TRAILER PARK BOYS

'''Trailer Park Boys''' is a popular Canadian mockumentary television series focusing on the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, some of whom are ex-convicts living in fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park, located near Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. It premiered in April 2001. The show's creator and director is Mike Clattenburg.
Shot from the cameraman's point of view (à la ''COPS''), the low-budget program became something of a rarity in English Canada: a homegrown phenomenon. For example, characters (particularly Bubbles) often appear on novelty tee-shirts. The show's lead trio formerly toured with Our Lady Peace, and with Guns N' Roses, with whom Bubbles sings his trademark song "Liquor and Whores". The Trailer Park Boys have also appeared in music videos with The Tragically Hip, while Bubbles has appeared with George Canyon and Snow, and they have been presenters at numerous award shows - always in character. Several famous artists appear on the show, such as Alex Lifeson from Rush in "Closer to the Heart", singer Rita MacNeil in the season four finale "Working Man", Sebastian Bach from Skid Row, and singer/songwriter Denny Doherty in the season seven finale "A Shitriver Runs Through It".
The show has been a great success for the cable network Showcase, where it is the network's highest-rated Canadian series. It airs in the United Kingdom and Spain on Paramount Comedy, in the Republic of Ireland on Channel 6 , in Iceland on Skjáreinn, in Australia on the Comedy Channel, in New Zealand on TV 2, in Israel on Xtra HOT, in the Netherlands on MTV Netherlands, in Denmark on DR2, in Portugal on SIC Radical, in Germany on Comedy Central Germany, and in Finland on Nelonen. In the United States, BBC America formerly aired a censored version of the show, but it is no longer part of their lineup. The show just launched in Poland on Comedy Central Polska [1]

Contents

Characters

Episodes

The Movie

DVD releases

Future

Trivia

Money-making schemes

Inconsistencies

East Coast Music Awards

References

External links

Characters

Main articles: List of Trailer Park Boys characters

Episodes

Main articles: List of Trailer Park Boys episodes

To date, there have been seven seasons of Trailer Park Boys broadcast, making a total of 56 episodes (including the 2004 Christmas Special).

The Movie

Main articles: Trailer Park Boys: The Movie

The second Trailer Park Boys movie to be produced (The first being the original black and white production that sparked the series), '' (Tagline: Greasiest movie of the year) was released on October 6th, 2006, and distributed by Alliance Atlantis. Ivan Reitman is a producer of the project. Mike Clattenburg directed. Also known as "", it was nominated for a Genie for best picture of the year, but did not win.

DVD releases

DVD cover	Season	Episodes	Originally aired	DVD release date (R1)
	'1'	6	2001	April 2003
	'2'	7	2002
	'3'	8	2003	April 6, 2004
	'4'	8	2004	April 12, 2005
	'5'	10	2005	April 25, 2006
	'6'	6	2006	May 8, 2007

Future

The cast and crew will be taking the summer of 2007 off, although the production of another special one-hour episode will take place. It is uncertain if the show will return for future seasons, but it is rumored that there will be an eighth season of the show that will film in 2008 and air in 2009. This information has yet to be confirmed.

Trivia

★ A trademark of ''Trailer Park Boys'' is the fact that the actors portraying Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles are never seen out of character, even in behind-the-scenes montages. Even at public events the actors remain in character. The only exceptions to this are the commentary tracks for the Season 4 DVD and the DVD blooper reels. The three have also done an interview with 100.3FM "The Bear", a radio station in Edmonton, Alberta, while they were out of character talking about the release of the movie.

★ The unseen character of Donny (referred to as Danny by Ricky) who frequently screams, "WHAT IN THE FUCK?!", is actually Mike Smith, who plays Bubbles on screen.

★ One of the trademarks that hasn't been seen in recent episodes is interaction with the film crew and cameraman. Shakey, "documentary"-like shots have all but disappeared. In its place are more professional camera cuts and rehearsed scenes. An exception to (and example of) this is in the recent season 7 episode "I banged Lucy and knocked her up... no big deal", in which Ricky complains the crew/boom mic operator is following him too close and starts pushing them out of the way on camera.

