Everything about Four in the Morning, eh?

Comments and queries for the week of September 16

Kids Help Phone Charity auction

The Mr. D package is not allowing me to bid, not sure if something is wrong with the link, but “Bid Now” button not allowing to enter a bid. —D

Thanks so much for the support of this great cause, and for letting me know about the glitch. It’s been fixed! If anyone else is having problems bidding, please email me at the address below.


Four in the Morning

I was going to give this show a go but I forgot to set it to record on my DVR. Now I think I’m just going to let it pass me by. After reading your review I think it’s a show I probably won’t like and I’ve been a lot more fussy when it comes to shows to keep watching these days. There’s just too much TV nowadays. I still have 20 shows I’m behind on. I keep finding myself dropping shows I’m a number of episodes in on like Arrow, Playing House, Bitten, etc., because I realize there’s always another show I want to watch more. —Alicia


APTN’s Wild Archaeology entertains and educates

I am very happy you liked the show so much. Trust me when I say there is much more to see many more place we traveled and learned from all across Canada. —Jacob Pratt

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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Four in the Morning: Porcine “Fallacy” of Errors — The Comedy

It seems this week’s theme of Four in the Morning is asking us why many people today are so cavalier in their relationships. Friends come, friends go; relationships have in a sense become disposable. However, “one way or another, everyone gets their blowback.”

We jump right in with William (Mazin Elsadig) and Mitzi (Lola Tash), two halves from two different wholes, sharing a late-night meal at The Patrician when William’s parents appear, declaring they are disowning him. Just like that, a biological connection is legally severed with a simple signature, and yet William does not appear bothered at all.

Now, if you recall at the close of Episode 1 , we learned that—on his deathbed—Albert the talking pig revealed to Mitzi that Jamie and Bondurant slept together, setting the stage for some dramatic irony. With that in mind…

Bondurant (Daniel Maslany) is at the hospital; he has lost his blow, and will miss an audition as a result. It is Jamie (Michelle Mylett), not Mitzi, who rushes to his side. Bondurant is diagnosed with “Trick Candle Syndrome,” a psychosomatic disorder, necessitating a visit from the on-call psychiatric resident. He is unwittingly treated by her daughter playing dress-up, but the wisdom of a child’s innocence brings clarity for Bondurant; he should not be lying to avoid intimacy. In the end, Bondurant recants his proclamation of love for Jamie and declares that he is indeed in love with Mitzi.

Meanwhile, Mitzi shares Albert’s revelation with William. Suddenly, William views his relationship with Jamie in a different light, already emotionally distancing himself from her. After a few long monologues we cut to Mitzi experiencing a sexlucinatory episode  and we finally meet  Albert the talking pig! He comes clean: after all who can believe a pig on magic beans?!? Bondurant it seems was simply trying to make the oh-so cavalier Mitzi jealous. The joke, however, is on Mitzi and William. They both assumed the worst of their partners based on the word of a pig and had sex behind Bondurant’s and Jamie’s backs.

I still really love Four in the Morning, but it really struck me in this episode that I do not yet have empathy for any of these characters; no emotional connection at all. They just happen to be fun to be around. But, after some thought and in light of the theme explored tonight, perhaps that is a deliberate choice for creator Ira Parker? Perhaps the point is I am to be invested in the journey rather than care about who is travelling with me. Relationships here, in this environment, can be tossed away easily and we, and our four protagonists, deliberately avoid investing ourselves/themselves in personal relationships. But to what ends?

I do have one complaint, however. NO one looks this good at 4 in the morning, except perhaps flight attendants.

What do you think is next for our foursome? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Four In the Morning airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Four in the Morning: A Day in the Life

Well that episode was quite the poser! Creator Ira Parker asks us the loaded question, “What if…?” and we buzz off on a trip as our madcap foursome experience the same.

A sober cold open showcases a set of parents, Donna and Martin, (Deborah Day, who I was fortunate to see play Marina/Thaisa in last summer’s The Adventures of Pericles at The Stratford Festival, and Sergio Di Zio, who most recently played Patrick Finnegan in the series Rogue) as they abandon their newborn children. However, Parker is just using this scenario to set up his philosophical exercise. He is really asking us all to examine life, death, our legacies, and the consequences of life choices.

As it happens these two “children,” Margaret and Gogol (also played by Day and Di Zio), are “day kids”; apparently an oft experienced condition at the Patrician Grill. They live their entire lifetime in a single day. The evening includes frat parties, a first kiss in the rain, and wasted opportunities. We even face grief due to chronic illness.

