Corner Gas Coming to an End

[farmers_son]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080411/gas_butt_080411/20080411?hub=Entertainment

"Corner Gas" star and creator Brent Butt has declared that the pumps are closed as his hit comedy is ending its highly successful run on CTV.


"I didn't want the show to go too long," Butt told Seamus O'Regan during an interview on CTV's Canada AM.


"The only way to do that was to keep my eyes and ears open... I really think the time is now."


Brent Butt stars in "Corner Gas" as the loveable oaf Brent Leroy, whose sharp wit pokes fun at his Dog River community. The series also stars Eric Peterson, Janet Wright, Gabrielle Miller, Fred Ewanuick, Lorne Cardinal, Tara Spencer-Nairn and Nancy Robertson.


Only 19 new episodes of the No. 1 Canadian comedy series will be produced this summer when the show goes back into production in Regina and Rouleau, Sask.


"It was a very difficult decision, because the show is very special to me and it's special to a lot of people," said Butt.


President of Creative, Content and Channels, CTV Inc. Susanne Boyce is proud of what "Corner Gas" has accomplished.


"Brent and his team have accomplished something that has never been achieved before," Boyce said in a press release.


"The series has paved the way for other Canadian productions by proving that if you make great TV, Canadians will watch."


"Corner Gas" premiered on CTV in January 2004 to an audience of 1.15 million viewers, and saw rise to passionate fans that would even trek to Saskatchewan to visit the set.


The former stand-up comedian explains that he wanted his series, which still regularly snags over a million Canadian viewers on Monday nights, to avoid overstaying its welcome.


"It's like leaving a party, and nobody is sad -- it's a good sign that you've stayed too long."


Not only a hit with audiences, "Corner Gas" was also lauded by critics and went on to win six Gemini Awards, including "Best Comedy Series."


Butt says he's not going to do anything different for the show's final season, and is choosing to instead carry on like any other year.


"We're not writing towards a specific end," says Butt. "Nobody is leaving Dog River."

[wilagro]

Not really a CTV fan...but it wasn't as bad as the plethora of failed shows that have been shown on CBC. Air FArce is being discontinued as well, and about time. It has been going down hill for the past three seasons. We'll probably end up with American crap, unfortunately.

Now, CBC has modified its Country Canada channel with its "Bold" designation where we get to "pay" for all of the crap that was terrible on the regular "free" channels. My initial view...terrible junk and I won't be spending my money on that crapola.

[coppertop]

Corner Gas was a corny show, but did have a good cast, and was one show with Canadian content that any of us coming from small communities could relate to.

[per]

Corny for sure. Pure entertainment.

[farmers_son]

My son has been a Corner Gas fan since the show first started and his new wife loves the show too. She is a city girl. They have all the DVDs. Corner Gas portrayed rural Prairie people as cool, if not quirky. It was a positive image that I believe makes a difference in some peoples decisions, my son included, to live in a rural area instead of the city with the rest of the thronging hordes. My son has, on more than one occasion compared Mom and Dad to Oscar and Emma. I do not know where he gets that from…the jackass (just joking). I am pretty sure he thinks of himself as Brent. No doubt his wife would compare herself to Libby or maybe Wanda, probably Wanda. Maybe a little of both.

It is so seldom that we get to see ourselves on TV, either as rural people or as Canadians. Corner Gas does that for us.

And just like Dog River we are forty kilometers from nowhere and way beyond normal.

[coppertop]

FS, if you behave anything like Oscar, it must get fairly interesting in your neck of the woods at times !!!

I think we all saw someone we recognized in Corner Gas !!!! I could make some comparisions with local folk but might need to go into hiding if I did !!!

[per]

fs, I think you mean Lacey. I met the people who won the Corner Gas house in Climax Sask.. Ironically she was pumping gas. Probably a good thing they are done as so many shows stay longer than there are good ideas.