto schedules seemingly at random.  At least CCS isn’t as bad as Upload Yours, which is like saying rectal itch is better than a coma.

Cogswell (Diane) | Cogswell (Diane) is a filmed version of a one-person monologue by Stephanie Domet.  I have no idea what it’s doing on a show called Canadian Comedy Shorts.  Cogswell (Diane) is a decent monologue, but there’s nothing but dry humour in a piece where a woman talks about living in a low-rent neighbourhood.  This piece belongs on Bravo! or CBC.

Cogswell (Diane) kicks off an odd trend for Canadian Comedy Shorts this year.  I’m not sure if CCS has aired reruns its past few years, but Cogswell (Diane) is from 2006.  Wouldn’t a better idea be to debut clips for a season premiere?  Maybe it’s me.

The Woodsmen: “Potato Cult” | CTV publicist Sara McLaren tells me this season of Canadian Comedy Shorts features a mix of acquired shorts, all-new items and reruns.  ”Potato Cult” is a rerun from 2006.

The Woodsmen is a very [adult swim] sketch.  Random things happen.  The production values are almost nil.  Hell, The Woodsmen uses Syncro-Vox-esque moving mouths over largely static “animation.”

Frankly, this series tries too hard for an Aqua Teen Hunger Force/Sealab 2021 vibe.  I’m turned off by it.  Even [adult swim] deviates from the absurdist formula with The Venture Bros., The Boondocks and Squidbillies.

I know I’m referencing Squidbillies, by the way.  That show’s about southern American rednecks.  What is The Woodsmen about?  Wasting money?  Potatoes?  Help me out here.

Holy War Dance Party | This is a two-and-a-half-minute song about…well, the title gives it away.  Here’s the Youtube link and the link to the Holy War Dance Party site.

The HWDP Youtube link has earned around 45,000 views over three years.  It’s caught on somewhat, though HWDP is nowhere near the level of Powerthirst.  Dancing for peace is nowhere near as fun as having gratuitous amounts of energy.  Holy War Dance Party should have been made with real lightening.

From the Desk of Ron Sparks: “CN Tower” | From 2004.  Why does The Comedy Network need to air something from more than half a decade ago?  I like Ron Sparks, but I hate rehashes of material this old.  At least Video on Trial, Ed the Sock and Life’s a Zoo.tv have kept Sparks in blow.

From the Desk of Ron Sparks‘ concept is simple.  Sparks writes fake letters to real addresses.  Here, Sparks wants to jump off the CN Tower in a superhero costume.  The piece is slight but entertaining.  I’ve seen better and worse from Ron Sparks.

Check Up | Nathan Fielder saves this CCS episode with his awkward comedy.  Fielder goes to the doctor for a checkup.  Everything is fine until the doctor wants to check his prostate.

The sketch idea isn’t new, but Fielder sells fear very well.  No sane man wants a male doctor to touch his meat and two veg.  It’s one of the few evergreen societal taboos.  In lesser hands, Check Up would be cheap comedy.  In Fielder’s hands, mundane awkwardness is made an art form.

Nathan Fielder now writes for Important Things with Demetri Martin.  I wish Canada would find a use for Fielder beyond nailing him to the side of This Hour Has 22 Minutes.  The Comedy Network has given him an hour-long special, which isn’t enough.

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Yikes.  Four segments from 2007 or earlier?  Seriously, how does The Comedy Network swing that?  ZeD showed its share of older clips, but at least it had the good sense to air quality shorts like Flying Saucer Rock’n'Roll.  That was ZeD‘s thing.  It was free-form television.  Canadian Comedy Shorts isn’t.

Maybe I don’t understand CCS‘ format, having watched it for the first time in 2010.  It’s just lazy to build a program over one newish clip and four older ones.  Two or three new clips an episode, fine.  A clip from 2004?  That’s like Teletoon airing Quads! in 2009.

I hope CCS’ next episode improves from the season premiere.  I’d like to see more than one new short per episode.  I don’t even care if one-or-two-year-old shorts are shown.  I just don’t like when CCS shorts are used as blatant filler.  I don’t know who would.

In 2005, I called Comedy Inc. (CTV: fifth season premiered Saturday, June 12, 10:30 PM ET/PT) “relatively decent.”  In 2010, I recant that statement entirely.  I should have actually watched more than an episode or two of the show back in 2005, but URBMN wasn’t a television site back then.  That Comedy Inc. is still an ongoing concern amazes me.

Why does Comedy Inc. continue to be renewed when there is such passionate hatred for it?  Its cheapness doesn’t explain a five-season run.  History Bites is similarly cheap, and attracts its fair share of hate.  History Bites also has fans, since that show doesn’t talk down to its audience.

