Robson Arms: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Dan MacIntosh
Robson Arms: The Complete First Season is a Canadian series set in a Vancouver apartment complex. It’s a little bit like The Honeymooners, except instead of limiting itself to just one or two apartments, this series spans the whole building. And rather than showcasing the same basic cast week after week, the show focuses on one or more resident with each succeeding episode. Its regular cast is topnotch, and some of the guest actors (including Margot Kidder and The Kids in the Hall’s Mark McKinney) fill each program with excellent performances. Although there are subtle connections between episodes, each story can also stand on its own. So if you miss one in the middle, for instance, you won’t be as “lost” as you certainly would be with, say, Lost.
The first thing you’ll notice about Robson Arms, especially if you’re not Canadian, is that Canadian television is a lot less censored than the American variety. The very first episode, of the very first season, concerns a 10 year old boy who surmises that his newly single mom requires “a good poke” to be happy. In other words, mom just needs to get laid. It’s kind of cute, but it’s also a lot more frank than U.S. TV. It would be one thing if the dialogue stuck to more innocent words like “poke,” but it doesn’t. Instead, these characters are also not inhibited about dropping the occasional f-bomb now and again, which would get any American network fined automatically. It would even be worse than a Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.
Perhaps the second observation you’ll make about Robson Arms, which is labeled a “dramedy,” is that there is far more drama than comedy. It is of significance that many major comedians, from Jerry Seinfeld to Rosanne Barr, have landed successful sitcoms. This is because many sitcoms amount to little more than a series of one-liners. When these one-liners are good, these shows can be extremely funny. But when they’re bad, they’re nearly un-watch-able. In contrast, however, Robson Arms is aligns itself much more closely to a truer sitcom definition. It’s funny, not so much because of what the characters say, but because of the uncomfortable situations they’re in. For instance, when the young computer geek, Fred, finds out Kelly – a girl he’s developed a cyber relationship with – is moving to Vancouver, he invites her to stay with him. But it is soon painfully obvious these two people are incompatible. Yet instead of trading insulting barbs, the way far too many American sitcom characters traditionally do, their clashing behaviors primarily lead to all the laughs.
In addition to its mature language, Robson Arms is also not afraid to deal frankly with a wide variety of sexual experiences. In fact, every episode has something to do with sex. Of particular note is the episode “A Certain Vintage”, which centers on a gay couple. Geoff is a physically fit man, whereas Stanley enjoys fattening food just a little too much. But to Geoff’s shock and surprise, he contracts cancer – despite his healthy lifestyle. But to these American eyes, it’s amazing – in a positive way -- how nonchalantly these characters behave together. Instead of making us say, ‘Oh look, those are two gay men on the screen!’ this episode, instead, focuses on how these two men face a troubling health issue together. We watch as Stanley’s sincere love comes through while he’s helping his partner deal with cancer, while at the same time Geoff realizes how much he needs Stanley. He also comes to the realization that differing attitudes about food and exercise are not such huge obstacles after all.
