Coming Up Rosie was a curious little sit com developed for older children by Canada's
CBC national network. It ran on CBC from 1975 until 1977. The show would be otherwise unremarkable -- some
rinky dink show from a '70s era Canadian broadcaster -- save for the fact it (and its predecessor
Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins) was an
incubator for a remarkable number of comedic talents.
Coming Up Rosie 's principle cast included
Dan Aykroyd,
John Candy, and
Catherine O'Hara. Much of the show's cast came from an earlier and equally unsuccessful CBC attempt at bringing the sitcom format to the 10-11 year old set show called
Dr. Zonk and the Zunkins (1974). The earlier show featured Aykroyd along side
Gilda Radner.
The show itself was set in a
C-class office building (location 99
Sumac street). It centered around the lives of its quirky tenants. The principle character Rosie was a recent film grad who was trying to set up her own
documentary production company, renting the building's basement for her production offices. John Candy played Wally Wypyzypychwk, a
Ukrainian man who owned Sleep-Tite
Burglar Alarms. The Ukrainian character was an angle Candy would later evolve in his SCTV days. Dan Aykroyd played a janitor named Purvis Bickle, a curiously shifty character reminiscent of his SNL merchant of Ronco death character
Irwin Mainway. Catherine O'Hara played Myrna Wallbacker, who worked as an operator for the Ding-A-Ling
Answering Service.