Trailer Park Boys

Trailer Park Boys is a popular Canadian mockumentary from 2001 focusing on the misadventures of ex-convicts living in fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park which is located near Halifax, Nova Scotia. The show's creator and director is Mike Clattenburg, as well as a showcase orginial.

The show has been a great success for Showcase, where it is the network's highest rated Canadian series. It airs in the United States on BBC America, in the United Kingdom on Paramount Comedy and in Australia on the Comedy Channel.

Background

The show was born out of three short films (all directed by Mike Clattenburg). The shorts are: The Cart Boy (1995), One Last Shot (1998), and Trailer Park Boys (1999). The show was filmed in real trailer parks in the Halifax area. During the first season, they shot at a park in Sackville, second season at a park in Dartmouth, third season at a park in Timberlea and the fourth season at a park back in Dartmouth. From then on, the show (including the Christmas special and feature film), is being filmed at a closed set near Dartmouth. Mike Smith (Bubbles) was the sound man during the pilot movie and season one, but became a full time actor when Bubbles became more popular during the second season. Barry Dunn (who is a producer on the show and plays Ray), saw the original production at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax and thought it would be great on television. Showcase agreed to air the show and the rest is history.

Characters

• Ricky. Played by Robb Wells.

• Julian. Played by John Paul Tremblay.

• Bubbles. Played by Mike Smith.

• Jim Lahey. Played by John Dunsworth.

• Randy. Played by Patrick Roach.

• Lucy. Played by Lucy DeCoutere.

• Sarah. Played by Sarah E. Dunsworth.

• J-Roc. Played by Jonathan Torrens.

• Cory and Trevor. Played by Cory Bowles and Michael Jackson.

• Ray. Played by Barrie Dunn.

• Sam Losco. Played by Sam Tarasco.

• Tyrone. Played by Tyrone Parsons.

• Detroit Velvet Smooth (DVS). Played by Gary "Papa Grand" James.

• Officer George Green. Played by George Green.

• Bottle Kids are three or four pre-teens that show up about every second episode with a shopping cart full of glass bottles and bombard one or more of the principal characters from a distance, and then run away. Randy is a frequent target. The minute anyone shouts "Bottle Kids!", everyone ducks.

• Cyrus. Played by Bernard Robichaud.

• Trinity is Ricky's daughter. She has an addiction to cigarettes and sometimes gets drunk which usually ends up in Lucy being angry at Ricky. She has even eaten a hash brownie made by Ricky (unbeknownst to him) in the episode "Mrs. Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up" with her exclaiming "These brownies taste funny." Sometimes runs with the bottle kids. Played by Jeanna Harrison.

• Treena Lahey is Jim and Barbara's daughter. She hero-worships Ricky, much to the chagrin of her father. Played by Ellen Page.

• Barbara Lahey is the owner of Sunnyvale Trailer Park. She was married to Jim until she divorced him due to his embarrassing shenanigans. She was briefly engaged to Sam Losco in Season 2 until Julian & J-Roc showed her "The Bare Pimp Project", a low-budget adult film. Recently she proposed to Ricky until he went back to jail at the end of Season 4. Played by Shelley Thompson.

• Terry and Dennis. Played by Mio and Nobu Adilman

• Levi. A friend of Julian, and Ricky. He is Desiree's husband. Played by Ardon Bess. Levi and Desiree are Julian's foster parents, who raised Julian after they found him abandoned in the trailer park.

• Desiree. Levi's Wife. Played by Sandi Ross.

• Candy was Julian's girlfriend at one point in the series.

• Erica Miller is a police officer who fell for Julian, hoping that he'd leave his current life behind. She later realized that he'd never change and arrested him. Played by Shauna MacDonald.

• Jacob works at a convenience store. Played by Jacob Rolfe.

• Alex Lifeson from the band, Rush. Played himself in the episode, Closer to the Heart.

• Rita MacNeil. Canadian singer-songwriter. Played herself in the episode, Working Man, where she was forced to harvest marijuana at gunpoint by Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles. website

• Nancy Regan. Halifax based journalist. Played herself in the episode, Working Man. website

• Mrs. Peterson Mistakenly thinks Julian is her grandson. Is in the episode "Mrs. Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up", when Julian and Ricky have to take care of her dog. She once gave a NWA CD to Julian as a gift.

• Detective Ted Johnson Played by Jim Swansburg

• Danny Voiced by Mike Smith

• EarlPlayed by Curt Mastersons

Money-making schemes

Over the seasons the Boys have undertaken many schemes to make money. These inevitably fail due to stupidity, violence, or interference by Mr. Lahey and Randy and/or the police.

• Running an illegal nightclub. Cory and Trevor passed out leaflets and attracted an all gay-male crowd.

• Reselling stolen gasoline, which was siphoned out of the cars of unsuspecting citizens. Ricky states that "regular tastes tangy, supreme tastes sour and diesel tastes pretty good. Plan fails when gang is arrested and Cory and Trevor come down with gas poisoning.

