Jake and the Kid (1995 TV series)

Jake and the Kid
GenreFamily drama
StarringBen Campbell
Shaun Johnston
Patricia Harras
ComposerMichael Becker
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producersJoseph Green
Michael Hirsh
Patrick Loubert
Andy Thomson
Ron Singer
ProducersPeter Lhotka
Laura Phillips
Arvi Liimatainen
Production companiesNelvana
Great North Productions
Original release
NetworkGlobal
ReleaseDecember 16, 1995 (1995-12-16) –
August 16, 1997 (1997-08-16)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Jake and the Kid is a Canadian television drama series, which aired on the CanWest Global system of stations in the 1990s.[1] The second television adaptation of W. O. Mitchell's 1961 short story collection Jake and the Kid,[2] the series is set in the small town of Crocus, Saskatchewan, and centres on the friendship between Ben "the Kid" Osborne (Ben Campbell), a young boy growing up on a farm with his widowed mother Julia (Patricia Harras), and Jake Trumper (Shaun Johnston), a farmhand who becomes Ben's surrogate father figure.[3]

The supporting cast includes Fred Keating, Brian Taylor, Lorne Cardinal, Warren Ward, Jenny Cooper, Marty Chan, Joe Norman Shaw, Henry Ramer, Tom Cavanagh, Chad Krowchuk, Gabrielle Rose, Michael Hogan, Edanna Andrews, Julie Khaner and Robert Clothier.

Mitchell's original stories were set during the Great Depression; for the series, however, the temporal setting was updated to the 1950s.[4] The series additionally consisted largely of original scripts featuring Mitchell's characters, rather than straight dramatizations of the original stories.[5] Although set in Saskatchewan, it was filmed in and around Leduc, Alberta.[6]

  1. ^ Alex Strachan, "Jake and the Kid evokes memories gone with the Prairie wind". Vancouver Sun, December 16, 1995.
  2. ^ Peter Lhotka, "They're back! Folksy Jake and the Kid given facelift, yet remain family entertainment". Winnipeg Free Press, December 16, 1995.
  3. ^ Ted Shaw, "Jake role a natural for Johnston". Ottawa Citizen, December 23, 1995.
  4. ^ Tony Atherton, "Jake and the Kid has some growing to do before it makes good". Ottawa Citizen, December 16, 1995.
  5. ^ Grant McIntyre, "Flat out fun: Jake and the Kid takes its prairie setting to heart". The Globe and Mail, December 16, 1995.
  6. ^ Joe Chidley, "A classic reborn: Jake and the Kid". Maclean's, December 18, 1995.