CBC Television Series, 1952-1982
by Blaine Allan
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CBC Series Index
Tidewater
Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 2 Oct 1959-25 Mar 1960
Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 6 Oct 1961-29 Jun 1962
A half-hour dramatic series for young viewers, Tidewater Tramp
originated at CBC Vancouver, and told stories of the Flying
Kestrel, a tramp steamer that sailed the Inland Passage of
British Columbia and up to the Alaska Panhandle to carry cargo to
remote port settlements. The skipper was Captain Martin, a
widower played by Reg McReynolds, whose crew included his twelve
year old daughter Gail, played by Maureen Cook, and the young
coast cadet Peter, played by Robert William Chambers. The cast
also included Wally Marsh, Brendan Dillon, Ted Greenhalgh, and
Edith Matheson Dean. Produced mostly in studio, the program also
aimed for authenticity with exterior sequences shot on film from
a B.C. freighter. The scripts were written by Capt. Thomas
Gilchrist, who had created the CBC radio series, Don Grey, Marine
Investigator, Doug Forrester, and Peter Statner and Christine
Best. The series was produced by Philip Keatley and John Thorne.
See Time Out For Adventure.
Thu 8:30-9:00 p.m., 11 Sep-11 Dec 1969
A half-hour, light musical variety broadcast, Time For Livin' was
hosted by Ray St. Germain, and had a revue company called The
Society (initially called The Just Society) that included Bonnie
Brooks, formerly of Nightcap, Alan Thicke, Rudy Webb, John
Rutter, Jerelynn Homer, and Julie Amato. The show's writers were
Thicke and Vern Kennedy, and the musical director Rick Wilkins.
Ray McConnell produced and the executive producer was Len
Starmer. Although the program was supposed to present material
for contemporary young audiences, and featured such distinctively
talented guests as comic actor Rosemary Radcliffe, singer Beverly
Glenn-Copeland, and guitarist Lenny Breau, it was just a
typically homogenized CBC variety production.
Sun 11:00-11:30 a.m., 7 Oct 1962-
Sun 12:00-12:30 p.m., 6 Jan 1963-
Sun 12:30-1:00 p.m., 7 Apr 1963-28 Jun 1964
Sun 12:00-12:30 p.m., 11 Oct 1964-27 Jun 1965
Sun 10:30-11:00 a.m., 10 Oct 1965-26 Jun 1966
As the title suggests, this was a program of Bible stories and
songs, and also included a cartoon series called Davey and
Goliath, about a boy and his dog. Produced in Montreal by Robert
Haylock, the hosts for the series, aimed at ages seven to
fourteen, included Helene Nickerson, Ann Graham, and Gloria
Chetwynd.
Sun 2:00-3:00 p.m., 6 Jan-30 Jun 1963
Sun 2:00-3:00 p.m., 5 Jan-28 Jun 1964
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 4 Oct 1964-31 Jan 1965
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 4 Apr-27 Jun 1965
Time Of Your Life represented a kind of step up to adolescence
for the Razzle Dazzle generation. Faced with the erosion of
television variety at the CBC, Peter Gzowski still judged the
series "...the freshest variety program I've seen on national
Canadian television yet, and one of the freshest I've seen
anywhere." (Maclean's [l5 May 1965]) The programs included
films, original drama, music, dance, and comedy. The first
season also featured, once a month, four Youth Concerts hosted by
composer Harry Somers. The second season was located at the
young performers' gathering place called, appropriately enough,
The Place.
Regular writers for the show included Des Dixon, Ron Krantz, and
Terry Ross. Time Of Your Life also produced original drama by
young writers, such as David Freeman, Gwendolyn McEwan, and
Norman Skolnick, an eighteen year old who contributed a science
fiction story titled Ants Don't Leave Footprints and a drama
called The Sewer, which took place underneath the city.
Peter Kastner was the show's host, and the cast also featured
George Allen, Joanne Brooks, Susan Conway, Paul Fitzgerald,
Marilou Green, Rena Jackson, singer Wendi Gladstone, comic actor
Wayne Murphy (who inspired the show's family situation comedy,
Murphy, in the 1965 season), Mira Pawluk, Wayne Thompson, dancer
Brian Foley, singer Sheri-Lee Hall, ventriloquist Carolyn Blythe
and her puppet Sandy, and, graduating from Razzle Dazzle as
Kastner's co-host starting in 1964, Michele Finney. Paul Hoffert
was the program's musical director.
Producers included Francis Chapman (l963) and William Davidson
and Sandy Stewart (both 1964-65), with Davidson the executive
producer.
