Corner Gas is back, sort of

Revivals are taking over television schedules, a trend sure to continue with the smash hit start of “Roseanne.” But can one of Canada’s most popular sitcoms find success revived as an animated series?

Viewers can judge for themselves when “Corner Gas Animated” premieres Monday on The Comedy Network.

At first, not even writer/producer/star Brent Butt was sure his comedy, which ran on CTV from 2004 to 2009, could make the ‘toon transition. The series is, after all, about small-town locals who hang out at a prairie gas station diner. There’s “not a lot goin’ on,” as the theme song implies. Could anything be less animated?

Then again, the Tisdale, Sask., native never dreamed the live-action version of his show would captivate Canadians for six seasons.

Encouraged by high ratings from the 2014 spinoff movie, CTV gave Butt and his producing partners a green light to test his ‘toon thesis. Meetings were held with studios in Vancouver and Toronto, with design and animation split between Prairie Pantoons, Moving Mountoons, and Smiley Guy Studios.

Butt had dabbled in art and animation as a lad, including a very brief stint in art school at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ont.

He ran his animated sitcom idea past a friend who knows both comedy and cartoons, Norm Hiscock. The Montreal native worked with Butt on “Corner Gas” between writing and producing stints on “Saturday Night Live,” “Parks & Recreation” and “Brooklyn NineNine.”

Hiscock also wrote several episodes of Mike Judge’s long-running animated comedy “King of the Hill.” He gave Butt four words of advice: “Don’t change a thing.”