Good Grief: New locally-made comedy series combines loss and laughter
A locally made comedy series focusing on a bereavement group just hit an international platform.
Canadian award-winning actor Katerina Bakolias is the co-creator and co-lead in "Good Grief."
Her character's name is Quinn – who is the self-appointed leader in the Weeping Widows grief group.
"It's about a widows' bereavement group who lose their meeting space and their newest member offers to host them in her drag bar," said Bakolias.
"So it's about these two communities that on paper... don't really seem like they would fit together and then they discover some friendships and support in an unlikely place."
Bakolias says her co-creator Amy Trefry, along with the director of the series, created the show's concept during the COVID-19 pandemic when grief and death seemed to be everywhere.
"I know it doesn't sound like it's a comedy when I'm talking about a grief group and people talking about death, but it is a comedy because I think in those moments of hardship and tragedy, the human experience is kind of equal parts, tragedy and comedy, and that's how you get through it," she explained.
Bakolias hopes the show will make people feel seen, heard and appreciated not just by their own community, but by others too.
"We're under no illusions about the queer community being, one – super prevalent in our story as Amy and I are both queer, and that community is constantly under attack and experiences a very different kind of grief," she said.
"So, hopefully people will watch it and just be reminded how important it is to support one another."
"Good Grief" can be streamed on Bell Fibe TV1, and it's now available internationally on TV.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian former Olympic snowboarder wanted in Ontario double homicide: DOJ
A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who is suspected of being the leader of a transnational drug trafficking group that operated in four countries is wanted for allegedly orchestrating the murder of an 'innocent' couple in Ontario in 2023, authorities say.
Ontario school board trustees under fire for $100K religious art purchase on Italy trip
Trustees with an Ontario school board are responding to criticism over a $45,000 trip to Italy, where they purchased more than $100,000 worth of religious statues.
A photographer snorkeled for hours to take this picture
Shane Gross, a Canadian marine conservation photojournalist, has won the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Tobacco giants would pay out $32.5 billion to provinces, smokers in proposed deal
Three tobacco giants are proposing to pay close to $25 billion to provinces and territories and more than $4 billion to some 100,000 Quebec smokers and their loved ones as part of a corporate restructuring process triggered by a long-running legal battle.
More Trudeau cabinet ministers not running for re-election, sources say shuffle expected soon
Federal cabinet ministers Filomena Tassi, Carla Qualtrough and Dan Vandal announced Thursday they will not run for re-election. Senior government sources tell CTV News at least one other, Marie-Claude Bibeau, doesn't plan to run again, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks.
Robert Pickton's handwritten book seized after his death in hopes of uncovering new evidence
A handwritten book was seized from B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton's prison cell following his death earlier this year, raising hopes of uncovering new evidence in a series of unprosecuted murders.
Former members of One Direction say they're 'completely devastated' by Liam Payne's death
The former members of English boy band One Direction reacted publicly to the sudden death of their bandmate, Liam Payne, for the first time on Thursday, saying in a joint statement that they're 'completely devastated.'
Israel says it has killed top Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar in Gaza
Israeli forces in Gaza killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel's most wanted man.
Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in New York City
The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.