With so many Canadian imports arriving on American network television, I’ve devised a simple test to determine whether a show hails from north of the border. Do the characters look more like real people than supermodels? If so, look for the “Made in Canada” tag. Is the comedy writing a little less gag-driven than Hollywood fare? It just might be written by Canadians.
By Kevin McDonough
Over the past several seasons, our northern neighbors have provided some moderately successful shows, like “Flashpoint” on CBS and “Being Erica” on SOAPnet, as well as the completely unwatched “The Bridge,” recently canceled by CBS. ABC’s “Rookie Blue” is also a Canadian import, but not one that any country should necessarily be proud of. And “Degrassi” has been a cult hit for more than a decade.
Having recently failed miserably with the two stupid, soul-crushing, fake-documentary shows “High Society” and “Fly Girls,” the CW offers “18 to Life” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14), a genial romantic comedy produced in Montreal and now in its second season on Canadian television.
With a plot at least as old as “The Mothers-in-Law,” a late-1960s sitcom recently released on DVD, “18” concerns two young-looking 18-year-old next-door neighbors who decide, rather impulsively, to get married before they even enter college.