And how they *basically* ruined my hike two years ago
When I was 16-years-old my mother brought me as her plus-one to a television show premiere. It was held in the biggest city in Canada, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. There were photographers, a ‘red carpet’ and actors whom I was genuinely a fan of prior to the screening. It was the first time that my mom took me to be her plus-one at an event. Excited would have been an understatement. For the first time in my life, I felt like an adult.
Four years later, as a 20-year-old university student home for the summer (now at my peak “I’m an adult” phase) I decided to go on a hike with one of my high school friends. This was a yearly tradition we had started since we rarely saw each other during the school year due to distance. Together, we’d go to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area in Milton, Ont., and take the hiking trail. It was a great way to catch up, workout, and take a few hours off of technology and enjoy the beautiful scenes throughout the escarpment.
That was until we drove through the conservation area and towards the parking lot where we were stopped by a middle-aged man wearing a black shirt.
See, it turns out on the very day that my friend and I had decided to go for our hike that year, was the same day a television show was filming a scene on the same hiking trail. I couldn’t help but ask the man what show was being filmed there and sure enough, it was the same show that I’d gone to the premiere of all those years before.
Sitting in the car, we weren’t all that rattled by this information; it wasn’t the first time the two of us had accidentally stumbled upon a film set. Back in high school, while walking home through the community recreation centre, we discovered that a movie was being filmed there. So, as a result, you can find me in the crowd of the final competition scene of the movie Full Out on Netflix.
While our hike was still an enjoyable experience, it wasn’t exactly the secluded, alone-with-nature experience we had anticipated. Midway through our hike, we started noticing bright cables along our path. It wasn’t long after that that we found ourselves surrounded by crew trailers and men and women in black shirts with big headphones on and clipboards in their hands. We were literally walking through a part of the set of the hit show, Schitt’s Creek.
Now, five years after I nervously attended the Toronto premiere, and two years after I stumbled upon filming during my hike, Schitt’s Creek had a historic night at the 72nd Emmy Awards. The show won all seven awards in its category on Sept. 20, and nine in total. It now holds the record for most single-year wins by a comedy series and was the first time that a television show won all seven awards in their category according to a statement on emmys.com.
Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy all won in their respective acting categories. The show also took home the award for outstanding comedy series, outstanding writing, outstanding casting and outstanding directing among others in their comedy category.
The series finale of the show aired on April 7, according to imdb.com.
Now at 22-years-old, in my final semester of university with graduation looming around the corner, I’ve never felt less ready to be this so-called adult that I wanted to be when I was 16 and thought I already was when I was 20.
But Schitt’s Creek has still found a way to connect with my life in a way I didn’t expect. While scrolling through my LinkedIn feed the other day (okay maybe I am already an adult) I saw a post that caught my eye.
As it turns out, actor Dan Levy and screenwriter Andrew Cividino, who both worked on Schitt’s Creek, went to the same university I’m going to right now according to Ryerson’s website.
It only seems fitting that a show that has snuck into my life in a few unique ways over the years found one last time in the final year of the show.
