Trivia / Life with Derek

• Approval of God: Or at least with the actors. Michael Seater and Ashley Leggat were (and still are) huge Derek/Casey shippers. They even acted out a fanfiction for a podcast back in the day.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • Ashley Leggat, who plays Casey, is a professionally-trained dancer, and the show emphasized this repeatedly in later seasons. The TV-movie Vacation with Derek even made a whole subplot out of this, casting So You Think You Can Dance Canada winner Nico Archambault as her love interest.
  • Leggat is a triple threat entertainer. She is also a singer, having sung a few times on the show.
• Dawson Casting
  • Played straight with Ashley Leggat who was 19/20 playing a 15-year-old, and with Michael Seater who was 18 playing a 15-year-old.
  • This was averted with Daniel Madger (Edwin), Jordan Todosey (Lizzie), and Ariel Waller (Marti), who were all around their characters' ages at the time of filming.
    • Actually, Daniel Madger is four years older than Jordan Todosey, despite them playing characters that are around the same age.
• Fake Nationality: American actor Al Sapienza plays the Canadian businessman who wants to develop the lake in The Movie.
• Only So Many Canadian Actors:
  • Lauren Collins as Kendra, Derek's first long-term girlfriend.
  • Michael Seater, John Ralston and Shadia Simmons had all before been featured on the Canadian series Strange Days At Blake Holsey High.
  • Kate Todd, who played Sally, starred in Radio Free Roscoe, another Canadian sitcom.
  • John Ralston starred as Emperor Ming in the short-lived Sci Fi Channel adaptation of Flash Gordon.
  • Ashley Leggatt and Shadia Simmons also appeared in Ace Lightning.
  • Before Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, Michael Seater and Shadia Simmons also worked together in The Zack Files. Ashley Leggat appeared with them in one episode.
• The Other Darrin: Casey's cousin Vicki appears in one episode in the first season and another in the fourth season, and is played by two different actresses who look nothing alike.
• Playing Against Type: Compare Michael Seater's role as Derek to the ones he played in Strange Days At Blake Holsey High and The Zack Files; Derek is completely different from Lucas and Spencer.
• Romance on the Set: invoked By most reports, Ashley Leggat and Michael Seater dated during production of the first season before deciding they were Better as Friends, so a lot of the tension between Derek and Casey was not entirely a case of Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading on the part of the writers. Given they're Platonic Life-Partners, they're also an example of Amicable Exes.