MovieChat Forums > Corner Gas (2004) Discussion > I'm watching the whole series again + I ...

I'm watching the whole series again + I have some thoughts........

posted 11 years ago by monkeyalien
3 replies | jump to latest

What's the economy of Dog River like? It's supposed to be a small farming community of about 500 people but all we really see are a few townsfolk. None of the main characters appear to be very productive except maybe Lacey though she has at least one person working in the kitchen. The gas station apparently does very well since the only other gas station is like 35 miles away. Wanda somehow pays for her education by working at the gas station. Hank's perpetually unemployed but still has fuel to drive his truck, not cheap for an older truck & living what he said was 10 miles from town, though maybe he takes it from the station without paying. Emma & Oscar are retired. The cops must get a regular salaries but they really don't have to do much. Local businesses include the gas station, the Ruby, a grocery store, and a liquor store, and there's probably a hardware store, a pharmacy, a mechanic, something that sells farming supplies like baler twine, grain for livestock, & fencing wire, maybe a barber, doctor's office, and a dentist. How the heck does the cash flow when nobody seems to really do anything?

What would Dog River be like in the winter, especially in a snow storm? Everything & everybody is sort of spread out & there's probably not enough urgent business to trek through bitter cold & snow if you don't have to.

With so much farming, shouldn't there be a local company that delivers diesel fuel to farms? And though we didn't see Dog River in winter, there would probably be home delivery of heating oil. Such a company often operates a gas station, which would be in place of or competing with Corner Gas. It's called Corner Gas but I imagine Brent also sells on-road & off-road diesel.

[–] neerood 11 years ago

I discovered this cute show too and wondered as it would have seemed from the geography it should have been more or less an arctic climate yet most episodes give the appearance of summer in Montana. Turns out the show is modeled on a real location with real business and economy mostly matching the TV show:

http://www.townofrouleau.com/about_corner_gas.asp

[–] kurth 11 years ago

So... Like a lot of shows you can't look too much into it. In reality towns like this shrink and shrink until they don't exist. Many shows face similar issues to what you describe. Workplace shows where no work gets done, sitcoms where people only go to work when it is part of the plot. Have you ever notices computers only exist in TV shows when they need to be used? Money is only ever an issue if it is a specific plot point...

The beauty of this show is that no one ever worries about the things you bring up. It is an escape from the drudgery of real life AND and escape from shows where story lines go on and on and everyone is always involved in some drama.

Have you ever considered there is a high-school in a town with a population of about 500? That in itself is pretty ridiculous especially when you consider how much of the population appears to be seniors (old).

Or consider the fact that Corner Gas has two employees who often work at the same time. Yet somehow they cover ALL shifts at the only gas station within many miles (which doesn't appear to allow "pay at the pump" with credit/check cards). They make it seem like the gas station closes around 5 or 6 at night, how can a gas station close that early every day.

The Ruby also has two employees, Lacey occasionally mentions cooking but generally Josh is the cook. Of course Josh is actually defined as the busboy, when he quits for a small amount of time Lacey ONLY refers to him as the busboy, but in numerous episodes he is shown cooking or passing the plates forward to Lacey. Lacey also leaves Josh in charge for extended periods (even though he is never shown taking peoples orders) when she run errands during the day or even several days when she tries to visit her family for Christmas.

How often during the day are Lacey, Brent and Wanda ALL doing something other than their jobs, which would mean the gas station and probably The Ruby are both closed in the middle of the day?

They are all valid points and all fairly interesting, I have considered them myself from time to time. Maybe a large number of farmers (who aren't regulars) own land that contains oil so the money coming in to the community is from oil? Maybe Dog River is the central town where all the farming communities in the area go for gas, food, groceries, etc...

[–] lucky_s2000 11 years ago

I'm from Saskatoon so I can tell you a lot of small town people work in the nearby big cities and drive in. Plus there no way there a dentist and all that stuff. There's even an episode where he comes to Saskatoon for dental work. I'm shocked thru even put cops in. it's usually rcmp our highway cops that patrol many towns.