It's all over but the crying into the rum and coke. After a final TV special airing on Sunday and a feature film due out next fall, the Trailer Park Boys franchise is shutting down - pulling the plug on the only major gig its stars have ever had.
But the actors best known for playing lovable stoners Ricky, Julian and Bubbles are not about to take the news lying down. They hope they'll be back - this time with prosthetics and makeup.
After a final TV special airing on Sunday and a feature film due out next fall, The Trailer Park Boys franchise is shutting down.
It's all part of a project Robb Wells (Ricky), John Paul Tremblay (Julian) and Mike Smith (Bubbles) are working on together when not touring their live act, The Ricky, Julian and Bubbles Community Service Variety Show. Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg is not involved at this point, says Wells.
The Boys will play multiple characters on the show, still in development, which Wells describes as "Monty Python, Mr. Show, League of Gentlemen and Little Britain, all kind of mixed into one."
It sounds like a cockamamie scheme Julian might have hatched back in Sunnyvale Trailer Park - like the kooky dope-for-smokes caper in the final episode of season 7 (in which the Boys moved drugs across the U.S. border in a stolen toy train in exchange for cigarettes they planned to sell as contraband).
But the new project is an attempt to shed their Trailer Park Boys alter egos.
"Everyone knows us as these characters and nothing else," said Wells in a group phone interview while promoting the Trailer Park Boys TV special, Say Goodnight to the Bad Guys.
Wells and the other Boys are still reeling from the news the Showcase original series is ending, which they found out on the same day Clattenburg posted it on the show's website last month.
Since the announcement was made, Clattenburg hasn't been talking - not even to his buddies, despite the fact that he, Wells and Tremblay have been friends since high school.
Wells (Ricky) is flabbergasted that Clattenburg has offered no explanation and is upset the series is ending.
"We were looking forward to doing some other stuff, but I would definitely have continued with the Trailer Park Boys."
Clattenburg was not available for comment, but he was the one who made the decision, according to Tara Ellis, vice president of Showcase and drama content for Canwest Broadcasting.
"Obviously we're disappointed but we completely respect the fact that he's created this fantastic program and given us seven great seasons and numerous specials and feature films," Ellis said. "So while we'd obviously want more to put on air, we're grateful for the experience and for all the great programming we could bring to our viewers."
In addition to his work as director and main writer on the Trailer Park Boys series and movies, Clattenburg has directed music videos and episodes of other TV shows (including CBC's jPod and This Hour Has 22 Minutes). But Wells, Tremblay and Smith haven't done much other than the hit mockumentary series, which debuted in 2001, and the Trailer Park Boys feature films.
All three were in the Tragically Hip's video for The Darkest One. Wells and Tremblay appeared in the feature films Virginia's Run, starring Gabriel Byrne, and A Hole in One, featuring Meat Loaf. And, well, that's about it.
When Wells mentioned he has a part in the Boondock Saints sequel, All Saints Day, Smith quipped, "You had another movie, didn't you, a porno you were in?"
Still, they haven't done too badly for themselves considering they became cultural icons almost by accident. Wells and Tremblay, who met as schoolboys back in Dartmouth, N.S., were mainly just doing skits to entertain their friends until they hooked up with Clattenburg in high school. "He made the jump and basically devoted his life to film and television," said Wells. "We just thought we could never make a living doing it and then sort of got thrown into it by accident. Kudos to him and much thanks to him for getting us involved."
Smith, a musician, was hired to mix sound on the 1999 low-budget Trailer Park Boys movie when Clattenburg saw him fooling around on set and wrote him into the TV series as Bubbles.
Nobody, least of all the Boys themselves, ever expected the series would take off.
"Originally we were just hoping that some people would be flicking through the channels and kind of just pause and sort of wonder what the hell it was and continue to watch," said Wells. "But then it just kind of built from word of mouth I guess into this mainstream thing, which I definitely never expected or expected to be with this long."
The series has spawned fanatical fans, one of whom so desperately wanted to be on the show that he had himself delivered to the set in a huge crate, recalled Smith. "I think security beat him down and dragged him away."
The final one-hour TV special picks up where season 7 left off and features all the elements that have made the series such a cultural institution. There's an evil plot by Mr. Lahey, the alcoholic trailer park supervisor, and his greasy, shirtless, pot-bellied sidekick, Randy. There's the usual cast of supporting characters, including J-Roc the white rapper and Ray, Ricky's bootlegger father. And of course there's the Boys' latest harebrained get-rich scheme, as well as plenty of drugs, guns and swearing.
Expect more of the same in the upcoming feature film, Countdown To Liquor Day, the follow-up to the Ivan Reitman-produced 2006 feature, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie.
It's not exactly wholesome entertainment. But what the Trailer Park Boys has is "a lot of heart," argues Tremblay (Julian). "You strip the guns and swearing and stuff, and it's about family."
Wells agrees. "You've got all these characters basically and yes, maybe they're a little hardcore. But when it comes right down to it, I mean they really do seem to do the right things for their friends and family. The entire trailer park is basically a big family that will do anything for each other."
http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/television/story.html?id=1021312
