Hiccups

I waited along time for Hiccups to arrive and now that it's here, I'm loving every minute of it! Brent Butt is a genius and has transplanted the magic of Corner Gas to urban Vancouver in Hiccups. The writing is superb and the characters are wonderful. The premise of the series is that Millie Upton (Nancy Robertson)a children's writer with anger management issues finds therapy in Stan Dirko (Brent Butt), a life coach who with Millie as his only client fumbles his way to setting her on the right path. Surrounding these two are Joyce Haddison (Laura Soltis), Millie's straight-laced editor and chief, Taylor Rhymes(David Ingram), Millie's slime ball agent who seems more interested in picking up women than Millie's career, Crystal Braywood (Emily Perkins) the ditsy, know-it-all receptionist and Anna Dirko (Paula Rivera), Stan's loving and devoted, way to hot for him wife. Together, they provide the perfect ensemble that sets this series apart from so many of the other recent sitcoms. Hiccups gets two thumbs up!

I really did want to love this show after being a huge Corner Gas fan for years, but I couldn't. I did like it though. It didn't capture the magic that Corner Gas had for so long, but I think it's a little bit too early to decide that the show is going to be amazing or fail miserably. I started watching Corner Gas in season 4, and going back to watch season 1m I discovered a very different show. I love watching Nancy Robertson playing a nut-case because, though Millie is over the top sometimes, she is still fun to watch. Some of the show seems unrealistic and forced, but I think things will settle into place over time. If you are a Corner Gas fan, at least give the show a chance to become really excellent.

I just found this show and I am so glad I did. I'm a fan of Corner Gas so I thought I would give Hiccups a try. I wasn't hooked right away. Robertson's character Millie was pretty outrageous, which at first struck me as too much and out of place...but then by the second episode I found her character endearing and hilariously oddball. Robertson and Brent Butt are great together in the show. All the other characters start to fill out as the show progresses and bring more subtle, but added flavor to it. Robertson is amazing in this and her outrageousness really becomes a natural, dynamic aspect of the series. Her facial expressions, body language, and line delivery are comic gold!

Yes, I was a Corner Gas fan, too and yes I was not ready for Hiccups. I needed time to heal and blah, blah, blah.

But, come on, this is a really good show. The over-the-top main character, Millie Upton, is a joy to watch and Nancy Robertson delivers in every episode. Since the genre of man-child movies and sitcoms (commercials, etc.) has forever been (obviously) a No Girls Allowed Club, it's great to see a woman take on a "chronic child" character and nail it.

The supporting characters that orbit around Millie's planet are well-developed and likable. Yes, the stories are sometimes far-fetched and unbelievable but so were the story lines on Curb Your Enthusiasm (yet another man-child show) and it didn't stop that show from being a huge hit.

The writing and comedy style still has notes of the wry, understated nature that was common on Corner Gas. But even though this is not Corner Gas, it's still a good watch.

I'm hoping for a Season 3!

I'm Canadian. I understand references to Canadian culture whether they are topical or not. I was a fan of Brent Butt's stand up comedy long before his sitcom days and I was a fan of Corner Gas, especially during the first few years. Then the humour became stale and forced. Hiccups, in a sense, cuts out the middle man. It starts off being stale and forced without first being funny. I've seen only two episodes and I have no plans to see more. The show has a long way to go before it can be considered mediocre let alone good.

The problem with this show lies in the writing. The actors are talented but what can anyone can do with a lame premise and lame lines? Because of the status that Butt and Robertson enjoy in Canada this sitcom may be back next year but, judged on merit and not reputation, it needs to be terminated as soon as possible.