''Straight Up'' is a short lived

Canadian television Television in Canada officially began with the sign-on of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, ...

series produced by

Back Alley Film Productions Back Alley Film Productions is a television production company founded by Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell and based in Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec Canada. Founded in 1989, Back Alley is a creator and producer of original content for ...

. Although critically acclaimed, the show only ran for 13 episodes on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

from 1996 to 1998. Set in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, the show dealt with the gritty problems of teenagers living in an urban environment. Rather than focusing on a core group of principal characters, each episode would typically feature a different set of the ensemble teenage cast. Initially, although the character relationships were intertwined, each episode would feature a self-contained plot usually involving only a few of the characters. However during the second season, there was a continuing story arc involving a murder over multiple episodes. Although ''Straight Up'' only lasted for two seasons, it spawned the spin-off series ''

Drop the Beat ''Drop the Beat'' is a Canadian television series produced by Back Alley Film Productions that aired on CBC Television in 2000 and 2001."TV show puts spotlight on hip-hop". ''Sudbury Star'', February 9, 2000. A short-run dramatic series, the show ...

'', which followed the characters of Jeff and Dennis as DJs at a

campus radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

station.

Cast

*Tomas Chovanec as Tony *Evelyn Anders as Claire *Mona Atwell as Simone *Morpheus Blak as Vanya *

Robin Brûlé Robin Brûlé is a Canadian actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern medi ...

as Marcia *Marc Cohen as Murray *Nicole Crozier as Louise *Sasha Dindayal as Charlene *

Chad Donella Chad E. Donella (born May 18, 1978) is a Canadian actor who has appeared in several movies and television shows. He married Joni Bertin in 2007. Life and career Chad Donella attended the Arts York Drama Program, in which he participated in suc ...

as Rick *Dyson Forbes as Dyson *Omari Forrester as Pipe *Tamara Gorski as Corey *Suzanne Hatim as Sondra *Erin Hicock as Jaz *Kirk Lewis as Clay * Noam T.C.S. Lior as Ed *Shawn Mathieson as Steve *

Merwin Mondesir Merwin Mondesir (born February 21, 1976) is a Canadian actor. He is of Saint Lucian descent. He resides in Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

as Dennis *

Justin Peroff Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band and musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the o ...

as Rory *

Sarah Polley Sarah Ellen Polley (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, political activist and actress.Howell, Peter (September 24, 199"Nobody's Starlet: Toronto's Sarah Polley is Only 20 but already a veteran actor so secure in her craft s ...

as Lily * Mark Taylor as Jeff *

Jacob Tierney Jacob Daniel Tierney (born September 26, 1979) is a Canadian actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for playing Eric in ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1990–1992) and as the co-writer, director, and executive producer of ...

as Alex

Episodes

Season 1: 1996

Season 2: 1998

Awards and nominations

At the 1997 Gemini Awards,

Jerry Ciccoritti Jerry Ciccoritti (born August 5, 1956) is a Canadian director. Biography Ciccoritti co-produced, co-wrote, and directed the low-budget horror film '' Psycho Girls'' (1985). Several other genre films followed, eventually leading to work in e ...

won for "Best Direction in a Dramatic or Comedy Series" for the episode "Small Bang Theory" and James Bredin was nominated for "Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series" for same episode. At the 1998 Gemini Awards,

won for "Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series" for the episode "Mortifying" and Jerry Ciccoritti won for "Best Direction in a Dramatic or Comedy Series" again this time for the episode "Raw" . Also at these awards,

was nominated for "Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series" for the episode "Façade", Karen Walton was nominated for "Best Writing in a Children's or Youth Program and Series" for the episode "Gravity". The episode "Raw" was also nominated for "Best Sound in a Dramatic Program or Series" and "Best Costume Design". Finally, ''Straight Up'' was nominated for "Best Children's or Youth Program or Series".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0215441, Straight Up 1990s Canadian teen drama television series 1996 Canadian television series debuts 1998 Canadian television series endings CBC Television original programming Canadian English-language television shows Canadian television series about teenagers Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows set in Toronto Television series by Alliance Atlantis