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BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows...
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: GUEST Date: 10 Nov 07 - 03:46 PM Elwood Glovers Lunchon Date (with Sonny Cawfield) The Trouble with Tracy This hour has 7 days Romper Room Music: Sing Along Jublilee The Shurgain Talent Show (PEI) The Irish Rovers Ryan Fancy Show Rita MacNeil Show Tommy Hunter The Pig and Whistle (though, maybe British) Cant remember the name of the Ontario Coroner's case show, before Quincy? And, there was a late night CBC talk show, can't remember the name? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Bob the Postman Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:53 PM Replaced by the Guess Who, with Randy Bachman on guitar. According to the infallible on-line resource Wikipedia, the teenage Bachman was mentored by Breau during the late 50s. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: C. Ham Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:38 PM Bankley said: what about that music show out of Winnepeg that had Lenny Breau as a house guitarist. Holy harmonicks! Then Bob the Postman responded: That'd be the Wednesday edition of "Music Hop", I think. Lenny Breau's band didn't last very long as the house band on the Winnipeg edition of "Music Hop." They were dumped early on and replaced by the Guess Who. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Gorgeous Gary Date: 10 Nov 07 - 12:23 PM This is probably a bit off topic, but is anyone out there watching "Blood Ties" the series based on Canadian science fiction/fantasy author Tanya Huff's series of novels? It's currently running late Friday nights on Lifetime down here, and I forget whose running them up there. Mainly curious since we're friends of Tanya's (as well as fans of the books and the show). -- Gary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Bob the Postman Date: 10 Nov 07 - 11:22 AM That'd be the Wednesday edition of "Music Hop", I think. I heard the following anecdote, or something like it, on a radio documentary about Breau. One Wednesday, after he'd had the gig for a couple of years, he failed to turn up at the studio. The producer phoned him at home. Producer: Lenny, where the hell are you? Lenny (puzzled): I'm right here, man, like, at home. Producer: It's Wednesday afternoon, Lenny. Lenny: Check it out. Cool. Producer: Lenny, what have we been doing every Wednesday afternoon for the past two years? Lenny (thinking hard): I don't know, man. Producer: Lenny, we're live on air with Music Hop in 25 minutes. Lenny: Far out. Should I call a cab? Producer: Yes, Lenny. Lenny: Only thing is, I don't have the fare. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: bankley Date: 10 Nov 07 - 09:21 AM what about that music show out of Winnepeg that had Lenny Breau as a house guitarist. Holy harmonicks! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Bob the Postman Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:29 PM Oh yeah, and "Hymn Sing"--Grandma's favorite show, after Don Messer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Bob the Postman Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:26 PM Old Relic on the Beachcombers was played by Robert Clothier, a veteran Vancouver actor who worked in many stage productions there, then. So, for that matter, did Jackson Davies who played the cop. Does anyone remember "Let's Sing Out", a folk music concert show hosted by Winnipeg's Oscar Brand? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Mooh Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:08 PM (Yeah 'Hawk, already mentioned, but who was the bad guy? I really liked him. Mooh.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:28 PM Then there was "The Beachcombers" with Bruno Gerussi. Not easy to beat that one, eh? High drama in exotic locales! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Sandy Mc Lean Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:05 PM For all you Red Green fans you should check out some of the old Smith & Smith clips. This was a very low budget show but I thought that it was very good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3JuAuWIJTU |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Don Firth Date: 09 Nov 07 - 07:22 PM Too bad Bill D's local channel dropped "The Red Green Show." For some bizarre, unexplainable reason, this is one of my favorites, and a "no-miss." The first few times I saw it, I thought it was the dumbest thing that had ever appeared on television, but someplace along the line, I got hooked. What makes the matter even more bizarre is that Monday through Friday, one of the two local PBS channels plays two episodes, between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. And they seem to have a limited number of them in stock, because it's not too many weeks before you start seeing the same shows again. I can practically do "sing-alongs" on some of them. And