Hatching, Matching, & Dispatching

HMD is (was) one of the funniest shows I've had the pleasure of watching. Perhaps my view is a little distorted as I am from Newfoundland. Nevertheless I started watching this show with the expectation that it was going to be terrible as I generally do not enjoy the comedy of Mary Walsh. I was shocked at how outlandishly funny and refreshing the show was. It was clearly a distorted representation of what Newfoundland life is all about – and it is a monster hit in my opinion. This is hands down high tier (albeit low brow) Canadian comedy show compared to classics like Kids in the Hall and This Hour has 22 Minutes.

How can CBC cancel a show like this, but push on with the dribble such as Corner Gas?

At the time of Hatching's tragically short lifespan of 1 season (after the pilot, later an Xmas Special) I greatly appreciated the dark and in your face comedy and the amazingly non-formulaic format of this gem (not to be confused with CBC's tragic netviewer) of a series.

After discovering the Trailer Park Boys I was craving some of that unmistakably gritty East Coast Canadian dark-comedy and Hatching, Matching scratched the itch in a totally unique way. As a non-Newfoundlander I was greatly relieved by it's style when compared to the other Canadian (and some non-Canadian) comedies of the era and missed the Fury families antics greatly until A Christmas Fury, starring the same cast, was released a couple of years ago, which gives me hope that maybe the CBC will make a good choice and give the series the real chance it deserves.

The show also marks the beginnings of not just Newfoundland's but now some of Canada's most prominent comedians; Johnny Harris, Sue Kent, Joel Hynes, Sherry White, Adriana Maggs, Steve Cochrane and of course Shawn Majumder, not to mention Mark McKinney and Mary Walsh who appears to be somewhat of a show-runner.

Bring back Walsh and her loveable gang!

Some decent laughs. It was more a CBC comedy show for my parents than me and my friends, is a good way I would describe it. Nothing special and really basic comedy but good for what it was, a few laughs here and there and Mary Walsh is always fun.

You have to appreciate the very off-kilter Newfoundland sense of humour to get this show (and if you're not used to the thick-as-molasses Newfoundland accent, turn on the captions on your TV). It helps if you're from the Rock or if you've been out there (though that's certainly not required).

Personally, I think this show is a work of genius--easily one of the best Canadian comedy creations in years. I actually have to tape it so that I can pause it every few minutes--otherwise, I miss entire sections of dialogue because I'm still laughing at something from the last scene! It's not easy to steal the show from Mary Walsh, but Susan Kent (Darlene) does it effortlessly. I personally think that Shawn Majumder (a funny, funny guy if you've ever seen him do stand-up) is underused in this show, but hey--its still early days, so who knows...

Great stuff, 'bys! More, more, more!!!

Can't believe that this show was cancelled, I couldn't wait to see the newest episode. I was also hoping to get this released on DVD or even find some poorly ripped video on the internet but I've yet to find it. Troy (Jonny Harris) for me made the show, just seen an episode of Comedy Now with him and all I could think of was getting all the episodes of HMD.

I also ran into Shaun Majumder one night and told him how much I loved the show. He was there with another bunch of the writers and he told me how much fun that they were having making it, it was nice to see how genuine he was.

Maybe I'm a little bias but I truly enjoyed every second of the show and would love to see it again.