"King of Kensington" (1975) TV series 1975-1980

Creator:

Perry Rosemond

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | unknown

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Character Name In Title

Cast

Al Waxman	...	Larry King / ... (47 episodes, 1975-1980)
Helene Winston	...	Gladys King (46 episodes, 1975-1980)
Fiona Reid	...	Cathy King / ... (45 episodes, 1975-1978)
Peter Boretski	...	Jack Soble (39 episodes, 1978-1980)
Robert Haley	...	Jim Bacon / ... (22 episodes, 1978-1980)
Jayne Eastwood	...	Gwen Twining (21 episodes, 1978-1980)
Rosemary Radcliffe	...	Tina Olsen (19 episodes, 1978-1979)

Runtime:

30 min (111 episodes)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

Trivia:

The original pilot (filmed December 12th, 1974) starred actors Paul Hecht and Sandra O'Neill as Larry and Cathy King, before being replaced by Waxman and Reid. O'Neill later made a guest appearance in the episode "The Total Woman" (Season 5). Jayne Eastwood, who would go on to join the show in the final season as Gwen Twining, was also part of this cast, but it is not clear who her character was. Also attached were Paul Kligman, Alfie Scopp, Kay Hawtrey, Ted Follows, and Yvon Leroux.

A Canadian sit-com that is in a class of it's own

"The King of Kensington" is the paramount Canadian situation comedy. Any episode would fit into a TV time capsule and would serve as a testimony to it's freshness and brilliance. Each show opens with the pseudo-operatic opening number where anti-hero Larry King(Al Waxman) walks through Kensington Market hailed by all his casual admirers. During the story, many of these admirers(the elderly Max, the black postman Nestor) will frequent Larry's convenience store to socialize more than patronize. These supporting characters represent the ethnic variety of the Kensington district and also the mosaic of Canada itself. Many actors cut their teeth on this series: Mike Myers, Saul Rubinek and Harvey Atkin who later co-starred with Waxman on "Cagney and Lacey". Other than Larry's ex-wife Kathy(Fiona Reid) and fiancee Gwen(Jayne Eastwood), the consistent woman in his life is his mother Gladys(Helen Winston). The interplay between the overprotective mother and her apron string clinging son is what makes this series so special. If anyone is teaching a class on Canadian television series, they must include "The King of Kensington". In fact, they should make it a class of it's own as that is where it is at.