THE TV GUYDE – Those darned Kids!

Tuesdays @ 9:00 (CBC)

While I’m more than thrilled the Kids in the Hall are back, I never “got” their brand of comedic insanity back in the day. I didn’t get why almost all of their sketches needed them to dress in drag. Not that it bothered me seeing five grown men in wigs and dresses…why not bring aboard some actresses? It just made more sense to me. Fifteen years later and I “get” it.

The Kids in the Hall 25 years ago.

What you need to get about the Canadian Kids’ new eight-part miniseries Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town is the following: The Good Bad Ol’ Grim Reaper (Mark McKinney) has checked into the small town of Shuckton to take names and snort souls. GR watches as one of the town’s folk bludgeons their first victim to death, thus spurring the yokels (mostly played by the Kids) into action to solve the “whodunnit.”

Mayor Bowman of Shuckton rallies the local boys hockey team.

Kids fans should be pleased with the results. There’s plenty of parody and colourful characters – yes, a bunch are in drag – to go around. Right off the top we meet Mayor Larry Bowman, who’s working hard (in an awesomely crafted satire) rallying for the Olympic committee to choose Shuckton for their 2028 Summer Games. The guy’s kind of a big deal, but it’s all just a sham, hiding his loveless marriage (Dave Foley plays his wife) and shame for his “special” son. The boy’s name is Rampop. Best. Name. Ever.

Bowman is played to perfection by Bruce McCulloch who, along with the rest of the gang, knows how to ham it up just enough without causing indigestion. Other characters include obese orphan shut-in Ricky (McCulloch again); squeaky clean yet disturbingly forgetful pizza delivery lady Marnie (Kevin McDonald); and Crim, the town’s top hood with an addiction to sniffing antibacterial gel (Scott Thompson). And there are many, many more.

In this murder mystery, these five are your UNUSUAL suspects.

The murder mystery concept is different for the Kids, but it’s a great way to feed eight episodes together and keep viewers watching. There are ample sight gags for mainstay fans and newbies to enjoy, especially for fans of series like The Simpsons. One of my favourite blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scenes included the steakhouse serving also as the local abortion clinic. I don’t foresee anything as legendary as “I crush your head” coming out of this series, but it feels good to have the boys back in town…or rather the kids back in the hall.

For the opening vignette alone, check out the latest Conventioneers vid here:

The TV Guyde