Our Hero

Our Hero is a critically acclaimed television show on the CBC from 2000 to 2002. It ran for 26 episodes over two seasons, and was syndicated in the U.S. and U.K.

The title character was teenager Kale Stiglic (Cara Pifko) who created a zine about her life in suburban Toronto, with her friends Ross (Justin Peroff), Mary-Elizabeth (Jeanie Calleja), and Dalal (Vik Sahay). Each episode was named after an "issue" of her zine. Plot segments were interspersed with quirky animated sequences narrated by Kale, with the animation reflecting the illustrations used in that issue's zine.

Episode list

Season 1

1. "The Imperfect Issue"
2. "The Passion Issue"
3. "The Gutsy Issue"
4. "The If The Shoe Fits Issue"
5. "The Shallow Issue"
6. "The Revenge Issue"
7. "The Trashy Issue"
8. "The Yin Yang Issue"
9. "The Stupid Issue"
10. "The Pusher Issue"
11. "The Unresolved Issue"
12. "The If You Love Me And You Know It Issue"
13. "The Last Laugh Issue"

Season 2

1. "The Comeback Issue"
2. "The Trapped Issue"
3. "The Porn Issue"
4. "The Crabby Issue"
5. "The Psycho Issue"
6. "The Winnie Crundel Issue"
7. "The No Regrets Issue"
8. "The Birthday Issue"
9. "The There's Probably A Word For This In Japanese Issue"
10. "The Karma Issue"
11. "The Secrets Issue"
12. "The D.I.Y. Issue"
13. "The Brown Issue"

Cast

• Kale Stiglic (Cara Pifko)
• Mary Elizabeth Penrose (Jeanie Calleja)
• Ross Korolus (Justin Peroff)
• Ethan Stiglic (Michael George)
• Dalal Vidya (Vik Sahay)
• Malachi (Christopher Ralph)
• Rollins (Jesse Nilsson)
• Joey Stiglic (Robert Bockstael)
• Mila Stiglic (Mimi Kuzyk)
• Bill Fisher (Daniel Enright)
• Gordon (Tory Cassis)
• Shana (Erin Hickock)

Writers, directors and producers

Our Hero was created by John May and Suzanne Bolch who also had writing credits on all but two episodes. John May also directed a number of episodes. Along with Karen Lee Hall these three form Heroic Film Company, a Toronto production company that is mainly focused on creating youth oriented television programming.

Filming

Our Hero was filmed in the Canadian Broadcasting Centre at Front St and John St in Toronto, Ontario. To save time and money, there were always two episodes shot at once.

Some still and Super 8 photography for the zine sequences was shot with a very small crew along the city's streets.

Awards

Wins

• 2003 – Writer's Guild of Canada award for writing ("The Karma Issue")
• 2002 – Writer's Guild of Canada award for writing ("The Unresolved Issue")
• 2001 – Writer's Guild of Canada award for writing ("The Shallow Issue")

Nominations

• 2002 – Canadian Comedy Award – Pretty Funny Female Performance for Jeanie Calleja
• 2002 – Canadian Comedy Award – Pretty Funny Male Performance for Vik Sahay
• 2002 – Canadian Comedy Award – Pretty Funny Writing for TV Series for Suzanne Bolch & John May
• 2002 – Gemini Awards – Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series
• 2002 – Gemini Awards – Best Writing in a Children's or Youth Program and Series
• 2001 – Gemini Awards – Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series

External links

• Official website
• Our Hero at the Internet Movie Database
• Heroic Film Company official site