Rideau Hall (2002)

Overview

Rideau Hall is a Canadian television series broadcast begun in 2002 on CBC Television. It starred Bette MacDonald, Fiona Reid, Jonathan Torrens, Joe Dinicol, and Rejean Cournoyer. It is a sitcom about an earthy, one-hit wonder disco queen named Regina Gallant who is recommended for appointment as Governor General by a conniving Prime Minister anticipating she will become a national embarrassment in the job, allowing him to move ahead in eliminating the position, along with the Canadian Monarchy. Regina is brash and loud and highly unsuitable for a formal position, but has a charming common touch. Each episode has her becoming embroiled in one scandal or another, usually not of her making, only to have things resolve in her favour by the end. Reid plays her prim and proper executive assistant, Torrens her flakey gay secretary, and Dinicol her laconic, level-headed son. Cournoyer plays the Prime Minister's aide. Barry Flatman played the P.M. in the pilot, but did not appear in the regular series. The series brought in fairly good ratings for the CBC and it was expected the show would be renewed for a second season; however, the show was cancelled after the Canadian Television Fund's budget was cut by the federal government and CBC could only afford to keep its more popular shows, like Royal Canadian Air Farce, on the air. Six half-hour episodes plus an hour-long pilot were produced.