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 7 Jul-15 Sep 1963
Sun 4:30-5:30 p.m., 5 Jul-27 Sep 1964
Sun 4:00-5:00 p.m., 4 Jul-12 Sep 1965
Sun 4:00-5:00 p.m., 3 Jul-4 Sep 1966
Tue/Wed 4:30-5:00 p.m., 4 Oct-28 Dec 1966
Sun 4:00-5:00 p.m., 2 Jul-3 sep 1967
Sun 2:30-3:00 p.m., 7 Jul-8 Sep 1968
This Sunday afternoon series for young viewers presented film
drama, most produced by the Children's Film Foundation in the
U.K., though the series did include the CBC's It's In The Bag,
first seen on Time of Your Life. Later co-host of that series,
Michele Finney introduced the films on Time Out For Adventure,
which was produced by William Davidson. After one season, the
series title was abbreviated to Time For Adventure. In 1966, Bob
Willson was named host.
Mon 5:30-6:00 p.m., 30 Sep 1963-22 Jun 1964
A musical variety program originating in Winnipeg, Time Out For
Music split the season between two different troupes and
orchestras. One set of shows featured Doug Crosley, Reg Gibson,
and the Mitch Parks Orchestra, and the other starred George
LaFleche and Mary Nowell, with backing by the Bob McMullin
Orchestra. The programs, produced by Ray McConnell, also
included comic sketches, and usually revolved around a theme,
such as songs of France, music for winter, or favourite tunes of
the past year.
Thu 9:30-10:00 p.m., 13 Jun-27 Jun 1974
The Vancouver contribution to the collective musical variety
series, 5 X 3 (q.v.), the three episodes of A Time To Sing were
taped on location to take advantage of the Vancouver Island
scenery. The hosts were Bill Hosie, a Scottish-born singer and
actor who lived in Victoria, and eighteen year old Laurie
Valleau, from Chemainus. The Bob Hales Orchestra provided
musical accompaniment. Individual programs included appearances
by the co-host's sister, Dorothy Hosie, Pat Hervey, and a l40
voice choir from the View Royal Elementary School in Victoria.
Tue 4:45-5:00 p.m., 12 Apr-28 Jun 1955
Fri 4:30-4:45 p.m., 14 Oct-4 Nov 1955
A fifteen minute series, originating at CBC Vancouver.
Fri 8:00-8:30 p.m., 3 Jul-25 Sep 1981
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 18 Apr-22 Aug 1982
Patrick Watson revived the formula of Witness To Yesterday for a
new series of interviews with major figures from world history.
Interesting as educational and engaging discussions, the programs
also featured tour de force performances by some of the country's
major actors. David Calderisi played Napoleon; Marilyn
Lightstone was Nefertiti; Chris Wiggins portrayed Galileo;
Frances Hyland was Queen Elizabeth I, who had to endure Watson's
impertinent questions about why she never married; writer W.O.
Mitchell impersonated Stephen Leacock; Len Birman acted
Nostradamus; John Neville was made up as Confucius; John Marley
did Albert Einstein; Cedric Smith re-created Billy Bishop (he had
played the part many times in productions of John Gray's Billy
Bishop Goes to War), and Watson interviewed himself as Alexander
Graham Bell.
The executive producer of the series was Moses Znaimer for Titans
Television Limited, in cooperation with the CBC. The producer
was Lisa Smith and the director Tom O'Neill
Thu 9:30-10:00 p.m., 23 Sep-16 Dec 1971
Fri 10:00-10:30 p.m., 22 Sep-22 Dec 1972
Thu 9:30-10:00 p.m., 5 Jul-27 Sep 1973
Wed 8:30-9:00 p.m., 3 Oct-26 Dec 1973
Various Days and Times, 15 May 1974-27 Sep 1975 (R)
A series of half-hour film dramas, To See Ourselves was a more
evocatively renamed version of the more Theatre Canada. Producer
David Peddie looked to young writers, such as Bryan Barney and
David French, for original stories, but also to the body of
published Canadian fiction. Many of the programs were
adaptations of short stories by both well-known and lesser-known
writers: Stephen Leacock, Alice Munro, Shirley Faessler,
Mordecai Richler, Sinclair Ross, W.O. Mitchell, D.O. Spettigue,
Thomas Raddall. In addition, the series provided work for many
of the country's distinguished directors. Allan King developed
his skills at drama in version of Richler's comic story Mortimer
Griffin, Shalinsky, And How They Solved The Jewish Question,
Faessler's exploration of a young woman and her gambling problem,
Can I Count You In?, and Spettigue's Pity The Poor Piper. Paul
Lynch directed an adaptation of Ross's haunting story, The
Painted Door. Grahame Woods, Rene' Bonnire, and Peter Carter
also contributed frequently to the series.
