184. 'Schitt's Creek's Moira left us feeling “Home Alone”' 

First, I recommend Schitt's Creek, the Canadian sitcom created by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy, to those who haven't seen it. It has 80 episodes across six seasons and is available on Netflix. The series aired from 2015 to 2020.

Schitt's Creek's story centers on the once-wealthy Rose family, who, after their business manager embezzles from their company, lose their fortune and move to a motel in the small town of Schitt's Creek, where they must adapt to their new lifestyle. Filmed using a single camera set-up with no live audience or laugh track, Schitt's Creek is like anyone’s hometown. 

It's one of my favorites, and I could watch it for 24 hours straight, any episode, at any time, without feeling bored, and the only comparison that comes to my mind is Hindi TV serials such as Yes Boss, Shrimaan Shrimati, Yeh Chandaa Kanoon Hai, or Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hain. I am afraid I might have revealed my tastes with this.

But the truth is, Schitt's Creek’s story closely mirrors my own. That’s probably why I connect with every character. I have lived with similar personalities at home, facing the same situations with the same attitudes, including a Moira (my wife, Urmila) and two kids who share exactly the same attitudes.

So, you can imagine how I felt this morning when I heard the news that one of its main characters, the Emmy-winning actress Catherine O'Hara (Moira), who also starred in Home Alone, had died at 71 yesterday. The Canadian-born performer also starred in Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and recently starred in Apple TV's Hollywood satire show The Studio.

Toronto-born O'Hara joined the legendary comedy theater Second City alongside Eugene Levy, with whom she would collaborate throughout her career.

Her entry into film came in 1980 with Double Negative, also alongside Levy. In 1988, she played Winona Ryder's stepmother in Beetlejuice. But in 1990, she became widely known to a global audience as the mother of Macaulay Culkin's Kevin in Home Alone.

Her dialogue yelling at Kevin became so famous that people named their sons Kevin, and they would come up to her and ask her to yell 'Kevin!' in their faces.

I had tears reading Macaulay Culkin’s post on Instagram today, who played her son in Home Alone, “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.” 

It shows Catherine O'Hara’s natural acting ability that her screen son wrote those words upon her passing. 

I also remember how she reprised the role in the film's sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which featured a cameo by Donald Trump, decades before he became US president.

But she is perhaps best known to modern audiences for her role in Schitt's Creek, created by Dan Levy, Eugene Levy's son, who also played her screen son. He described O’Hara as “extended family…. it’s hard to imagine a world without her in it.”

The series concept is attributed to Dan Levy, who pondered how wealthy families, often shown on American reality TV, would respond if they lost everything. He created the series alongside his father, Eugene. 

The wealthy Rose family — consisting of video-store owner Johnny (Eugene Levy), his wife and ex-soap-opera star Moira (Catherine O'Hara), and their spoiled, self-absorbed adult children David (Dan Levy) and Alexis (Annie Murphy) — have their fortune taken away after being scammed by their business manager. 

After the government confiscated their mansion, they had to relocate to their only remaining asset: a remote town called Schitt's Creek in Canada. Johnny had purchased the legal deed for this town as a joke for David's birthday in 1991. 

The Roses start their new life by moving into two connected rooms at the town's dilapidated motel. As they settle in, their upper-class attitudes clash with those of the town's more rural residents, including mayor Roland Schitt (Chris Elliott) and his wife, Jocelyn (Jenn Robertson).

Eugene Levy, his son Dan Levy, and his daughter Sarah Levy all appear in the series. Sarah portrays Twyla Sands, the Café Tropical waitress.

Catherine O'Hara's portrayal of Moira Rose, an eccentric former soap opera star devoted to glamour and firmly convinced of her celebrity status, is excellent. Whenever she appears on TV, she brings love and lights up our world with her eccentricity. 

She will be missed by her fans, like me. 

RIP Catherine O'Hara!!!