★ The series uses heavy ad-libbing to add realism. Most of the characters share the same names with the people that portray them. This perhaps gives a little bit more of a personal, emotional performance from them.

★ Mike Clattenburg and Mike Smith (Bubbles) are both fans of Rita MacNeil and were happy to have her cameo in "Working Man". Indeed, Bubbles shows that he is a fan as well.

★ For the first 2 seasons Mike Smith who, while still playing Bubbles, was the soundman of the show. In season 1 the episode "Who Invited These Idiots to My Wedding?", after they rob the store and are driving away, Bubbles has a microphone in his hand.

★ In the episode "Closer to the Heart", the voice on Bubbles' radio is Jamie Paterson, morning man on Q104 radio (Halifax's rock radio station).

★ Between Season 4 and Season 5, the salary for Assistant Trailer Park supervisor changed from $4,600 to $5,200 a year.

★ The show was offered to be developed in the US, but the creators wanted to keep the content strictly Canadian, and not have to censor the frequent swearing.

★ The show has some interesting intellectual moments: Bubbles quotes Plato when Julian consults him for advice on what to do about Lucy's crush on him; Ray enters into an impromptu discussion with the camera crew about Calvinism; Mr. Lahey (mis)quotes from the play Julius Caesar when Randy betrays him; Ricky makes an interesting reference to George Orwell's Animal Farm being about "deep shit" in Season 2 when trying to finish his Grade 10. Bubbles at one point compares himself to one of the lead characters in the book ''Catcher in the Rye''.

★ The final episode of Season 6 marks the first time that absolutely no one has gone to jail before the beginning of the next season. It was, at the time, speculated as a series finale by some, but John Dunsworth cleared up the rumors by confirming a seventh season. Mike Clattenburg also stated in the movie that they have finished filming Season 7 . Filming began for the Seventh Season on July 10th, 2006.

★ The music played during the credits is an original composition by Blain Morris. The song was originally titled "Breeze" but is now called "Trailer Park Boys Theme".

★ The melody to the music sounds exactly like the melody of " I left My Heart In San Francisco"

★ In an episode in the second season where Mr. Lahey and Sam are running for elections of park supervisor, there is a reference to the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver when a character that greatly resembles Robert de Niro's Travis Bickle is seen in the crowd as Sam is giving his speech.

★ In early seasons, J-Roc's gang, the RocPile, was composed of a variety of people throughout the trailer park, some of whom were even Caucasian like J-Roc himself. In later seasons, the RocPile is comprised of only J-Roc, Detroit Velvet Smooth or D.V.S., an accomplished rap artist who also serves as his manager, and J-Roc's best friend, T (also referred to as Tyrone or Tyler).

★ Most of the antics Ricky does, or partakes in, he usually says its "No big deal." Yet when something is a big deal to Ricky, it's known as a "major situation."

★ In the first episode, Jim Lahey says, "I don't usually like to do this, but I'm going to call the cops." He then tells Randy to "put your shirt on and shut up" when he begins to protest.

★ Actor Robb Wells (Ricky) performs many of his own stunts, including dangerous driving stunts. In episode #25 "The Green Bastard" he was actually a few inches away from driving the front end loader into a ditch.

★ The "Shitmobile" (a 1975 Chrysler New Yorker) driven by Ricky, is owned by director Mike Clattenburg, and Mr. Lahey's car (a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker) is actually owned by Robb Wells (Ricky). According to the DVD commentary of Seasons 1 and 2, Robb Wells broke the door off of the Shitmobile during filming of Season 1, and Clattenburg states "I'll do something to his car". Later in the series, Lahey drives around his old car, but with the roof sawed off. There are actually two 1975 models used. The second was introduced in the Christmas Special (which takes place in 1997), and is used to explain how the shitmobile wound up in it's current state.

