Trivia / Schitt's Creek

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Catherine O'Hara suggested Moira's fashion be inspired by eccentric socialite Daphne Guinness and that Moira wear wigs to fit her mood, thus giving the show Moira's Wig Wall. O'Hara is said to choose the wigs for Moira's scenes herself. She also developed Moira's bizarre accent. Her massive contributions to the character are likely part of the reason O'Hara also has a "consulting producer" designation in the show's end credits.
  • Patrick's famous Serenade Your Lover moment came about because actor Noah Reid, who arranged the Tina Turner cover himself after Daniel Levy wrote it into the script, is a musician himself. He also has a background in musical theatre, which inspired Patrick's community theatre storyline.
  • Dan Levy wrote his own love of Mariah Carey into his character, who spends an evening of karaoke performing her catalog. Carey herself has tweeted about the show, in particular, the romantic line:
    Patrick: You're my Mariah Carey.
  • Annie Murphy developed Alexis's vocal fry and hand gestures after spending hours watching The Kardashians and other such celebrities on Youtube.
  • The show's Baseball Episode was inspired by Dan Levy having played in one of Noah Reid's amateur games as well as Noah Reid and Eugene Levy's love of the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Actor-Shared Background:
  • Eugene Levy is Jewish, as is his character Johnny Rose.
  • Catherine O'Hara is Irish-Catholic, as is her character Moira Rose, but so is Levy's real-life wife Deborah Divine. Eugene Levy felt this would make O'Hara believable playing his real-life son's mother. She's also known Dan since he was a baby, given her long working relationship with his father.
  • Daniel Levy is the real-life son of Eugene and his character David refers to himself as a "half-half situation" during the Christmas Episode when someone asks him if he is Jewish.
• Adored by the Network: The CBC had a lot of faith in the show and made it a success in Canada early on, and in the US the fledgling Pop TV network really put its resources behind the show. Pop spent a significant portion of its small marketing budget on the show, frequently advertised the show on its reruns of better-known shows and replaced low-rated programs with reruns of the show.
• Author Avatar: Dan Levy has said that David and Stevie both represent aspects of his own personality.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Alexis's "Ew, David!" is one of the show's most-memed lines and is perceived as a Catchphrase of hers. It's actually only ever said twice in the entire show. There are several variations of "[exclamation] + David", eg. "Ugh, David!", however.
• Bonus Material: The show produces a series of online video extras. This includes the web-only series Inside Schitt's Creek which consists of in-character interviews with the cast, often about events that occurred in that week's episode. The show also releases behind the scenes interviews and bloopers.
• The Cast Show Off: Dan Levy likes to write with the cast’s talents in mind.
  • Catherine O’Hara, Noah Reid, Eugene Levy, Sarah Levy, Jen Robertson and others all get to show off their vocal talents.
  • Additionally, Eugene Levy and Chris Elliott’s Odd Couple timing and their comic personas are built into their scenes, with Levy’s dad awkwardness and Elliott’s rude cluelessness on display.
  • Dan Levy's experience as a talk show host at MTV has led to him producing a promotional mini-talk show in which he interviews the cast members about the week's episode.
• Creator Breakdown: Dan Levy had a hard time letting go of the series and says he cried more than he ever has in his life the last day of shooting. He shared of photo of himself on instagram looking devastated and exhausted.
• Creator Worship: Fans of the show like to follow Daniel Levy on social media, and the live events he does with the rest of the cast tend to sell out.
• The Catchphrase Catches On:
  • Alexis's catchphrase "Eww, David" has caused a notable uptick in people simply responding "Eww" to something they don't like.
  • Moira's pretentious, French pronunciation of baby as bebé has wormed its way into English.
• Common Knowledge: Since the show is more popular there, it's often erroneously referred to as a Netflix original series in the States, despite Pop TV having first-run rights to the program.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • Dan Levy co-directed the Christmas Episode and the Season 5 Finale with film school friend Andrew Cividino. He directed the premiere episode of Season 6 solo.
  • One of the most successful examples of this trope, as his directing (along with Cividino) and writing stints earned him two of his four-Emmy sweep in 2020 (on top of earning one for acting!).
• Dueling Works: In what was pure coincidence, the season finale of Season 5, which was called "Life is a Cabaret" and featured the Show Within a Show of Cabaret aired the same week as the premiere of the drama Fosse/Verdon which was also called "Life is a Cabaret" and portrayed the making of the film.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Annie Murphy is a natural brunette, but she dyed her hair blond to play Alexis.
• Fan Community Nicknames: Schittheads.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: The dialogue on the show is tightly scripted, but other elements are often developed by the actors.
  • Daniel Levy wrote that Patrick serenades David with a cover of Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" and it's surprisingly beautiful. Noah Reid arranged the song himself and performed it.
  • Catherine O'Hara arranged the music for The Number.
  • Annie Murphy wrote Alexis's single "A Little Bit Alexis" with the band Hollerado, and she choreographed Alexis's dance moves based on videos by Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
• Incestuous Casting: There's an in-joke about this in Season 5. David says he's not "dying to play" spin the bottle with his sister Alexis sitting in the circle. Twyla is also sitting in the circle, and she is played by Dan Levy's real-life sister.
• International Coproduction: Is a joint production between Canada's CBC and America's Pop TV.
