While my television loves are usually instant, Robson Arms slowly became one of my favourite shows without me ever being completely aware of it happening. My only explanation is that the Canadian series has something of a cumulative effect. Each episode is a complete and enjoyable story in itself, yet by the end of a season a larger and even more satisfying tale of common bonds and common frailties emerges.

Set in a Vancouver apartment building, each episode of the half-hour comedy-drama opens the door to one suite, telling the tale of the tenants behind it. However, in each subsequent episode we get glimpses of how other tenants' stories progress and intertwine, ending up with the depth and feel of a collection of related short stories.

I'd missed its first season, not because I wasn't interested but because I didn't know about it — a common problem with Canadian television shows. After I started the TV, eh? website to address that problem in a small way, I dutifully began to watch the second season. Quickly, the duty turned into curiosity about the unusual anthology structure and the drama/comedy blend, which turned into enthusiasm for the storytelling that allowed so many compelling characters to populate the familiar world of the show.

The third season premieres Monday, April 28 at 9:30 p.m. on CTV. While it's a series you can dip into at any point, both prior seasons are available on DVD in both Canada and the US, plus Bravo Canada is airing a marathon next weekend, April 26 and 27, of the first two seasons as well as the previously aired first episode of season three.

Writer Susin Nielsen and director Gary Harvey joined the TV, eh? BlogTalkRadio show to talk about the series, and Nielsen agreed with my assessment of its stealthy charms. "Gary and I have talked about this a lot over the years because whenever we try to describe it, it doesn't sound particularly interesting," she laughed. "You know, a bunch of people in an apartment building. Every week you go behind a different apartment door. They're all stuck in their lives somehow. They're all trying to connect."