For decades, Canadian television occupied an awkward position in the cultural landscape — respected by those who sought it out, overlooked by many who didn't realise what they were missing. That has changed. A remarkable run of critically acclaimed, internationally successful Canadian productions over the past fifteen years has established Canada as a genuine powerhouse in original television storytelling.
The international breakthrough of Schitt's Creek — which in 2020 became the first show in history to sweep all four major comedy acting categories at the Emmy Awards — was perhaps the moment that changed perceptions permanently. But that success did not emerge from nowhere. It arrived on the back of decades of Canadian television-making that had quietly been producing work of genuine quality and originality, for audiences who were paying attention.
Schitt's Creek: The Show That Changed Everything
Created by Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy, Schitt's Creek follows the Rose family — formerly wealthy, suddenly destitute — as they relocate to the small town they once bought as a joke. What begins as a fish-out-of-water comedy gradually transforms into something far more moving: a warm, generous exploration of what happens when people are forced to connect authentically with the world around them.
The show's six-season run on CBC is notable for many things, but perhaps most for its decision to make inclusivity a fundamental aspect of the storytelling rather than a narrative event. The romantic storyline between David Rose and Patrick Brewer — gentle, romantic and entirely free of the drama that similar storylines in American television would have generated — became one of the most celebrated in recent television history. The show proved that a Canadian production, shot on a modest budget in a small Ontario town, could reach audiences around the world and earn their genuine affection.
Murdoch Mysteries: Long-Running and Beloved
While Schitt's Creek captured the world's attention, Murdoch Mysteries has been quietly building one of the most loyal audiences in Canadian television history. Now in its eighteenth season on CBC, the period detective drama set in turn-of-the-century Toronto follows Detective William Murdoch, a devout Catholic with a passion for emerging scientific techniques, as he solves murders with methods that were genuinely revolutionary for the time — fingerprinting, photography, early forensic pathology.
The show's longevity is a testament to the quality of its ensemble cast and its ability to renew itself while maintaining the core elements that attracted viewers in the first place. It has also become a love letter to Toronto's history — the production design and location shooting provide a vivid portrait of the city at a pivotal moment in its development. For Canadians who grew up in Toronto, watching Murdoch Mysteries is partly an exercise in recognising streets and buildings in their late Victorian incarnations.
Kim's Convenience: A Groundbreaking Family Comedy
Based on Ins Choi's celebrated stage play, Kim's Convenience ran for five seasons on CBC between 2016 and 2021 and became one of the most significant Canadian sitcoms in the history of the form. The show follows the Kim family — Korean-Canadian immigrants running a convenience store in Toronto's Regent Park neighbourhood — with warmth, honesty and a generosity toward all of its characters that was distinctive and affecting.
Kim's Convenience was groundbreaking in ways that extended beyond its representation of a Korean-Canadian family on a major network. It was also genuinely, consistently funny — built on character relationships that felt earned rather than manufactured, and on a vision of Toronto as a diverse, specific, fully realised place rather than a generic urban backdrop. The show found global audiences on Netflix and demonstrated that stories about Canadian immigrant communities could attract viewers who had no personal connection to that experience.
Heartland: Canada's Longest-Running Drama
Set in the ranch and rodeo country of Alberta, Heartland has been a fixture of CBC Sunday evenings since 2007, making it the longest-running one-hour drama in Canadian television history. The show follows the Fleming-Bartlett family across generations, centring on horse whisperer Amy Fleming and the relationships, challenges and landscapes of Hudson, a fictional small town in the Alberta foothills.
Heartland's longevity says something important about the Canadian television landscape and the audience it serves. The show has consistently attracted viewers in rural and small-town Canada who felt that their world and values were being portrayed honestly and with respect — a constituency that major dramas have often overlooked. Its depiction of the Alberta landscape is genuinely beautiful, and the show has introduced international audiences to a version of Canadian life very different from the urban settings that dominate most nationally-prominent productions.
Letterkenny: A Comedy Unlike Any Other
Beginning as a YouTube series before moving to the Crave streaming platform, Letterkenny has developed a cult following that extends well beyond Canada's borders. Set in a fictional small Ontario town, the show follows the residents of a rural community with a remarkable gift for wordplay, an encyclopedic knowledge of the local social hierarchy, and an approach to comedy that rewards close attention.
Letterkenny is essentially unlike anything else on television. Its humour is fast, precise and deeply rooted in the rhythms of a very specific Canadian vernacular. Understanding every joke in a given episode sometimes feels like solving a puzzle — but the puzzle is always worth solving. The show has become something of a cultural touchstone for Canadians who grew up in rural and small-town environments and recognise the world it depicts.
Why Canadian TV Deserves Your Attention
The success of Canadian television internationally reflects something that Canadian audiences have known for years: the country's production industry, supported by public broadcasting mandates and a culture that values original storytelling, has consistently produced work of genuine quality and originality.
What distinguishes the best Canadian television is a particular quality of attention — to character, to place, to the complexity of ordinary lives. These are shows that take their settings and their characters seriously, that resist the temptation to flatten or dramatise for easy effect. The result is television that rewards viewer investment in a way that many higher-profile productions simply do not.