# When does Schitt's Creek get good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [May 9, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716 "2021-05-09T22:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/21 "2021-05-10T12:44:18Z")
> [@shh1313](#): > > No clue why its a 404 > > [https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114p](https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114p) You’ve got an extraneous letter “p” on the end of the link. Here it is: > **[6 Reasons Why “Schitt’s Creek” Is the Worst Show on TV](https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114)** > > Warning: Contains spoilers about racism and classism and more! ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/22 "2021-05-10T13:45:01Z")
Later on you fall in love with the characters, but if you don’t think it’s at least funny from the start it’s never going to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/23 "2021-05-10T13:51:47Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > > [@shh1313](#): > > > > No clue why its a 404 > > > > > [https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114p](https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114p) > > You’ve got an extraneous letter “p” on the end of the link. > > Here it is: > > [https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114](https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114) What a narrow-minded view. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/24 "2021-05-10T14:05:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I ragequit the show fifteen minutes into the first episode: everything about the show was like nails on a chalkboard, and I could not imagine subjecting myself to more of these loathsome characters. > > Years later I gave it another chance. Once I realized it was a very slow redemption story, I started to appreciate it. A few minutes ago my wife and I finished episode 12 of season 5. > > The characters never stop being deeply flawed, but they slowly become sympathetic, and they stumble toward being decent people in a way that works really well for me. > > But goddamn did I hate them at first. I was the same way. I watched it when it first came out and thought it was pretty…pedestrian and over-reaching, and trying too hard to be funny with it’s “fish out of water” premise. It did not seem funny or groundbreaking to me whatsoever. When it came out on US tv and people started falling in love with it, I was like “gah, such simple people falling for this rube comedy!” But I gave it another shot, right after it was fully on Netflix, and ended up binging it all in a couple weekends. I don’t even know what happened to change my mind. It really was bad in the first couple episodes. I guess I had to stick around to see what they were going for? Or to just get off my high horse about it? I think what drew me to watch it again was my LGBTQ friends gushing over it and me wondering why. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/25 "2021-05-10T14:14:08Z")
> [@shh1313](#): > > I suffered through it. This review sums it a tee. It’s not entirely wrong. I thought it was very jarring that they are in small town America and no one had a problem with the rich gay son. It struck me as somewhat fantasy. And that no one really resented the Rose’s for being rich - so that they owned the shithole town that all these people lived in. The lack of black and brown people (aside from one exception) was conspicuous as well, but there are plenty of small towns which have those demographics. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/26 "2021-05-10T14:16:42Z")
Nitpick but technically, they’re in small town Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/27 "2021-05-10T14:21:34Z")
My take is, I think she points out a lot of accurate things. And, it’s always valuable to consider the perspectives not included in the “universal” love and praise of a show/movie/art. However, the position that Schitt’s Creek is the “worst show on TV”, or that its flaws make it uniquely awful is . . . well, hard to defend. If this author took the same lens to almost any show being broadcast (streamed, or whatever) right now, I think it’s laughable that anyone would consider Schitt’s Creek to be the worst offender in promoting the racial/economic/gender/sexuality status quo. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/28 "2021-05-10T14:38:43Z")
Add me and my wife to the list of people who (a) gave the show a try based on rave recommendations, and (b) hit a wall of obnoxious, selfish, stupid characters in the early going and bailed out in perplexity. Upon the strident insistence of friends, we have tentatively dipped back in, and (toward the end of the first season) it seems to be getting marginally more tolerable, but Lord it’s a rough go. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/29 "2021-05-10T14:51:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > [@Eonwe](#): > > > > > [@shh1313](#): > > > > > > No clue why its a 404 > > > > > > > [https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114p](https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114p) > > > > You’ve got an extraneous letter “p” on the end of the link. > > > > Here it is: > > > > [https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114](https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114) > > What a narrow-minded view. I rage quit that review. