Still Standing (Canadian TV series)

Still Standing is a Canadian television series, which premiered on CBC in summer 2015.[1] The show's tagline slogan is "towns that are against the ropes but still hanging in there",[2] reflecting the show's premise to tell the "story of small towns in Canada and how they overcome struggles".[3]

Still Standing
Genre	Comedy/Reality
Directed by	Sebastian Cluer
Starring	Jonny Harris
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	65
Production
Executive producers	Jeff Peeler, Catherine Legge, Jamie Brown
Producer	Jonny Harris and Sebastian Cluer
Running time	22 minutes
Production company	Frantic Films
Release
Original network	CBC Television
Original release	June 23, 2015 – present
External links
Website

A hybrid comedy/reality series, the program features actor and comedian Jonny Harris. In each episode, Harris travels to small Canadian communities which are financially struggling but "still standing" and spends time getting to know the residents and their lifestyles. At the end of the trip, Harris performs a stand-up comedy show for the town's residents, into which he integrates some of his newfound insights about life in their community.[1] In the television format, however, clips from the comedy show are interspersed throughout the episode rather than occurring specifically at the end. The show is produced by Frantic Films.[4]

The show premiered on June 23, 2015, with an episode set in Bamfield, British Columbia.[1]

Filming

To be considered for a show, a community must submit a proposal to the show's producers, who then select a subset of those proposals for inclusion in that season's programming.[5] The order of filming is independent of the order of episode broadcasting.[lower-alpha 1] Filming occurs during the three hiatuses in the filming of Murdoch Mysteries, in which Harris is part of the main cast.[6]

A producer visits the town before the filming crew arrives to become familiar with the community.[6] The crew then spends five days in the community, the first four of which are spent filming scenery and conducting interviews.[7] Most of the segments are planned in advance, including Harris interviewing local individuals.[8] The filming schedule is flexible to allow the crew to film events "on the fly".[8] The crew consists of 10 to 16 members who are billeted during the filming.[9][7]

Comedy show

The visit culminates in a comedy performance by Harris at a local venue on the fifth day.[10][7] The event is free to attend on a first come, first served basis, and features performances by other stand-up comics.[10][9] In the show, Harris discusses the residents, and the community's difficulties and response to those difficulties.[1] Harris said he was "worried that they (local residents) might be apprehensive" about the show and its subject, but found that instead "they were laid back".[1] He stated that "people are not overly sensitive, and are just up for the laugh".[1]

The stand-up routine typically includes inside jokes that may not be included in the episode that is broadcast.[9]

Reception

Television critic John Doyle, writing in The Globe and Mail, stated that Harris is "extremely good at connecting with the local people".[2]

Awards

Canadian Screen Awards

Year	Category	Nominee	Result	Reference
2016	Best factual program or series	Still Standing	Won	[11]
	Best host in a lifestyle, talk or entertainment news program or series	Jonny Harris	Nominated
	Best editing in a factual program or series	Jorge Parra, Robert Kew and Tony Coleman (episode: Buxton)
	Best writing in a factual program or series	Jonny Harris, Chuck Byrn and Nile Séguin (episode: Buxton)
2017	Best factual program or series	Still Standing	Won	[12]
	Best host in a lifestyle, talk or entertainment news program or series	Jonny Harris
	Best direction in a documentary or factual series	Sebastian Cluer (episode: Vanastra)	Nominated
	Best writing in a factual program or series	Jonny Harris, Fraser Young and Steve Dylan (episode: Vanastra)	Won
2018	Best editing in a factual program or series	Jorge Parra (episode: Manitou Beach)	Nominated
	Best writing in a factual program or series	Jonny Harris, Fraser Young, Steve Dylan and Graham Chittenden (episode: Fort McMurray)	Won	[11]
2019	Best factual program or series	Still Standing	Nominated
	Best host in a program or series	Jonny Harris	Won
	Best editorial research	Maya Bilbao (episode: Carcross)	Nominated
	Best writing in a factual program or series	Jonny Harris, Fraser Young, Steve Dylan and Graham Chittenden (episode: Carcross)	Won
2020	Best host in a factual series or reality competition	Jonny Harris	Nominated
	Best editorial research	Shayla Howell, Maya Bilbao and Arden Wray (episode: "East Preston")	Nominated
	Best photography in a documentary or factual program or series	Jeff Cole (episode: "Churchill")	Nominated
	Best editing in a factual program or series	Jorge Parra (episode: "Churchill")	Nominated
	Best direction in a factual program or series	Sebastian Cluer (episode: "Siksika Nation")	Nominated
	Best writing in a factual program or series	Jonny Harris, Fraser Young, Steve Dylan and Graham Chittenden (episode: "Churchill")	Won

Series overview

Series		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired	Network
	1	13		23 June 2015	29 September 2015	CBC
	2	13		15 June 2016	20 September 2016
	3	13		27 June 2017	12 September 2017
	4	13		18 September 2018	11 December 2018
	5	13		17 September 2019	10 December 2019
	6	10		6 October 2020	8 December 2020

Episodes

Season 1 (2015)

No. overall	No. in season	Location	Original air date
1	1	Bamfield, British Columbia	23 June 2015
2	2	Coleman, Alberta	30 June 2015
3	3	Souris, Prince Edward Island	7 July 2015
4	4	Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan	28 July 2015
5	5	Berwick, Nova Scotia	4 August 2015
6	6	Oil Springs, Ontario	11 August 2015
7	7	Lytton, British Columbia	18 August 2015
8	8	Manitou, Manitoba	25 August 2015
9	9	Wawa, Ontario	1 September 2015
10	10	Teeswater, Ontario	8 September 2015
11	11	Rowley, Alberta	15 September 2015
12	12	North Buxton and South Buxton, Ontario	22 September 2015
13	13	Fogo Island, Newfoundland and Labrador	29 September 2015