Comedy Inc. can make decent comedians like Winston Spear and Gavin Stephens look like they’re shit.  This isn’t very hard to do, as the show is made up of stand-up comedians performing sketch comedy.  Why is the show formatted this way when the format has never worked?  Even after five seasons, Comedy Inc. suffers from terrible timing.

The fifth-season premiere of Comedy Inc. is more of the same from this show.  The sketches are all obvious and/or rely on shock humour.  The comics overplay their roles.  Three sketches are the exact same “psychiatrist talks to animals” gag, with no variation.

The laugh track is pasted on, making the sketches seem even worse than they already are.  If you’ve seen Comedy Inc., you know how this show plays on television, and I feel for you.

Also, what is with that overbearing laugh track?!  It’s used on both Comedy Inc. and Comedy Now!  A 2010 show shouldn’t look and sound like a second-generation dupe of Royal Canadian Air Farce circa 1995.

I blame Sandra Faire for this show.  She’s the executive producer of both this and Comedy Now!  Ivan Fecan is president and CEO of CTVglobemedia.  Faire and Fecan are married.  It doesn’t take a genius to see the conflict of interest.  Even if Fecan and Faire keep business and personal relations separate, Faire doesn’t improve the quality of her shows.

The premiere episode of Comedy Inc.‘s fifth season has a 2008 copyright.  That’s never a good sign.  I guess CTV wants shot of Comedy Inc. once and for all.  Why even air the season, in that case?  Burn it off on Star! or something.  Don’t air Comedy Inc. on CTV, where people will watch it.

Comedy Inc. is the closest thing to welfare Canadian television offers.  I honestly hope this is the show’s final season.  If Comedy Inc. makes it to a sixth season, then there is no hope for the industry.

I know I should be more on top of Canadian television news, but I’m a latecomer to this story.  The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour is currently shooting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has been since May 26.  Drunk and on Drugs… is Robb Wells, John Paul Tremblay and Mike Smith’s follow-up to Trailer Park Boys, like I really need to state this.

Less Than Kind‘s Maury Chaykin will guest-star as an actor hired to play a wacky German scientist.  Chaykin is filling in for Alex Lifeson, the man originally tagged to play the scientist.  Jay Baruchel, Pat Roach and John Dunsworth also make appearances in the six-episode limited series.

Baruchel’s easily Drunk and on Drugs…‘ hottest guest star, appearing in films like She’s Out of My League, How to Train Your Dragon and The Trotsky.  His climb towards the Hollywood mainstream can only help Drunk and on Drugs… – well, that and Baruchel’s winning CanCon brownie points for The Trotsky.

There’s nothing I can say about The Drunk and on Drugs Happy Funtime Hour that hasn’t already been said.  You’re either excited for Drunk and on Drugs… or pissed off since it’s not Trailer Park Boys.  Hell, maybe you’re both.  TPB-related projects cause conflicting reactions in people.

CAUTION: May Contain Nuts (APTN: airdates here) has been given a complete overhaul since its first season.  A live audience and studio sets have been mounted.  The opening and closing credits have been completely made over.  The insipid title hasn’t changed, but one can’t have everything.

The problem with CMCN‘s first season is that it’s a weaker variation of the shows it’s emulating, namely Human Giant and The Whitest Kids U’ Know.  While castmembers Howie Miller and Sheldon Elter are talented, the show is just there, a placeholder meant to attract viewers bored shitless by Saturday Night Zombie.

The second-season premiere shows definite improvement in CMCN‘s quality.  The show works better live-to-tape in front of an audience.  The castmembers are more comfortable, the overall presentation more energetic.  It’s like CMCN knows it needs to improve, and is acting on that initiative.  I’m impressed.

Miller and Elter are the stars of CAUTION: May Contain Nuts.  This isn’t due to APTN’s aboriginal focus, as non-native Matt Alden is head writer.

The non-native castmembers aren’t as distinctive for some reason, aside from James Higuchi.  On any other comedy network, Miller and Elter would still be key castmembers.  They give CMCN so much of its personality.

The sketches themselves are a mixed bag.  A “CMCN News” sketch is only notable for Higuchi giving the finger.  Miller’s standup routine is out-of-place, as he’s given only two minutes to talk about his literal McJobs.  There’s a reliance on hoary jokes, like cowboys and injuns trading each other in a “hockey” pick-up game.

“Reserve Dogs,” a sketch from CMCN‘s first season, is given a sequel.  Mr. Blonde has been replaced by Mr. Yellowcurry, an East Indian.  The sketch wields a heavy-handed message about the British historically treating East Indians and aboriginals wrong.  Ah, that subtle APTN humour.

