#kidsinthehall

Series creator and star Mark Critch needed to replicate the bridge of the original Star Trek Enterprise for a fantasy sequence on his St. John's-based sitcom Son of a Critch. The episode airs this Tuesday, January 16 on CBC. Who did Critch beam aboard to do the job?
None other that my guest this week on brioux.tv: the podcast, Mark Steel.
True, that name sounds more like a Marvel superhero than a  production designer. Steel, however, has been crafting the look of everything from phasers to flight decks as the production designer on the Toronto-based Paramount+ series Star Trek: Discovery.
Emmy nominated for his TV work, he was also the production designer of The Umbrella Academy and an Art Director on What We Do in the Shadows as well as Heroes Reborn and Beauty and the Beast.
Raised in Ottawa, Steel got his start back in the '90s as a set decorator on the original Kids in the Hall series, which he says was pretty much a great party every live taping.
Set phasers for stun as he talks about how he got into the business and  how he brought the Enterprise to Newfoundland, one retro scene at a time. As Spock would say, "Fascinating."

When he was asked to be president of the Toronto Film School a few years ago, Andrew Barnsley wasn't sure if he could take the job. After all, he was the executive producer of three network sitcoms at the time: Schitt's Creek, JANN and Son of a Critch. (A fourth, the reboot of Kids in the Hall on Prime Video, came later.)
The Emmy and Golden Globe award winner eventually figured it all out and now has his Emmys for producing Schitt's Creek on display at the Toronto Film School campus. It serves as an inspiration for the young TV and film students looking for a leg up in an industry that keeps booming in Canada -- even as Canadian broadcasters continue to reel from declining ad revenues.
Barnsley -- who has lived all across Canada -- is nevertheless bullish on our TV business. He offers encouragement to those entering that field. He also talks about that thrilling Emmy sweep a few years ago, seeing Son of a Critch take on the American market on The CW and the clever way Eugene Levy convinced nervous network executives to not change the name of Schitt's Creek.

As fans old and new will discover, podcast guests Dave Foley and Mark McKinney, along with fellow troupers Scott Thompson, Bruce McCullough and Kevin McDonald, are sketchier than ever. Twenty-seven years after their last season, their brand-new re-boot of The Kids in the Hall, premiers Friday, May 13 on Amazon Prime Video.  That's also where to watch "The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks," a two-part documentary premiering one week later on May 20.

Foley and McKinney have enjoyed successful careers in television on both sides of the border. Hear their take on staying relevant as they enter their sixties plus what notes they received this time around from executive producer Lorne Michaels. They also discuss how the lingering pandemic may have helped the writing process and how much they love their eternally cool theme song, "Having an Average Weekend."