TORONTO—A new original comedy series called The Trades is debuting March 22.
The eight-part comedy series is being described as “a love letter to skilled-trade workers, written with grit, humour and heart.”
The announcement was made during the broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII.
The Trades is a Trailer Park Boys Inc. and Kontent House Productions Inc. co-production, in association with Bell Media’s Crave.
Set in a blue-collar community where the stress of working in a refinery is balanced with the comedic high-wire antics of its plant workers, the show centres around Todd (Robb Wells), a pipefitter, and his sister and roommate, Audrey (Anastasia Phillips, Moonshine) who follows in her big brother’s footsteps pursuing a career in the trades as a carpenter, just like their father Rod (Patrick McKenna, The Red Green Show), a release indicates.
Todd dreams of climbing the corporate ladder and becoming site manager at Conch Industries which is possible because the current manager, Bennett (Tom Green, The Tom Green Show), has a chaotic lifestyle.
The future of the plant is thrown into question when Chelsea (Jennifer Spence, You Me Her), an ambitious young executive from head office announces she’s the new site manager and vows to make some changes.
In the season premiere, Todd works overtime to get a new robotic welding arm up and running to improve the refinery’s productivity.
Audrey debates joining the family business and an incident at work opens a job in management, reigniting Todd’s leadership aspirations.
If you’re a real tradesperson prepare to be disappointed! I own a masonry company on Vancouver Island and pitched a show called “The Trades” to Bell. In May 2021 they said they were going to pass on the show as they weren’t looking for any occupational sitcoms.
We’ll keep producing stuff for the real Trades.