Shelved

All the characters have a potential of having episodes based on the character. If I was to complain on the show, would be the character of Wendy being a little too nerdy......but the characters are all great, Jaq is just wonderful, Bryce adds old school. There are episodes that can be outside of the Library as well in the library the various characters add so much life and various story lines. The show has to be reviewed and rewritten for additional story lines and serious overtones with current life story's and of course funny / crazy story lines simple story lines. There is good diverse characters to put up several seasons of shows. Please write up season 2.

I'm a big fan of Canadian comedy. Some of the best in the world. This is not up to scratch. I would have loved if this had been half as good as "The Librarians" AUS.

The characters were annoying, the plot was lame and the writing was pathetic.

How am I going to get to the required characters on this review.

This was really badly written, badly played and badly filmed.

600 Characters is far too many for some shows

I love Canadian TV but this is not the best and I'm struggling to find any pluses for this show.

There are far better shows to watch and I'm sure you can find them somewhere. Thanks and goodbye'

I think, for a first season, it's a good start.

I think Manager Wendy is too "otherworldly" for this. A lot of her lines sound like a badly written childrens' book. She's really unbelievable, the way she's written, and it's almost insulting if I'm honest.

Many of the characters are interesting but yeah - first season, underdeveloped; that's normal. Some good sight gags and punchlines - I lol'd once or twice. I like the pacing and the patter.

To be honest - I came here JUST to defend it cuz I knew it would take a beating but I don't want anyone to give up on it. I think it has SO much potential, and is ONE of the best ideas Canadian Television has had in a long time. Canadian TV has seemed to step up a little lately. I'm appreciating that.

Love the premise, love the path. Now just a little polish. I like it.

This show is a rip off of Abbott Elementary, and unfortunately not a good one. It's so by the numbers I wonder if AI helped write it.

Earnest lead black female character- check.

Nerdy black young male - check Conservative old white guy - check Overly progressive hippie - check Characterless and boring LGBTIQ+ to make up the numbers - check

Progressive plot episode early to virtue signal and meet quotas yep that too.

But worst of all, it's just rarely funny. Not laugh out loud funny and not cringe funny. Just try hard funny.

Sad becuase the setting had a lot of potential and the actors are all really trying. Lyndie Greenwood shows she can act and is a pretty face, but she's not from what ive seen a FUNNY actress.

And the show also contains the most annoying and unfunny character I've seen in a sitcom for a long time- Wendy the homeless lady. You can skip her scenes.

Shelved follows the day-to-day lives of a fictitious group of librarians and regular patrons at the Parkdale Public Library in Toronto. Head librarian Wendy Yarmouth is relentlessly perky and naive, and finds herself struggling to make tough calls. Assistant head Bryce deLaurel is misogynistic and set in his ways. Junior librarian Jaq Bedard is snarky and likes to mess with others for her own amusement. New to the branch is Howard Tutt, who tries to prove to everyone that he's not elitist, but he consistently winds up tripping over his own feet. Sheila Boyd is a put-together part time worker who runs the community desk and is a love interest for Howard. "Unhoused Wendy" Brown is a homeless woman who uses the facilities while trying to get her life back together. And Alvin Canada is a pretentious businessman who uses the study room as his personal office.

In the 2020s, there's a real problem with comedies that are either mean-spirited or trying so hard not to offend anyone that they're just not funny. I'm happy to say that Shelved doesn't fall into either of those categories. The character of Bryce, for example, should be thoroughly unlikable. He says and does some awful things (that are also really funny), but it comes from a place of ignorance rather than spite, so his coworkers still like him despite his very glaring character flaws. The third episode featured a timely story centering on a drag queen heading up story time. It could have come across as either mean or preachy, but they handled it with subtlety, class, and humor. And speaking as someone who spent a year living in their car, I'm thrilled to see that Unhoused Wendy was treated with respect rather than being a total stereotype (she's a little stereotypical in her first outing, but gets better in later episodes). If all homeless persons were depicted like this rather than lazy losers and drug addicts, then I might not have had to endure what I went through.

There's a real heart in this show which is unusual for current TV. Comparisons to "Parks & Rec," "The Office" and countless similar workplace shows have flown fast and hard, but personally, I think it's more like "Schitt's Creek" with a little more ethnic diversity -- there's a broad range of eccentric characters who learn to put up with the quirks of the people around them, and even sometimes love them precisely for their quirks. That's life, folks.

I need to take a moment to gush about Lyndie Greenwood. Wendy is a total 180 from the characters that she's played in the past, and she's WONDERFUL in the role. Greenwood always shines brightly, but comedy seems to suit her really well, and I hope she gets more opportunities to be funny.

The season's currently halfway through, but I'm looking forward to the rest and hoping they get picked up for more. The show's really good, but it has the potential to truly become a classic if given the opportunity.