''Whatever, Linda'' is a Canadian

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

co-created and co-written by

Hannah Cheesman Hannah Cheesman is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. As a performer, Cheesman is known for portraying Lieutenant Commander Airiam in the second season of the CBS television series '' Star Trek: Discovery''. As a filmmaker, Cheesman has written an ...

and Julian De Zotti. The series stars Cheesman as Linda Thoroughbred, a woman in the 1970s who gets a job as a secretary for

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

Barney Lahnar (inspired by

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

) and becomes the real brains behind the

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

that will eventually bring him down. The series was released on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and via an official website in 2014, but was subsequently taken down and re-uploaded to

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

. Though the series has struggled to find an audience online, it has screened at festivals internationally, winning critical acclaim and numerous awards.

Cast

as Linda Thoroughbred *

Terra Hazelton Terra Hazelton is a Canadian jazz musician, broadcaster and actress. Raised in Calgary, Hazelton began studying theatre with the Loose Moose Theatre Company as a teenager. She later moved to Toronto to pursue opportunities in theatre, discovering ...

as Annabelle Nascimento *

Cara Ricketts Cara Ricketts is an actress, best known for her roles as Mary Lacroix in ''Anne with an E'' and Lilly Rue in the 2019 revival of ''Street Legal (Canadian TV series), Street Legal''. Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canadian, CanadaRichard Ou ...

as Didi De May *

Martha MacIsaac Martha MacIsaac (born October 11, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She has appeared in several feature films, including ''Superbad (film), Superbad'' (2007), ''The Last House on the Left (2009 film), The Last House on the Left'' (2009), ''Dead Before ...

as Pepper Bannerman *Mike Shara as Drew Cashton *

Brendan Gall Brendan Gall (born September 2, 1978) is a Canadian writer, actor and producer living in Toronto, Ontario. Early life and education Gall graduated from the George Brown Theatre School. Career Gall has written and/or produced for the televisi ...

as Henry Sullivan *

Julian Richings Julian Richings (born 30 August 1956)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at Ancestry.com is a British-Canadian character actor, having appeared in over 225 films and television series. He is best known for hi ...

as Aloysius Finkle *Graydon Sheppard as Edie *

Sheila McCarthy Sheila McCarthy (born January 1, 1956) is a Canadian actress and singer. She has worked in film, television, and on stage. McCarthy is one of Canada's most honoured actors, having won two Genie Awards (film), two Gemini Awards (television), an AC ...

as Sheila Hardy

Reception

After being released online through

, the series has struggled to find an audience online; despite this, it has screened at festivals internationally, winning critical acclaim and numerous awards. The series garnered a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () 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) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nomination for Original Program or Series Produced for Digital Media, Fiction at the

3rd Canadian Screen Awards The 3rd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 1, 2015, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2014.Vancouver Web Series Festival, including Best Drama Series. WebVeeGuide.com called Cheesman "a revelation, and is more than worthy of the acclaim she and the show are receiving."

Television series adaptation

In 2016, Cheesman announced on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that they are in development with

Mark Gordon Mark Gordon (born March 14, 1957) is an American politician serving as the 33rd governor of Wyoming since January 7, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as state treasurer; then-governor Matt Mead appointed him to th ...

to create a

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

based on the web series.

References

{{reflist

External links

''Whatever, Linda''
Canadian comedy-drama web series 2014 web series debuts Canadian historical television series