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/30 "2021-05-10T14:58:12Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I hate ‘cringe’ comedy. I find nothing funny about watching someone do something horribly embarassing in public. And Schitt’s Creek had quite a bit of that at first. I almost bailed on Parks and Rec at first because it had a whiff of being that kind of show in its first season. > > In the first season of Schitt’s Creek I found all the characters annoying. Johnny Rose was a high powered businessman, and they turned him into a clueless idiot who constantly embarasses himself by seemingly not understanding anything at all. . I found Catherine Ohara’s character Moira Rose just about as annoying as her SCTV ‘Lola Heatherton’ character (“I want to have your baby!”). And the two children came off as insufferable, spoiled brats. > > Had it been just me, I wouldn’t have made it through the first episode. But my family loved it, so we watched. Eventually, the characters get fleshed out and their most annoying aspects removed, and the show then becomes more about a family of underdogs trying to make a life and claw out of poverty while being complete fish out of water… > > They also fixed Chris Elliot’s character by making him somewhat less of a complete parody and idiot. And giving him less screen time. > > I really liked the townspeople. The Roses originally saw them all as bumpkins, but as time goes on they discover that there is hidden depth amd character in most of them, and the Roses begin to learn that. By the end, it was a great series and I’m glad we watched it. > > Still not a fan of Moira Rose, though. I was very much the same way. My girlfriend liked it from the beginning so I stuck with it and came to like the characters quite a lot. I think your take on Johnny Rose is wrong. He was not a high powered businessman. He used to be a high powered businessman. He was just a rich man at the beginning. He made his money with video rental stores. It was clear that he never grew with the times and his business sense was still back in the 1980s. Which is why he had such a hard time starting back up and why someone was able to rip him off so completely. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/31 "2021-05-10T16:17:51Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I ragequit the show fifteen minutes into the first episode: everything about the show was like nails on a chalkboard, and I could not imagine subjecting myself to more of these loathsome characters. This was exactly my reaction–after trying it after some positive reviews here. I remember a similar negative reaction after a few minutes of Arrested Development. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/32 "2021-05-10T17:29:37Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Schitts Creek is the best comedy of the last 15 years. My wife and I watched maybe 2.5 or 3 seasons of it. It was fine. It was entertaining. I didn’t have any of the gut-negative hate-it hate-it hate-it reactions that some in this thread did (although it did drive me batty how little sense “owns the town” ever made). Eventually we got bored and stopped. And then suddenly a few years ago everyone was raving about it and it won all the emmys. And… I just don’t get it. Here are comedies from the past 15 years that I think are MUCH better than it: -Fleabag -The Good Place -Bojack Horseman (those three in particular I will got to the fucking mats for) -Parks and Rec -Community -Arrested Development -Broad City -Master of None -Archer etc. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/33 "2021-05-10T18:03:45Z")
> [@shh1313](#): > > I suffered through it. This review sums it a tee. > " Again, there is nothing radical, humanistic or moral about making the brazen decision to eliminate ALL prejudice from a small Canadian or American town, based on the limited experience of being a white, rich gay man. It’s beautiful that families everywhere can experience a bit of life where loving gay relationships are normalized just as heterosexual ones, but it’s a disgusting disservice to American audiences to provide yet another colorblind oasis where white people feel comfortable and even inspired to ignore issues of race (or class). When privileged white gay men are [asking](https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/schitts-creek-lgbtq-representation) “wouldn’t the world be a better place if everywhere was like this?” about postracial classist fantasylands, everyone should stop and question what “better” really means. That’s a take, for sure, but I’m not sure I entirely agree with it. Recently I read an author (CL Clark, of [The Unbroken](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54467051)) describe her book as “queernorm,” a fantasy in which queer relationships are completely unremarkable. It’s a way to take the focus off that and imagine a society that at least gets that right (in her novel, the society gets nearly everything else wrong). I think _Schitt’s Creek_ is a bit of a queernorm fantasy. There’s at least one scene, in season 5, when Patrick comes out to his parents where homophobia is referenced–but it’s just as quickly