★ The Trailer Park Boys hosted "The Bear's 13th Halloween Howler" and are scheduled to host the 14th as well. "The Bear" is an Edmonton radio station "CFBR-FM" that plays rock music. It is a huge party full of crazy (and often sexy) costumes and drunken mayhem.

★ When DVS first shows up in the episode of ''Microphone Assassin'', Ricky accidentally calls him DVD. When DVS corrects him, Ricky appears a bit confused.

★ The actress Sarah Dunsworth (Sarah) is the daughter of John Dunsworth (Jim Lahey).

★ Jim Lahey constantly refers to Julian as 'sexy'. He also gave Julian his nickname used by both he and his wife, "Sexi-an."

★ In the recent novel "Variable Star" by Spider Robinson, a pair of recidivist Transportees aboard an interstellar ship named "Richie and Jules" who attempt to get the protagonist to help them grow poppies. Jules carries a dark drink at all times and they attempt to pass themselves off as "Corey Trevor and Jay Rock". Their counsel at the court case is "Lahey".

★ Cory and Trevor (Played by Cory Bowles and Michael Jackson respectively) have both retired from the show and will not appear in the 7th season. The season premiere for the 7th season said that they had broken down and were in a mental institution due to the constant torment they received from Ricky. The remaining characters say they will never be coming back.

★ Jim Lahey will often refer to Randy as "Bo-Bandy". He only does this however, while inebriated. Lucy, who is seemingly the only other character on the show who actually likes Randy, also refers to him as "Bo-Bandy" in season 7. Some websites even state this, is in, fact Randy's real last name.

★ In the third season episode "The Delusions of Officer Jim Lahey", Jim Lahey states it is the anniversary of the day he got kicked off the force. Later that day, when he puts his uniform on, Bubbles states that "its not Halloween yet". In the sixth season episode "Halloween 1977", it is revealed that the incident that got him fired actually occurred during Halloween.

★ In the second season episode "The Bare Pimp Project," one of the books Ricky is using to "study" for his Grade 10 is a ''Fodor's'' guide to Amsterdam, a city infamous for common recreational drug use.

★ At the end of the 4th season when Randy is speaking to the camera crew about Mr. Lahey outside of the mental institution, in the background is a man with a leather jacket and a black hat. This is a reference to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with the man in the jacket being Jack Nicholson's character, McMurphy, from the film. The film, which is Mike Clattenburg's favorite (by his own admission, in the season 1 commentary), is referenced regularly throughout the series.

★ The name Terry is used almost every time a character who is neither present or important to the plot is mentioned. The only notable Terry is Dennis's brother with whom he sells hash from their grandmother's home. He is often referred to as "Fuckin' Terry" by Ricky.

★ Most characters do not have last names. This seen whenever the characters are in court, the judge refers to them only by their first names, even when sentencing them. Also, in the episode "Conky" a hospital receptionist asks what Bubbles' last name is. Julian evades the question, telling her that his name is "just Bubbles." Likewise, when Bubbles and Julian encounter their former 3rd grade teacher, she also uses the name Bubbles, even though it seems more likely that she would have known him by his real first name. However, nearly every police officer on the show does have a last name (Jim Lahey, George Green, Ted Johnson). The only non-police officers on the show to have last names are Barb and Treena Lahey (although they are in an officer's family), Phil, Jacob and Thomas Collins, Patrick Swayzie, Sebastian Bach and Sam Losco.

★ At the start of season 4 Ricky and Bubbles wear blue and white Sunnyvale hockey jerseys. These jerseys are never seen again on the show. In "The Big Dirty", a random trailer park citizen is seen wearing one of these jerseys in the background of a scene right after someone throws garbage at Ricky's car. In July 2006, Leroi Moore wore one of these jerseys while performing at the Dave Matthews Band concert in Toronto.

★ Among the names of Bubbles' kitties are Ten Toes, Daisy, Stinkster, Sgt. Meowenstein, Shit Rock, Grumpyface, Vince the Pince, The Purr Monster and Snappy.

