Tod Maffin on why Canada's The Littlest Hobo, a show about a wandering dog who helps strangers and leaves, is getting rebooted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg for Apple TV. He argues it's timely now because Canada has become a global symbol of kindness against rising fascism.
Canada just got its TV show back. The Littlest Hobo was a Canadian TV series that ran here in the mid-'80s or so. More than 100 episodes. If you grew up then, you watched it. Sometimes you didn't choose to watch it, it was just on. That's the way TV was back then. The plot was basically the same each show. A German shepherd wandered from town to town, solved everyone's problems, turned down every single offer of a warm home and a loving family, and left.
Hey, good buddy. Thanks. Keep on truckin'.
Every single time. There was no recurring cast, no owner, no precocious kid sidekick. The dog was the only character that kept coming back. You know, Canada has always understood that the quiet thing done well is worth more than the loud thing done poorly. Our Littlest Hobo was kind of a Canadian parable, actually. Our patron saint of relentless decency. And soon he'll be coming back in a reboot of the series. The guys behind it are Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, whose Apple TV series The Studio walked away from the Emmys with 13 wins last year. And can I just say, this is the perfect time. I don't mean from a TV schedules or ad season point of view. I mean where Canada is right now, in this very specific and strange and important chapter in our history. The world is watching us differently than it used to. Canada is being held up, cautiously, as proof that a country can still choose kindness. As a new world leader. As an antidote to fascism. There aren't many details about how the show will look. The news release promises that the hobo will still be little, but the adventures will be big. What I do know is that these days Canada keeps having moments like this. And maybe one day, when the noise south of the border finally settles, and someone down there is looking for a sign that things can still be decent, someone will show up at the door, help out, ask for nothing, and keep walking. Maybe not today, but maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow, the whole world is my home.
Ten times Canada helped the U.S. with its wildfires, instead of whining about the smoke. 
