''King of Kensington'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

from 1975 to 1980.Mary Jane Miller, ''Turn Up the Contrast: CBC Television Drama since 1952''.

UBC Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It was established in 1971. The press is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has editorial offices in Kelo ...

, 2011. . pp. 134-144.

Synopsis

Al Waxman starred as Larry King, a convenience store owner in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Ca ...

who was known for helping friends and neighbours solve problems. His multicultural group of friends consisted of Nestor Best ( Ardon Bess), Max (John J. Dee), and Tony "Duke" Zarro (Bob Vinci), who hung around regularly to the perennial disapproval of King's mother Gladys (Helene Winston). For the first three seasons,

Fiona Reid Fiona Reid, CM (born 24 July 1951) is an English-born Canadian television, film, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles as Cathy on the TV series ''King of Kensington'' and Harriet Miller in the film ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding''. E ...

played his wife Cathy. At the end of the third season, Reid decided to leave the series, so Larry and Cathy divorced. Larry then dated Tina (

Rosemary Radcliffe Rosemary Radcliffe (born 1949) is a Canadian comic actress, writer, composer and painter. She graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, then began her television career on ''Sunday Morning'' at CBLT Toronto. Career She perf ...

) in the fourth season and Gwen Twining (

Jayne Eastwood Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in the comedy film '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Wa ...

) in the fifth. At the same time, Larry sold the convenience store and took a new job with a youth community centre.

Production

The show was created by

Perry Rosemond Perry Rosemond, CM (born 15 November 1936) is a Canadian television writer, producer and director. Life and career Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Rosemond has created, produced, written and directed international television for over fo ...

, who also produced the first season. Other producers included

Jack Humphrey Jack Weldon Humphrey (12 January 1901 – 23 March 1967) was a Canadian landscape and figure painter, mainly in watercolour. Art historian J. Russell Harper called him the "most significant eastern Canadian painter of his generation". Biograph ...

(1976–1980) and Joe Partington (1978–1980). The original series pilot starred

Paul Hecht Paul Hecht (born August 16, 1941) is an English-born Canadian stage, film, and television actor known for playing radio newsman Ross Buckingham in Howard Stern's ''Private Parts''. Life and career Born in London, England, Hecht graduated from ...

and Sandra O'Neill as Larry and Cathy King, although the series was recast with Waxman and Reid by the time the show went into production. The series featured many Canadian actors as guest stars, including

Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...

, Mike Myers,

John Candy John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' seri ...

Eugene Levy Eugene Levy (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor and comedian. From 1976 until 1984, he appeared in the Canadian television sketch comedy series '' SCTV''. He has also appeared in the '' American Pie'' series of films and the Canadian ...

, Dave Thomas,

Jeff Wincott Jeffrey Wincott (born 8 May 1956) is a Canadian actor and martial artist best known for his lead role in the television series ''Night Heat.'' Wincott was also the star of several martial arts films in the 1990s. In 1996 he was named one of the ...

and Mark Humphrey. The show was popular with viewers; prior to the start of the fourth season, one of the producers noted the show drew 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. The show's gentle but politically conscious humour is seen by some critics as a Canadian version of the topical

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning '' All in the Fami ...

sitcoms of the 1970s, such as ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'' and '' Maude''. The series maintained a tight production schedule, with episodes sometimes airing just one week or less after they were filmed, so that topical jokes about current news stories could be incorporated into the scripts. The series was syndicated to some

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

stations during the height of its popularity. After ''King of Kensington'' ended in 1980, many of the producers went on to create the new CBC sitcom ''

Hangin' In ''Hangin' In'' was a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC from 1981 to 1987. It aired briefly on Nickelodeon and in syndication in the United States. Synopsis The show starred Lally Cadeau as Kate Brown, the attractive and charismati ...

'', while head writer

Louis Del Grande Louis Del Grande (born March 23, 1943) is a Canadian-American television writer and actor. He is best known for starring in the Canadian mystery/comedy series '' Seeing Things''. Early life Del Grande was born and raised in Union City, New Jersey ...

went on to create and star in '' Seeing Things'', and Waxman was cast in the

series ''

Cagney & Lacey ''Cagney & Lacey'' is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very di ...

''.

Cast

* Al Waxman as Larry King *Helene Winston as Gladys King *

as Cathy King (1975–1978) * Ardon Bess as Nestor Best (1975–1978) *Bob Vinci as Tony "Duke" Zarro (1975–1978) *John J. Dee as Max (1975–1978) *

as Gwen Twining (1978–1980) *Peter Boretski as Jack Soble (1978–1980) *Robert Haley as Ron Bacon (1978–1980) *

as Tina (1978–1980) *Linda Rennhofer as Dorothy (1978–1980)

Episode list

Season 1 (1975–76)

Season 2 (1976–77)

Season 3 (1977–78)

Season 4 (1978–79)

Season 5 (1979–80)

Tributes

In the '' SCTV'' episode "CCCP1-Russian television", one of the fake TV programs infiltrating the network is ''Hey Giorgiy'', about "everyone's favorite Cossack", intended as a Russian knockoff of ''King of Kensington''. In the first episode of the 1990s television series '' Twitch City'', also set in Kensington, the character Nathan (played by Daniel MacIvor) was sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food. The producers of ''Twitch City'' cast Al Waxman in the role of the murder victim, as a symbolic wink to ''King of Kensington'', although they claimed that they did not intend for the character to be seen as Larry King himself."Twitch City a weird look at television addiction; Former King of Kensington gets whacked tonight". ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', January 19, 1988. In the late 1990s, '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' featured a sketch detailing the making of a film version of ''King of Kensington.'' In the sketch, director

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

(played by Greg Thomey), re-imagines the series as a surreal crime thriller, with Larry King as a serial killer instead of a convenience store owner. Following Waxman's death on January 18, 2001, a memorial to him was erected in Kensington Market. In one episode of the Canadian comedy program ''

Puppets Who Kill ''Puppets Who Kill'' is a Canadian television comedy programme produced by PWK Productions and originally broadcast on The Comedy Network. It premiered in Canada in 2002, and in Australia on The Comedy Channel in 2004. It has also been broadcast ...

'', the character Bill steals Al Waxman's preserved brain from CBC headquarters.

Home media

On November 13, 2007, Morningstar Entertainment released ''King of Kensington – Season One'' on DVD in Region 1.

References

External links

''King of Kensington'' Cast Photo and Synopsis

''King of Kensington'' Episode Guide at TV Archive Site
* {{IMDb title, 0072529, King of Kensington 1975 Canadian television series debuts 1980 Canadian television series endings 1970s Canadian sitcoms 1980s Canadian sitcoms CBC Television original programming Jewish Canadian culture Jewish comedy and humor Kensington Market Television series about Jews and Judaism Television shows set in Toronto Television shows filmed in Toronto Television series set in shops