★ A running motif of the show is amounts of two. When a character is accused of being drunk, the defense is always "I've only had two drinks" even if it's obviously not true. This is the most common occurrence of the running joke, but it is occasionally used in other contexts, such as Randy only having two cheeseburgers or one of the boys only doing two months in jail.

Money-making schemes

Over the seasons the Boys have undertaken many schemes to make money and get rich. Their goal in Season 2 is "Freedom 35," a plan to have enough money to retire by age 35. These schemes inevitably fail due to Cory and Trevor, as well as their own general stupidity (with the exception of Bubbles).

★ Throughout the series, Bubbles throws shopping carts down a steep hill at the mall, retrieves them later, repairs them and sells them back to the stores for $18. He reasons that it isn't theft because most of the money goes back into the malls in order to buy cat food. Lahey and Randy do not interfere in this enterprise, but in Season 5, Bubbles was given a hard time by Gary the Head Mall Cop, which hurts his feelings and makes him cry.

★ Running an illegal nightclub in J-Roc's mom's trailer. Cory and Trevor passed out leaflets in a bar called ''The Empty Closet'' and attracted a gay all-male crowd. Cory and Trevor go home with some "ladies" that they picked up at the nightclub, but later they learn that they are in fact not "ladies". Lahey, Randy, and the police forced the club to shut down, but Randy, who wanted the credit for stopping it, allowed them to keep all the money they made.

★ Stealing people's groceries from Sobeys and Superstore right off the parcel-pick up line and re-selling them back at the trailer park for money and booze. After burning down his father's trailer, Ricky attempts to do this, only to be stopped and threatened (unsuccessfully) by J-Roc and Tyrone (who came up with the idea, and were ultimately arrested for it).

★ J-Roc, Tyrone, Sarah, and Lucy (and, in one episode, Julian; Ricky was offered, but he turned them down, saying it was "against his vice-principals.") steal luggage from an airport, and resell the clothing at J-Roc's trailer. The business is used more to explain other characters' actions:
Lahey is ordered to file paperwork to arrest the five, refuses to, and "fellow" officers George Green and Ted Johnson attempt to murder him (for that reason), Randy and Phil Collins (an unwitting witness), and make it look like an accident. Thanks to Ricky, Julian and Bubbles, they are saved, and frame the two for police brutality (successfully). Later, after Barb runs off with Sam, and Randy injures himself at the opening of the Dirty Burger, a drunken (after almost a year of sobriety) Lahey, now reunited with Randy (to whom Lucy, pregnant with Randy's child, had proposed the day before), has J-Roc, Tyrone, Sarah and Lucy arrested, and sprays Lucy with pepper spray. They are ultimately released at the end of the season.
Bubbles uses their services to disguise himself (very poorly), after Ray tips him off about the Swayzie Express theft (which Bubbles had committed earlier that month).

★ Filming and distributing J-Roc's homemade porno movies. J-Roc usually sells these on eBay to Europe and local grocery stores. Such films include ''"From Russia With The Lovebone"'', ''"The Bare Pimp Project"'', and ''"J-Roc's Greasy Trailer Park Girls Gone Wild!"''. Ricky and Bubbles both star in the first film; however, Ricky flat-out refuses to appear in the second with Bubbles, who once again is more than happy to oblige. ''Bare Pimp Project'' is less a money-making scheme and more truthfully a plan spawned by Julian -- who pays J-Roc eight hundred dollars to finance the film and receive a free copy-- in order to usurp Sam's plan to marry Barbara, as the boys fear this will give Sam more influence over the trailer park. The third film was canceled following a trailer park breakdown by the police.

★ Reselling stolen gasoline, which was siphoned out of the cars of unsuspecting citizens. Ricky states that "regular tastes tangy, supreme tastes sour and diesel tastes pretty good." Plan fails when the police arrive, they blame it on Cory and Trevor, who are on oxygen tanks after drinking gasoline and unable to defend themselves. The two were sentenced to 450 hours of community service.