increasing the bizarreness index is that my wife watches it too. In fact, even though it's pretty easy to assume it's a "guy show," I know several women who watch it regularly (I think they sit there snickering knowingly and feel kinda smug). Barbara likes Harold, and tries never to miss the "Possum Lodge word game." She's also quite fond of Mike Hamer. One of my favorite characters is Ed Frid, the animal control officer who is terrified of any living thing larger than a bacterium, followed by Hap Shaughnessy, whose accomplishments (according to him, include playing "catch-and-release" with Moby Richard— Red: Don't you mean Moby Dick?and when he was a SAC pilot, saving the world from nuclear annihilation one Christmas eve by notifying SAC headquarters that what they had identified as a nuclear missile headed their way was actually Santa Claus in his sleigh. "I didn't actually meet Santa, though," he admitted). Gordon Pinsent is one helluva fine actor, incidentally; I've seen him in a number of serious roles. Red Green has become one of my role-models (although I'm probably a bit more like Ranger Gord) Quando omni flunkus moritati. Don Firth I'm a man, But I can change, If I have to . . . I guess. . . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Wesley S Date: 09 Nov 07 - 04:46 PM It seems like some of the better childrens programming we see on the Disney channel is currently coming from Canada. "Franklin" comes to mind with a theme song by Bruce Cockburn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Bob the Postman Date: 09 Nov 07 - 04:19 PM Further to the programme "Radisson", from the Queens University site I linked to in post #2 above: "Toy manufacturers issued a Radisson doll, a Radisson rifle, a Radisson belt, a Radisson music box, a Radisson buckskin suit, a Radisson t-shirt, a Radisson board game, and Radisson fur hats, which were actually leftover Davy Crockett coonskin caps, with the tail pulled off and a white feather added." It occurs to me that this is a useful paradigm for understanding many things Canadian. For example, "Peter Mackay is actually a leftover Condaleeza Rice with the what-not pulled off and a whatchamacallit added." Or "Molson's is just Budweiser with the funny off-taste removed and alcohol added." You get the picture. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Nov 07 - 03:16 PM I vaguely recall Percy Saltzman flailing away wildly with his chalk. That man could sure wield a piece of chalk in an impressive manner. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Metchosin Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:56 PM I'm so ashamed!!!! I don't recall him. My Uncle Sparky used to own one of the most powerful radio stations on the west coast of North America and I'm sure he would be rolling in his grave, to know I've let down the family with my ignorance and poor memory. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Metchosin Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:49 PM Well gosh, once one of our BC boys travels east, they become lost in the great hinterland. LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: bobad Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:39 PM How could we forget Percy Saltzman, Mooh, for most of us Canucks of a certain age, he is a part of our collective memories. This from his website: "Percy Saltzman was the first face on Canadian TV when on September 8, 1952, CBC TV inaugurated English language broadcasting in Canada. Percy lasted 30 years (1952-1982) during which he surfed the airwaves with 9000 weather performances (6000 TV, 3000 radio) plus 1000 interviews. During his career Percy Saltzman garnered the Order of Canada; a seat in the Canadian Broadcasting Hall of Fame; and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal and China's accolade as the world's first weather entertainer. Percy conned the CBC into giving him the air in the first place. "Who wants to watch a talking head spouting weather? Or even doing News?", they said. Like Hollywood, nobody knew nothing about nothing. Percy Saltzman started TV Weather in glorious black and white, with a thick piece of chalk, a blackboard map, glasses without glass, a motor mouth, and a farewell flip, all larded with ham and schmaltz. Each night when Percy finished his frantic three-minute weather blast, the map and he were coated in a thick cloud of chalk dust. Instant chaos they called Percy Saltzman." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Metchosin Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:36 PM and every true Canadian must admit trying at one time to outdo the kids on Reach for the Top. