King of Kensington

"The King of Kensington" is the paramount Canadian situation comedy. Any episode would fit into a TV time capsule and would serve as a testimony to it's freshness and brilliance. Each show opens with the pseudo-operatic opening number where anti-hero Larry King(Al Waxman) walks through Kensington Market hailed by all his casual admirers. During the story, many of these admirers(the elderly Max, the black postman Nestor) will frequent Larry's convenience store to socialize more than patronize. These supporting characters represent the ethnic variety of the Kensington district and also the mosaic of Canada itself. Many actors cut their teeth on this series: Mike Myers, Saul Rubinek and Harvey Atkin who later co-starred with Waxman on "Cagney and Lacey". Other than Larry's ex-wife Kathy(Fiona Reid) and fiancee Gwen(Jayne Eastwood), the consistent woman in his life is his mother Gladys(Helen Winston). The interplay between the overprotective mother and her apron string clinging son is what makes this series so special. If anyone is teaching a class on Canadian television series, they must include "The King of Kensington". In fact, they should make it a class of it's own as that is where it is at.