★ Organizing a spring fair in the park, complete with a wrestling ring and Bubbles as his wrestler "The Green Bastard from parts unknown". This comes into idea after Ricky gains control of the park as supervisor, but it fails when Randy and Lahey stop the event and Ricky, losing his temper, flips some cars with a front end loader.

★ Staging a rap concert in the trailer park, with J-Roc and his homies as the main entertainment. It was a success that attracted nearly three hundred, until rapper DVS shows up (called DVD by Ricky) and pulls a gun out, demanding royalties for music stolen by J-Roc. By the end of the episode, DVS not only forgives J-Roc, but becomes, in effect, his manager.

★ Growing weed in an abandoned trailer, then later in Bubbles' tool shed. The plan fails when Bubbles' tool shed burns down (thanks to Ricky, Cory and Trevor's very poor wiring) and destroys the crop.

★ Ricky and Julian grow weed in 4 fields and plan to sell it to dealers in Moncton. They attempt to disguise their scheme by stealing a propane truck, fixing it with old license plates, emptying the propane out and selling it for money then packing in the weed. The plan technically worked - the deal went through - but Cory and Trevor were tricked by Barb Lahey into giving her the money (save for the following: a new car, Lucy's breast augmentation and a peace bond against Ricky; of which, only the breast augmentation survives the fifth season).

★ Ricky using kids to help them steal barbecues in an attempt to resell them, as minors are protected under the young offenders act. The plan fails when one of the kids' parents, who happens to be a police officer, catches them trying to hide the barbecues in the lake. Cory and Trevor end up taking most of the heat.

★ Stealing Christmas gifts from cars in the mall parking lot and re-selling them in front of the church on Christmas Eve. Ricky, Julian, Bubbles, J-Roc, Tyrone, and Cory and Trevor get past the mall security guards by wrapping up the crowbars used to pry open car trunks as giant decorative candy canes.

★ Running a prostitution ring in Julian's tinfoil covered trailer in the outskirts of the park, complete with furnishings stolen from a local motel and a government building. Half of the furniture is wrecked, because they used a garbage truck to steal the furniture, and Trevor accidentally switched on the compactor. Despite the fact that Cyrus breaks up the event, J-Roc takes the rap for the boys by claiming responsibility and getting arrested, allowing them to get away with forty dollars after paying off Tyrone and the prostitutes their share of the money (it is then suggested they spend this on food).

★ Ricky having Trevor bring barbecues or lawn furniture to the front of the house (where garbage would be picked up), then Ricky himself approaches, loudly proclaims the newly-placed items to be trash, then loads them into his car. That way, according to Ricky, it is not stealing, since it's garbage (when it's at the side of the road) and he's doing a favour to the people who don't want it anymore. He then resells that "garbage" at the park (originally on Lucy's front lawn, but later right in front of Bubbles' Kittyland Love Centre), and is constantly swarmed by wasps and bees. This business venture is relatively successful, but Ricky abandons it after Julian gives him his own dope trailer.

★ Julian's plan of stealing many gumball machines, removing the quarters and playing as many Video Lottery Terminal(VLT's) as possible. After that they collect the payout slips, get them photocopied and drive from one corner store to another cashing the fraudulent tickets throughout the year.

★ Julian and Ricky steal copious amounts of hash from some acquaintances (Terry and Dennis, who were business associates of Cyrus, unbeknown to Ricky), and use it to pave Ray's driveway, so as to hide the evidence (which worked, until Lahey tricked Cory and Trevor into revealing the scheme). Then, Ricky attempted (unsuccessfully; he did manage to get a custodial position) to enroll in a vocational school, in order to sell hash to students (they would give him an order, leave money in their lockers, and that night Ricky would deliver the product). The plan was working, but Lahey bailed Cyrus, Terry and Dennis out of jail, and they caused a major gunfight (which the Boys had no intentions of starting, but Cory and Trevor missed that cue). The Boys (including Cory and Trevor) all received months of jail time (though, through the bulk of the gunfight, Ricky was technically dead from a heart attack, and Cory and Trevor injured from gunfire), and Cyrus and his goons each get 20 years.