Sun 9:00-10:00 p.m., 19 Nov 1972
Sun 8:00-9:00 p.m., 10 Dec 1972
Sun 7:00-8:00 p.m., 28 Jan 1973
Sun 8:00-9:00 p.m., 11 Mar 1973
Wed 8:00-9:00 p.m., 11 Apr 1973
Wed 9:00-10:00 p.m., 18 Nov 1973
Wed 8:00-9:00 p.m., 9 Dec 1973 (R)
Wed 7:30-8:30 p.m., 27 Jan 1974
Wed 7:00-8:00 p.m., 24 Feb 1974
Wed 7:00-8:00 p.m., 31 Mar 1974 (R)
Wed 7:00-8:00 p.m., 8 Dec 1974
Mon 9:00-10:00 p.m., 6 Jan 1975 (R)
Sun 7:00-8:00 p.m., 2 Feb 1975
Mon 9:00-10:00 p.m., 24 Feb 1975 (R)
John Foster had already gained a reputation as a producer of
quality documentaries on nature and resources for This Land Of
Ours, and would continue to maintain a presence as a producer and
host for its successor, This Land, but he and his wife, Janet
Foster, made distinctive impressions on the television public for
their series of wildlife programs, To The Wild Country.
Presented as special, one hour programs during the winter and
spring from 1972 to 1975, and sponsored by Canada Trust, the
series was produced by KEG Productions (producers Gerald S. Kedey
and Dan Gibson, and executive producer Ralph C. Ellis) in
cooperation with the CBC. The on-camera host for the series was
Lorne Greene.
The programs opened up many of the wilderness parks of Canada to
television audiences, as the Fosters examined the wildlife and
ecology of different regions. The series opened in the Kluane
National Park in the Yukon, and subsequent programs travelled to
the Kortwright Waterfowl Park (Return Of The Giants, on the
Canada Goose), Newfoundland (The Other Newfoundland), and
Algonquin Park (A Wild Lens In Algonquin), and areas around
Jasper and northern Ontario for an examination of the country's
defining season in a show called Winter Is A Way Of Life.
The second season opened with The Wild Pacific Shore, on the
Pacific Rim National Park in British Columbia. It repeated
Winter Is A Way Of Life, then presented two new shows: Land Of
The Big Ice, in which the Fosters travelled to Baffin Island's
Arctic Park, and The Great Canadian Southwest, in the Cypress
Hills in the southern reaches of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The
series closed with a repeat of the first season's The Other
Newfoundland.
The third series featured four broadcasts, of which two were
repeats. It opened with the new program, The Great Gulf - The
St. Lawrence, which examined the north shore of the river east of
Quebec City and the gulf islands. The third show of the series
was The Wild Corners Of The Great Lakes. (Repeats from the
previous season were The Wild Pacific Shore and the 1975 season
closer, Land Of The Big Ice.)
The series confirmed the continuing popularity of such science
and nature broadcasts, as it was reported that To The Wild
Country attracted a reported 2.5 million viewers per show.
Fri 4:30-5:00 p.m., 4 Oct 1968-27 Jun 1969
As a Toronto Star headline proclaimed, "Canadian TV has its own
Gidget now." (ll September 1968) Toby was fifteen year old Toby
Mitchell, played by seventeen year old Susan Petrie. She lived
with her parents, Leonard and Jennifer Mitchell, played by Arch
McDonnell and Micki Moore, and her precocious younger brother,
Mark, portrayed by Peter Young. The wrinkle to the show was her
friend, Jean-Jacques "J.J." (that's "jay-jay," not "gi-gi")
Roberge, a Francophone exchange student played by Robert Duparc,
who at least gave the show a distinctively Canadian premise.
Produced by Gloria White for the CBC Schools and Youth
Department, the program aimed for a general audience, but was
hampered by its minuscule budget and its after-school time slot.
Although the CBC had by this time made considerable progress in
producing drama, with series such as Wojeck and Quentin Durgens,
M.P., its commitment and success rate in situation comedy
remained pretty low. David Mayers and Bill Lynn wrote the
scripts, which were as innocuous as any contemporary series.
They remained aware that the series made no waves, and Susan
Petrie (who a few years later would play an equally unheralded
role as the object of the male protagonist's sexual desire in
Donald Shebib's feature film, Rip-Off) remained fully aware of
the distance between her character and contemporary young women,
and, in her remarks to the Star, somewhat disdainful of Toby:
"Toby is supposed to be the perfect teenager. I'm not sure I
believe her yet.... You know, I would like to tell it like it
is. Toby is the type of girl who will go to college, marry the
guy she meets in English 345, arrange flowers, be a good hostess-
-and raise more Tobys."
Mon-Fri 1:00-2:00 p.m., 2 Apr-29 Jun 1979
Mon-Fri 1:00-2:00 p.m., 10 Sep 1979-23 May 1980
Mon-Fri 2:00-3:00 p.m., 8 Sep-22 May 1980
An afternoon interview, current affairs, and variety broadcast,
Today From... originated in a different region each weekday and
collected materials from local stations. Monday programs, from
the Atlantic provinces, was produced by John McKay in Halifax.
Tuesdays brought programs from Qubec, produced in Montreal by Ray
Chaisson (l979) and Malcolm Charlton (l980). The Wednesday
Ontario program was assembled in Ottawa by producer Brian
Frappier, with contributions from Toronto and Windsor, produced
by Gordon Clarkes and Marshall Gray, respectively. Thursdays,
the show from the Prairie provinces was contributed by Winnipeg's
Judy McGuire, Edmonton's Brian O'Leary (l979) and Bob Neblock
(l980), and Calgary's Ron Smith. The Pacific regional show, from
Vancouver on Fridays, was produced by Peter McNeilly and Peter
Ailles. The entire operation was coordinated by Paul Gaffney.
