Talk:The Red Green Show

Longest running

Simpsons is the longest running sitcom in the USA. The UK's 'last of the summer wine' has been running since 1973.

Simpsons is a cartoon, not a sitcom. There is no "situation" in a cartoon, as animation has never been constrained by any of the bounds of reality. The characters never even age.. I mean come on here, Homer should be retiring by now, and Bart should be helping his high school chemistry teacher Break Bad, or something like that. Zaphraud (talk) 21:20, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Final Season

Supposedly the 15th season is going to be the final season of The Red Green Show. Perhaps this could be added to the article somehow? Torin Darkflight 06:59, Mar 8, 2005 (UTC)

Done. -- user:zanimum

I took out the reference to March 17th.. according to cbc.ca (as well as the guide on my TV) the episode Rain Man is on then, and according to the ep guide on the offical Red Green site it is ep #297, with the last episode being 300. Priester 05:52, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

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PBS episode guide

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The Red Green Show Episode Guide

Character descriptions

Since the character descriptions "come from the Red Green DVDs", they are clearly in copyright violation. Has permission been granted to put them here? If not, they need to go. Rhindle The Red 13:19, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Character section tags

I have tagged the character section for having several problems, the worst of which is the obvious copyright violation of almost the entire section being directly copied from a copyrighted source (I assume, it would be truly bizarre if it wasn't copyrighted). A side-effect of this is that section having an extremely informal tone, also a problem. Additionally, a huge size of that section is cumbersome and makes the page significantly longer than it needs to be. I propose rewriting and moving at least part (if not all) of the section to a page entitled "Minor characters on The Red Green Show" or "List of minor characters on The Red Green Show" or "List of characters on The Red Green Show". If Split so the new page only includes minor characters, I suggest the following should be moved to it:

• Buzz Sherwood
• Bob Stuyvesant
• Glen Brackston
• Dougie Franklin (Perhaps the page for Dougie Franklin should be deleted if this new page is created?)
• Ben Franklin
• Hap Shaughnessy (possibly)
• Kevin Black
• Arnie Dogan
• Dwight Cardiff
• Adventurer Walter
• Bonnie
• All the unseen characters

--Pharaoh Hound (talk) 01:22, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely seconded. As it stands right now, this has to be one of the worst-written articles I've ever seen. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 07:16, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I moved the minor/secondary/unseen/guest characters to the new article you suggested. (A few more people got moved than the ones you suggested, btw.) Aside from a bit of reformatting, I haven't so far changed any other content. The debatable "secondaries" that might end up getting moved back here are Ranger Gord, Hap Shaughnessy and Edgar Montrose - they almost never appear in the main story segments, but they have been a part of the show for a long time and do frequently appear on the show. They're in a bit of a grey area as far as I'm concerned. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 04:58, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay, moved those three and Ed Frid back to the main article as Secondary characters. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 05:19, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks quite good! I suppose the next step would be to rewrite, um, everything. I'm not sure if I'll have time to help with that, but if I do have spare time I'll put some work in on this (I'm an avid fan of the show). --Pharaoh Hound (talk) 12:58, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! So am I - my wife got me into it. :) I've got a head start - so far took care of Red and Harold. :) — KieferSkunk (talk) — 20:53, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

It's been almost fifteen years, but I got started on it. Spent a few hours sorting characters into their proper categories, though that is tough for several characters. When in doubt, I kept them in the 'higher' tier so to speak. Pretty much got them ready to move to their own pages. I also added a number of Minor and One-Time characters. I also updated the formatting of the Unseen Characters to match the rest of the article. Corrected some heading formatting errors and changed some obvious descriptions right off the DVDs. Got a lot done.

FatCat96 undid it all, calling it 'not constructive' and tagging it with antivandal. Well, deleted almost all of it. The last several hours work was all rolled back using rollback, anyway. All the characters I moved where they belong are back in the wrong categories again, some categories are again part of other categories they are not part of and formatted as subjects instead of categories. What a mess again. No wonder no one has gotten to doing this yet. When someone does, it gets deleted without cause. Maybe someone else will try in another fifteen years or so. Smokr (talk) 16:18, 5 October 2023 (UTC)

