Doug and the Slugs and Me, on CBC

They had a number of top 40 hits in Canada, but Doug and the Slugs’ greatest exposure in America might have come when their song “Too Bad” was used as the opening theme of Norm Macdonald’s The Norm Show. (It was a Canadian connection.) Despite having the original video for “Too Bad” in heavy rotation on early, music video-playing MTV, they never really caught on down here, despite their label charging back the costs of several expensive attempts. However, Teresa Alfeld only thought of lead singer Doug Bennett as her best friend’s dad, while growing-up next door to the family. Alfeld chronicles the band’s ups and downs from a half-inside half-outside perspective in Doug and the Slugs and Me, which airs Sunday night on CBC.

Bennett didn’t exactly look like Mick Jagger, but he wrote catchy tunes. The Slugs became known for a brand of pop that combined upbeat melodies with sly humor. The Barenaked Ladies cite them as an inspiration, which totally follows. Regardless, to Alfeld, Bennett just seemed like another suburban dad, as indeed he was, even though he still toured pretty regularly while she and her friend were growing up.

A lot of the inter-band drama is not unlike so many other Behind the Music stories. There were jealousies and creative control issues. Alfeld never mentions drugs, but she certainly documents Bennett’s problems with alcohol. Still, they managed to stay together nearly forty years, long outliving many of their contemporaries. Weirdly, Bennett also wrote a terrific Canadian country song, “House Without a Soul” that he ultimately had Suzanne Gitzi record, but, of course, that musical detour also ended awkwardly. However, Gitzi is quite gracious discussing Bennett.