Tue 5:00-5:30 p.m., 23 Apr-25 Jun 1957
Tue 5:00-5:30 p.m., 2 Apr-2 Jul 1958
A half-hour program of ballet for children, Toes In Tempo
originated in Winnipeg. It was narrated by Shirley Knight, and
featured the company of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, with soloists
Sonja Taverner and Paddy McIntyre, and included passages from
popular ballets performed by young dancers. Aimed to develop
appreciation of the dance, the program also included basic
instructions for youngsters.
Thu 7:00-7:30 p.m., 6 Jan-3 Feb 1977
This half-hour of country music starred Tom Owen, and was
produced in Windsor by John Peterson.
Fri 9:00-9:30 p.m., 22 Sep 1961-22 Jun 1962
Fri 9:00-9:30 p.m., 5 Oct 1962-5 Jul 1963
Sat 10:30-11:00 p.m., 21 Jul-28 Jul 1962 (R)
Thu 8:00-8:30 p.m., 2 Aug-30 Aug 1962 (R)
Sat 10:00-10:30 p.m., 8 Sep 1962 (R)
Tue 8:30-9:00 p.m., 11 Sep 1962 (R)
Fri 8:30-9:00 p.m., 14 Sep 1962 (R)
Fri 9:00-9:30 p.m., 28 Sep 1962 (R)
During the summer of 1962, the network presented a dozen repeats
from the previous season, under the title, The Best Of Tommy
Ambrose.
Photo courtesy of CBC.
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 29 Dec 1971-5 Apr 1972
Sat 10:00-11:00 p.m., 15 Jul-9 Sep 1972
Fri 10:30-11:00 p.m., 22 Sep 1972-18 May 1973
Wed 10:30-11:00 p.m., 10 Oct 1973-9 Jan 1974
Thu 9:00-9:30 p.m., 16 May-
Fri 7:30-8:00 p.m., 21 Jun-2 Aug 1974 (R)
A musical virtuoso, as a pianist, composer, and bandleader, and a
garrulous host, Tommy Banks fronted this musical variety and
interview show produced in Edmonton. The program was brassy,
loud, and all show-biz, like Banks himself, as he welcomed a
stream of guest performers, both Canadian and foreign. The
performances were taped with an audience at the University of
Alberta's Students Union Theatre, and the shows were written by
Colin McLean and produced by Don McRae.
Tommy Common's It's A Musical World
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 21 Sep 1975-27 Jun 1976
Previously a star of Country Hoedown, Tommy Common returned to
CBC television with his show, It's A Musical World. For the
second season, the host got top billing, and the musical group
that shared the stage with him, Sweet Majac, changed its name to
Sweet Magic. The group comprised Bob Barker, Andrew Mowatt,
Janice Third, Janet Dougherty, Corrine Kaplan, and Michel
LaFleche. With his name in the title, Common's singing got more
attention and airtime than it had in the past, too. The show
periodically moved out of the CBC Vancouver studio, to locations
throughout British Columbia, with guests who included Myrna
Lorrie, Merrilee Rush, Debbie Lori Kaye, Marg Osburne, Gilliam
Russell, Lonnie Donegan, and the Mercey Brothers. The series,
like many musical variety series from the west coast, was
produced by Ken Gibson.
Fri 8:30-9:00 p.m., 17 Sep 1965-17 Jun 1966
Fri 8:30-9:00 p.m., 16 Sep 1966-16 Jun 1967
Fri 8:30-9:00 p.m., 8 Sep 1967-14 Jun 1968
Sun 7:00-7:30 p.m., 22 Sep 1968-22 Jun 1969
Sun 7:00-7:30 p.m., 14 Sep 1969-14 Jun 1970
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 25 Sep 1970-
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 24 Sep 1971-
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 22 Sep 1972-3 Aug 1973
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 21 Sep 1973-14 Jun 1974
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 4 Oct 1974-13 Jun 1975
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 10 Oct 1975-16 Apr 1976
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 24 Sep 1976-29 Apr 1977
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 23 Sep 1977-17 Mar 1978
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 22 Sep 1978-23 Mar 1979
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 21 Sep 1979-7 Mar 1980
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 14 Mar-4 Apr 1980 (R)
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 19 Sep 1980-20 Feb 1981
Fri 9:00-10:00 p.m., 27 Feb-27 Mar 1981 (R)
Fri 8:00-9:00 p.m., 20 Nov 1981-2 Apr 1982
Fri 8:00-9:00 p.m., 15 Oct 1982-8 Apr 1983
Guitar player and singer Tommy Hunter had joined King Ganam's
band, and gradually assumed a place front and centre on Country
Hoedown. When that show ended, it essentially transformed itself
into The Tommy Hunter Show, which assumed its Friday evening time
slot, a number of members of the Hoedown family, and continued on
its long and steady run as the mainstay of country music in
Canadian television. The longest-running national country show
in North America (and that must mean in the world), The Tommy
Hunter Show has become a regular stop for the greatest stars of
country music. An informal, though orderly and dignified
production--compared, for example, to Hee Haw--it has continually
presented the best of contemporary country music from the CBC's
Toronto studios and elsewhere, when the show has travelled to
tape with audiences in other Canadian cities.
