Made in Canada (TV series)

Did You Know?

• In the United States, Australia, and Latin America, the show was syndicated as The Industry; in France, it was syndicated as La loi du Show-Biz.
• The first and second seasons began streaming on the CBC Gem platform on 12 March 2020, and all five seasons were streaming on Gem as of 2023.

Characters

Richard Strong, played by Rick Mercer, is the central character: an ambitious, Machiavellian employee who schemes and backstabs his way toward the CEO's chair. In the first episode, he becomes a television producer by having his boss and brother-in-law Ray Drodge fired. Ruthless and amoral, Richard is more competent than most colleagues and has relationships with Veronica Miller, Lisa Sutton, and Siobhan Roy, typically as opportunities for manipulation.

The character was partly inspired by Ian McKellen's performance in the 1995 film adaptation of Shakespeare's Richard III. Alan Roy, portrayed by Peter Keleghan, is the firm's CEO: a charismatic but intellectually questionable womanizer who often succeeds by accident and fails more often. He is mystified that his management style—a mix of bad production ideas, health fads, and half-understood management slogans—does not boost morale. Alan's career began with his first film, Prom Night at Horny High, a commercial success despite being lowbrow.

Keleghan described the character as a cross between Alliance Communications head Robert Lantos and The Simpsons' Mr. Burns. Veronica Miller, played by Leah Pinsent, is the chief operating officer, overworked and forced to perform degrading tasks for Alan. She occasionally sabotages projects to improve her conditions and is generally an ally of Richard but will double-cross him if needed. Victor Sela, played by Dan Lett, heads Pyramid's film division and is an office sycophant willing to do anything Alan asks, though he is the least loyal in a test.

Development and writing

The idea for the show came together in 1994 from Rick Mercer, producer Gerald Lunz, and Salter Street Films co-chair Michael Donovan. Lunz had previously helped launch Mercer's career by producing his one-man shows and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The two then formed Island Edge to co-produce the series and develop other work. Their goal was a satire of office politics, with Mercer playing an ambitious schemer climbing the corporate ladder, modeled on Shakespeare's Richard III.

Instead of murdering his enemies, this Richard would destroy their careers by wrecking their reputations and stealing their power. The character would speak directly to the audience, breaking the fourth wall to reveal his schemes. Though risky, they believed Mercer's experience with monologues made it work. They first considered setting the satire in the federal bureaucracy, given Mercer's reputation as the country's "unofficial opposition party," but he didn't know the inner workings well enough.

Since good satire requires deep knowledge of its subject, they chose a TV and film production office, a world audiences would recognize and full of egos to mock. Mercer later called the show's office a "Dilbert reality" where a "suck-up kick-down philosophy" ruled. In April 1998, the CBC greenlit six episodes without seeing a script. Mercer and Mark Farrell, both 22 Minutes veterans but new to episodic TV, wrote the first season in two months.

Lunz, a self-described "Shakespeare nut," shaped the tone and style. The three remained the core creative team for all five seasons, with additional writing from Paul Bellini, Alex Ganetakos, and Edward Riche.

Production

CBC executive George Anthony had helped bring Lunz and Mercer to the network years before and strongly backed the show. The series moved from approval to air in just six months. After seeing only the first episode, executives ordered a second season of thirteen episodes, a first for the public broadcaster. Scripts were still being written while actors were cast, and scenes were shot out of order to fit the cast's availability.

The show was filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and both produced and parodied Salter Street Films. For its first season, the production used Salter Street's actual offices as the main set, shooting mostly on evenings and weekends from July 17 to August 24, 1998. Henry Sarwer-Foner, who also worked on 22 Minutes, directed the first season and handled editing, scripting, and overall design. He used a long lens to give the footage a film-like look and directed 22 of the series' 65 episodes.

Michael Kennedy and Stephen Reynolds also directed. The theme song was The Tragically Hip's "Blow at High Dough," a favorite of Mercer's. The title comes from a Scottish phrase about taking on more than you can handle. Other songs by the band used in the show included "Poets," "Courage," "New Orleans Is Sinking," "My Music at Work," and "Tiger the Lion." Mercer took a break from 22 Minutes in January 1999 to focus on the second season of Made in Canada, but he still appeared in most episodes until leaving 22 Minutes in 2001.

The second season started filming in June 1999 at Halifax's Electropolis Studios. CHUM Limited vice-president Moses Znaimer let the crew shoot scenes for the second-season finale at the CHUM-City Building in Toronto to make it look authentic. Filming for season four began on June 18, 2001.

Reception

The show earned strong ratings and critical acclaim on both sides of the border. Its debut on October 5, 1998 drew over a million viewers, retaining three-quarters of the audience from its lead-in, This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Early on, Shannon Hawkins of the Ottawa Sun predicted it had the ingredients for a hit, praising its sharp dialogue, believable characters, and a premise that appealed to anyone who dreamed of sabotaging their boss. Antonia Zerbisias of the Toronto Star called it unsettling, cynical, and sharp, noting the boldness of satirizing industry power players and choosing a title that challenged Canada’s tendency to undervalue its own productions.

Stephen Cole of The National Post admired the first season’s writing, humor, and performances but felt its satire, though vicious and precise, never landed on a truly deserving target; he regretted it stayed a sitcom rather than tackling deeper Canadian industry issues. A TV Guide critic gave the premiere a 9 out of 10, highlighting Rick Mercer’s fresh, biting satire and a strong supporting cast, predicting it would keep the 22 Minutes audience despite some insider jokes.

Andrew Clark of Saturday Night praised the show’s believable world—built through casting, locations, and fake shows—and Mercer’s skill at sharpening a satirical edge. By its fourth season, John Doyle of The Globe and Mail found it addictive, shifting from absurdity to accessible, brutal satire. At series end, he noted the industry enjoyed its twisted, vague takes on real scandals. Critics often compare Made in Canada to Ken Finkleman’s The Newsroom, noting shared documentary style and real-office settings, but Clark pointed out that Richard’s all-consuming ambition and generational conflict set him apart from Finkleman’s ineffectual George Findlay.