I guess My Life and a Movie (CBC/Adjacent2Entertainment, 2005) was left on the shelf for almost three years before CBC gave it a belated airing on July 10, 2008. The promotion was such that I only found out about the show while going through the Bell ExpressVu program guide. Thursday seems to be CBC's dumping ground for stockpiled comedies until the Olympics, if this and last week's The Dead Beat is any indication.

Jeremy Hotz plays Jeremy, the host of a cult film program. He frequently confuses reality with the exploitation films he likes so much. Jeremy is a pest in general, talking to seniors about the large size of condoms ("How big would the bedroom have to be to roll one of these bodybags out?") and annoying both his doctor and psychiatrist with his hypochondria. The doctor is also his ex-wife, and Jeremy suspects that the psychiatrist only prescribes him medication so she can finally have her way with him.

The first, and possibly only, two episodes of My Life and a Movie feature Jeremy's experiences dating a big-breasted bank teller and a normal-breasted writer. In the second episode his stepmother can be seen on one of the four screens that make up his set. Jeremy synopses one film per episode, My Life and a Movie being an excuse to show clips of the latest film that's literally ruining his mind. In keeping with the reality-blurring theme, My Life and a Movie also has a narrator.

The general conceit of the show is laid bare in the opening credits, the first show dealing with Jeremy's "pnigerophobia." He watched Deadly Weapons and is afraid of being smothered by large breasts for the duration of the episode. The pairing of Deadly Weapons clips with My Name Is Earl-type humour isn't as good as it should be, especially since Jeremy Hotz wrote this show and is capable of much funnier material than this. At least viewers get to see Chesty Morgan use her breasts to incapacitate someone, so the episode isn't a total loss.

"She-Devils on Wheels" isn't as good as "Deadly Weapons." The stepmother's interruption of Jeremy's show is a nice touch, but the She-Devils on Wheels tie-in isn't as good (his ex-wife becomes a biker girl) and after 73-inch breasts, a girl biker group isn't nearly as exciting. While the episode provides some good one-liners ("my ass is mad at me and I've got the cancer"), the show doesn't compare to Hotz on stage complaining about Rocket Robin Hood and The Mighty Hercules. On the other hand, very few television shows would feature Herschell Gordon Lewis in any capacity, much less use one of his films to drive a plot.

At first glance, I can see why My Life and a Movie was stockpiled. Merging a romantic comedy with exploitation film scenarios should work, but in this case it doesn't. My Life and a Movie is a concept that needs four or five episodes to really find itself, since there are so many films to use for this show. I can see this becoming a regular series on CBC's digital channel bold, but this is probably the last anyone will hear of My Life and a Movie. It's not unlike the MotherCorp to smother a good idea to death.