Hunter himself has remained a consistent and stable figure.
While he has adopted some of the styles and developments that
have circulated in country music through the past years, from the
influence of rock music and country on each other to the garish
embroidery of Nudie suits to the evolution of "outlaws," such as
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Hunter has remained
conservative and middle-of-the-road. At times, the show itself
has had to retrieve itself from attempts to attract a wider, more
pop music oriented audience by becoming slicker, and return to
the simpler musical grassroots that the star represents and on
which the audience is based. Having matured on television, he
seems not to have changed at all, though he has clearly developed
from a tall and rangy young cowboy into a ranch owner-type and
benevolent patriarch.
Hunter's stalwart supporting performers have been Mike, Mark, and
Jack, the Rhythm Pals (Mike Ferbey, Mark Wald, and Jack Jensen),
along with fiddler Al Cherney and the Bert Niosi Orchestra.
Other singers and instrumentalists who have appeared regularly on
the show are singer Pat Hervey (l965-67), guitarist Jim Pirie
(l965-70), banjo player Maurice Bolyer (l965-77), singer Debbie
Lori Kaye (l967-69), the Country Guys and Gals (l967-68), the
Allan Sisters (l967-77), the Coach 'n' Four (l968), the
Travelling Men (l970), Donna (Ramsey) and Leroy (Anderson),
guitarist Red Shea (l982), and Whiskey Jack (l982), along with,
since 1974, the OK Chorale.
The producers of The Tommy Hunter Show have been Dave Thomas
(l965-70), Bill Lynn (l970-76), David Koyle (l976-78, when the
show's title changed, at least for the 1976 season, to Tommy
Hunter Country), and Les Pouliot (l978-date).
Sat 7:00-7:30 p.m., 6 Jul-28 Sep 1974
Irish folk singer Tommy Makem had become a star alongside his
countrymen, the Clancy Brothers. For this summer series from St.
John's, he joined forces with another traditional music group,
the Newfoundland/Celtic band, Ryan's Fancy, which consisted of
Dermot O'Reilly, Fergus O'Byrne, and Denis Ryan, and who later
starred in their own network show (see Ryan's Fancy). The half-
hour program had a pub setting and, in deference to Makem, the
accent was on Irish music, although the repertoire also included
Maritime and Scottish songs, and frequent guests included
Catherine McKinnon and Peter Browne.
Tommy Tompkins' Wildlife Country
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 6 Jan-24 Mar 1971
Sun 10:00-10:30 p.m., 27 Jun-8 Aug 1971
Wed 4:30-5:00 p.m., 29 Sep-22 Dec 1971 (R0
Thu 10:00-10:30 a.m., 10 Feb 1972
Mon 5:00-5:30 p.m., 2 Jul-10 Sep 1973 (R)
Mon 5:00-5:30 p.m., 11 Mar-10 Jun 1974 (R)
This series of thirteen, half-hour films documented the travels
of outdoors expert and conservationist Tommy Tompkins. It
followed the success of the single, special broadcast, Tommy
Tompkins - Bushman, broadcast in 1970. The programs concerned
animal life in remote reaches of British Columbia and the North,
but also outlined Tompkins's own methods of survival and travel
through the wilderness. The series reproduced his own
expeditions--he spent the spring and summer in the bush, alone--
as he embarked without a film crew, but in many cases acted as
his own wildlife cinematographer for the series.
The executive producer for Tommy Tompkins' Wildlife Country was
Ray Hazzan, and the producer Denis Hargrave. The series was
repeated several times on the network, and broadcast in both
afternoon time slots, aimed at young viewers, and in prime time,
directed at adult audiences.
In addition to the general attractions of such nature programs to
Canadian television audiences, Tompkins's series complemented
other CBC productions, such as This Land Of Ours and One Northern
Summer, that explored the country's landscape, wildlife, and
natural variety, and communicated a greater sensitivity to
environmental issues and problems of conservation.
Tue 7:30-8:00 p.m., 2 Oct 1973-25 Jun 1974
Tomorrow Now, a half-hour program, featured Warren Davis and
Mavis Kerr, with discussion of the practical applications of
scientific knowledge. The producer of the show, in Toronto, was
Susan Murgatroyd.
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 27 Jul-24 Aug 1977
Mon 10:00-10:30 p.m., 13-27 Sep 1965
In Too Young, a three part series that originally aired on Take
Thirty in December 1964, sociologist Margaret Norquay discussed
issues of adolescence, sexuality, and society with social
workers, clergymen, an obstetrician, and teenagers themselves.