Progress update: All main characters have been revised and the tags removed. I moved the tone/copyright/in-progress tags to the Secondary Characters section. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 01:03, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Took care of the Secondary characters today. All done! Please feel free to edit - these are just rough drafts. In the meantime, all the Minor characters on The Red Green Show need to be similarly edited. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 21:48, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Red Green Wiki

This is slightly off-topic, but I have been giving some thought to starting up a new wiki site for The Red Green Show, similar in scope to the Runner Wiki. I'm curious to know if such a project would be welcomed and could be linked from Wikipedia. I'm not suggesting that this wiki would/should become a source for Wikipedia or what not, but it may very well help the quality of this article since there's a whole body of information about the show that fans would find interesting, but is not suitable for WP. Opinions? — KieferSkunk (talk) — 23:18, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Harold: Geek or Nerd?

Keeping in mind that Wikipedia is not a forum, there is one point that I could see being legitimately debatable: Is Harold Green a nerd or a geek? It makes a difference as to his description in this article.

My two cents: According to one of the DVD sets, Harold is a nerd. From practical experience, the term "nerd" seems to apply more to Harold than "Geek" does. In popular culture, "Geek" generally denotes a higher level of social acceptance, where the person is heavily involved with some pop-culture or technical pastime (like Star Trek), but is otherwise a relatively normal person. Whereas "Nerd" denotes someone who is exceptionally smart and has no social graces whatsoever, and is thus usually outcast by society at large. Harold spends the vast majority of his time in the series trying to become accepted by the Possum Lodge members, and this is a central plot point for the movie Duct Tape Forever. It isn't until the very end of the series that Harold achieves acceptance in the Lodge (and also at the end of the movie, but the show's producer has suggested the movie isn't canon to the series), and more generally in the seasons after Harold returns to the Lodge as the P.R. Manager.

I think that calling him a nerd is more in line with the show's apparent intention - geeks aren't usually portrayed with overbites and thick glasses, for one.

Other thoughts? — KieferSkunk (talk) — 21:47, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

That seems like an accurate portrayal of how the words were used through the 1980s and early 1990s, perhaps, but starting with the dotcom boom the definition of nerd apparently changed significantly in the popular culture (go figure.) to include one who is capable of vast success in a technical field, even to the point of achieving social acceptance (!), where "geek" has definitely not made that jump (think "geek squad")Zaphraud (talk) 21:25, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Secondary vs. Minor Characters

Recently reverted an edit that added Buzz Sherwood to the list of secondary characters. We had a big discussion about this a while back when this article contained extensive lists of all the characters (including main, secondary and minor characters, and even the unseen characters like Bernice Green and Moose Thompson). The minor characters were split out into their own article, and later the article was deleted per AfD due to a lack of notability.

There's no hard and fast definition for a minor character vs. a secondary, but a good rule of thumb for the Red Green Show seems to be that if the character has participated in main plot segments (like Ed Frid has at times), he's a secondary. The biggest exception to this is probably Bill Smith, who is almost exclusively in the Adventures with Bill segments, but since he's been a regular of the show throughout its span, he counts as well. Buzz is kind of on the borderline, but IMO he remains a minor character since he only appeared in a limited number of seasons and was (to my knowledge) never featured in a main plot segment - just in side segments. (Earlier in the show's history, these got mixed a little more since some side segments dealt with the main plot as well.)

I realize this opens up questions about Hap Shaughnessy as well, so if we want to debate who's secondary vs. who's minor, let's do that here. :)

Actually, now that I look at it again, this is really a much fuzzier line than I thought. And now the question becomes, should we have a secondary characters section at all? If we decide that that section should go, I'd move Bill Smith into the main characters section since he's so integral to the show, and just take everyone else out of the existing section. Otherwise, I fear we're going to end up with way too many characters listed there. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 00:33, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm discussing this on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Television, and the suggestion there is to move all of the characters to their own Characters on The Red Green Show article, with citations on the main characters from web sources and/or DVD extras. I went ahead and re-added Buzz Sherwood for the time being, in preparation to do a character split. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 20:36, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Wherever it is, Buzz Sherwood really should be mentioned; he was in too many episodes to be omitted.jaknouse (talk) 02:12, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Merge discussion: Red Green (character)

I've proposed that we merge Red Green (character) into this article, since the majority of the information in the character article is trivia (most of which is non-notable, and the remainder of which is already spoken for here), and the rest of the info is also repeated in this article (such as the history of the character, show details, etc.). Also, I'm working on a more general "Characters of" article that should contain all the relevant in-universe information about the show's characters. There isn't enough info that meets WP:N, WP:V and WP:FICT to warrant a separate, standalone article on Red Green the character.