The show is laced with quiet moments of inquiry, absent of any guile. Jamie (Michelle Mylett) appears to be the one most affected, but then again Mitzi (Lola Tash) is still contemplating whether or not to terminate her unforeseen pregnancy.

It is also Mitzi who delivers our most profound statement: “Whether you live for one day or 100 years, your legacy is not for you but for the people you leave behind.” But Gogol poses the most intriguing question: “Is it possible to spend a butt load of time with the same people but not be really close with any of them?”

These types of philosophical questions have always been more of a focus thing. They force you to strip away the trivialities of life. They make us look at our core values: who we are, what we want in life, and what pleases us. Parker takes us all by the hand on this little romp and we watch our foursome go through this exercise, digging deep and figuring out what is important in their/our lives.

I started to watch this show because it just looked quirky enough to be really fun. Instead, I found this  to be a surreal little gem, perfect in its simplicity.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Four in the Morning airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Link: The CBC explores places it previously didn’t seem to know existed with offbeat comedy Four in the Morning

From David Berry of the National Post:

Link: The CBC explores places it previously didn’t seem to know existed with offbeat comedy Four in the Morning
Ira Parker is as surprised as anyone that Four in the Morning ended up at the CBC.

The show, the pilot script he completed fairly fresh out of school is, as he admits something of an odd duck: a semi-surrealist look at the lives of four young friends, taking place in the wee hours of the morning, that time when hormones and intoxicants come together to create the kinds of experiences that are well outside your day-to-day life and all the more definitive for that. Continue reading. 

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Four in the Morning boasts humour and bittersweet-ness in debut

In this premiere episode of Four in the Morning, created by Ira Parker, we are treated to a bit of magic realism: a talking pig named Albert a.k.a. Buzz. More on that later.

Four in the Morning is being touted as a comedy. I would, however, describe this as a surreal dream that definitely takes itself seriously.  The dialogue flies by and the puns are delivered so deadpan that if you are not listening, you might not catch them all. But this is not a laugh-a-minute show. It delves a little deeper despite the many f-bombs and a few other liberal-isms that we  typically do not see on the CBC.  It features four (get it? FOUR!) twentysomethings experiencing life at 4 a.m..

Parker himself describes the series: “Four in the Morning is about that feeling you get after a long night of drinking with your friends, fluctuating somewhere between euphoria and misery. It’s about the things we say to each other that we couldn’t during our more sober hours. This is the world our show lives in.”

We open with a quick walking tour through the Patrician Grill—the 219 over the door should be a dead giveaway to Torontonians—and land downstairs in the the ladies’ room with Mitzi (Lola Tash, formerly of Republic of Doyle) sharing the news with her best friend Jamie (Michelle Mylett, “Katy” of Letterkenny) that her talking pet pig has died. See, I really wasn’t kidding about the pig.

Meanwhile, back in the booth, Bondurant (Daniel Maslany, whose credits include Corner Gas), confesses his love for Jamie to Jamie’s boyfriend William (Mazin Elsadig). Eventually, the foursome reunite in a scene reminiscent of When Harry Met Sally—we all remember that  “famous” scene in Katz’s Delicatessen—and the whole thing comes together like you would imagine a Seinfeld episode if it were written by David Lynch. Quirky is a bit of an understatement.

Anyhow, William turns to his girlfriend Jamie in frustration, “I am starting to get why your parents abandoned you,” and with that, the foursome becomes two twosomes, setting up a series of back and forth, his and hers scenes. We learn through Bondurant’s confession to William that he has lied to everyone about his acceptance to Julliard. We also learn via Mitzi’s  own confession to Jamie that she is merely “transitorily pregnant” and plans to abort Bondurant’s child because it is her belief that he has been accepted to Julliard.

This sequence of bantering scenes feels more like a one-act play than television sitcom, giving 4 a.m. a very fresh charm. It crams in a good deal of background information with its fast-paced dialogue.  Parker even gets a bit meta with his dialogue; William calls Bondurant out for dropping a famous Carnegie/Massey Hall joke.

We close with  the knowledge that Mitzi’s pig squealed on Jamie and Bondurant, while Bondurant contemplates his future, sans trumpet,  from the stage of an empty and darkened Massey Hall.

This is truly a refreshing blend of humour and bittersweet-ness. Definitely a standing “O” to the CBC for allowing Parker free reign with his creation. This, I hope, will be a really fun ride!

Will Mitzi decide to keep Bondurant’s baby? What do you think will happen next? Do you have a favourite line from the show? Leave your ideas in the comments below!

Four in the Morning airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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