The programs concentrated on one community, Edmonton, for
examples.
Mon 10:30-11:00 p.m., 12 Oct 1959-27 Jun 1960
Roger Lemelin, who in 1944 had written about Lower Town Qubec in
his novel The Town Below (Au pied de la pente douce [Montral:
Ed. de l'arbre, 1944]; The Town Below [New York: Reynal, 1948])
turned his attention to Upper Town for this series, which
followed the success of his first television series for the
French and English services of the CBC. He left behind most of
the characters in The Plouffe Family when he moved uptown to
describe the life of another family, the upper middle class
Chevaliers.
The series did try seriously to approach some of the quandaries
of family life in the 1950s, particularly the lust for material
goods to represent social status and the growing chasm between
parents and children. The father, Fred Chevalier, was an
accountant, who had moved up from his Lower Town origins to the
bourgeois suburb of Sillery. He and his wife, Pauline, lived
there with their three teenage children, Denis, Diane, and
Pierre. Denis, who aspired to study medicine at university,
shared the secret of his father's salary and the fact that the
family was living beyond its means. Typically, in the tradition
of situation comedies and family dramas, the blame for
overspending was placed at the feet of the women in the story, as
Pauline and Diane tried to keep up the status and appearances of
the family in comparison with their wealthier neighbours. The
other son, Pierre, was the outsider of the family, a gang member
flirting with outlaw status.
Roland Chail played Fred, and Denise Pelletier--who had portrayed
Cecile Plouffe, was Pauline. Louis Turenne was older son Denis,
Catherine Begin was Diane, and _________ played Pierre. The two
characters from the earlier series who crossed over into this
story were the irrepressible Pre Gdon, played by Doris Lussier,
and bus driver Onsime Menard, Cecile's husband, played by Roland
Bedard. Richard Daignault translated Lemelin's scripts for the
English version, and Jean Dumas returned as producer for the
series, which ran as a sustaining broadcast for thirty-five
weeks.
Sun 2:00-2:30 p.m.,
Sun 4:00-4:30 p.m., 29 Jun-20 Jul 1969
A half-hour variety show from Vancouver, as the title suggests,
Town 'N' Country featured both popular and more traditional
country music. Co-hosts for the series were Mike Neun and Brian
Bressler, and they were backed by an orchestra conducted by Doug
Parker. The show was taped in front of an audience, and featured
both music and comedy, with such guests as Pat Hervey, O.C.
Smith, Susan Jacks, and Dinah Christie. The programs were
written by Bill Hartley and Tony Hudz, and produced by Ken
Gibson.
Fri 6:30-7:00 p.m., 3 Jul 1964-18 Oct 1965
Mon 10:30-11:00 a.m., 19 Oct 1964-
The Vancouver segment of the Across Canada series, Town Crier was
a public affair broadcast, with host and interviewer Jim Crossen.
It was produced by Len Lauk.
Mon 5:30-6:00 p.m., 1 Jul-23 Sep 1968
A thirteen week series of half-hour programs, Trail Riding
Troubadour combined country music and documentary film to outline
the history and culture of western Canada. Country singer Stu
Davis led his son Duane, also a country performer, to different
regions of the Prairie provinces to present the stories of the
Ukrainian immigration, the 19l4 mine explosion at Hillcrest,
Indian Treaty Number Seven, which was signed by Crowfoot, the
Riel Rebellion, Lower Fort Garry, the buffalo herds at Elk Island
Park, and others. The programs were produced and directed by
Jack Emack.
Thu 4:30-5:00 p.m., 3 Oct-12 Dec 1968
Sat 1:00-1:30 p.m., 3 Jan 1969-4 Apr 1970
Trans-World Top Team extended the reach of Reach For The Top, as
teams of high school students from Canada competed with students
from the U.K. in the first season and Hawaii in the second.
Sandy Stewart produced the show for the CBC in cooperation with
the BBC and station KHVH-TV Honolulu. The hosts on this junket
were Reach For The Top's regular, Alex Trebek, and, from the
U.K., Geoffrey Wheller.
Tue 4:30-5:00 p.m., 17 Apr-26 Jun 1956
The CBC broadcast a weekly afternoon travelogue (which may have
been titled Travel Log) over the spring of 1956.
Sun 6:30-7:00 p.m., 23 Aug-11 Oct 1953
Sun 10:30-11:00 p.m., 4 Oct 1953
This travel program was broadcast in Toronto and Ottawa in late
summer and early autumn 1953.
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 6 Jul-28 Sep 1960
A summer series for youngsters, Travellin' Time combined song,
talk, and film to describe a different province each week. The
series starred Teddy Moore, Valerie Siren, and Brian Beaton, and
was produced live from Toronto by Dan McCarthy.