• Irony as She Is Cast:
  • Catherine O'Hara is a highly talented singer and actor, but she plays Moira Rose who is a mediocre singer and actor. Additionally, there are several jokes about Moira’s lack of awards recognition, including never being nominated for a Daytime Emmy, while O’Hara’s performance managed to nab her a Primetime Emmy.
  • Eugene Levy is a very notable comedian with a long and highly-acclaimed career. The one time Johnny has to do comedy (having to roast Roland) he initially bombs very badly. Levy even commented that making him bad was difficult.
    Levy: For a guy who's been in comedy for 45 years tonight's [episode] is a tough one.
• Meme Acknowledgment: To the delight of Daniel Levy, Mariah Carey has retweeted memes featuring the line "You're my Mariah Carey."
• Only So Many Canadian Actors: Emily Hampshire, Annie Murphy, and Noah Reid have all appeared in multiple Canadian series, and the majority of the cast is Canadian. Dan Levy has appeared on Degrassi, as have many of the show's regulars and guest stars.
• The Other Marty: In the 15-minute test pilot for the CBC, Abby Elliott played Alexis Rose. By all accounts, she did an excellent job but was unavailable for the series, opening the door for Annie Murphy and her amazing hand gestures.
• Periphery Demographic: Written from a liberal, queer perspective, the show attracts a surprising number of conservative fans, probably because of its sympathetic portrayal of traditional, small-town people and their values.
• Playing Against Type: Eugene Levy is known for playing nebbishy dads and other nerds, and his romantic confidence is often played for laughs. Former business mogul Johnny Rose, however, is suave, competent and women seem to find him genuinely attractive. Upon winning the Emmy, Levy notes the irony of his first acting win being for the role of The Straight Man, joking that it made him wonder what he’d been doing all these years.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor:
  • Daniel Levy is gay and plays pansexual David on the show.
  • François Arnaud, who played David's ex Sebastien Raine, came out as bisexual in 2020.
  • Emily Hampshire, who plays the pansexual Stevie, came out as pansexual in 2019. In fact, the role made her realize this about herself.
• Real-Life Relative: Eugene and Daniel Levy play father and son, while Eugene's daughter Sarah plays Twyla Sands. Father and son won Emmys for their roles in 2020 (Eugene for Outstanding Lead Actor, Dan for Outstanding Supporting Actor), making them one of two father/offspring winning duos that year (alongside Ron and Jasmine Cephas Jones, although unlike the Levys they won for two different productions).
• The Red Stapler: Dan Levy partnered with a store in upstate New York to produce a line of beauty products under the name Rose Apothecary.
• Running Gag: Stephen Colbert finds the fact that he can't say the name of the show without also showing a Commercial Pop-Up on screen with the name and its spelling very amusing. When Dan or Eugene Levy and/or Catherine O'Hara appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Colbert tends to do this multiple times to comic effect.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Annie Murphy resembles Catherine O’Hara enough that people have thought they were actually related.
• Sleeper Hit: While it started strong in its native Canada, American critics dismissed the show as an Arrested Development knockoff and few viewers found it on the new and obscure Pop TV (which had begun life as the scrolling listings channel on cable systems). However, those who watched tended to really like it. When the show's first three seasons were released on Netflix in 2017, the show started to catch on through strong word of mouth. Dan Levy has expressed surprise and gratitude that in its fifth season, the show is more popular than ever.
• Star-Making Role: Dan Levy, Emily Hampshire, Annie Murphy, Tim Rozon, Dustin Milligan, and Noah Reid have all done very well since being cast as the younger generation.
• Those Two Actors: Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara have starred in multiple projects together over four decades, often playing husband and wife. This includes SCTV, Schitt's Creek, Over the Hedge, and multiple films as part of Christopher Guest's Production Posse. It certainly brings Reality Subtext to Johnny and Moira's long and happy marriage.
• Throw It In!:
  • Moira's reaction to Patrick's serenade of David—crying and placing a supportive hand on David's arm—was added in by Catherine O'Hara during filming. Dan Levy kept it in because he found it to be a beautiful example of parents supporting their queer children.
  • Relatedly, the Running Gag of Moira being completely unable to correctly pronounce "baby" (instead pronouncing it like "bebe") is based on O'Hara intentionally mispronouncing the word after a long day of shooting to make the crew laugh, and the writers finding it hilarious enough that they decided it should be actually incorporated into her character.
• Vindicated by Reruns: Most of the show's American audience caught the series on Netflix rather than the obscure Pop TV it originally aired on.
• Written by Cast Member: Dan Levy is one of the showrunners and writes most of the episodes.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Chris Elliott's (Roland Schitt) daughter Abby Elliott played Alexis in the pilot but was unavailable when the show went to series.
  • Sarah Levy played Twyla more like Stevie and in the pilot, with a much more nerdy and introverted personality. The character seems to have been split into the familiar sunny Twyla with Stevie being the glum introvert.
  • When Annie Murphy, a natural brunette, auditioned for Alexis, Eugene Levy balked given he had Abby Elliot's light hair in his mind. Dan Levy then had her audition for Stevie but he also took her to a salon to get her hair dyed. Murphy has said she's grateful the dye job worked out as she could not have played Stevie as well as Emily Hampshire.
  • Eugene Levy originally suggested his old friend Victor Garber to play Artie, Alexis's Season 6 suitor, but Dan Levy wanted him for the part of Clifton Sparks, a part which he played hilariously.
  • Dan Levy's original idea for the series finale was a double wedding for David & Patrick and Alexis & Ted.

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