A Littlest Hobo Reboot if Necessary, but Not Necessarily a Littlest Hobo Reboot
POP-CULTURE COLUMN: By Dan Brown Seth Rogen is rebooting The Littlest Hobo. That may sound like a headline from The Beaverton, but apparently it’s true. If you’re Generation X like me, you’ll remember the CTV series from your own childhood. It featured a drifter German Shepherd who would roam from place to place across the Ontario countryside, helping the good-hearted and foiling the plans of bad guys along the way. Airing from 1979 to 1985, it was like other CanCon productions of the day: So earnest, when you watched an episode your teeth would hurt. I’m all for a new version, but I do have some notes for Rogen and his producing partner, Evan Goldberg. The pair have my blessing, so long as they adhere to the following conditions, First, the dog MUST be real. The original Hobo was played by London, as the opening credits indicated. The opening credits lied, of course. London was actually a team of Shepherds who rotated through the role, depending on the shooting needs on any particular production day (if you want to speak with someone who met these doggles back in the day, just ask L.A. Mood co-owner Carol Vandenberg.) Despite all the technical advances since then, the new Hobo absolutely has to be an actual dog, not a CGI or otherwise-animated creation. In the press release announcing the update, the yet-to-be-filmed series is called “a live-action drama,” so that’s a promising sign. No puppets, no prosthetics, the lead character simply has to be a flesh-and-blood dog to maintain the spirit of the original series (note I’m not saying it has to be a purebred Shepherd). Second, individual episodes MUST be played straight. Rogen made a name for himself prompting laughs in such stoner comedies as Pineapple Express, This Is The End, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. However, for a reboot of The Littlest Hobo to succeed it must be just as wholesome, whatever that means in 2026, as the show that spawned it. So no in-jokes. No code words in the script as cues for the audience playing drinking games at home. No meta references. No self-referential comedy at all. So no irony along the lines of having a character say, “Have you noticed how misfortune seems to follow this stray canine wherever he ends up?” All those jokes have been made by former viewers since the 1980s, they would be cringe today. Besides, Brent Butt made the best Littlest Hobo joke in an episode of Corner Gas when a pup who looked like the Hobo turned up in Dog River, and his true nature was revealed: It turns out the Hobo is a scold, as well as a steak thief. If Rogen and his team are looking for a model to follow, there are worse ones than the modern version of the Degrassi series. Third, there must be big-name guest stars. Watching reruns is fun just for spotting celebrities – Leslie Neilsen, Al Waxman, Saul Rubinek, and others earned an honest paycheck on the show, and future marquee performers like Mike Myers cut their teeth alongside “London.” The time is now for Rogen to call in favours. I bet Myers could be convinced to make a cameo at least, and such collaborators as Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, and Elizabeth Banks, could be drafted for one-episode guest shots. For some reason, I picture Jay Baruchel in a recurring role as a Humane Society inspector who follows the dog from incident to incident, not out of evil intent but genuine concern for his welfare. Oh, also, the theme song can’t be an update with a dramatically different musical flavour, but should be a cover version that captures the same melancholy-yet-hopeful vibe from the first time around. There’s no point redoing The Littlest Hobo if you’re going to betray the gentle flavour it originally brought to the small screen. The advantage Rogen has is he’s making the show for Crave to air in Canada, so he doesn’t need to appeal to a broad demographic as a network series of old. Rogen has proven he can be a mover and shaker in Hollywood with his series The Studio winning 13 Emmy Awards last year. This is not the time for serious tinkering with the Littlest Hobo formula. There are reasons it’s still on the air today. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 33 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
