Trying Times

A Canadian-American anthology comedy television series created by Jon S. Denny, which PBS carried across 1987, 1988 and 1989. The series consisted of standalone episodes, each presenting an independent comedic story without laugh tracks, featuring a central character as the narrator. The project featured renowned actors, including Rosanna Arquette, Candice Bergen, David Byrne, Jeff Daniels, Geena Davis, Teri Garr, Hope Lange, Catherine O'Hara, and Steven Wright. Scripts were written by authors such as Christopher Durang, Spaulding Gray, Bernard Slade, and Wendy Wasserstein. Filming took place in Vancouver to reduce costs. The series became PBS's first original comedy and was co-produced with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which aired it as part of a larger anthology series titled "Lies From Lotus Land."