Fresh local sketch show Film
By Peter Paylor
Confession
time: I
could easily get hooked on Bell Fibe’s TV1. Dubbed “100% fresh locally-sourced television…made right in your backyard, by your community” with food and sports and DIY, along with travel and adventure and chilling true crime. It comes from places like Stittsville and Barrie, and soon it will be coming from here.
Belleville’s Eighty Twenty Studio have signed on to do a sketch comedy series for the network with a setting that is guaranteed to be 100% fresh and locally sourced. Anyone who is familiar with Belleville will recognize it immediately. The series is called “Stoney Lonesome.” Victor Cooper, one of the producers of the show, calls Stoney Lonesome an “ungentrified part of town.” “You can look at
that as a negative and say it’s this rough part of town, or you can look at it as the part of town that hasn’t been messed up yet. The show looks at it in both ways. It shows the good and the bad, but more often than not, it exposes the fact that the people from these different worlds – the people from Stoney Lonesome and the people from the rich parts of town – are not nearly as different as they think they are. For better or worse – and it’s usually for worse – their flaws are quite similar, and flaws are always more interesting than successes and triumphs, especially in comedy.” Cooper is happy to be working with TV1. “It’s a real, solid platform with a good relationship to start. You’re working with Bell. It’s not the pressure of writing 12 22-minute episodes with a team of 11 executive producers from whatever network. They’ve been an advocate for new, up-and-coming producers and directors. It’s a good way to start.”
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What’s more, he’s happy to be working close to home. “ We’ve got everything we need here… Work with what you’ve got…and here we’ve got these not so built-up areas with lots of construction and mechanic shops right next to these