What do you get if you take one set, two actors, a parrot, a fish named Pepi (who was added in at the last minute) and six scripts but no real storyline? According to executive producer Gordon Farr it’s ‘a writer’s dream.’

Jake & Jill, the half-hour romantic comedy series out of cbc, stars Camilla Scott (The Camilla Scott Show, Due South) and Albert Schultz (Street Legal, The Red Green Show) as a hip thirtysomething married couple, madly in love with each other.

‘It’s a dream because it’s all based on reality,’ says Farr. ‘It all comes out of our lives or other people’s lives. There is no story, no boss-drops-by-unexpectedly-and-hijinx-ensue. This is really about what is happening in their [day-to-day] lives.’

The six-part series started rolling Sept. 24 at Toronto’s cbc studios and filming will continue in front of a live audience every Friday until Oct. 29.

‘Judging by the reaction of the audience at the first taping, they want to see it,’ says Farr. ‘You’re doing a tv show but you are doing a stage performance at the same time – it’s a very tricky form.’

The team behind the new series originally hail from the true north but have spent most of their careers in the u.s. Farr left Canada in the 1960s and since produced a plethora of popular shows including Newhart and Love Boat. Jake & Jill cocreator and writer Simon Muntner and Farr first hooked up at Fox Studios during his days working on m*a*s*h. Director Lee Bernhardi has directed such sitcoms as Barney Miller, Webster and What’s Happening? Joining them is cbc producer Ann Camilleri.

Jake & Jill had its genesis 10 years ago during a lunch when Farr and Muntner decided they wanted to do something ‘grown up.’ That day, they pounded out the first act of the new series.

Although the series was shopped around, Farr found that many broadcasters wanted to change the scripts to include more characters, something the writers did not want.

‘We (the viewers) find out about things as they discuss them,’ says Muntner of the characters. ‘We don’t have to see the boss or the ex-wife and all the characters. It’s just when you get home at the end of the day and you talk to your mate about your day.’

Three years ago Farr first ran the idea by cbc. A year later, a deal was signed that gave the show a ‘very comfortable budget.’

The storyline goes something like this: Jake works for the Ontario government writing tourism ads while Jill goes back to work for her ex-lover. Jake just applied for a job at an ad agency in Australia and, for most of episode two, Jill is not happy about it.

The action takes place in the couple’s chic downtown Toronto loft, complete with comfy couches, brick walls and big windows that show off the city lights. And, while you could call Jake & Jill bizarre, warm and funny, you couldn’t call it a sitcom.

‘Everyone makes the mistake of calling it a sitcom,’ says Farr. ‘We could load it with laughs if we wanted to, but we are going for the character and relationship humor in it. By the time we get to Friday, there will be a lot of changes, but it is still a romantic comedy.’