The City is a Canadian television drama series, created by Pierre Sarrazin and Suzette Couture, which aired on CTV from 1999 to 2000.
[1] When her son Strachan (Matt Lemche) is injured in a shooting in the debut episode, she becomes motivated to return to public life by running for a seat on Toronto City Council, thus drawing her into contact with a diverse ensemble of characters representing many different aspects of the big city beyond the confines of her privileged and affluent Rosedale life.
[1] In the show's second season, she has been elected to a council seat, and must navigate the internal workings of Toronto City Hall to advocate for change while also dealing with the breakdown of her marriage.
[2] The series was essentially a prime time soap opera, although Sarrazin rejected that label because of its association with unrealistic and melodramatic plots, and instead compared the show's intentions to socially realistic antecedents such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Upstairs, Downstairs and the novels of Victor Hugo.
[8] Mel Lastman, the real-life Mayor of Toronto at the time the series aired, made a cameo appearance in the second season as himself,[9] and Toronto radio host "Humble" Howard Glassman was heard in numerous episodes as a radio personality voicing public commentary on events.