The production of this segment quickly turned into a technical nightmare, starting with a vocal track that had very low sound levels and proceeding to software crashes and e-mail firewall challenges. It seems like a miracle that the piece ever went to air on schedule. At one late point, as Jesse prepared to re-record the script in Mark’s office for a second time, he joked that “Seducing Dr. Michal” might be the first Smells Like Yukon segment ever acted live in CBC studios. If you’ve heard “Men of Action / Lazy River” or the outtakes from “On Walmart Time,” you’ll be glad it didn’t come to that.
Fortunately, the August wedding that provided the segment’s setting was a much more enjoyable production. After skipping their Yukon visit for one or two summers, Paul and Heather came up for a three-week stretch that included a lot of dinners out, as well as the wedding of Deb and Ted, whom astute listeners may recall from last year’s season opener “Designer Guise.” We certainly don’t want to claim that our classy makeover of their outhouse in Haines Junction was the event that ultimately encouraged this couple to finally take the plunge—but we don’t want to discount it either.
No need to get into the details about the wedding at Silver City. It was a small but thoughtfully planned affair with a few family and friends. The highlight for Jesse, naturally, was winning the coin toss that gave he (and his wife) the right to spend more than two hours alone in a car with Paul (and Heather). Mark sulked about this for most of the weekend; making the journey from Whitehorse to Kluane Lake with a toddler was a lot less fun. But inevitably, Paul made a small but beautiful gesture that soothed Mark’s simmering jealousy: the morning after the wedding, he paid tribute to Mark by wearing a shirt with a broken down bus on it. There’s a long history there. It definitely wouldn’t bore you, but it’s strictly “need to know.”
The wave sounds that appear in the piece were recorded around dusk on the beach at Silver City. Mark was too drunk to operate the mini-disc recorder by the time the bonfire got going, so we resorted to sound effects for that aspect of the produced piece. The crackly-sounding songs—one’s a disco number, the other the Manhattan’s “Kiss and Say Goodbye”—were both recorded from a retro turntable that Deb and Ted had set up in the wall tent on the beach. In the piece, it sounds like the bonfire SFX have been mixed with the music, but it’s all the record player needle. You don’t hear that too often these days. We believe the cheesy records were gift from one of the wedding guests.
The premise and title for the segment, in case you’re curious, was inspired by the film called Seducing Doctor Lewis.
Several early drafts of the script had a different introduction that included a reference to this film—and also to Mark and Jesse’s shared love of French Canadian romantic comedies.
When this story was first being developed, the plan was to coerce Mark’s wife into identifying a visiting male resident or med student whom we could “woo” for our story. However, the old friend angle suddenly presented itself and turned out to be the easier route for many reasons. It also had the added benefit of allowing us to touch on a subject—departed friends—that we’re sure hits close to the hearts of many Yukoners.
