Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties: The Bubbles and the Shitrockers Story – A Long-Winded Review or an Excuse for Nostalgia?

I discovered Trailer Park Boys during the pandemic—a time when the show offered me a lot of comfort. It was during my daily grind at chemical factory, producing wood stain, inhaling toluene, and feeling like the world had gone mad (spoiler: things got even weirder now). My personal life wasn’t great either. The keyboard-driven, idyllic intro inspired by Tony Bennett’s I Left My Heart in San Francisco, paired with sepia-toned scenes of an eternal, vaguely-defined trailer park (or parking lot, as the Polish TV version called it), heralded another episode and twenty minutes of relaxation and laughter.

The show takes place in Sunnyvale Trailer Park, somewhere near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It follows three buddies—like three stripes on a tracksuit. Ricky is dim-witted and obsessed with growing weed, Bubbles is a reserved handyman and cat enthusiast, and Julian, the brain of the operation, is always cooking up new get-rich-quick schemes. Their nemesis is the park supervisor, ex-cop, and the most chaotic drunkard on this side of the globe, Jim Lahey, along with his shirtless, greasy sidekick Randy.

That’s basically the gist of every season: the boys get out of jail, hatch a new plan to make money, Lahey gathers evidence while downing liquor, and sooner or later, the boys end up back behind bars. Of course, there’s a larger cast of characters (Sarah is beautiful and will be my wife ❤), but listing them all would take forever. Along the way to each season finale, you get plenty of hilarious situations, legendary comebacks, outlandish money-making ideas, and so much more. It’s not just a vulgar show to chuckle at over a Friday night beer; it’s a heartwarming story of a great friendship, where between the curse words, you find a lot of heart.

Since then, Trailer Park Boys has been my constant background noise. I don’t care what episode I watch next—I love them all. But TPB isn’t just a series; it’s also several full-length movies and a ton of spin-off content on the aptly named SwearNet platform. Among those, I highly recommend TPB Podca$h/Park After Dark, a weekly podcast running for nearly a decade(!). It showcases the cast’s top-notch acting and immersion in their characters (often fueled by alcohol and weed), with occasional guests from the show and beyond. The platform also offers various other programs, and the $2/month subscription is well worth it.

The main series ended after 12 seasons in 2018. While smaller productions followed, the death of Jim Lahey’s actor, John Dunsworth, and later the pandemic, halted canonical Sunnyvale stories. For years, the boys dropped hints about behind-the-scenes projects. It’s understandable—they’ve always been a grassroots production, never backed by major technical or financial resources. The setbacks were visible.

Hardcore fans often claim the show ended with season 7 when creator and director Mike Clattenburg departed, as his vision defined the series’ essence. I disagree. The rest of the team, particularly main cast members Robb Wells, Mike Smith, and John Paul Tremblay, were integral from the beginning—even before the series, when Clattenburg and the gang were friends making amateur films. Sure, starting with season 8, when Netflix took over, there’s a noticeable shift. Characters became more exaggerated, some storylines felt strained, and there were occasional production missteps. But even in the later seasons, there are scenes, lines, and heartfelt moments that still hold up.

Now, after such a long time, just when it seemed like Sunnyvale’s heroes were gone for good, we get a feature-length film. As the title suggests, it’s about Bubbles forming a band and their European tour. True to the show’s style, there are funny situations, memorable lines, mishaps, and even Ricky mistaking Martin Freeman for Morgan Freeman. Is it groundbreaking? No. Hardcore fans on Reddit complain it’s dull and unfunny. But I think the film deserves some slack. It was never meant to be the boys’ return to the park.

According to official info, a new full-fledged season is coming this year. Sure, many characters won’t return, including the irreplaceable Jim Lahey. The boys are visibly aging, and it might feel like everything is just wrapping up for closure. But you know what? I’ll still watch Trailer Park Boys—seasons 1-12, the animated series, movies, SwearNet productions (like the excellent season 8.5 or Jail, and older gems like Gettin’ Learnt with Ricky). Sunnyvale is my safe harbor, a place I can always revisit.

Because I know there’ll always be some harebrained scheme, Lahey getting drunk, Randy taking a belly slap, the world’s dumbest cop George Green messing up again, and in the end—though the boys might land back in jail—positive thinking, reverse psychology from those self-help books, and most importantly... Ricky, Bubbles, and Julian supporting each other will win the day.