The show was a mixture of humor and "coming of age", with young Ben coming into his own as a boy nearing his teenage years, and Jake as both friend and mentor to the fatherless boy. Unfortunately, although the show fared decently in the ratings, and had a very homey feel to it, the series survived only long enough to run two 13-episode seasons. Much of this had to do with behind the scenes negotiations, which resulted in the rights to the series being sold to a New Zealand company in late 1996, just one year after the series premiered, and shortly after the second season wrapped up.
After the series ended, Patti Harras went on to guest episodes in the Canadian productions of "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven", "Viper" and "Cold Squad", and a small role in the made-for-TV film "Nightmare Street". Ben Campbell is now a behind-the-scenes player, lending his voice to the animated serieses "Pippi Longstocking" and "Donkey Kong Country". It is probably Shaun Johnston that has enjoyed the most success in his post-Jake career -- he went on to play high-ranking police officials on both the TVMs "The Inspectors" and "Stranger in Town", and also had roles in the films "Heart of the Sun" and "Ms. Bear".
"Jake and the Kid" was by no means a unique endeavor. Over the last few years, many Alberta-based serieses have hit the rocks production-wise, most notably the short-lived "Lonesome Dove: The Series", and the even shorter-lived "Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years".
In a rather interesting coincidence, both J&tK and LD:TOY have one of my favorite Canadian actors in common -- he seems to be showing up a lot lately in short-lived Canadian serieses. He's guest-starred on everything from "The Marshal" to "The Burning Zone" to "Moloney" to "Taking the Falls", and been a supporting actor in the 1997 dismal failure "John Woo's Once a Thief". Luckily for fans, though, "The X Files" seems to be the lucky show for Canadian actor Nicholas Lea -- since 1994, he's been a recurring guest star in the role of Alex Krycek, or as he's often refered to by X-Philes, "Rat-Boy".
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