TORONTO - When Toronto's Lyndie Greenwood received the script material for CTV鈥檚 library-based comedy 鈥淪helved鈥 more than a year ago, she was living in California and prepared to say goodbye to her acting career.
鈥淭he profession can be a really hard slog mentally and emotionally and it just wasn鈥檛 working,鈥 says Greenwood, whose previous credits include CW鈥檚 鈥淣ikita,鈥 Fox's 鈥淪leepy Hollow鈥 and the Toronto-shot sci-fi series 鈥淭he Expanse.鈥
鈥淚 was desperate, and it was almost like I was just booking anything, but I didn鈥檛 actually care about what I was auditioning for, so I said I鈥檓 done 鈥 I鈥檝e had some success, it鈥檚 been lovely, but it鈥檚 also not working for me right now.鈥
Greenwood says that her decision to take a break, which lasted a year, gave her a bit of time and space to find her joy again and be someone she truly wanted to be when 鈥淪helved鈥 entered her orbit.
The eight-episode season created and co-written by Anthony Q. Farrell, a former writer on 鈥淭he Office鈥 and current showrunner on 鈥淩un the Burbs,鈥 will air on CTV starting on Monday.
It stars Greenwood as the ever-positive Wendy Yarmouth, who runs a branch in Parkdale, a neighbourhood in Toronto's West End.
Shooting took place in the city in a studio that was filled out by 21,000 books 鈥 most of them loaned to the production by the Toronto Public Library.
The half-hour sitcom also stars Chris Sandiford as a newcomer and self-serious librarian looking to improve the culture of the underfunded branch.
春色直播 SNL alum and 鈥淕roundhog Day鈥 actress Robin Duke plays an unhoused regular at the library and self-described "wackadoo,鈥 who finds a safe space in the struggling book depository.
Greenwood says she felt a new-found energy for acting when she read Farrell鈥檚 characterization of a librarian who fit closely to who she was as a person.
鈥淚t was so authentic to my personal experience because Wendy is an aspect of myself, but just in a really sort of amped-up way,鈥 she says, alluding to Yarmouth, who faces her own levels of professional struggles while finding ways to remain endlessly optimistic.
鈥淪he鈥檚 community-driven, positive, funny and loves people and that鈥檚 what I most resonated with. It was a dream to go to work every day and just laugh in a world that can be pretty stressful.鈥
Greenwood herself grew up around the Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street area and would attend the Lillian H. Smith library frequently as a lover of sci-fi.
鈥淥ne of the beautiful things about working on this show back in Toronto was being reintroduced to the library,鈥 adds Greenwood. 鈥淚 started going back and it鈥檚 a love that I鈥檓 really happy to have rekindled.鈥
Farrell and his collaborators filmed the show with an interest in not only the types of people who work in what some may consider a thankless job but for the frequent visitors who find communities in these public spaces.
The character of Wendy Brown 鈥 an unhoused regular and addict in the process of recovery 鈥 was written as one such character.
鈥淚t was a usual take on an unhoused person and it was so genuine,鈥 says Duke. 鈥淲hat drew me in was the truth in it all.鈥
The 68-year-old, who鈥檚 appeared in an array of film and TV series such as 鈥淪chitt鈥檚 Creek" and 鈥淪CTV,鈥 auditioned for the part because she thought the writing was so good, it would allow her to portray someone as complicated as Wendy.
鈥淚鈥檓 not particularly ambitious and I don鈥檛 have, what my husband calls, a desire for distinction, I sort have always just gone with the flow,鈥 says Duke. 鈥淭he co-creator of SNL, Dick Ebersol, said to me once that I lack the gorilla instincts of a Gilda Radner, so that says it all.鈥
Once she read the script, she reached a complete understanding of who Wendy was through the writing, which she felt was clear and sympathetic to unhoused individuals.
鈥淭he conversations and script were about keeping this character as real as possible and not becoming a caricature of an unhoused person,鈥 says Duke. 鈥淪he has had an alcohol addiction for a while, but she鈥檚 in recovery and is just trying to find her way back.鈥
Duke got a chance to speak to a group of unhoused women during the filming of some scenes at the Parkdale library, which helped to ground her into the realities of the character.
鈥淪o much of their situations were circumstance, and one woman I spoke to just had everything fall apart at once,鈥 adds Duke. 鈥淭hese women referred to their housing situations as couch surfing, where they go couch to couch, people鈥檚 homes and oftentimes, libraries.鈥
Even though Duke would never describe herself as ambitious in her own words, she says she鈥檚 fortunate to land roles that add new experiences to her life.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what it is, but projects like these fall into my lap,鈥 says Duke. 鈥淭his show is another blessing."
This report by 春色直播was first published March 4, 2023.
