Open letter to Clattenburg

Dear Mr. Clattenburg, (Mike Clattenburg)


As fucked as it may sound, although I know I'm not alone, over the course of many years of watching the Trailer Park Boys over and over again, I've felt as though they had become part of my family. From the pilot that started it all through Countdown to Liquor day, I've been able to pull myself out of the story long enough to admire the growth of not only the actors, but of the whole crew overall. And as a fan from the US it seemed like as soon as I had heard about the series, the whole thing was already over.

From Mrs. Peterson (RIP) to Sam Lasco (that greasy caveman fuck!) and even the Shitmobile (RIP) nothing ever felt like it was on screen for the sake of being on screen. I know when you're finger prints are deeply ingrained into a project you tend to see the flaws shining brightly, but as a fan I have to say that rarely did an episode of Trailer Park Boys feel less than a perfectly connected and formed circle. The stories flowed well from episode to episode and although I already knew the boys were never going to succeed in their goals, I always had that undying hope they would. To me that is a sign of solid writing and the cast's ability to transform words into the purest of acting art.

To paraphrase an interview with Barrie Dunn, he said the goal was that when you shut off your TV at night, you still believed that Sunnyvale was still a real place and that the boys were still getting themselves into trouble, and if that was in fact the goal you've done nothing less than achieve that goal to the finest of degrees.

From shit analogies, Grade 10s and greasy cheeseburger guts, I feel as if the stories were all a part of my life, my past. As if I were watching it unfold from the first person perspective. To hear that it was long gone by the time the show was even brought to my attention was unfathomable, I couldn't believe that the story had come to an end, or that it even could! (Reaching back to the goal of it still going on outside of the show)

I try to watch as much related to Trailer Park Boys as possible, documentaries, the whole series, movies, etc. just to feel as if I understand the show even more. To know that the Trailer Park Boys had to give way to real life progress made me feel as if I were losing my childhood home. To see the trailers sitting in the lot, destroyed was really heartbreaking. That set, and the many before it, were not only sets, but dare I say lands where dreams were set in motion to the tune of liquor, gunshots and bad country music.

I'm not giving anyone a fuckin R!