The Jack Schitt family tree is a joke
The Jack Schitt family tree is older than the series. It is a mock genealogy that was forwarded by email in the late 1990s, and a copy posted to the humour list of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in March 1999 gives the usual version.6 Every name in it is a pun on the family name, and the whole tree exists to set up its last line, which turns the insult “you don’t know Jack” into a fact about a family.
In that version Jack Schitt is the only son of Awe Schitt, a fertilizer magnate, and O. Schitt, who owns a company with a pun of its own for a name. Jack marries Noe Schitt, and they have six children, named Holie, Fulla, Giva and Bull, and the twins Deap and Dip. After fifteen years Jack and Noe divorce, and Noe remarries.6
The grandchildren carry the joke further. Two of the daughters marry brothers named Happens in a double wedding, and Bull comes home from Italy with a bride whose first name makes the last pun of the piece.6 The names and the order change from one forwarded copy to the next, so there is no single correct Jack Schitt family tree.
Schitt’s Creek has no Jack Schitt. The chart draws the four people at the top of the joke in a grey outline marked J, beside the families of the series and joined to none of them, so that the joke and the show cannot be confused. The six children are left in this text.
Johnny, Moira, David and Alexis Rose
The series begins with the Roses. Johnny Rose, played by Eugene Levy, is the patient head of a rich family, and his wife Moira Rose, played by Catherine O’Hara, is a former star of a soap opera.1 They lose their fortune when their business manager defrauds them, and the only asset left is a small town that Johnny bought for his son in 1991 as a joke. The town is called Schitt’s Creek.12
Their children come with them. David Rose, played by Dan Levy, is the artistic son, and Alexis Rose, played by Annie Murphy, is the socialite daughter.1 The four Roses settle in the town together, and the purple outline marked R holds them on the chart.
In the finale the Roses scatter. Johnny and Moira move to Los Angeles, where he will run the Rosebud Motel Group and she goes back to her soap, Sunrise Bay. Alexis returns to New York on her own, and David stays in the town with Patrick.5
Roland, Jocelyn and Mutt Schitt
The real Schitts of the series are the mayor’s family. Roland Schitt, played by Chris Elliott, is the nosy and often irksome mayor, and his wife Jocelyn Schitt, played by Jennifer Robertson, is a cheerful schoolteacher.1 In season 1 the Roses have dinner at their house, and Roland signs the contract on the town only after Moira slaps him.2
Their son is Mutt Schitt, played by Tim Rozon. In season 1, episode 4, “Bad Parents”, Roland and Jocelyn reveal that Mutt is their estranged son, who does not get along with his father.2 The grey dashed line between Mutt and Roland marks that estrangement in the first story point.
The family grows in season 4. In episode 12, “Singles Week”, Jocelyn goes into labour without warning, and the chart adds their baby son from the second story point.3 The series gives the baby a name, but the sources opened for this page do not agree on it, so the chart calls him Baby Schitt.
The family line runs back to the founding of the town. In season 1, episode 3, Johnny tries to take down the town’s welcome sign, which shows Roland’s great-grandfather in a suggestive pose with his own sister.2 The chart places that ancestor above the Schitts without a parent line, because the series names neither him nor the two generations between him and Roland.
Patrick, Ted, Mutt and Stevie
Patrick Brewer, played by Noah Reid, becomes David’s business partner and then his husband. He proposes to David on a hike in season 5, episode 13, and the two marry at the end of the series.31 The couple line on the chart turns from engagement to marriage at the last story point.
Alexis has two men from the town on the chart. In season 1 she meets Mutt at a barbecue and later spends a night with him in his barn.2 Ted Mullens, played by Dustin Milligan, is the town vet who falls in love with her.1 By season 5 they are dating again, and in season 6, episode 8, “The Presidential Suite”, they part because Ted has a three-year contract with a research team in the Galapagos and Alexis cannot move there.34
Stevie Budd, played by Emily Hampshire, is the clerk of the motel and later its owner.1 She thinks of leaving to work as a flight attendant in the last season, and stays to run the original Rosebud Motel.5 She is family to the Roses in all but blood, so she stands beside them on the chart with no line of kinship.
The Schitt’s Creek families season by season
Each card gives the changes to the chart at one story point. Read each card after its seasons, since the last card gives away the ending.
Season 1, 2015
A town bought as a joke
Spoiler note. Nothing beyond season 1.
- The Roses lose their fortune and move to the town Johnny bought for David in 1991.
- Roland and Jocelyn reveal that Mutt is their estranged son, and Alexis spends a night with him.
Seasons 2 to 4, 2016 to 2018
A baby for the mayor
Spoiler note. The Schitts have a second son.
- A positive pregnancy test throws the Roses into disarray in season 4, episode 2.
- Jocelyn goes into labour without warning in “Singles Week”, season 4, episode 12.
Sources3
Season 5, 2019
The proposal
Spoiler note. An engagement.
- Alexis and Ted are dating again.
- Patrick proposes to David on a hike, and David accepts.
Sources3
Season 6, 2020
Happy Ending
Spoiler note. The ending is told in full.
- Ted leaves for the Galapagos, and he and Alexis part.
- David marries Patrick, and the other Roses leave for Los Angeles and New York.
How to read this chart
A square is a man and a circle is a woman. A double line is a marriage, a line with two strokes is a divorce, and a dashed couple line is a relationship without marriage. The Roses stand on the left, the Schitts of the series in the middle, and the joke on the far right.
Read this way, the chart answers the search for a Jack Schitt family tree in two parts. The grey outline is the joke as it was passed around, with Jack, his parents and his wife. The green outline is the family the series actually gives the name to, Roland, Jocelyn, Mutt and the baby, with the great-grandfather of the sign above them. None of the people in the grey outline is related to anyone in the green one.
To build a family tree of your own series, open this chart in the editor or start from the story charts. The symbols are set out in the genogram symbols.
Questions about the Jack Schitt family tree
Is Jack Schitt in Schitt’s Creek
No. Jack Schitt belongs to a joke genealogy passed around by email in the 1990s, and no character of that name appears in the series.61
Who are the parents of Jack Schitt
In the usual version of the joke, Awe Schitt, a fertilizer magnate, and O. Schitt.6
How is Mutt related to Roland Schitt
Mutt is the son of Roland and Jocelyn, estranged from his father at the start of the series.2
Why is the town called Schitt’s Creek
It carries the name of the Schitt family, whose ancestor, Roland’s great-grandfather, appears on the welcome sign.2
People and sources
A page of its own lists all 16 characters on the chart, each with a short note and the sources for it, and the six numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the pictures and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.