renounced. Having an aspirational escapist fantasy like this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As for race: I’m not familiar with small-town Canadian life. Is it realistic to have a town that’s as overwhelmingly White as Schitt’s Creek? I kinda assume so, but I speak from a position of ignorance. Certainly we need more diversity in entertainment, and it’s a fair criticism that they decided to set it in such a White town as an issue of authorial choice; but I’m not sure if it’s unrealistic. As for class, this show in no way makes the rich people aspirational. They’re _horrible_, and it’s only as they slowly shed the trappings of their upper-class culture that they become remotely bearable. It’s a riches-to-rags story in which only the loss of their wealth allows for any sort of redemptive arc. Several episodes drive this home, as they briefly encounter rich assholes from their previous lives and realize how repulsive those people are–and by extension how repulsive they once were. The reviewer completely misreads this part of the show. The most likeable characters on the show are Stevie and Twyla, working-class folks just scraping by. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/34 "2021-05-10T18:19:13Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The most likeable characters on the show are Stevie and Twyla, working-class folks just scraping by. I agree they’re both likable. I don’t know how to do spoiler tags, but Twyla might not be as she appears. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/35 "2021-05-10T18:21:03Z")
Yes. Jeez what a fine example of woke stupidity. It’s a sitcom. It’s escapist entertainment. It’s not supposed to be An In-depth Inquiry into the Serious Issues of Our Time. It’s funny that the writer calls Dan Levy pompous and self-important. What a giant projection. And I know openly gay people in small towns who are accepted by their community. I like the show, but I can understand why people might not. There is a fair amount of cringe, which I don’t like either, and the characters are very mannered and quirky. I enjoy the redemption arc, though, and some of the humor lands for me. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/36 "2021-05-10T18:36:57Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > As for race: I’m not familiar with small-town Canadian life. Is it realistic to have a town that’s as overwhelmingly White as Schitt’s Creek? I kinda assume so, but I speak from a position of ignorance. It depends; Canada is a large country. But in Dufferin County where some of the filming was done, visible minorities range from 18% in Shelburne to 8% or less in other areas. > **[Shelburne by far the most ethnically diverse area of Dufferin County](https://www.orangeville.com/news/shelburne-by-far-the-most-ethnically-diverse-area-of-dufferin-county/article_209b6dab-1d5a-5240-b724-26a4f28376ec.html?)** > > The fastest growing small town in Ontario is also the most ethnically diverse municipality in Dufferin County. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/37 "2021-05-10T18:40:53Z")
Fair! I have a little more than a season to go. Overall, I think the point stands: while a modest income is no guarantee that a character will be sympathetic (cough Roland cough), a high income is almost a guarantee that the character will be terrible. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/38 "2021-05-10T18:43:44Z")
I guess the thing that keeps me from thinking of it as a Canadian village is that there isn’t a First Nations person to be seen (even in crowd scenes, as far as I’ve noticed). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/39 "2021-05-10T18:44:15Z")
I agree with the others that it picks up in season 2. IMHO season 2 is about as good as it gets, and it starts to stall at the end. It is nothing like a show with typical broad based appeal, some people will never like it, some people will love it, based on my very lightly sampled personal poll, most people fall right in the middle on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716/40 "2021-05-10T18:49:36Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > It depends; Canada is a large country. But in Dufferin County where some of the filming was done, visible minorities range from 18% in Shelburne to 8% or less in other areas. Note that “8% or less” translates to significantly less for some municipalities: > [@](#): > > Beyond Shelburne, Mono and Orangeville, census data shows the visible minority populations in the county’s remaining municipalities are: Amaranth (seven per cent); Grand Valley (five per cent); East Garafraxa (five per cent); Mulmur (three per cent); and Melancthon (three per cent). Schitt’s Creek could plausibly be 97% White and Aboriginal. From that previous link, it looks like [1 in 80 folk in that county are First Nations](https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CD&Code1=3522&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&SearchText=&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Aboriginal%20peoples&TABID=1&type=0). I don’t know how many first nations folks are visibly so, nor whether the First Nations folks are segregated from white folks within yer average Canadian county. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-schitts-creek-get-good/941716.md?page=3)