I'm starting this discussion on 9/30/08. If in 5 days there is no significant response to this discussion, I will perform the merge as non-controversial. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 06:01, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

No response. I'm going to perform the merge now. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 00:49, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

The Original Animal Control Officer

Even though he was replaced in the later seasons, we should include the original animal control officer in the list of secondary characters. Mr. C.C. (talk) 19:10, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

I agree. The description for Ed Frid simply says that he was the animal expert, but not noting that he was the second one.jaknouse (talk) 02:10, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Characters Mentioned By Name

There have been characters mentioned by name like Moose, Old Man Sedgewick, Red Green's wife, and Dalton Humprhey's wife. Should there be a section for characters mentioned by name? Mr. C.C. (talk) 19:16, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Longest running live-action comedy

"The Red Green Show ... aired on various channels ... from 1991 until the series finale April 7, 2006 on CBC, making it the longest running live-action scripted comedy in the world. " What defines the difference between The Red Green Show and shows like Saturday Night Live or SCTV Network that would make this claim valid ? D. J. Cartwright (talk) 08:30, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Okay, excuse me; SCTVN did not run that long. D. J. Cartwright (talk) 08:32, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

It had a plot and regular characters. SNL and SCTV were collections of skits. It was more of a series, while the latter two are more like variety hours. vıdıoman 01:29, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

The Red Green Show can't be the longest running live-action scripted comedy in the world, as the Belgian sitcom F.C. De Kampioenen has been running since 1990 and will stop in 2011, making it 21 years old and The Red Green Show 15. So, that line's not true and should be removed the article. Whizzo (talk) 21:25, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Steve Smith...still playing Red Green

It says somewhere in the article that Steve Smith says he won't ever reprise his character, or at least that he has no intention to but he did a show a couple of days ago in Derry NH as Red Green and it is in fact part of the "Red Green's Wit and Wisdom Tour 2010" so should someone put that into the article? and here's a link http://www.nhptv.org/redgreen/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.218.20.132 (talk) 09:36, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

I went ahead and rewrote that portion to reflect Smith's comment after the show ended, and the change in events afterward. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 18:24, 20 December 2010 (UTC)

Title changes over the years

All the years that PBS has been broadcasting this show, it has been called The New Red Green Show, never just The Red Green Show. Now having typed that, maybe the confusion lies in the TV show and Steve Smith's (Red Green) stage show, as his stage show IS called the Red Green Show. Please correlate because I do like truth in journalism and have never seen the TV show broadcast as simply The Red Green Show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by VELVET (talk • contribs) 20:04, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

Go ahead and read the article - you'll understand. Rklawton (talk) 20:07, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

As RK says read the article - in particular the show history section. Back in the mid 90's the first several years of the show that aired on PBS were called The Red Green Show and used the same opening credits as were used in Canada. Then in 97 the show was renamed The New Red Green Show and that title was used in the US for the remainder of the shows run. Those early years have not been rerun in the US for a looooong time and that may have something to do with the rights contracts and fees for the show between the different studios that produced the early series and PBS. Even of you have watched the show for years it is highly likely that you never saw those early seasons. They are now our on DVD in the The Infantile Years and The Toddlin' Years box sets and I can recommend that you see them. With the exception of the 2nd season (where the producers tried to turn it into a traditional sitcom) there is some hilarious stuff in them. The pacing of the show was different then also. Having said all that I wonder if the second paragraph of the history section isn't a little confusing - it seems to indicate that the show removed the "New" from its Canadian opening titles at some point. If you know anything about that RK and can find sources to clarify things that might be of help. No worries if you don't have nay info about this it is just a suggestion. "Quando omni flunkus moritati" and cheers to you both. MarnetteD | Talk 20:28, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

I'm reasonably sure it's explained in Smith's book, but I don't have a copy handy to check. Rklawton (talk) 20:37, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

It might be difficult to find secondary sources specifically addressing the title changes, but in the 1998 or 99 season, the show dropped the "neon sign and saxophone" intro sequence and just became "The Red Green Show" again (the word "New" never appears again in the titles). At this point in the show's run, the format changed permanently to a Handyman Tip, followed by the first plot segment, then a brief cut to a shot of the Lodge with the shaky projector title in the upper-right corner. With only a couple of exceptions (eg. "It's a Red Green Christmas"), this title always featured the words "THE RED GREEN SHOW" appearing one at a time with minor overlap. This can be reliably sourced from the show itself.

