Eugene Levy on “Schitt’s Creek,” new comedy series from his son

Eugene Levy Schitts Creek PopTV

Eugene Levy and Dan Levy paddle their way up Schitt’s Creek, a new comedy series coming to Pop (formerly TV Guide Network) on Wednesdays at 10pmET/9pmCT beginning Feb. 11.

Schitt's-Creek_webEugene Levy wasn’t sure what to expect when his son first pitched him the idea of doing a TV series together. “We’d never worked together before, so I honestly didn’t know,” the 68-year-old recalls. “We started about three years ago, when Dan came to me with this germ of an idea about a wealthy family that lose their money. He was very confident from the beginning. As a writer, as a producer, as an actor on the show, things [have been] just unfolding before my eyes over the past year. It went from a nice father-son project to a professional television show with a great partner.”

That show is Schitt’s Creek, a comedy from Canada’s CBC that casts the senior Levy as Johnny Rose, the head of a family whose opulent lifestyle takes a big turn when its assets are seized by the government’s tax department. Left without so much as a proverbial paddle, the Roses end up in Schitt’s Creek, a sleepy town that John once bought for his son as a joke. It turns out to be the only asset the family gets to keep.

According to Dan Levy, part of the premise behind Schitt’s Creek came to him after he read about actress Kim Basinger, who bought the town of Braselton, Ga., back in 1989 with the intention of turning it into a tourist hot spot. Basinger ended up selling the town several years later, at a substantial loss. “That sort of twigged us,” the 31-year-old Levy explains. “We were looking for that hook. And that was it.”

In addition to being an executive producer with his father, Dan Levy also plays John’s son, David. Catherine O’Hara — who has teamed with the elder Levy in projects ranging from SCTV to such movies as Best in Show and For Your Consideration — costars as Moira, the family matriarch. Rounding out the clan is Annie Murphy as daughter Alexis.

Schitt’s Creek also features a number of other notable cast members: Emily Hampshire as Stevie, the clerk at the motel where the Roses end up living, Sarah Levy (Dan’s real-life sister) as Twyla, the waitress at the local diner, and Chris Elliott as Roland Schitt, the town mayor and great-grandson of town founder Horace Schitt.

In case you haven’t noticed, the show’s title capitalizes on certain puns that might seem a little coarse. “It was kind of a dinner-table thing, kind of going out with friends,” the senior Levy says of the title’s origins. “My wife, I think, may have had a hand in it as well. It’s just the idea of a town called Schitt’s Creek. And then, we’d go off on different runs, like Schitt Hardware or Schitt Food.”

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