{{Infobox television | image = Twitch City cover.jpg | caption = | genre = [[Sitcom]] | camera = | runtime = 30 min. | creator = | developer = | executive_producer = [[Susan Cavan]]<br />[[Armand Leo]]<br />[[Bruce McDonald (director)|Bruce McDonald]] | starring = [[Don McKellar]]<br />[[Molly Parker]]<br />[[Daniel MacIvor]]<br />[[Callum Keith Rennie]]<br />[[Bruce McCulloch]]<br />[[Mark McKinney]] | narrated = | country = Canada | network = [[CBC Television]] | first_aired = {{start date|1998|1|19}} | last_aired = {{end date|2000|4|5}} | num_seasons = 2 | num_episodes = 13 | list_episodes = }}
'''''Twitch City''''' is a [[Television in Canada|Canadian]] [[sitcom]] produced by [[CBC Television]],<ref name=weird>"Twitch City a weird look at television addiction; Former King of Kensington gets whacked tonight". ''[[Edmonton Journal]]'', January 19, 1998.</ref> which aired as two short runs in 1998 and 2000.<ref>"Twitch City returns- naked and unashamed". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', March 4, 2000.</ref> The series also aired in the United States on [[Bravo (US TV channel)|Bravo]], and in Australia. The show's [[surreal humour]] was popular with critics. The show was never a mainstream ratings success in Canada, although it had a devoted cult following.
The show was directed by [[Bruce McDonald (director)|Bruce McDonald]] and produced by [[Shadow Shows]] and [[Accent Entertainment]] in association with the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]].<ref name=weird/> Music was composed by [[Bob Wiseman]].
==Plot== Set in the [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]] neighbourhood of [[Kensington Market]], the series is about Curtis ([[Don McKellar]]), a [[television]] [[Behavioral addiction|addict]] who refuses to leave his apartment, and his friends Nathan ([[Daniel MacIvor]]), Hope ([[Molly Parker]]) and Newbie ([[Callum Keith Rennie]]).<ref name=ready>"Twitch City: Is Canada Ready?". ''[[Calgary Herald]]'', January 15, 1998.</ref> McKellar was also one of the show's creators.<ref name=weird/>
In the first episode, Nathan is sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food.<ref name=weird/> The homeless man was played by [[Al Waxman]], who had been the star of the 1970s sitcom ''[[King of Kensington]]'',<ref name=weird/> although the producers claimed that they did not intend for the homeless man to be seen as the same character.<ref>"Curtis's (offbeat) charm Don McKellar's cereal-crunching TV addict veges at the centre of an off-kilter new sitcom". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', January 17, 1998.</ref> Nathan remained in prison throughout the run of the series; the first episode of the second season opened with an ''[[Oz (TV series)|Oz]]'' parody in which he criticized the hip hop-inspired [[slam poetry]] of his cellmate.<ref>"Riveting world of Oz returns to Showcase Friday". ''[[Ottawa Citizen]]'', August 25, 1999.</ref>
Throughout the series, Curtis and Hope's ongoing attempts to find a new roommate to replace Nathan provide one of the show's major plot threads. In one episode, Curtis rents Nathan's room to a mysterious businessman who uses it to store [[drug abuse|drugged]] cookies, while in another, Hope unwittingly rents it to two [[Neo-Nazi]]s she mistakes for a [[gay]] couple. That episode includes a Nazi rally which features all four members of the rock band [[Sloan (band)|Sloan]] among the extras. At the end of the episode, the two Nazi roommates renounce Nazism and promptly kiss each other, vindicating Hope's judgement.
[[Bruce McCulloch]] and [[Mark McKinney]] (both from ''[[The Kids in the Hall (TV series)|The Kids in the Hall]]'') also starred in the series as Rex Reilly, the [[Jerry Springer]]-like host of Curtis' favourite TV [[talk show]].<ref name=ready/> McCulloch played Reilly in the first season, and McKinney played him in the second. The change in Reilly's appearance is explained in his autobiography, ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'', which refers to his "on-air cranium transplant."
Guest stars on the series included [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]], [[Tom McCamus]], [[Valerie Buhagiar]], [[Charmion King]], [[Kenneth Welsh]], [[Hugh Dillon]], [[Kim Mitchell]], [[Stefan Brogren]], [[John L'Ecuyer]] and [[Joyce DeWitt]]. DeWitt plays herself as a guest on ''The Rex Reilly Show'', meeting lookalikes in an episode devoted to the theme "I Look Like Joyce DeWitt".
==DVD release== All thirteen episodes were released on [[DVD]] in 2006.
==Episodes== Most episodes of the series are titled for the theme of the ''Rex Reilly Show'' episode depicted in the script.
===Season 1 (1998)=== {{Episode table |background= |overall=5 |title=45 |airdate=40 |prodcode=10 |episodes= {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=1 |Title=I Slept With My Mother |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1998|1|19}} |ProdCode=1-01 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=2 |Title=My Pet, My Hero |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1998|1|26}} |ProdCode=1-02 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=3 |Title=I Look Like Joyce DeWitt |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1998|2|2}} |ProdCode=1-03 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=4 |Title=People Who Fight Too Much |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1998|2|23}} |ProdCode=1-04 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=5 |Title=I'm Fat and I'm Proud |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1998|3|2}} |ProdCode=1-05 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=6 |Title=Killed by Cat Food |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1998|3|9}} |ProdCode=1-06 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} }}
===Season 2 (2000)=== {{Episode table |background= |overall=5 |title=45 |airdate=40 |prodcode=10 |episodes= {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=7 |Title=The Return of the Cat Food Killer |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|3|15}} |ProdCode=2-01 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=8 |Title=Shinto Death Cults |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|3|22}} |ProdCode=2-02 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=9 |Title=Klan Bake |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|3|22}} |ProdCode=2-03 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=10 |Title=People Who Don't Care About Anything |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|3|29}} |ProdCode=2-04 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=11 |Title=The Planet of the Cats |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|3|29}} |ProdCode=2-05 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=12 |Title=The Life of Reilly |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|4|5}} |ProdCode=2-06 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber=13 |Title=Angels All Week |OriginalAirDate={{Start date|2000|4|5}} |ProdCode=2-07 |ShortSummary= |LineColor= }} }}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links == {{Portal|Television|Canada}} * {{IMDb title|id=0135110|title=Twitch City}}
[[Category:1998 Canadian television series debuts]] [[Category:2000 Canadian television series endings]] [[Category:CBC Television original programming]] [[Category:Television shows set in Toronto]] [[Category:Kensington Market]] [[Category:Television shows filmed in Toronto]] [[Category:1990s Canadian sitcoms]] [[Category:2000s Canadian sitcoms]] [[Category:English-language Canadian television shows]]