As for PBS: In the entire time I've watched Red Green on my local PBS station (KBTC in Seattle), it had always been advertised as just "The Red Green Show", and featured episodes all the way from the 1994 to 2005 seasons. My wife also has tape recordings of several 1993 seasons from KBTC taken in the mid-90s (I'm noting specifically KBTC, because she also has recordings from the CBC), so at one point PBS was airing at least that season. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 14:12, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

Adding just a little more info, now that I'm remembering things more clearly: It was in fact in the 98 season when the format changed. I remember this specifically because the first episode of that season, "Harold's Leaving", is the first time since the "New" format began that Harold introduces the show as "It's the Red Green Show!" (He then goes into his extremely long, hyped-up intro for his uncle, which is the main reason why this stands out.) — KieferSkunk (talk) — 14:15, 11 June 2013 (UTC)

External links modified

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Additional Content

There were at least two Red Green books written by Steve Smith. You could also join the Possum Lodge by mail. ( Members received a certificate and plastic lodge member card. ). 75.104.174.220 (talk) 17:19, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

Content getting out of hand

This article's content is getting way too detailed for a Wikipedia article. There's a lot of extraneous trivia, including the semi-exhaustive list of secondary characters and their bios, that would be more appropriate for a content-specific wiki (like, say, The Red Green Wiki). We should trim this down to meet Wikipedia standards. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 17:59, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

Revisiting this now: I didn't see any feedback on my comment above, so here's a more detailed proposal:

• Frankly, this article should just summarize the show's general premise, including that it qualifies as a sitcom, briefly describe (as prose) some of the recurring segments and the principal characters (Red and Harold), and have sections on real-world aspects, e.g. production, distribution (TV and DVD), real-world references, and other relevant features.
• We should NOT have detailed sub-sections for characters and segments, per WP:TRIVIA, for two reasons:
  1. Both of these are "fuzzy" - the only principal characters in the show are Red and Harold Green (even considering Harold is gone for two seasons). All the rest of the characters, regardless of how often they appear or how important they are to the plots of individual episodes, are by definition "secondary", and then the line between "secondary" and "minor" is really blurry. Even on the more detailed Fandom Wiki, it's difficult to draw this line - what criteria do you use to recognize a character as a mainstay? It's better to simply mention that there are a lot of secondary characters and highlight a few of the more notable ones. We can do that in a single phrase or sentence within the more general plot description.
  2. Many recurring segments changed names and formats over the course of the show (e.g. the segments with both animal control officers had many different names, like "Talking Animals", "You and Your Animal", as well as completely untitled skits). It's difficult to consistently categorize these in a way that is relevant to a Wikipedia article, and again, a more general description of the side skits and a few notable examples, e.g. Handyman Corner and the Word Game, would suffice to give readers enough of an idea of what the show is about.

If there are no objections, I'll start rewriting this article soon. — KieferSkunk (talk) — 21:10, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

2023 revisions

I've gotten it formatted identically throughout now, added some one-time and guest characters, as well as one long-running character that wasn't even mentioned yet. Now I want to edit the text. This isn't 'that other site' that has all the gossip and details. This is Wikipedia, and there is a different aesthetic and purpose here. TMI in extremis in this article right now, as had been stated and agreed. It only needs the basics facts. Not exactly what lines characters spoke often or examples of traits. Just the facts. If anyone else is paying attention, please join in and let me know if what I'm doing is positive or not. I'm going with the ideas and topics already discussed in this talk article. Smokr (talk) 09:03, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

I've condensed and combined the first section, up to History.

If anyone cares to comment I'd like to know if you think I improved the article or not. I don't want to play dictator, I just want to improve a cobbled together article on a favorite show I just binged. Smokr (talk) 09:34, 6 October 2023 (UTC)

reggie

half blind vegetarian hunter, 1st seasons 66.118.76.195 (talk) 14:09, 7 December 2023 (UTC) actor lawrence dale — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.118.76.195 (talk) 14:13, 7 December 2023 (UTC)