Shore Thing

My blog has been silent for a week due to a family emergency. I might write about that in detail some day, when the troubles have truly passed. (Or I might not.) But I've decided that I need some normalcy where I can find it, and this is one place. So I'm going to try to go back to business as usual here. Maybe even lighter than usual to kick things off, as I say a few words about a real confection of a television show: Shoresy.

Shoresy is a spin-off centered on the chirping hockey player from Letterkenny, as he relocates to lead a struggling triple-A team. In equal measure, his trash-talking antics and dedication to his team begin to turn things around.

I always enjoyed Letterkenny, even as I thought that its schtick (and the quality of the jokes) declined gradually in later seasons. But one aspect I never liked about that show was the character of Shoresy. When they wrote him out to set up this spin-off, I really thought "good riddance," and was pretty sure I'd never check out the second show.

And yet... I had a little kernel of curiosity about Shoresy that I just couldn't deny. How would a show all about that guy even work? Even setting aside the fact that his face was never shown on Letterkenny, but would be on Shoresy -- he was just such a one-note character that I kind of had to see how big a mess the spin-off would be. Well, it turns out that series creator, writer, and star Jared Keeso seems to have known that he couldn't just stick Shoresy in a new show without some changes -- and the changes really work. 

First, Shoresy is much more of a story-driven show. Letterkenny was something between a stand-up comedy act and a live-action cartoon... a show that used the bare minimum of story necessary to facilitate jokes and riffs. Shoresy actually employs season-long story arcs, has a message in most episodes, and actually wants you to care for the characters beyond their ability to make you laugh. It's not as consistently funny a show as a result... but with the jokes thinned out a bit, there's room to be more invested in what's going on.

You probably have to care at least a little about hockey for that, though. Where Letterkenny sometimes used the ice rink or the locker room as a setting for comedy, Shoresy has way more hockey action than you'd probably expect for something branded as a sitcom. It has even more "hockey culture," so it's likely you'll know within just an episode or two if the show is for you.

But one thing that might grab you in that episode or two is another good strength of the spin-off: the other characters. Jared Keeso may be writing the show for himself to star in, but it doesn't really come off like a "vanity project." In particular, I feel like the team's managerial staff (all women, in a much-appreciated subversion of expectations) and coach bring a lot of heart to a show -- more heart than I ever would have expected.

Shoresy is four six-episode seasons in and counting, and is in the midst of a reinvention of sorts. (It's also a show willing to mess with its formula more than Letterkenny ever was.) Shoresy isn't exactly "can't miss" television... but somehow it won me over, and I plan to be there when the next season arrives. I give it a B+.