Most Favoured Programs
Friendly Giant, The
Bob Homme, as the good-natured Friendly Giant, introduces children to books and helps them see how these can answer their questions and enrich their everyday living. Puppets Jerome the Giraffe and Rusty the Rooster, a good story, a bit of music and relaxed conversation and laughter, make up each 15-minute program. From 1958 until 1985, Homme wrote an ...
SCTV
SCTV was unlike any other comedy series on the air. What SCTV did for the most part was satirize television itself. Using the premise of a fictitious network, it mimicked existing media stars and no-talents from networks to the local backwater UHFs. The SCTV Network had its own talk shows and parodies of everything on television ranging from musical var ...
Mr. Dressup
Ernie Coombs hosted this simple format TV show as Mr. Dressup. With his puppet friends, originally Casey and his dog Finnegan, he taught pre-school subjects with games, music and simple activities. To add to the fun, Mr. Dressup would always open up his tickle trunk that contains any costume for any role he wants. Mr. Dressup emerged from an earlier ...
Beachcombers, The
If there ever was a show that continues to live on in the hearts and minds of people almost four decades after it was first broadcast, it is The Beachcombers. Gibsons, British Columbia was the setting for the series' 19 year run beginning October 1, 1972 and ending December 12, 1990. Nick Adonidas was a law abiding and hardworking Greek bachelor. He ...
Wok with Yan
In Wok with Yan, chef Stephen Yan demonstrated how to cook oriental dishes with a wok. A kind of Galloping Gourmet of the 1980s, Yan achieved notoriety for his energy and ebullience and for the bad puns on the word, "wok," printed on his apron.
North of 60
Beginning in December, 1992, North of 60 brought the world of Native Canada into the homes of city and suburban residents. It was a hugely successful series for CBC throughout the country, but especially so in the North, where small towns would nearly come to a standstill on Thursday evenings to watch the show. Set in the fictional town of Lynx River ...
Hilarious House of Frightenstein, The
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein was a Canadian children's television series which was produced by CHCH-TV. It was syndicated to television stations across Canada and the United States. A quirky sketch comedy series, the show's cast included Billy Van, Fishka Rais, Guy Big, Mitch Markowitz, and Julius Sumner Miller. Van, in fact, played the vast ...
Just Like Mom
Just Like Mom was a game show built on a child-mother relationship. Viewers wrote in requesting the opportunity to participate from all parts of Canada. Producer Paul Burford said that the source of the request was usually the child. The show was originally hosted by Stephen Young and Catherine Swing. Executive producer Fergie Olver later took over host ...
Canada Vignettes
Canada Vignettes from the National Film Board of Canada were a staple throughout the late 70's and 80's. The vignettes varied in length from between 30 seconds to 5 minutes and touched a wide variety of Canadian history and present-time topics.
King of Kensington
Larry King owned and operated a variety store in Toronto's crowded, multicultural Kensington Market. In the tradition of the television comedy series, most of the action took place in one or two sets, principally King's store and attached house. Larry was a portly, garrulous fellow whose business was everyone else's business. He ran the shop with his wi ...
Harrigan Featured
Harrigan was a half-hour show written, produced and hosted by Barry Dale. Beginning in 1969, it aired locally out of CJOH-TV in Ottawa for 2 seasons before moving to CKWS-TV in Kingston. There, it aired locally for another 2 or 3 seasons before being syndicated across Canada on CTV. Harrigan was a 209-year-old leprechaun who sang, danced, told storie ...
Wayne and Shuster Show, The
Wayne and Shuster started their regular appearances on CBC television with The Wayne and Shuster Hour in October 1954, and have provided comedy that ranged from clever and literate to god-awful corn, at a rate of one show a month in the beginning, reduced to four shows a season in later years. Exact titles for their shows have varied: The Wayne and Shus ...
Pig and Whistle, The
Set in a studio recreation of a British pub, Pig and Whistle starred British actor/singer John Hewer as the host of an inn that featured resident singers, dancers and an orchestra, plus guests, with members of the public forming the invited audience at tables round the room. Toronto singer Kay Turner was the barmaid, and the Carlton Show Band were regul ...
Live It Up!
Live It Up! was a Canadian healthy living and consumer awareness television program, which aired nationally on CTV from 1978 to 1990. Live It Up! featured a mix of serious consumer-affairs topics and lighter consumer topics, mostly delivered in a tongue-in-cheek style. Regular segments included the Watchdog, a man whose face is never shown while tes ...
Danger Bay
Animal rescue missions along British Columbia's rugged northwest coast provided much of the adventure for Danger Bay, a CBC family drama series. Veteran actor Donnelly Rhodes starred as 40-year-old Grant "Doc" Roberts, a veterinarian and the crusading Curator of Marine Mammals at the Vancouver Aquarium. A passionate and intelligent man, with an unconven ...
Forest Rangers, The
The Forest Rangers took place in and around a village called Indian River, but the real focus of the story was an abandoned fort that had been taken over by the Junior Rangers. The fort was their headquarters, where they set up their ham radio, and helped keep watch for forest fires and other conservational offences. They ran up against not only poacher ...
Street Cents
In this series, the teen hosts of the show explore consumer issues concerning teens in the form of product tests, answering viewer consumer questions, showcasing teen entrepreneurs and environmental initiatives, examining advertising claims and identifying rip offs. Interspersed in each episode are comedy sketches that help illustrate consumer issues wh ...
Galloping Gourmet, The
The Galloping Gourmet, a half-hour, weekday show, was the most popular cooking show of its time. It had originated on Australian television, and then moved to Canada, with Ottawa's CJOH-TV as its production base. Graham Kerr demonstrated the preparation of dishes that were exotic, but affordable and accessible. The key to the show's popularity, howev ...
Tiny Talent Time
Tiny Talent Time was a long-running and hugely successful television program on CHCH television, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. For almost four decades (1957 to 1992) the talent and variety program showcased the talents of local children in an entertaining family genre. The show was marked by a characteristically home-spun style and had great appeal to many ...
Tommy Hunter Show, The
Over its 27-year run on CBC, The Tommy Hunter Show was noted for nurturing Canadian country music, which it showcased alongside big-name American country stars. Hunter wanted to break with the hokey, country-hick feel characterized by shows like Hee Haw, though, and tried to present country music as "respectable". The result was a program that some labe ...