Hiccups

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.

Delightful and funny. Canadian television shines again. Nancy Robertson plays Millie Upton, a successful children's book author. She sees the world as a child. She overacts to difficult situations with what her editor calls hiccups, these hiccups inspire her books. To deal with her hiccups she hires a life coach, Stan (Brent Butt), who has no formal training has his hands full trying to defuse her hiccups and help her understand them and why she reacts the way she does. Her overreactions are how most of wish we could say or do. Nancy Robertson is as wonderful as she was in Corner Gas. Kudos to the writers on creativity and freshness and not relying on vulgar offensive language, violence and nudity to tell a story.

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.

If Hiccups was handled differently it could have been a success. The cast are all superb, and the writing whilst not rib crackling funny is whimsical and heartwarming enough to make it more than watchable. However, it suffers from the weight of expectation and its gestation time was far too short.

After the mega success of Corner Gas, and much to the disappointment of its millions of adoring fans to its much to early demise, Brent Butt et el wrote produced and aired the first season of Hiccups less than a year from the CG series finale.

Not enough time had past to allow the general public to move on from it's beloved sitcom. All eyes were on Brent Butt to repeat the success of CG and a lot of it's former fans were still hurt from it's passing to give the new show a chance.

The other problem is it's accessibility. One of the main reasons of Corner Gas' success was that it was relatable. For the majority of it's audience they identified and loved small town Canada with its collection of adorable eccentric locals. Dog River was a place where most people grew up in or wanted to live in. Hiccups is a world of millionaire authors,publishers and slick slimy agents - High flying City Dwellers. The first episode of the long delayed second season takes place partly in LA. How many average Canadians can identify with that?

The show could still be a moderate success, however it needs to ground itself firmer in reality, tone down the central character of Millie who at the moment is still far too unstable to make a connection with the audience and for CTV to show it some love and to not pre-empt it on a whim, and recommission the show early to allow Brent Butt & the writers the time to create stronger more 3 dimensional characters.

Though in reality what the people are truly waiting for is not a third season of Hiccups or more projects from former Corner Gas alumni but a Corner Gas movie, or even better a full seventh season of Canada's greatest sitcom of all time.

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!