Where the “Reserve Dogs” sketch excels is in its full-on Bollywood/Tarantino mashup.  That is a truly inspired moment, helped by a convincing dance routine and the fact that the sketch bleeds into the closing credits.  I sincerely hope CAUTION: May Contain Nuts has turned a quality corner.

This is the first of two CMCN episodes APTN will air during the XXI Olympic Winter Games.  The next episode will air February 21, 2010 at 11:30 PM ET on APTN East.  The odd scheduling must be due to APTN’s airing the Olympics, either that or APTN likes to play The Wacky Schedulin’ Game.

At least APTN doesn’t fill its Olympic broadcast time with tons of arse-stiffening filler between sporting events.  ARE YOU LISTENING, CTV?!  Wait, no, you’re not.

The Hollywood Reporter‘s Etan Vlessing reports that The Ron James Show has been renewed for a second season.  CBC has also greenlit two new sitcoms, Men with Brooms and Insecurity.

Men with Brooms is based on the 2002 Paul Gross film, which tries to marry curling with blue-collar comedy.  The show will be produced by E1 Entertainment.  Insecurity will be mounted by Vérité Films, the company behind Corner Gas, Incredible Story Studio(s) and renegadepress.com.

The Men with Brooms pickup doesn’t surprise me, but it does bother me.  The film’s not that great, and I’d like to know how the hell a working-class male sitcom can be set around curling.  If Men with Brooms turns out better than a dreary, middle-of-the-road dramedy, I’ll eat Sugar Sammy.

I gave a pass to The Ron James Show‘s premiere, but the show is so aimless.  The Ron James Show has no format beyond “monologue, sketch, monologue, sketch, cartoon segment, Ron James utters polysyllables.”  Does The Ron James Show have a target audience?

The Ron James Show‘s not terrible, but it’s not good enough to warrant a second season.  Its ratings are fair-to-middling.  CBC should have greenlit Guerilla Monsoon and kept Ron James to specials.

Little Britain USA (Comedy Network: premiered January 20, 2010, 10:00 PM ET/PT) is the HBO portover of Little Britain, a BBC sketch comedy series.  For those not familiar with Little Britain, the show is a sketch comedy travelogue, focusing on many recurring characters each episode.  Matt Lucas and David Walliams play almost all of the main characters, while some guy in a scarf narrates.

Among the figures of fun are Welsh homosexualist Daffyd Thomas, “paraplegic” Andy and caretaker Lou, morbidly obese Bubbles DeVere and chav Vicky Pollard.  Each character has a catchphrase and/or marketable personality trait.

I’m not going to describe Little Britain beyond this point.  It is to British comedy what The Red Green Show is to Canadian comedy.  Although characters change often, most Little Britain sketches end with a catchphrase uttered and a British stereotype lampooned.  It’s essentially the same show every episode, a tradition which is carried over to Little Britain USA.

I have viewed Little Britain‘s first three series.  The first series focuses on eccentricities, keeping the shock humour to acceptable levels.

By the third series, the show falls into dreary-as-shit repetition.  Daffyd Thomas says “I am a gay” and acts like a poseur.  Marjorie Dawes makes fun of fatties and picks on the token Indian.  Carol Beer acts rude, coughs, and says “computer says no.”  Every.  Single.  Episode.  Hell, I haven’t even touched Maggie Blackamoor and her vomitous reactions to progress.

I want to like Little Britain USA, but again, same jokes with the same punchlines.  Lucas and Walliams go through the motions way too often, despite the inclusion of new characters like Phyllis (Walliams) and Mr. Doggy.  Want to see a sheriff (Walliams) get sexually aroused over guns?  It’s here, whether you like it or not.

There are a few clever bits in Little Britain USA, like Mildred (Lucas) talking to Connor (Walliams) about all the drugs she’s put into her body over the years.  On the flip side, there’s a sketch about muscleheads Mark and Tom being muscleheaded.  Oh, their genitals are tiny.  Full-frontal nudity and pantomimed anal sex ensue, not that those things translate into hilarity.

The thing I most hate about Little Britain USA is its overloud laugh track.  Lucas and Walliams’ material can stand on its own.  Why have the canned laughter?  Do people need to be prodded into laughing every time Andy gets off his wheelchair and pisses in the pool?

Fans of Little Britain will no doubt like Little Britain USA.  It’s a well-known formula in a different flavour, like Coca-Cola with Lemon.  I can’t get into Little Britain USA for this reason.  Lucas and Walliams are capable of better material.

Instead of adapting Little Britain for American audiences, Lucas and Walliams should have blown the show up and began anew.  They’ve gone as far as they can with the Little Britain format.  At least Tom Baker doesn’t suck on this show, but we all know that going in.