''The Associates'' 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 ...

television drama series that aired on CTV in 2001 and 2002. The show centred on the professional and personal lives of five junior associate lawyers at the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

office of the multinational law firm of Young, Barnsworth & King. The show's cast included Demore Barnes as Benjamin Hardaway,

Shaun Benson Shaun Benson (born January 16, 1976) is a Canadian actor and director. Early life Benson was born in Guelph, Ontario. He is the son of Eugene Benson, an English professor and a prolific novelist, playwright and librettist."Just Cause for Benson: ...

as Jonah Gleason, Tamara Hickey as Robyn Parsons,

Gabriel Hogan Gabriel Hogan (born 17 May 1973) is a Canadian-born American actor. He is best known for his continuing role on the hit cable television firefighter comedy series ''Tacoma FD'', CBC/Up TV/Netflix’s ''Heartland'' and the drama ''Condor''. ...

as Mitch Barnsworth and

Jennie Raymond Jennie Raymond is a Canadian film and television actress, best known for her three time Canadian Screen Award-nominated for best actress in a leading role and her two wins ACTRA Awardperformance in the drama series '' Sex & Violence''.

as Amy Kassan, as well as R.H. Thomson as Angus MacGregor, the firm's senior partner, and Sean Sullivan as Dale Friesen, the associates' supervising partner."Law with heart, soul, sex appeal". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'', January 16, 2001. The show also sometimes made differences between Canadian and American law into plot points, notably by writing both Robyn Parsons and Benjamin Hardaway as American transplants who sometimes ran into trouble because of their greater familiarity with U.S. courtroom procedure. The series was co-created by Greg Ball and Steve Blackman, themselves former associates at a law firm in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

who based it on some of their own experiences. The show was successful in its first two years of ratings, but due to tax cutbacks from the government, the show could not continue into a third season.

Critical response

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 ...

'' panned the first episode, but wrote that the series improved significantly thereafter. He criticized Hogan's performance as Mitch, writing that "his accent wobbles and wanders all over the United Kingdom and Ireland and he looks nothing like anyone's picture of an upper-class, well-connected Brit lawyer. Instead he looks like the younger sibling of one of the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, with a bad, blond dye job." He opined that the show's real saving grace was Hickey's portrayal of Robyn, whose brashness in the first episode was gradually revealed as a front for insecurity and shyness, making her the show's most relatable character and grounding it the same way

Patrick McKenna Patrick McKenna (born May 8, 1960) is a Canadian comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Harold Green on the television series '' The Red Green Show''. Early life Patrick McKenna became interested in Second City when a high-school teac ...

's Marty had served as the "everyman" anchor in '' Traders''. Dan Brown of the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' criticized the characters of Benjamin Hardaway and Amy Kassan as unsympathetic, writing that Barnes played Benjamin like he was auditioning for the role of Tuvok in '' Star Trek: Voyager''. Tony Atherton of the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'' similarly wrote that the first episode was weak, but that the series improved over the course of the season.Tony Atherton, "Series about cute lawyers clearly aimed at syndication". ''

'', January 15, 2001.

Awards

Episodes

Season one

Season two

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Associates (Canadian TV series), The 2000s Canadian drama television series CTV Television Network original programming 2001 Canadian television series debuts 2002 Canadian television series endings Television shows set in Toronto