I stand by my assessment that Slings and Arrows is the finest behind-the-scenes comedy-drama since Sports Night. In place of that show’s titular show-within-a-show is a Shakespearean acting company in New Burbage, Ontario. It’s hard to say which character in the extensive and excellent ensemble cast is my favorite: quasi-villain Richard Smith-Jones (played expertly by former Kids in the Hall member Mark McKinney, who was later poached by Sports Night creator Aaron Sorkin for a minor role in his far less inspiring behind-the-scenes show Studio 60); sweet and devoted associate administrative director Anna Conroy (show co-creator Susan Coyne); African expatriot and former theater director turned janitor Nahum (Rothaford Gray); Frank (Michael Polley) and Cyril (Graham Harley), the company’s R2-D2 and C-3PO; pretentious, theater-hating theater director Darren Nichols (Don McKellar); or, of course, haunted artistic director Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross) and his attendant ghostly mentor, Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette). Having just finished the third (and final?) season, I applaud the deliberate nature of the show’s narrative construction. Each season reflects on a stage of life as embodied by a Shakespearean tragedy: Hamlet for youth, middle-aged Macbeth, and elderly King Lear. The show’s conclusion is satisfying and note perfect, despite leaving you wanting more—which, to my mind, is the mark of any great story.