There’s Lots to Read Between The Lines in SHELVED, According to Star Lyndie Greenwood and Creator Anthony Q. Farrell

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Libraries were a huge part of Lyndie Greenwood’s life growing up. So when she first read the script for the new CTV Original comedy SHELVED from creator and executive producer Anthony Q. Farrell, she recognized everything instantly, from the bookshelves, to the less-than-new computers, to the funny situations, and eccentric individuals. “I thought, ‘oh my gosh, Anthony, get out of my head, how did you steal my memories?’ ” Greenwood said. “This is 100% a documentary for me.” Not literally, of course. SHELVED is a workplace sitcom from Farrell (THE OFFICE) that debuts Monday, March 6 at 9:30 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. Greenwood plays lead character Wendy Yarmouth, who is the head of the underfunded Jameson branch of the Metropolitan Public Library in Toronto. “I actually had decided, not too long before I received the material for this audition, to step away from acting, because I was not feeling it anymore,” said Greenwood, whose resume includes shows such as THE EXPANSE, SLEEPY HOLLOW, and NIKITA. “But my reps would still send me things every now and again, and when I read this, I thought, ‘oh my gosh, this is it, this is what brings me back.’ I absolutely loved it. Being from Toronto, it just rang so true to my experience as a Torontonian. And as a library frequenter, it was just so funny, and delightful, and I loved Wendy so much that I thought, ‘I need this role.’ I guess the universe decided that I’m not done with acting, and it’s not done with me.” In creating SHELVED, Farrell recognized that in the current post-pandemic world, libraries are one of the few places left that can still be relied upon to attract a true cross-section of society, in the flesh. “One of the shows I talked about when we were kind of developing this was Cheers, and how stories walk in the door, right?” Farrell said. “Having shadowed some of the employees of the Parkdale library, it’s endless. You’re never going to run out of things to talk about, because the people who work there are interesting, the people who go there are interesting, the people who are attacking it from afar are interesting. So it just felt like a really strong place to set a show.” While SHELVED will definitely feel comfortable for viewers with library backgrounds, it also may provide a little bit of a privilege check as well. In the opening episode, Wendy is appalled to find that the replacement computers she has been expecting are even older than the ones that are being replaced. It’s a substantial problem, because as Wendy points out, half the patrons at the library go there primarily, if not exclusively, to use the computers. “Any time I go to a library, it’s still so hard to get a computer, because all the people who can’t afford to have their own computer are there, and they’re sending out resumes, or sending emails, or connecting to people that they can’t reach by foot in their neighborhoods,” Farrell said. “So when we were talking about what the big struggle would be in the first episode, we realized that computers might be something that a lot of people wouldn’t think about at first, but it’s a nice reminder.” Greenwood added, “Yeah, that’s a very good point. I definitely grew up doing all of my printing at the library, and a lot of my schoolwork at the library. I’m fortunate enough that my dad was able to buy a home computer, but it’s definitely a super important service for a lot of people in Toronto, and elsewhere.” Strictly from a sitcom perspective, though, there’s something visually funny about old technology, such as massive computers with Netscape Navigator on them. SHELVED – which also stars Chris Sandiford, Dakota Ray Hebert, Paul Braunstein, Robin Duke, Taylor Love, and Varun Saranga – is ready to open the book on that world, where everybody thinks their thing is the most important thing, and there’s never enough money for any of it. “The bureaucracy of the libraries is a big deal, too, because you’re pushing together, but you’re also pushing against each other,” Farrell explained. “Because you want the things that some of the other bigger libraries have. Who’s going to decide where those resources go? In real life, budgets are always being cut, so you’re battling for those scraps. It definitely creates an opportunity for kinship, but also for conflict.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv