No Snow on Our TV

by Mike Gange

by Peter Kenter with notes from Martin Levin

Whitecap Books, $29.95, 256 pages.

As a teen I used to think being forced to watch "Canadian TV" was a form of punishment. Given the choice of Canadian programming or the more "glamourous" American content, I would generally have chosen the latter.

TV North: Everything You wanted to know about Canadian Television proves my childhood misconception to have been way off base. Canadian TV has had some remarkable programming, with superior production values and great story lines, delivered through adept actors. Some aired for amusement, some with the explicit goal of developing our sense of common culture. But unlike the American broadcasters, we rarely trumpet our successes, so many Canadian TV gems never see the light of day again once they have been replaced by newer programmes.

Peter Kenter is a Toronto writer whose work has appeared in periodicals like Toronto Life, and Canadian Business. Martin Levin, the books editor of The Globe and Mail, is a transplanted Manitoban who adds several short interesting commentaries in TV North: Everything You wanted to know about Canadian Television.

Mr. Kenter admits his A-Z compendium of English Canadian television is a work in progress. He accounts for any oversights by saying sometimes the networks were cooperative in allowing him access to their archives, sometimes reluctant, and sometimes unable to find the material he was searching for.

Most of the entries include names of the actors and their characters, the original network, first and last broadcasts and running time, along with a description of the show. Generally, Mr. Kenter is fair and objective in his comments about the programmes, only rarely allowing a slanted observation to come through, as he did on his write up about "The Frankie Howerd Show." He writes: "In scripts penned with the blunt end of a toilet brush, vulgar comedian Howerd played a lazy British immigrant injecting chaos into cherished Canadian institutions."

Many of Mr. Kenter’s entries are real proof that Canadian televison programming has something special. "SCTV," "Wojeck," "This is the Law"and "Seeing Things" are examples of programmes that were successful across Canada and were either sold abroad or copied by other broadcasters.

The entries are full of nostalgia for readers of a certain age but they would rarely appeal to anyone under the age of 20. Children’s show "Chez Helene" for example, was broadcast from Oct 1959 to 1973. The 15 minute daily show featured Helene Baillargeon introducing each show with "Bonjour mes petits amis" and being joined by her friend Louise and Suzie the Mouse.

Of particular interest to this local audience are some Atlantic Canadian favorites included in the write ups: "Don Messer’s Jubilee" with announcer Don Tremaine, and host Don Messer and his Islanders; "Canada’s Country Gentleman Tommy Hunter" with Rhythm Pals Mike, Mark and Jack; and "Sing Along Jubilee" with Nova Scotia’s Anne Murray, Saint John’s Ken Tobias and Marysville’s blind guitar player Fred McKenna.

At least a dozen similar books have been compiled about U.S. television programming. Remarkably, very few have been published about Canadian television and TV North is undoubtedly the most comprehensive . One can only hope there is a second volume in the works, with details about sports programming and entries about French Canadian shows, to reflect a truly Canadian world of televison.

Mike Gange teaches Media Studies and Journalism at Fredericton High.