• Selling CDs of JRoc and the Roc Pile. Plans falls apart when the band from whom they're ripped off the rap tunes (Detroit Velvet Smooth) shows up all the way from Moncton with guns.

• Using underage children (protected from jail by the Young Offenders Act) as part of Junior Achievers to steal barbeques. Foiled when one child turns out to be the daughter of a police officer.

• Filming adult videos. All have been produced by J-Roc. So far such films include From Russia With the Lovebone, The Bare Pimp Project, and Trailer Park Girls Gone Wild, which was not finished due to the police interrupting the shooting of the latter film.

• "Freedom 35" Julian and Ricky cut a deal with the guards at the local prison. This deal entails the growing of marijuana, converting it into hash, and smuggling it into the prison. The most memorable moment in this particular season is in the last episode at the very end with Ricky and Julian sitting in prison. Ricky was quoted saying "... at least the dope's good. (Winking)" The name "Freedom 35" is a play on the Freedom 55 mutual fund / retirement savings plan.

• Out of boredom, Ricky comes up with a superweed variety of marijuana which he planted in a field along the highway. Julian returns from prison, and they decide to make money off of the crops by selling it at a Snoop Dogg concert in Moncton. Classic scene is when Rita MacNeil is forced off a bus to help harvest the crop. Ruined when the guys are caught and go to jail and Cory and Trevor, who are on the outside, are tricked out of the cash.

• The Roc Pile stealing groceries from supermarkets and then re-selling them back at the trailer park for profit

• Ricky and Julian stealing Christmas gifts at the mall and reselling them on Christmas Eve

• Selling hash at a vocational school. Ricky gets a job as a janitor, after being turned down by the registrar, and sells hash to the students. He collects their locker number and combination and the buyer leaves the money in the locker for a nighttime drop off.

• Selling hash to nearby vocational schools via shopping cart handles. The boys load up shopping cart handles with hash logs and drop off the orders at a parking lot for pickup.

• Selling dope at a Rush concert at the Metro Centre. They got the dope past security by sneaking into the building though the sewers.

Episodes

Season One (2001)

(Summary)

1. Take Your Little Gun and Get Out of My Trailer Park
2. Fuck Community College, Let's Get Drunk and Eat Chicken Fingers
3. Mr. Lahey's Got My Porno Tape!
4. Mrs. Peterson's Dog Gets Fucked Up
5. I'm Not Gay, I Love Lucy... Wait a Second, Maybe I am Gay
6. Who the Hell Invited These Idiots to My Wedding?

Season Two (2002)

1. What in the Fuck Happened to Our Trailer Park?
2. Jim Lahey Is a Drunk Bastard (Summary)
3. I've Met Cats and Dogs Smarter Than Cory and Trevor (Summary)
4. A Dope Trailer Is No Place for a Kitty (Summary)
5. The Bible Pimp (Summary)
6. Never Trust a Man with No Shirt On (Summary)
7. The Bare Pimp Project (Summary)

Season Three (2003)

1. Kiss of Freedom (Summary)
2. Temporary Relief Assistant Trailer Park Supervisor (Summary)
3. If I Can't Smoke and Swear I'm Fucked (Summary)
4. Who's the Microphone Assassin? (Summary)
5. Closer to the Heart (Summary)
6. Where in the Fuck is Randy's Barbeque? (Summary)
7. The Delusions of Officer Jim Lahey (Summary)
8. A Shit Leopard Can't Change Its Spots (Summary)

Season Four (2004)

1. Never Cry Shitwolf (Summary)
2. Man's Gotta Eat (Summary)
3. Rub 'N Tiz'zug (Summary)
4. The Green Bastard (Summary)
5. Conky (Summary)
6. If You Love Something, Set It Free (Summary)
7. Propane, Propane (Summary)
8. Workin' Man (Summary)

Christmas Special 2004

1. Dear Santa Claus. Go Fuck Yourself (Summary)

Season Five (2005)

1. Give Peace a Chance (Summary)
2. The Shit Stained Puppets (Summary)
3. The Fuckin Way She Fucks (Summary)
4. You Got to Blame the Thing Down There (Summary)
5. Jim Lahey Is a Fucking Drunk And He Always Will Be (Summary)
6. Don't Cross the Shit Line (Summary)
7. The Winds Of Shit (Summary)
8. Dressed All Over & Zesty Mordant (Summary)
9. I Am The Liquour

(Summary)

1. The Shit Blizzard (Summary)

The Movie

There is currently another Trailer Park Boys movie in production (The first being the original black and white production that sparked the series.) According to the promotional posters and the movie website, "Trailer Park Boys: The Movie" is scheduled for release in summer of 2006. The subtitle for this movie is "The Big Dirty".

External links:

• Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (includes trailer)
• TPB.org Forum discussion of movie news and developments
• IMDB.com - Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty (2006)

Critical reviews

• "Trailer Park Boys are the latest incarnation of a Canadian cultural classic." - The Globe and Mail