Season 2 (2016)

No. overall	No. in season	Location	Original air date
14	1	Skidegate, British Columbia	15 June 2016
15	2	Vanastra, Ontario	21 June 2016
16	3	Georgetown, Prince Edward Island	28 June 2016
17	4	Fort Coulonge, Quebec	5 July 2016
18	5	Telkwa, British Columbia	12 June 2016
19	6	Eganville, Ontario	19 July 2016
20	7	McAdam, New Brunswick	26 July 2016
21	8	Inuvik, Northwest Territories	2 August 2016
22	9	Omemee, Ontario	24 August 2016
23	10	Stanstead, Quebec	30 August 2016
24	11	Mabou, Nova Scotia	8 September 2016
25	12	Pilot Mound, Manitoba	13 September 2016
26	13	Maple Creek, Saskatchewan	20 September 2016

Season 3 (2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Location	Original air date
27	1	Fort McMurray, Alberta	27 June 2017
28	2	Bell Island, Newfoundland and Labrador	27 June 2017
29	3	Manitou Beach, Saskatchewan	4 July 2017
30	4	Mattawa, Ontario	11 July 2017
31	5	Edgerton, Alberta	18 July 2017
32	6	Avondale, Newfoundland and Labrador	25 July 2017
33	7	Lake Cowichan, British Columbia	1 August 2017
34	8	Reston, Manitoba	8 August 2017
35	9	Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia	15 August 2017
36	10	Norwood, Ontario	22 August 2017
37	11	Vulcan, Alberta	29 August 2017
38	12	Gilbert Plains, Manitoba	5 September 2017
39	13	South River, Ontario	12 September 2017

Season 4 (2018)

No. overall	No. in season	Location	Original air date
40	1	Tignish, Prince Edward Island	18 September 2018
41	2	Carcross, Yukon	25 September 2018
42	3	Rogersville, New Brunswick	2 October 2018
43	4	Fraser Lake, British Columbia	9 September 2018
44	5	Cobalt, Ontario	16 October 2018
45	6	New Denmark, New Brunswick	23 October 2018
46	7	Wilberforce, Ontario	30 October 2018
47	8	Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Ontario	6 November 2018
48	9	Huntingdon, Quebec	13 November 2018
49	10	Radisson, Saskatchewan	20 November 2018
50	11	Canso, Nova Scotia	27 November 2018
51	12	Minto, Manitoba	4 December 2018
52	13	Wells, British Columbia	11 December 2018

Season 5 (2019)

No. overall	No. in season	Location	Original air date
53	1	Campobello Island, New Brunswick	17 September 2019
54	2	Schreiber, Ontario	24 September 2019
55	3	Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia	1 October 2019
56	4	East Preston, Nova Scotia	8 September 2019
57	5	Churchill, Manitoba	15 October 2019
58	6	Fortune, Newfoundland and Labrador	22 October 2019
59	7	Nipigon, Ontario	29 October 2019
60	8	Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador	5 November 2019
61	9	Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan	12 November 2019
62	10	Bristol, Quebec	19 November 2019
63	11	Lumby, British Columbia	26 November 2019
64	12	Calabogie, Ontario	3 December 2019
65	13	Siksika Nation, Alberta	10 December 2019

Season 6 (2020)

No. overall	No. in season	Location	Original air date
66	1	Pelee Island, Ontario	6 October 2020
67	2	Bear River, Nova Scotia	13 October 2020
68	3	Lillooet, British Columbia[7]	20 October 2020
69	4	Vittoria, Ontario[13]	27 October 2020
70	5	Woody Point, Newfoundland and Labrador	10 November 2020
71	6	Pinawa, Manitoba	17 November 2020
72	7	Cap-Pelé, New Brunswick	24 November 2020
73	8	Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador	1 December 2020
74	9	Turner Valley, Alberta	8 December 2020
75	10	Rankin Inlet, Nunavut[14]

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References

1. Hank, Melissa (2015-07-22). "Murdoch Mysteries' Jonny Harris hosts new show Still Standing". Postmedia News. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
2. Doyle, John (2015-07-07). "CBC's Still Standing gets laughs in small-town Canada". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
3. "CBC showcasing Tignish Tuesday". The Journal Pioneer. 2018-09-15. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
4. Grignon, Denis (2015-09-28). "Jonny Harris juggles acting and standup in CBC shows". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
5. Law, Melanie (2018-12-06). "Wells, B.C. features in CBC series Still Standing". Quesnel Observer. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
6. Arsenault, Tim (2018-09-17). "Comedy show Still Standing visits Tignish P.E.I. and Canso". The Chronicle Herald. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
7. "Still Standing coming to Lillooet". Bridge River Lillooet News. 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
8. "Lumby featured on CBC show Still Standing". 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
9. "Radisson 'still standing' as CBC film crew rolls into town". Clark's Crossing Gazette. 2018-01-12. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
10. Smith, Jennifer (2019-01-14). "CBC filming in Lumby this week". Vernon Morningstar. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
11. Jackson, Lura (2018-08-22). "Award-Winning CBC comedy show to film in Campobello". The Calais Advertiser. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
12. Furdyk, Brent (2017-03-12). "2017 Canadian Screen Awards: And the winners are..." ET Canada. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
13. "CBC's Still Standing to be filmed in Vittoria". Norfolk Today. 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
14. Harris, Jonny (2019-09-17). "5 true things about Canada that Jonny Harris has learned from making Still Standing". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2019-11-15.

Notes

1. For example, the town of Wells, British Columbia was the first community filmed for Season 4, but was the last broadcast of that season.[5]

External links

• Official website