''Sunnyside'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sketch comedy television series, which premiered January 9, 2015 on

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

."Sunnyside a surreal new Canadian sketch-com awash in ponies"
canada.com, January 7, 2015. Created by

Dan Redican Dan Redican (born 1956 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian comedy writer and performer and puppeteer, best known for his work with the comedy troupe, '' The Frantics.'' As a founding member of the troupe he has worked since 1979 on numerous stage ...

and Gary Pearson, the series is set in the fictional neighbourhood of Sunnyside and features sketches depicting various eccentric recurring characters living there."Wolseley-shot sketch show a bright spot on the TV schedule"
''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'', January 8, 2015. The show was cancelled after one season, although City has sometimes reaired the episodes in repeats. The cast includes

Pat Thornton Pat Thornton (born September 5, 1976) is a Canadians, Canadian television actor, comedian, and writer."Pat ...

, Patrice Goodman,

Alice Moran Alice Moran is a British-Canadian actress and writer. Moran has appeared or starred in several Canadian television series, including the CBC Television series '' Crawford''. Career Moran grew up in St. Albert, Alberta and later Red Deer, Alber ...

Kevin Vidal Kevin Vidal is a Canadian actor.

Kathleen Phillips Kathleen Phillips is a Canadian actress based in Toronto, Ontario. She is most noted for her roles in the sketch comedy series '' Sunnyside'', for which she and the other core cast collectively won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance in ...

, Rob Norman and

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

. The show was filmed in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. Redican and Pearson had each approached

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

with individual show ideas; Redican's pitch was ''Our Street'', an ensemble series about the quirky residents of an urban neighbourhood, while Pearson's was ''Dark Roast'', about the quirky customers of a coffee shop. Neither pitch was accepted as presented, but Rogers asked them to combine their ideas into a single show. They agreed and created ''Sunnyside'', patterning their fictional neighbourhood after Toronto's Parkdale. Macdonald appears on the show only in voice form, as the neighbourhood's surreal alternate reality version of the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

: a sentient sewer line which can answer search queries shouted into a

manhole A manhole (utility hole, maintenance hole, or sewer hole) is an opening to a confined space such as a shaft, utility vault, or large vessel. Manholes are often used as an access point for an underground public utility, allowing inspection, m ...

Episodes

Season 1 (2015)

Reception

Television critics reviewed the show favourably, with Brad Oswald of the ''

'' calling it "Canada's best sketch-comedy TV effort since ''

Codco ''CODCO'' is a Canadian comedy troupe from Newfoundland, best known for a sketch comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 1988 to 1993.The Kids in the Hall The Kids in the Hall is a Canadian sketch comedy troupe formed in 1984, consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson. Their eponymous television show ran from 1989 to 1995, on CBC, ...

'' arrived in rapid succession in the late '80s", and John Doyle of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' calling the show "daft but deftly skewering the ripe pickings of contemporary ludicrousness". Doyle also criticized the network for scheduling the show to air directly opposite ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on C ...

'', stating that the show "deserves a much bigger potential audience than that offered in this suicide-slot." The cast collectively won the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series ...

for Best Performance in a Variety or Sketch Comedy Program or Series at the 4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016.Julianna Cummins
"Room cleans up at final night of 2016 Screenies"
'' Playback'', March 13, 2016.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 3984348 2015 Canadian television series debuts 2015 Canadian television series endings 2010s Canadian sketch comedy television series Citytv original programming Television shows filmed in Winnipeg