7 retro pop culture references in the CBC comedy Son of a Critch
Remember Wayne & Shuster, Glass Tiger, and Hinterland Who's Who?
The 1980s: what a time to be alive.
The CBC-TV series Son of a Critch, based on comedian Mark Critch's 2019 memoir of the same name, illustrates Critch's memories of growing up in 1980s Newfoundland.
Judging by the first two episodes, viewers who pay attention can expect to spot a boatload of pop-culture references that firmly lodge the series in a time and a place.
Here are just a few of the people and things from the era's popular culture worth discovering from the CBC archives — whether you're remembering them from your own life or seeing them for the first time.
1. Wayne & Shuster
Early in the first episode, young Critch is seen in the bedroom he shares with his grandfather. Like any young person, Critch has posters on the wall next to his bed.
But as the series shows, Critch is an "old soul" who is unlike most preteens his age. Where his peers listen to Van Halen, Critch appreciates fare associated with more mature tastes, like the singing of Frank Sinatra and the comedy stylings of Wayne & Shuster. This very popular Toronto-born duo emerged in the 1940s and had a long-running sketch comedy series with a place on the CBC-TV schedule in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Critch's love of the pair also extends to his lunchbox, which boasts a cartoonish 1970s Wayne & Shuster promo graphic (seen at the top of this page) from CBC Television.
2. Malcolm McDowell
Critch's grandfather, known as Pop, offers sage wisdom to Mark about romance. He's played on the show by actor Malcolm McDowell, who is recognizable to generations of movie and TV viewers for roles as varied as Alex in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, Mr. Roarke in a late-'90s update to Fantasy Island, and more recently in two episodes of a 2021 Gossip Girl reboot as a Rupert Murdoch-like media mogul.
- CBC RADIO Q | Malcolm McDowell on his early career — and why advice from veteran actors is overrated
3. Hinterland Who's Who
A staple of the CBC broadcast day starting in 1963, Hinterland Who's Who is familiar to anyone who grew up watching TV in Canada in the 1970s. Each episode in this enduring series of public service announcements for the Canadian Wildlife Service focused on a single species, from the loon to the beaver to the polar bear. The haunting flute riff proved so iconic that when the PSAs were updated in 2003 for a new generation, it was the one element that no one dared change. Viewers of Son of a Critch get a glimpse of the PSA as young Mark is seated next to the TV, manually changing channels at the direction of his father Mike (who is played by Critch himself).
4. The Raccoons
Bert, Ralph and Melissa were the raccoons of The Raccoons, another show seen briefly on the Critch family TV. The trio of plucky trash pandas were typically occupied trying to save their forest home from the sinister plans of villain Cyril Sneer. The animated series, which began in 1985, followed a successful run of three holiday-season specials that started in 1980, according to the Globe and Mail.
5. Trooper
In the second episode of Son of a Critch, Mark's older brother, Mike Jr., is seen perusing a crate of vinyl records. In the front of the box is a release by CanCon band Trooper, a west coast act best known for the songs The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car, Raise a Little Hell and Here for a Good Time (Not A Long Time). In the image above, the band is performing in 1977 on 90 Minutes Live, the short-lived late-night CBC-TV talk show hosted by radio legend Peter Gzowski.
6. Glass Tiger
Also in the second episode, Mark and his crush — a girl in his class named Tina — are seen talking on the phone. Tina's room is the very picture of era-appropriate decor for a teen girl, including posters for The Bangles, Journey, Corey Hart, Madonna, Bon Jovi and Glass Tiger. The latter was a band from Newmarket, Ont., who had a #1 hit with Don't Forget Me and was riding very high in 1986. CBC reporter Susan Harada profiled them on the program Midday in November that year ahead of the Juno awards.
7. Captain Canuck
Mark's room is also decorated with a poster for Captain Canuck, a homegrown superhero created by Winnipegger Richard Comely in the mid-'70s. According to the Globe and Mail, the character was "very much in the tradition of Second World War comic book heroes." The CBC news program for kids, What's New, described him as "a tough-minded idealist" who was styled "the saviour of the Dominion."
