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Twenty years after the debut of ‘Corner Gas,’ the memories are still fresh for creator and star Brent Butt.
The first episode aired Jan. 22, 2004, and the sitcom became an instant hit in 60 countries. Butt caught up with the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Wednesday to look back at the series on its 20th anniversary.
“Twenty years. It kind of hits, because in my mind it’s so fresh and so recent that it seems it can’t have been 20 years ago,” said Butt.
“It’s like anything. Sometimes it seems like three years has whistled by, but other times it feels like, ‘Wow, we did that show 80 years ago.’ ”
The series racked up many awards over its six seasons and 107 episodes.
Looking back, Butt said it’s hard not to feel good about the success they had.
“I grew up as a TV baby. I loved watching TV and dreamed of working in TV. Being on TV was a dream of mine, so that’s sort of how it hits me,” he said.
“If I’m at home and flip on the TV, or I’m on the road and I turn on the TV in the hotel room and I stumble across and episode of ‘Corner Gas,’ I always stop and watch for a while because it’s a very warm, satisfying feeling to grow up and live my dream, but it also pulls me back to a time where I was having such a blast working with such an amazing group of people to put together a project that really resonated with people.”
The series spawned a movie as well as animated series, which ran for four seasons.
Butt said all these years later he continues to have fans approach him about the show and make references to their favourite episodes.
As for his own favourite moment?
“It’s difficult to pick a favourite,” Butt admitted. “I always enjoyed the episode where we saw the gang in a different situation, like the hockey episode where we saw the gang at the rink playing hockey, or the slopitch episode, or went to the city for the Grey Cup. I kind of get a kick out of those. There’s different episodes that I like for different reasons, you know?”
Rouleau, where the series was filmed, became a tourist attraction until 2016 when the iconic ‘Corner Gas’ set was demolished.
– With files from Gillian Massie and Brent Bosker