Last week, during Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions, Moose Jaw was featured as one of the clues. Of course, this was not the first time Moose Jaw has been part of the show (it was also part of an entire category on Canada back in 2015, although none of the contestants were able to get a single question correct).
Of course, Moose Jaw was also featured on television a fair bit last year during the city’s spat with Norway over the height of Mac the Moose.
This week, we are highlighting five times Canada’s Most Notorious City has been mentioned on the small screen.
WWE SmackDown
During the winter of 2008, WWE ran a storyline on their SmackDown program that the dastardly Edge was in love with Vickie Guerrero, who was an on-air authority figure at the time. Naturally, Edge was not really in love with Vickie and was only using her to gain a competitive advantage over his opponents. On the Feb. 15, 2008 edition of SmackDown, Edge proposed to Vickie. Two weeks later, on Feb. 29, Edge was discussing where the two might go on their honeymoon. Edge, a Canadian-born superstar, suggested the two go to “God’s country.” Specifically, he said “I was thinking Toronto, maybe Moose Jaw.”
Unsurprisingly, the relationship — like all good relationships in the world of pro wrestling — eventually came to an end. At least it left us with one of the more random mentions of Moose Jaw in popular culture.
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother was a show about a man telling his kids, well, how he met their mother. Amazingly, this required nine seasons and 208 episodes.
One of the characters on the show is Robin Scherbatsky. Like the actress who plays her, Cobie Smulders, Robin is Canadian. The show is FULL of Canadian references, most of which are at the expense of our fair country.
In the 11th episode of season four, Robin is feeling homesick, so Marshall (Jason Segel) takes her to a Minnesota-based bar he visits. Robin likes it so much, however, that she starts to pretend she is from Minnesota. Marshall goes along with this until she breaks his high score on the video game Fisherman’s Quest. He then reveals to the bar that Robin is Canadian. As she goes to leave, she offers the following rant:
“I'm proud to be Canadian. We may not have a fancy NFL team, or Prince, but we invented Trivial Pursuit. You're welcome, Earth. Plus, in Canada, you can go to an all-nude strip club and order alcohol. That's right — from Moose Jaw to the Bay of Fundy, you can suck down a 20-ounce Pilsner while watching some coal miner's daughter strip down to her pelt. Jealous?”
The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor stars Freddie Highmore as an autistic surgeon. In episode 15 of the show’s first season, dated Feb. 26, 2018, a teenage patient is recording a video for her friends ahead of her surgery. She refers to Dr. Lim and says “And now, our all-star lineup —playing centre out of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan...” Dr. Lim then interrupts and corrects the girl, noting she is actually from Tapei, Taiwan. The teen then responds “Correction, from Tapei, Taiwan — which I believe is a suburb of Moose Jaw — Dr. Audrey Lim!”
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
For those unfamiliar with the show — which is still on the air — a group of performers participate in a series of games during which they must improvise everything, based off a few key suggestions to go on.
On episode 18 of the first season, dated March 10, 1999, the performers are participating in a round of Questions Only. As the name suggests, the game forces performers to speak only in questions to one another. At one point, Ryan Stiles asks “Have you ever heard of a town called Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan?” This, in turn, temporarily flummoxes Colin Mochrie — who is from Canada — and leads to Colin getting buzzed out of the scene. It is a bit of non sequitur, but it counts.
The Simpsons
Over the years, The Simpsons has included a number of Canadian references. Eventually, the show turned its attention to The Friendly City.
In the season 10 episode, “Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken,” the family attends a baseball game. Homer says he can’t wait for the local club, the Springfield Isotopes, to lose. Lisa questions why he hates the team and he replies “Because I loved them once and they broke my heart.” Bart then interjects and urges Homer to reconsider.
“You gotta support the team, dad! They’re already threatening to move to Moose Jaw!”
It was a perfectly cromulent reference that no doubt embiggened Moose Jaw’s star status.
BONUS: Corner Gas
As a show that takes place in Saskatchewan, there were bound to be references to Moose Jaw. During the show’s pilot episode, the town’s much-maligned newspaper, The Dog River Howler, implies that Moose Jaw has been awarded an NBA franchise. On another episode (season one, episode six), while attempting to build “the world’s biggest…thing,” it is pointed out that it would be good for the town to build such a large roadside attraction, with Hank comparing the concept to Mac the Moose. Finally, in the 14th episode of season five, Brent tries to cover up his pink eye from Wanda and Hank by pretending that he woke up early and drove to Moose Jaw to swim at the pool, only to have his eyes bothered by the chlorine. Naturally, the ruse failed.
Who knows where Moose Jaw will turn up next?
