--- title: "Schitt's Creek" year: 2015 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/schitts-creek" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 7 published: "2026-09-17T03:52:21.552482+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T03:52:35.007884+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Schitt's Creek (2015) Created by Eugene Levy, Dan Levy · 22m · MPA TV-14 · Comedy **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 73 from 7 reviews *In a sentence:* A family loses everything except the wigs, and the wigs turn out to be enough > Eugene and Dan Levy’s comedy about a ruined family stuck in a town they once bought as a joke starts thin and grows into something warm without going soft. Give it a season; Catherine O’Hara’s Moira is the reason to stay for six. ## Synopsis Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy), who made his money in video rental, loses all of it when his business manager fails to pay the family’s taxes and the government seizes everything. The one asset nobody wants is Schitt’s Creek, a small town Johnny once bought his son as a joke birthday present. Johnny, his wife Moira (Catherine O’Hara), a former soap actress, and their grown children David (Dan Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy) move into two adjoining rooms at the town’s motel, where Stevie Budd (Emily Hampshire) works the desk and Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott), the mayor, keeps letting himself in. Johnny wants to sell the town and leave; nobody wants to buy it, and Alexis is waiting for a boyfriend who is not coming. ## Review Eugene Levy and his son Dan Levy have built a comedy on a pitch that could have been written in 1985. A rich family loses everything, and the one asset nobody wants to seize is a small town the father once bought his son as a joke birthday present. So the Roses move into two adjoining rooms at the local motel and try to stay appalled. For thirteen episodes the show is more or less that pitch: snobs on one side, locals on the other, a bedspread nobody wants to touch in between. Then, over five more seasons, it becomes a comedy about people learning to be decent to each other, and it stays funny while it does. We recommend it warmly. The caveat is that the first season asks for a patience it has not yet earned. Catherine O’Hara is the reason to stay through it. Moira Rose, former soap actress, arrives with a wall of wigs and a vocabulary that sounds assembled from a dictionary opened at random, and O’Hara plays her at full volume, every vowel bent into a shape nobody else would attempt. Underneath is panic. Moira has lost the audience she performed for and is performing anyway, to a motel car park, and O’Hara lets us see the moment in each scene where she notices. Eugene Levy plays Johnny as the straight man, tie done up, eyebrows doing the work, the only adult in the family. The children take longer to settle and end up carrying half the show. Dan Levy’s David flinches at everything, hands raised as if the town were wet paint, in black and white knitwear that costs more than a month at the motel. Annie Murphy’s Alexis speaks with a lifted wrist and a rising inflection that turns every statement into a question, and hers is the performance that grows most over the run. Emily Hampshire’s Stevie, behind the motel desk, gives the Roses their first friend in town and the show its best deadpan. The craft is deliberately modest. Brendan Smith’s motel is wood panelling, low ceilings and a connecting door that never quite shuts. David A. Makin and Gerald Packer light it flat and bright, like a sitcom without the laugh track, so the camera never tells you when to laugh. Debra Hanson’s costumes do the visual work the sets decline to: Moira in nothing but black and white, structured almost to armour; Alexis in floaty summer dresses that make no sense for the climate. The editors, James Bredin, Trevor Ambrose and Paul Winestock, hold on faces after the line, which is where the jokes land. Maribeth Solomon’s music is sparing, and long stretches have none, which suits it. What does not work is mostly in the first year. The title is a schoolboy pun. Too many early episodes stretch one misunderstanding across twenty-two minutes, and the joke that the Roses cannot cope is repeated until it wears through. Chris Elliott’s Roland, the mayor, is played far too broad at first, all open-mouthed chewing and unwanted hugs. One early review dismissed the whole thing as a slim sitcom built around the name, and on the first six episodes we would have half agreed. Then it turns. There is a dinner in the second season at which the Roses are given every chance to laugh at the town in front of people from their old life, and what they do instead caught us off guard. We had not expected to be moved by a comedy about a wig collection, and we were, and we spent the rest of the run waiting for the show to cheapen that moment. It never did. Noah Reid arrives in the third season as Patrick Brewer, a business partner for David, and what the two of them build we will leave you to watch. The writers, David West Read among them, learned to let people be kind without preaching about it. O’Hara and Eugene Levy spent years in Christopher Guest’s films, gently mocking people who did not know they were funny. This does something braver: it starts by mocking and then stops, and the comedy survives the loss. Give it a season, two episodes a sitting; they run twenty-two minutes and carry a 15 certificate. If you are not fond of it by that second-season dinner, it is not for you, and no harm done. *Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like it, and the praise settles on the cast. Nearly every review names Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara as the reason the comedy works, with O’Hara’s deadpan singled out more than once, while The AV Club argues that Annie Murphy and Daniel Levy do much of the carrying. Reviews written later in the run go further, describing a series that keeps its standards up across six seasons and balances the jokes against real warmth for the Rose family without turning preachy. The dissent is narrow but sharp. Variety finds it a tired reunion of SCTV alumni built around a juvenile pun, with the leads adrift, and is the only clearly negative notice. The Guardian, otherwise warm, notes that some situations feel familiar. The early reviews are mostly promising rather than glowing; the strongest praise comes from critics writing once the series had several seasons behind it. ### Reviews we read (7) - **Radio Times**, Jane Rackham (8.5/10): The critic calls it an award-winning Canadian comedy that became a huge hit on Netflix. It balances absurdity and dry humour with real warmth, making it highly addictive and binge-worthy. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/programme/b-ucq4t6/schitts-creek/) - **The AV Club**, LaToya Ferguson (B+): The critic finds the series witty and heartfelt despite its premise of a wealthy family adjusting to small-town life. She singles out the younger cast members, particularly Annie Murphy and Daniel Levy, for carrying the show with strong performances. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/with-sophisticated-ignorance-and-unexpected-heart-schi-1798183705) - **The Guardian**, Brian Moylan (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the show a fun take on a rich family stuck in a Podunk town, with strong performances from Eugene Levy and especially Catherine O’Hara carrying the comedy. Some situations feel familiar and overused, but the cast and inventive scenarios make it worth watching. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/feb/10/schitts-creek-review-eugene-levy-catherine-ohara) - **The Hollywood Reporter** (70/100, inferred): The critic says Levy and O'Hara steal the show in this promising Canadian comedy about a wealthy family transplanted to a small town. It is a notable entry for the network with potential shown through the leads' deadpan performances. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/schitts-creek-tv-review-772042/) - **Variety**, Brian Lowry (30/100, inferred): The critic finds it a tired reunion of SCTV stars building a slim sitcom around a juvenile pun, with the leads appearing adrift. It leaves the cast and network looking without much of a clue. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/tv/reviews/tv-review-schitts-creek-1201421688/) - **Den of Geek**, Delia Harrington (4.5/5): The critic praises the series for maintaining high standards of humor and heart as it gains wider recognition, calling it a perfect antidote to the news cycle. They single out the strong ensemble performances and the show's ability to balance laughs with genuine emotional warmth without preachiness. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/schitt-s-creek-season-5-review-spoiler-free/) - **The Ringer**, Ben Lindbergh (85/100, inferred): The critic praises Schitt's Creek for ending its run at its peak after six seasons of consistent improvement and growing popularity. They highlight the show's blend of humor and heartfelt character development, particularly the Roses' transformation from entitled outsiders to finding home and love in the small town. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/07/tv/schitts-creek-series-finale-preview) ## Details - **Created by:** Eugene Levy, Dan Levy - **Creator:** Eugene Levy, Dan Levy - **Director:** Paul Fox, Jerry Ciccoritti, Jordan Canning, Andrew Cividino, T.W. Peacocke, T. W. Peacocke, Laurie Lynd, Bruce McCulloch, Sturla Gunnarsson, Dan Levy, Donna Croce - **Writer:** Dan Levy, David West Read, Kevin White, Michael Short, Rupinder Gill, Chris Pozzebon, Monica Heisey, Kurt Smeaton, Matt Kippen, Amanda Walsh, Winter Tekenos-Levy, Rebecca Kohler, Teresa Pavlinek, Eugene Levy - **Story:** Dan Levy, Michael Grassi - **Teleplay:** Dan Levy, Kevin White - **Cinematography:** Gerald Packer, David A. Makin - **Editor:** Trevor Ambrose, Paul Winestock, James Bredin - **Music:** Maribeth Solomon - **Production design:** Brendan Smith - **Costume design:** Debra Hanson - **Producer:** Colin Brunton, Kosta Orfanidis - **Cast:** Eugene Levy as Johnny Rose; Catherine O'Hara as Moira Rose; Dan Levy as David Rose; Annie Murphy as Alexis Rose; Emily Hampshire as Stevie Budd; Chris Elliott as Roland Schitt; Jennifer Robertson as Jocelyn Schitt; Tim Rozon as Mutt Schitt - **Runtime:** 22m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-14 - **Release (the US):** 13 January 2015 - **Genres:** Comedy - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0uWS6CnC2o ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming - Hulu: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - Disney+: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Apple TV: buy, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IS, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PT, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Arrested Development* (2003), Fi1m 87: Another rich family loses the money and keeps the delusions; faster and far crueller. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/arrested-development.md) - *Best in Show* (2000), Fi1m 84: O’Hara and Eugene Levy as a dog-show couple; the template for Moira and Johnny. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/best-in-show.md) - *Detectorists* (2014), Fi1m 87: Two men, two metal detectors, an English field; the same patience with small lives. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/detectorists.md) - *Kim's Convenience* (2016): A Toronto corner shop and a family that bickers with love; gentle in the same key. - *Fawlty Towers* (1975), Fi1m 90: The other great hotel run by someone who despises the guests; twelve episodes, no mercy. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/fawlty-towers.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. 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