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There is something deeply impressive about Still Standing (CBC, 9:30 p.m.), CBC's new summer series.

The official description is this: "Comedian Jonny Harris explores small towns on the ropes, performs stand-up shows for the locals who've stuck it out, and proves that Canadians know how to laugh at themselves."

From that you could extrapolate some dread – dread that it's a drearily nutritive exploration of Canadian hokum. It isn't. And that's mainly thanks to Harris. His stand-up routines, written on the fly about the small towns he visits, are fresh, sometimes silly, but actually funny.

Each week, the show has Harris (familiar to many as Crabtree in Murdoch Mysteries) descend on what he calls "towns that are against the ropes but still hanging in there." He hangs out, joshes with the locals and then performs a comedy routine for the town, one based entirely on what he has seen and encountered while visiting.

Tonight, he's in Souris, PEI, a fishing village that has stood for 200 years and takes its name from a plague of mice that bedevilled the place in the days of yore.

Harris is extremely good at connecting with the local people. A Newfoundlander, he understands the texture of places that young people leave, where there is little future, and those who stay have to use their wits and sense of togetherness to survive.

As the mayor of Souris, Dave MacDonald tells him: "We can't hold on to young people." And then the mayor gazes with profound sadness at a local fish processing plant that has closed down.

It's a place where the fishermen have achieved their crab limit in two weeks and then are off to Alberta to work. Harris goes looking for clams on the beach with two elderly fishermen. Using toilet plungers, no less. He manages to get some good comedy bits while engaged in this task and then gets even better material when doing his on-stage routine later.

Then he extracts from the two geezers a story about going on the lam, years ago, and ending up sleeping in Anne of Green Gables' bed. Don't ask.

There are oyster jokes and a visit to the local Catholic church. The matter of moonshine is discussed. He meets a woman, a former probation officer, who uses sea glass found on the beach to make jewellery, and teaches yoga.

He also meets J.J. Chaisson, a fiddler and multi-instrumentalist (he has 52 first cousins in the trad music racket) who is anchored in Souris while fronting the Celtic rock band Kindle. There's a dance in the local hall and banter.

This is the sort of Canadian concept-show that could go horribly wrong. It's a retro-CBC premise and on paper it reeks of CBC dutifully fulfilling its public broadcast mandate and showing Canada to Canadians.

But there is a delightful quality to Harris's genuine curiosity about the people in obscure places, and there is great skill in his ability to lampoon the town without crossing any line into superciliousness. He's a caution.

There is also, under the surface, a hint of melancholy in these small towns, places with a long history and an uncertain future through no fault of the local people. Harris gives them significance without ever making Still Standing seem like a worthy cause. That's impressive.

Also airing tonight

If you're in search of the ridiculous, look no further than

Hollywood Cycle(E!, 9 p.m.), which starts tonight. It's about the sizzling drama that unfolds at Cycle House, a workout joint that offers spinning classes and "the most intense cardio workout in Los Angeles." Hot bods and grunting, you know. Tonight's episode is summarized as, "Love is in the air between Shannon and Aaron; when Nichelle learns about Sarafina's stripper career, the two get into a fight at a Cycle House anniversary party." Seriously, this is on TV.

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