Corner Gas

Reg and I took a little detour off the #1 highway to see the set for the TV series Corner Gas. They do a lot of the filming for that show in an actual small town in the Saskatchewan, so a lot of the show is quite authentic. They have the Corner Gas gas station and The Ruby diner all as one building. The store part of the gas station is set up just like a small town gas station store, and they do all the inside and outside shots right there. Some of the inside shots (like inside the Ruby) are done at a sound stage in Regina, but most of it is taped on location in Roulou (Row-Low) Saskatchewan (about 1/2 hour south of Regina).

It was pretty cool. We could walk around the set (which is on the highway right on the corner of town). There is a map of town to show you where they tape various things in the show. For example the Dog River Police Station is actually an ice cream shop. They just put up a Police Station sign when they are using the outside for filming.

The other cool thing was that they were shooting some scenes for Episode 63 while we were visiting. For those who follow the show, they were filming at Oscar and Emma's house, which is an actual house on the other side of town. They renovated it for the owner so it would look the way the producers wanted it. They even fixed up the house next door in exchange for being allowed to use their bathroom on the days they are filming. So (not that anyone really cares) Episode 63 will consist of scenes where Oscar is doing some gardening and they will be apparently erecting a "city limits" sign at the edge of town.

We didn't get to see much. They block off roads and keep the public quite a distance away. We got brief and distant views of some of the cast but not much for the amount of time we spent there. We talked to one of the traffic security guys and that was pretty fun. Then we toured around to see some of the other locations they film at. I felt embarrassed as I took a picture of the curling rink. For crying out loud, it's just a small town rink! And yet I was taking a picture because it's been on Corner Gas. I roll my eyes at myself.