Hit CTV sitcom ‘Children Ruin Everything’ shooting final season in Hamilton
It appears fans of the hit CTV sitcom “Children Ruin Everything” will have just one more new season to enjoy the antics of James and Astrid, their three children and quirky family and friends.
The program has been filming its fourth season in Hamilton and show creator Kurt Smeaton tells The Hamilton Spectator it will be the last one. The season is set to premiere in September and he is working on the series finale. The season will feature 16 episodes.
However, New Metric Media, the production company behind the comedy, says there is nothing official about the show ending.
Smeaton, who won an Emmy for “Schitt’s Creek,” said there are many factors for why the show is ending, but he said costs play the largest role. Smeaton, who grew up in the Ottawa area, has written for shows like “Kim’s Convenience” and “Mr. D.”
“Shooting is becoming more and more expensive,” he told The Spec during a visit to Jerome Park, where the show was shooting scenes involving an ice-cream truck.
“Every year you do the show it becomes more and more expensive. Everyone gets a bump … There’s inflation, so to do it for the same costs becomes more and more difficult. This is an expensive show now.”
He said it has been “great” to make it to four seasons.
“Four seasons in Canada, 50 episodes, is really, really rare,” he said. “It’s very lucky to be able to do this. It’s even luckier to finish it on your own terms, to find the right way to say farewell to the characters.”
Smeaton, executive producer of the show and head writer, has already written an outline of the finale and sent it to Meaghan Rath, who plays Astrid, and Aaron Abrams, who plays James. They told him they cried when they read it.
Smeaton said the TV family has “really become like an actual family. They truly care about each other.” He recalled the first day of shooting was in Hamilton and it had the characters in a car for six hours. Son Felix is played by Logan Nicholson and daughter Viv is played by Mikayla SwamiNathan. Baby Morris is played by twins Ryan and Tyler Hastings.
“They really figured each other out and had some inside jokes,” Smeaton recalled. “We’re building to them having their last scene together and it will be really emotional.”
As for Smeaton, he said he has no interest in going to the U.S. and diving into the sitcom world there. He admits he has had many friends who headed south and made a pile of money.
“I would love to start doing productions in Canada that are for international audiences, where there are Canadians writing, directing … I am having these interviews with companies and broadcasters and I think they are interested.
“I believe we can start doing Canadian-led international shows.”
He cites Netflix for developing the “North of North” Arctic comedy. It also involves the CBC and APTN.
“Children Ruin Everything” filmed in Hamilton starting in 2021. It is set in Toronto, but has shot at dozens of local locations, from Eastgate Square to Knollwood Golf Course in Ancaster. Over the last two weeks, it filmed on Alice Street and at the Hamilton Italian Centre and Digital Canaries studio.
The program has taken James and Astrid on a comedic journey that has included having a new baby, considering moving to the suburbs, a change of jobs and dealing with troublesome relatives and children’s misbehaviour.
This year will see James deal with losing his job and being a stay-athome dad and Astrid running the re-election campaign of a councillor (Bruce McCullough). Smeaton said one episode will be a mockumentary like “The Office.”
Smeaton, the father of three, said a lot of the show has been inspired by his own life, but members of the writing room and other parts of the production team are parents.
“There’s just so much material to mine,” he added.