''Robson Arms'' is a Canadian television series that began airing on
CTV on June 17, 2005 and ended on June 30, 2008. ''Robson Arms'' is a co-production between
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
-based
Omni Film Productions Limited and
Halifax's
Creative Atlantic Communications
Creative Atlantic Communications is a Canadian television production company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
History
Creative Atlantic was established in 1989 by Greg Jones and Janice Evans, initially creating advertising and corporate communicati ...
.
The show is a comedy-drama (
dramedy
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
)
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
organized around the Robson Arms, an apartment building in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, at the fictional address of 951 Pendrell Street. Each of the show's episodes focuses principally on a different tenant of the building, although the core cast members interact in minor roles throughout the series. In each episode, the Troubadours comment on the storyline through song.
The show was created to fulfill a licensing requirement of CTV's Vancouver station,
CIVT, which originally promised, as an independent station, to produce 20 episodes of an anthology series entitled ''The Storytellers''. Only ten such episodes were produced. The
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) did not agree that CIVT's new network programming supplanted this commitment and asked the station to fulfill its promise. CTV believed the anthology would be more successful as a series with common characters, and ''Robson Arms'' was the result.
Two of the show's regular cast members,
Gabrielle Miller
Gabrielle Sunshine Miller (born November 9, 1973) is a Canadian actress who, since the start of her career in 1993, has appeared in many television films and series episodes, including leading roles in two of Canada's most popular concurrently-r ...
and
Fred Ewanuick
Fred Ewanuick ( /əˈwαnɪk/; born June 23, 1971) is a Canadian actor known for his roles in the television series ''Corner Gas'' as Hank Yarbo and as the title character in the CTV sitcom ''Dan for Mayor''. He was also a regular in a CTV anthol ...
, appeared in this series concurrent with their continuing roles in another CTV production, ''
Corner Gas
''Corner Gas'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Brent Butt. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2009. Re-runs still air on CTV, CTV2, CTV Comedy Channel, Much, MTV, E! and are streaming on Crave and Amazon Prime. The seri ...
''.
The series currently airs in reruns on CTV's secondary
CTV Two
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional ...
system.
Cast and characters
The season(s) during which each actor has been included in the main cast are marked in black. White square means the actor doesn't appear in that season at all.
Robson Arms, the Building
The structure used as the apartment building is not located in Vancouver's West End, but rather is located at 951 Boundary Road on the east side of the City of Vancouver. It is called Taylor Manor, and is on the City of Vancouver's historic building registry.
Taylor Manor on Canada's Historic Places Registry
/ref> The skyscraper skyline behind the building is superimposed to make it look like it is located in Vancouver's West End.
Episodes
Season 1 (2005)
Season 2 (2007)
Season 3 (2008)
Home media
Video Service Corp has released all 3 seasons on DVD in Region 1.
References
External links
''Robson Arms''
* {{IMDb title, 0418424, Robson Arms
2000s Canadian anthology television series
CTV Television Network original programming
CTV 2 original programming
2005 Canadian television series debuts
2008 Canadian television series endings
CTV Comedy Channel original programming
Television shows set in Vancouver
Television shows filmed in Vancouver
2000s Canadian comedy-drama television series
Television series by Bell Media