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: GUEST,Number 6 Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:20 PM OK ... here's one that would be obscure beyond the 'Dominion' of Canada .... the TV series R.C.M.P. In fact (from Wikipidia) ... "Frank Crawley created the R.C.M.P. series in an attempt to fulfill his dream of sharing "the Canadian Way" with the rest of the world. While not a fan of American-style cinema, Crawley wished R.C.M.P. to sign with a U.S. television network. American networks at that time demanded full control over any shows they broadcast and R.C.M.P. ended up with only a paltry take in American syndication." Anyone remember this series? I do ... I believe it was on Friday evenings (CBC, the 1 TV channel we had)at 8:00 p.m. biLL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Metchosin Date: 09 Nov 07 - 02:18 PM No, not by name, but I remember Pierre Berton, Gordon Sinclair and Betty Kennedy on Front Page Challenge. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Mooh Date: 09 Nov 07 - 01:54 PM Oh man, remember Percy Saltzman? Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: GUEST,number 6 Date: 09 Nov 07 - 01:50 PM LH ... regarding the King " that series was one of the most successful Canadian T.V. productions ever ... it was syndicated nearly world wide .... but then of course I wonder if anyone else who had seen it outside of Canada remembers it" So ... I guess it could be obscure or it couldn't be obsure. Then again any TV program ever produced in Canada is obscure. Hell ... us Canadians are obscure !! biLL :) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Metchosin Date: 09 Nov 07 - 01:32 PM But of course....Louis was an American who escaped. Who better to portray a Canadian. LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Metchosin Date: 09 Nov 07 - 01:24 PM Surprised no one has mentioned Seeing Things with Louis DelGrande? He was the ultimate Canadian bumbling hero. I loved that show....but oh, how I managed to sit through an episode of The Polka Dot Door with the Polkaroo, I'll never know. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Nov 07 - 01:07 PM To enjoy Trailer Park Boys one must get to know the principle characters in the show well...and that takes careful watching of 2 or 3 episodes. One then begins to really see the essential charm of the show...assuming that ever happens. The characters become likeable, even loveable in their own weird way, because everything they do makes perfect sense within their necessarily rather narrow horizons. ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Becca72 Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:48 PM I used to really enjoy SCTV, Red Green (still enjoy that one) and Royal Canadian Air Farce. My ex is a big fan of The Trailer Park Boys, though admittedly I cannot find the humor in that one. The one thing I really miss about living in Northern Vermont is being able to get Hockey Night in Canada. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Nov 07 - 12:10 PM Okay...I don't mean obscure in Canada. I mean obscure to people outside of Canada! Must I explain everything???? All Canadian TV shows are obscure to most people outside of Canada. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: number 6 Date: 09 Nov 07 - 11:25 AM Murray Westgate .... thanks Bobad. Yup Beer ... I can picture him vividly ... of course only in Black and White. Back then there were guys at the service pumps who pumped your gas, and wore a uniform type hat as well. LH ... maybe no one mentioned the King as he wasn't so obscure ... that series was one of the most successful Canadian T.V. productions ever ... it was syndicated nearly world wide .... but then od course I wonder if anyone else who had seen it outside of Canada remembers it. biLL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Little Hawk Date: 09 Nov 07 - 11:02 AM Wonderful reminiscences, aren't they? How come no one has mentioned "King of Kensington"? It's terrible to think of all those deprived people across the world who have missed out on Canadian TV all their lives. Just terrible. ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Beer Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:10 AM Gee #6, I can see that fellow but be damn if I can remember his name. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: bobad Date: 09 Nov 07 - 10:09 AM 6, the "Happy motoring" guy was, IIRC, Murray Westgate. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Desdemona Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:44 AM My (Canadian) partner had such fond childhood memories of "The Littlest Hobo" that I found the DVDs online & bought them for his birthday; now my kids watch them! On the other hand, that Uncle Bobby fellow seems a little creepy... ~D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: GUEST,number 6 Date: 09 Nov 07 - 09:06 AM "Tugboat Annie" ... priceless, but yes obscure, at least in my memory. The Juliette Show .... "our pet, Juliette" ... I dunno, when I was a kid I thought she was kinda dorky ... this show followed Hockey Night in Canada. Speaking of Hockey Night in Canada especially those annoying commercials ... but going way back ... anyone remember the name of the guy who was on the ESSO (or was it Texaco) commercials. biLL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: clueless don Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:45 AM Can't speak to obscure Canadian shows, since for me to have heard of them, I would have to have seen them on American TV. But I have fond memories of a show called "Adderly", which I believe was Canadian. Also, there were two animated children's shows that had brief runs here, and which I thought were good: "Anne of Green Gables - The Animated Series" and "Theodore Tugboat". Don |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Mooh Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:38 AM The Beachcombers...Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Mooh Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:37 AM I'm too young to remember the somebodyoranother Coward Show, but folks east made fun of it for some reason recently, maybe just its datedness. Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Mooh Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:33 AM Oh, and The Littlest Hobo, who'd kill Lassie in a heartbeat. Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Mooh Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:31 AM My kids grew up with Fred Penner, Mr. Dressup (snicker), Under The Umbrella Tree. My Grandmother loved Tommy Hunter and Don Messer. My parents loved Knowlton Nash, I love Hockey Night In Canada, 22 Minutes, Air Farce, Red Green. But none of these seem obscure to me as they are my personal history. Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Bob the Postman Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:28 AM I see where Tugboat Annie and The Last of the Mohicans were both produced by the same company. Lon Chaney Jr. played Chingascook (sp?). I was really into Radisson, syndicated in the UK and Australia as Tomahawk. Radisson was an important Saturday afternoon show in our town. And I used to watch Tidewater Tramp after school every day--a widowed freighter captain and his teenage daughter steaming up and down the B. C. coast. I remember an episode where the captain was given a rose by a lady passenger, which he tried to keep fresh (the rose, not the lady) by keeping in a glass of water with an aspirin dissolved in it. The daughter was worried that the captain had fallen in love but it turned out he was just trying the aspirin stunt to see if it really worked. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: artbrooks Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:15 AM ...all those homegrown Canadian-produced TV shows that they have probably never heard of, and probably couldn't be bothered to either. Yup. 'Course, I've never seen NYPD Blue or Ofra either.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: JeZeBeL Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:11 AM Isn't ice hockey an obscure canadian television show lol |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: bobad Date: 09 Nov 07 - 08:01 AM Tugboat Annie - The action purportedly took place on a harbour tugboat but I recall one episode where the cameraman must of fallen asleep or something and all of a sudden you saw two guys with ropes over their shoulders hauling this fake tugboat across the sound stage to simulate motion, ah those days of live TV. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: gnu Date: 09 Nov 07 - 05:27 AM The Friendly Giant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: JeZeBeL Date: 09 Nov 07 - 04:41 AM Wow....they all sound so exciting!!!! I hope they're still going in a few years when me and my partner emigrate to canada. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: number 6 Date: 08 Nov 07 - 11:22 PM Hmmmmmm ..... I'd say so Beer. Took me a while to get it. BTW .... thanks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Beer Date: 08 Nov 07 - 10:58 PM No problem #6, Understand your explaination very well and i agree with you. Now would you regard The Lasty of the Mo....as obscure. P.S. Good to see you back |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: number 6 Date: 08 Nov 07 - 10:53 PM Sorry ... not directed to Beer, or really Sandy ... I was just stating some stuff regarding Don messer and his Jubilee. biLL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: number 6 Date: 08 Nov 07 - 10:51 PM Beer .... I'd say Don Messer would be obscure to anyone outside the maritimes ... it's not that they don't appreciate, or think he was kinda corny, it's that they just don't get his talent and the culture that goes with it. Don is still revered to this day here in New Brunswick. biLL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Obscure Canadian TV shows... From: Beer Date: 08 Nov 07 - 10:41 PM Sandy. I don't think Don Messer or Sing a Long Jubilee is Obscure as Little Hawk asked. Then maybe it is. What what do I know. Are you sure you want the word "Obscure" Little Hawk? If not, than I would like to add "The Last of The Mohegans". Beer (adrien) |
