Ozark is best known as the show where Jason Bateman takes a break from Arrested Development and does his best Breaking Bad impression. But an eagle-eyed CFL enthusiast might have uncovered something more… curious happening in the background of some TVs on the show.
Ozark is supposed to take place in the Ozarks, specifically at the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Television production as expensive as it is, though, the show is actually filmed in Georgia. But why is that relevant? Well, a curious thing keeps happening on the television in the background of the show, and where it’s actually filmed could have explained it.
Specifically, a Canadian Football League game keeps popping up. If the show were filmed in Canada, as many Netflix shows are, it would explain why the show might be popping up. But what’s more, the CFL clip is the same highlight, which has now appeared on multiple seasons of the show.
The CFL’s official website even wrote about it, pointing out a tweet that splices the video from the two episodes together and points out that they’re the exact same highlight happening at two completely different times in the show.
I think my favourite thing about the fact that @CFL keeps popping up in Ozark is that it's always the same play. Like the @TorontoArgos and @MTLAlouettes are stuck in some sort of Groundhog Day game 😂 S01E06 and S02E03 pic.twitter.com/5Ll8MYHtsa
— Hannah Nordman (@HLNordman) September 2, 2018
A clip shows highlights of a short pass where a running back finds space in the middle of the field in a game between the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argos. The first time the clip appears is in the sixth episode in the first season, “The Book of Ruth.” But there it is again, in the third episode of the show’s second season as well.
Obviously, there could be a reasonable explanation for this that does not involve a wormhole in the show’s television universe. A commenter on the original tweet pointed out that it once appeared on Modern Family, too. It’s likely that the clip is a go-to for cheap sports highlights, and someone slipped up and put it in the show twice.
But it’s far more fun to think that this could actually mean something for the show’s narrative arc. Are the characters trapped in a world without the NFL? Is there a cable channel in this version of Missouri that is constantly showing highlights from a classic CFL game for some reason? Or are the show’s producers just trying to put a fun Easter egg in the show for anyone who happens to be a big fan of the football with extra large end zones?
It’s probably nothing. Something tells me, though, that there’s a mystery to be explained here.