★ Ricky and Bubbles steal meat and sell it in parking lots. However, this scheme comes to a halt after Bubbles gets stranded in a Meat freezer for 3 hours, and Julian has to break into the store to save him. It is this scheme that is used to explain what happened to Cory and Trevor at the beginning of season 7.

★ Using the Patrick Swayzie Express, a model train that Bubbles stole from a model train convention in Maine and model train tracks laid by Jacob Collins, Julian and Ricky send several hundred pounds of pot to Sebastian Bach from New Brunswick, across the border and into Maine. Once there, Sebastian Bach sent back over $250,000 US worth of cigarettes, which would be sold in the trailer park. The plan itself worked (and made them nearly $450,000 US; enough for them to retire at the end of the season), but Mr. Lahey (having forced this information from Jacob Collins), American park rangers (having been tipped off by Ricky's campfire and abandoned cooler), and the FBI (having been tipped off by Conky) all catch them. Since none of them have any direct evidence of the drug shipment, they can charge them with very little. Ricky chooses to be arrested by the park rangers, who charge him with endangering the well-being of beavers (and sentence him to either 30 days or $500; Ricky chooses the jail time, as Ray is also being incarcerated in Maine).
Despite these failures, the boys have made some successful ventures into making money. Bubbles recently made a legitimate business in his tool shed called "The Kittyland Love Centre," a daycare/spa/amusement park for cats. It has scratching posts, litter boxes, plenty of food, and, of course, Bubbles as the centre's owner and sole employee; at the end of season 6, Kittyland was doing very well ("Booming," as Bubbles described it). Cory and Trevor have opened up a convenience store (which they spell "convenients store") at the park where they sell gum, single cigarettes, corn chips, popcorn, chicken chips, illegal DVDs and Doritos, much to the delight of Ricky.

Inconsistencies

★ In a season 2 episode, Randy states that he has been assistant Trailer Park supervisor for 12 years, however in the Christmas special, Randy is seen to take up the position in 1997.

★ At the end of season two when the boys are being arrested at the farm they say that Bubbles is a farmer who came out to help them. However, George Green is there, and would know that Bubbles is not actually a farmer. However, this may be consistent, as Green is generally considered to be incompetent. This is seen in Season 6, when the viewer discovers that Green's error is the reason Lahey is no longer a cop.

★ In Trailer Park Boys The Movie, at the secene where Ricky is talking to Bubbles in his shed about his cats being in his car, you can notice the rocket in the background that Bubbles has in the episode "Jim Lahey is a Fuckin' Drunk, and always will be" which is the episode right before Ray gets busted for defrauding the government. But the movie, Ray still has the wheelchair and trying to defraud the government.

East Coast Music Awards

The Trailer Park Boys hosted the 2006 ''East Coast Music Awards'' as Ricky, Julian and Bubbles (in character). Bubbles performed his single "Liquor and Whores".
"Liquor and Whores" actually has the same melody as a song he sings while drunk in season 4. The lyrics are "Fuckin' Randy's gut, is full of dirty ol' cheeseburgers".
They hosted again in 2007 which starts off with Ricky and Julian breaking out of jail and Bubbles was there to pick them up in the Shitmobile. They arrived at the awards show by breaking through the vehicle doors. Then Ricky and Julian had to change out of their prison uniforms, but came out in costume before wearing normal clothes. Ricky was dressed up as a lobster and Julian was dressed as a gorilla. Later on, they help Bubbles with his song "Kitties Are So Nice" which included a chorus and cats held by Ricky and Julian.

References

External links

★ Official website

★ Showcase's Trailer Park Boys website

★ TPBstore.com Official TPB Clothing and Accessories Store

★ Trailerparkboys.org Fansite and Forum

★ Trailerparkboys.info Fansite and Forum

★ Tpbusa Fansite and Forum

★ Trailer Park Boys on 'Myspace'

★

★ Trailer Park Boys on The Hour

★ Trailer Park Boys Fansite with TPB Flash Arcade games