Thu 5:30-6:00 9 Jan-3 Apr 1969
Fri 5:00-5:30 p.m., 3 Apr -
A serialized adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure
story, filmed in colour, this series was produced by Franco
London Film in cooperation with the CBC. It was shot entirely in
Corsica and featured French, British, and Canadian actors.
Michael Ande played Jim Hawkins and British actor Ivor Dean was
Long John Silver. From France, Jacques Monod was Captain
Smollet, Jacques Dacquine was Judge Trelawney, and George Riquier
played Doctor Livesay. Qubec actor Jacques Godin portrayed
Israel Hands.
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 13 Sep-6 Dec 1972
Wed 5:00-5:30 p.m., 4 Apr-27 Jun 1973
A thirteen part French series produced by ORTF, Treasure Of The
Dutch was adapted from the novel by Odette Joyeux, and was set
principally in Paris and Montreal. It starred Claude Bessy and
Claude Ariel in a story that revolved around a jewel theft and a
performance in Canada by the Paris Opera company. Qubec actors
Paul Dupuis, Yves Letourneau, and Patrick Pauvion were featured
in supporting roles in this production by Philippe Agnostini.
Thu 10:30-11:00 p.m., 14 Sep-23 Nov 1967
Commemorating the Centennial year, this series of eleven half-
hour programs examined the arctic regions and the interactions of
native and white people and people and nature. It opened with
Land Before Time, M. Charles Cohen's dramatization of four native
legends that told how the raven created the world, the origins of
the sun and the moon and of thunder and lightning, and the birth
of a demon. Subsequent programs were documentaries. They
described such subjects as the traditional customs and means of
survival for the innuit; the effects of white explorers on the
northern natives; the uses of animal in the north; the impact of
the Hudson's Bay Company on the people of the arctic; and the
contemporary innuit. Two programs concentrated on the Northwest
Territories and on the Yukon in 1967, and the final shows in the
series examined the effects of advanced technology on the north
and speculated on the future prospects for the region.
The executive producer for the series was Jim Guthro, who also
directed the opening program in the series. Associate producer
Doug Gillingham produced and directed several of the episodes, as
did Doug Wilkinson. Writers for the documentaries, in addition
to Wilkinson, included William Whitehead and Ben Maartman. Peter
Elkington narrated the series, and Ricky Hyslop composed and
conducted the musical score.
Thu 5:00-5:30 p.m., 24 Jul-4 Sep 1975
Over the summer of 1975, the CBC presented pilots for children's
shows from across the country, before deciding what to include in
the regular broadcast schedule. Two originated in Vancouver, two
in Edmonton, and one each from Halifax and Ottawa.
Tue 4:00-4:30 p.m., 3 Oct 1961-26 Jun 1962
On Tuesday Club, a half-hour afternoon talk show, members of
Toronto women's clubs who formed the audience put questions to a
guest authority on issues such as teenage marriage, Toronto
slums, religion in the home, or auto safety. Maxine Samuels was
the moderator, and Leo Rampen produced the series.
Tue 10:00-11:00 p.m., 15 Sep 1970-8 Jun 1971
Sun 4:00-5:00 p.m., 11 Jul-12 Sep 1971 (R)
Tue 10:00-11:00 p.m., 28 Sep 1971-13 Jun 1972
Tue 10:00-11:00 p.m., 19 Sep 1972-22 May 1973
After one season, the regular prime time slot for hour-long
documentaries moved from Thursday night to Tuesday night, and the
title changed accordingly. (The Sunday afternoon repeat
broadcasts were titled Sunday Best.) The series opened with a
program about the war in Ireland, and subsequent shows profiled
the Toronto Telegram, only a matter of days after the Tely
folded; Sir William Stephenson, the British spy called Intrepid;
the mystery of Nazi Martin Bormann; and included Mike Poole's
Wilderness Award winner for 1972, Politics Of Power: The Fraser
And The Future.
The executive producer of Tuesday Night was still William
Harcourt.
Tue 6:00-6:30 p.m., 8 Jun-13 Jul 1965
Sun 12:00-12:30 p.m., 3 Oct 1965-5 Jun 1966
The CBC perceived that there was a fragment of the audience, the
pre-teenager, that was too old for children's programming and too
young for adult programs. So, a particularly stupid name,
"tweens" (as in "be-tween" childhood and adolescence) was coined
and used to name a program of chat and games for viewers age ten
to twelve. Produced by Denyse Adam in Montral, it was hosted by
Adele Sternthal, with students Barbara Berman of St. George's
School and Geoff Heppleston of Lower Canada College. The
discussions sometimes concerned more grown-up subjects than might
previously have arisen in shows for children, such as privacy in
the modern world or capital punishment.
