A lot of people would say that Toronto’s former mayor, Rob Ford, was a hot mess during his last year in office. He made headlines around the world, and became the frequent butt of jokes on most late night talk shows. Jimmy Kimmel in particular took a strong interest in the mayor, and even had him as a guest on his show.
Ford’s crack smoking, drug dealing, hard partying ways were destined to become the source material for a fictional character eventually, and that’s exactly what happened. The show is CBS’s “Battle Creek” which follows two mismatched law enforcement officers who can’t seem to get along. Starring Josh Duhamel and Dean Winters, the show is co-created by David Shore (House) and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad).
The show debuted on March 1 on, but the Rob Ford-esque character won’t be making an appearance until the sixth episode. Played by comedian, Patton Oswalt, the character is described as “a drug-addled mayor with an overbearing brother who micromanages his career.” Co-creator, David Shore is from London, Ont, but he attended the University of Toronto before moving to L.A to start his television career.
This isn’t the first news of a Ford-inspired character either. There were talks from NBC that a show starring Alec Baldwin as an unconventional drug-affiliated mayor, was in the works.
There was also Rob Ford The Musical: Birth of a Ford Nation which was described as “gravy train meets the crazy train in the first ever stage musical tribute to Toronto’s infamous Mayor Rob Ford. The media, the police chief and the city itself are not off limits in Toronto-based writer Brett McCaig’s latest musical comedy.”
The filming rights to Robyn Doolittle’s bestselling Rob Ford biography, Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story have already been sold as well. Even though Ford has stepped away from the political world for now, he has still claimed his own little piece of history as far as pop culture is concerned.
