RODEO BLUE

POLICE PROCEDURAL, 13 EPISODES

Rodeo Blue features a close- knit team of Calgary cops and a very special posse of Rodeo Clowns. Like yet another anodyne hybrid of

Law & Order, Flashpoint and Rookie Blue, this Cowtown shakedown features murders, holdups, terrorists and kidnappings. But in Swerve TV land, once the scene is set and we know who we’re after, somebody sucks back a Tim Hortons and whispers, “Send in the clowns.”

Out comes the greasepaint, the noses, the wigs. Uniforms are doffed as brightly coloured baggy pants and polka- dot cowboy shirts are donned— but not before the bulletproof vests and helmets slide under those candy- striped bandanas and fluorescent 20- gallon hats. All our cops are ex- rodeo clowns, of course, who decided to put down roots after years on the circuit and give something back. They’re serving this fair city rodeo- style.

Each has a distinct clown personality they tap into, like Clark Kent in Superman, to become greater than the sum of their parts. Moody Detective Dan becomes Dizzy the Comedy Clown. Hapless officer Steve is the team’s Trick Ryder. Relentless jokester Pamir is Sad Clown Boohoo, and cocksure Brett is the cowardly but effective Barrel Mann.

Then there’s Jade, the tiny perfect ex- gymnast who channelled her frustration over a career- ending floor- routine injury to become one of rodeo’s best bullfighters: Li’l Pix, able to handspring over charging bulls and pirouette fast enough to cross an animal’s eyes. Or a sniper’s.

Each episode finds our team achieving perfect synchronicity as they distract shooters, trip up fleers, ride broncos through rush- hour jams on Crowchild Trail and basically throw themselves spread eagle into whatever criminal bull ride is shaking, with style and sass. And these clowns leave it all on the floor— because, as with all fools, they are damaged somewhere in their very human cores. Lost loves, botched custodies and 17 kinds of bad luck render each one of them beyond hope, beyond love… and therefore beyond fear.

Each night, they gather by the railway tracks, light a fire, sing songs to the accompaniment of Boohoo’s tiny banjo, and make balloon animals that soar up beyond the Calgary Tower and float down into the delighted hands of citizens far and wide.

To serve and protect is their battle cry. Only, when these clowns drive back to the station after a hard day’s work, they go in a really tiny cop car.