The Worst Canadian Show Ever

 You may be thinking I'm finally gonna give my piece on Caillou, ever since that show was pulled from the air for good, but if you know me, I never wanna take the easy route unless I have something to gain from it.

So today, I'm gonna take a look at the worst Canadian live action show ever. You may be thinking I'm gonna take a look at the cult disaster The Trouble With Tracy, but wait, does this mean an entire episode had surfaced online? If so that would also mean taking the easy route.

So today, I'm gonna take a look at the worst live action Canadian comedic show. PopCultured. And yes that's what I'm actually going to cover.

But is it though?

I first discovered this show through IMDb on a user-generated list, while looking for potential extra coverage on MP4ORCE: Beyond Real (with which I hold the honor of writing the only user review on the site so now more people can hopefully hate it.) and along with what look to be some extremely obscure short films from the 20s, I found what looked to be an almost equally obscure show, well this to be exact.

PopCultured was hosted by Toronto native comedian Elvira Kurt, ever heard of her? I mean maybe if you're from the area. Otherwise, this was her most notable television outing, even if it's for the wrong reason.

By now you'd realize this show is infamous for being incredibly unfunny and unable to hold its head above the water of other Canadian sketch comedy shows from the time. This show was so bad it actually scored a flat 1.0 on IMDb and was said to be a contributing factor to the removal of The Comedy Network (where this show aired)'s message boards because people flooded them with complaints against the show.

PopCultured lasted for over sixty episodes from 2005 to 2006. To answer your question on how that was possible, Canadian television handles programs differently than American television. The former airs shows through contractual obligation, and typically has more episodes than normal for a single season. It's also cheaper to produce content in Canada, so they'd typically have to do with anything they'd get to fill airtime and recoup losses, i.e. allowing people to pay to sit in for the live audience.

The show was produced entirely in-house through a dedicated production company, and once the slated episodes were burned out this show was taken off for good.

But why did it turn out to suck? Short answer, they put all their eggs into a comedian who had minimal television experience, likely on a topic she wasn't entirely comfortable with doing jokes about.

On her, Elvira Kurt is basically Canada's answer to Ellen DeGeneres, though to be fair, Kurt isn't as evil as Ellen. Kurt is an open lesbian and that's a bit part of her comedy, but otherwise she is only known in Toronto. Had this aired in recent times we'd be at war.

But how bad is it?

PopCultured's format is based on that of The Daily Show, poking fun at celebrity culture relevant to the time. It would've been interesting if PopCultured focused on Canadian culture, which would at least give it an once of interest, but it doesn't. One strike against it is that it takes little advantage of its market. It's said this show was also used to promote other still-airing shows, nothing inspires confidence like a show bringing up stuff you'd be better off watching, unless they themselves are desperate for views.

The way comedy can be viewed is objectively funny material, subjectively funny material, niche content, a guilty pleasure, or so bad it's good. This show falls under the so bad it's just plain bad spectrum. I had watched this show knowing of its reputation and was hoping to at least find a small sliver of comedy, but not even what can be viewed as cringeworthy can bring an ironic smile to my face.

The one scene that could've possibly done it was a woman who dresses as a deviled egg, but it's ruined by a joke she makes and the respective delivery.

The biggest issue with this show is that the jokes can either be predictable or boring right out of the gate. All I learned from this was that a pornstar attempted to run for congress and do I need to say she made a boob joke?

They also threw in a bland interview with Leonard Maltin, who's indigenous to America.

But I can't explain it proper. Frankly I just wanted to put this show on blast. It's the kind of non-offensive content that'd piss you off because you'd get absolutely nothing out of it.

As a host, Elvira has little to no charisma, to reaffirm, she is the Canadian equivalent to Ellen DeGeneres, a bland individual who uses a lesbian moniker to inspire interest. Her bits are pedestrian level at best, honestly if she just stole jokes from other comedians it would've at least had some semblance of interest.

You know something is bad when you have so little to say about it, even to defend it. This show has nothing. 

Could it have been better?

Honestly I'm no expert when it comes to comedy, but there were ways to work around this. This could be the Canadian equivalent to The Daily Show if she focused on Canadian culture, as in, for the entirety of the show. Perhaps it would inspired syndication in the United States to give viewers a grander look into Canadian comedy and celebrity culture.

Perhaps as a better start for television, have Elvira star in a sitcom in a similar vein to Seinfeld or Titus. With people to work off of she can potentially find her footing and gain more traction in at least the Canadian market.

Or she could make a killing on the lower ebb of the comedian spectrum and duke it out with other lesser comedians from Canada like Tom Green. Suck Till You're in Luck.

As is, this show wouldn't work at all, and honestly it doesn't have enough going for it to give it a few notches up rating wise, especially since people focus on the crux of the show's downfall.

It is unfunny.