Sat 7:00-7:30 p.m., 25 Jun-3 Sep 1966
Sun 7:00-7:30 p.m., 18 Jun-3 Sep 1967
A series of a dozen half-hour variety shows called l2 For Summer
originated in various production centres across the country, and
featured numerous performers as hosts. They included Malka and
Joso, Billy Van, Guido Basso, Doug Crosley, and Gordie Tapp in
Toronto, Reg Gibson and Ray St. Germain in Winnipeg, Dave Woods
in Halifax, Pierre Lalonde in Montral, and Ken Colman and Lance
Harrison in Vancouver. The musical styles that the shows
presented differed correspondingly. Malka and Joso's show, for
example, featured international folk music and dance, while
Crosley's highlighted pop music with big band settings.
Producers for the series were Dave Thomas (l967) and Neil
Sutherland (l968), while producers of individual programs
included Bob Jarvis, Allan Angus, Terry Kyne, Bill Langstroth,
and Paddy Sampson.
Thu 10:00-10:30 p.m., 6 Oct 1966-30 May 1967
Wed 9:00-9:30 p.m., 13 Sep 1967-26 Jun 1968
Tue 10:30-11:00 p.m., 17 Sep 1968-24 Jun 1969
A public affairs broadcast produced by Cameron Graham in Ottawa,
Twenty Million Questions examined issues of national interest
through interviews and documentary features. Subjects in the
opening season included labour unrest in 1966, the relations of
the older orthodoxy and younger challengers in the Liberal Party,
Canada's defence policy in the nuclear age, Canada's role in the
l966 Commonwealth Conference, and the Company of Young Canadians.
The co-hosts for the show were journalist Charles Lynch and
Donald Gordon, professor of political science at Carleton
University. Directors of individual programs included Moses
Znaimer, the associate producer for the series, and Ed Reid. The
production supervisor for Twenty Million Questions was Bernard
Ostry.
Sun 4:30-5:00 p.m., 22 Apr-9 Sep 1962
Sun 4:00-4:30 p.m., 6 Jan-18 Sep 1963
Sun 3:30-4:00 p.m., 4 Apr-28 Jun 1964
Sat 5:00-5:30 p.m., 4 Jul-26 Sep 1964
Sun 3:30-4:00 p.m., 11 Apr-27 Jun 1965
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 4 Jul-25 Sep 1965
Thu 5:30-6:00 p.m., 1 Jul-23 Sep 1965 (R)
Sun 4:30-5:00 p.m., 3 Apr-
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 3 Jul-16 Oct 1966
Thu 10:30-11:00 a.m., 16 Feb-23 Mar 1967
Sat 6:00-6:30 p.m., 1 Apr-24 Jun 1967
Sun 5:30-6:00 p.m., 2 Jul-24 Sep 1967
Generally a half-hour Sunday afternoon broadcast, 20/20 offered a
wide range of documentary profiles on Canadian life. They ranged
from films on sports to portraits of different regions or people,
to historical accounts, and sometimes included sub-series. One,
in the spring of 1963, titled Fields Of Battle, on major
confrontations in the Seven Years' War, the U.S. War of
Independence, and the War of l8l2, which producer Ian Thorne
outlined using diaries, prints and drawings, and modern footage
of the battle sites. During the summer of the same year, viewers
saw profiles of well-known Canadians from wrestler "Bulldog"
Brower to equally pugnacious newspaper magnate Roy Thomson.
Narrated by announcer Harry Mannis, the series was produced by
Thom Benson (l962-63) and Richard Knowles (l963-67).
Tue 10:30-11:00 a.m., 7 Jul-29 Sep 1959
After the local success of the CBLT science broadcast, Live And
Learn, CBC recycled the material in Two For Physics, which also
featured Donald Ivey and Patterson Hume, professors from the
University of Toronto. In this series, produced by George Dick,
they discussed such subjects as the theory of relativity, the
environment of air, radiation, gravity, and the degradation of
energy, and outlined physics from the age of Newton to the
present day for a television audience.
Two's A Crowd
Fri 10:00-10:30 p.m., 22 Sep-17 Nov 1978
Fri 9:00-9:30 p.m., 27 Dec 1978
Fri 5:30-6:00 p.m., 6 Jan 1979
A six part situation comedy written by Guy Fournier and directed
by Rolland Guay, this series was produced by Radio-Canada and
originally broadcast on the French service.
Tzigane
Sat 7:00-7:30 p.m., 10 Jul-25 Sep 1954
"Tzigane" refers to the Hungarian gypsy, and this program,
written by Frank Varon and produced by Michael Pym in Montral,
featured the music of central Europe. The setting was an
imaginary island in the Danube, and the performers were violinist
George Lapenson and singers Irene Andriane and Yolande Guerard.
Return to CBC Series Index
Tzigane
One of Canada's most versatile popular singers and songwriters,
Tommy Ambrose starred in his own half-hour show of music,
variety, dance, and comedy. Produced by Stan Harris (l96l-62)
and Bill Davis (l962-63), and written by Stan Jacobson and Bernie
Rothman, in addition to Ambrose and his guests the program
featured an eight voice chorus, under the direction of Gordon
Kushner, and a twenty-five piece orchestra conducted by Lucio
Agostini, with arrangements by Rick Wilkins. Choreography for
the show was by Glen Gibson.
