If you were wondering what made Ma Perkins so popular, here you go"Typical of Hummert productions, Ma Perkins had her share of tears, crises, and drama, but with a plotline much slower paced than the average soap opera. In a typical year, no more than three or four major complications were covered --interspersed by long "quiet spells," filled with (brutally) protracted discussions on the meaning of life amid the ever-changing tapestry of family, friends and the small town around them... Early in the drama’s run Ma was portrayed as quite combative and spiteful, but her character soon developed (and softened) into the kindhearted sage and conscience of the entire community. There were various dramas that unfolded over the years, some more far-fetched than others. Two of the more memorable plot stretches involve Ma exposing a black market baby-napping ring, and Ma harboring Soviet political dissidents inside her home.[12]             (The baby-napping ring could be ripped from today's Q Anon headlines. Pedophile pizza parlours, anyone?)

newsguy1 wrote:

If you were wondering what made Ma Perkins so popular, here you go"Typical of Hummert productions, Ma Perkins had her share of tears, crises, and drama, but with a plotline much slower paced than the average soap opera. In a typical year, no more than three or four major complications were covered --interspersed by long "quiet spells," filled with (brutally) protracted discussions on the meaning of life amid the ever-changing tapestry of family, friends and the small town around them... Early in the drama’s run Ma was portrayed as quite combative and spiteful, but her character soon developed (and softened) into the kindhearted sage and conscience of the entire community. There were various dramas that unfolded over the years, some more far-fetched than others. Two of the more memorable plot stretches involve Ma exposing a black market baby-napping ring, and Ma harboring Soviet political dissidents inside her home.[12]             (The baby-napping ring could be ripped from today's Q Anon headlines. Pedophile pizza parlours, anyone?)

A few episodes of this soap opera, which for a while was so popular it aired on both NBC and CBS radio at the same time in the afternoon, still exist. Here's one of them, with the intriguing title "Sonia Is Shot." Cue the organ.

There appear to be some omissions.  Surely Jack Benny's program, the Saturday night NHL hockey broadcasts and
the Wayne and Shuster Show must have been in the top 15.  Jack Benny was only available through US stations
since it was sponsored by Lucky Strike ads which were embedded in the show not allowing for Canadian ads.
Both NHL hockey on Saturday night and Wayne & Shuster aired on CBC radio as well as CFRB.

Of the popular English Canadian shows most appear to be American. Plus ca change.

Google tells me- Happy Gang, Laura Limited, Aunt Lucy and Kate Aitkin were Canadian of the daytime shows. Of the evening shows the only one I can't be certain of is the General Electric show (which I assume is American), the rest are definitely American.

Last edited by Hansa (March 22, 2024 6:24 am)

newsguy1 wrote:

If you were wondering what made Ma Perkins so popular, here you go"Typical of Hummert productions, Ma Perkins had her share of tears, crises, and drama, but with a plotline much slower paced than the average soap opera. In a typical year, no more than three or four major complications were covered --interspersed by long "quiet spells," filled with (brutally) protracted discussions on the meaning of life amid the ever-changing tapestry of family, friends and the small town around them... Early in the drama’s run Ma was portrayed as quite combative and spiteful, but her character soon developed (and softened) into the kindhearted sage and conscience of the entire community. There were various dramas that unfolded over the years, some more far-fetched than others. Two of the more memorable plot stretches involve Ma exposing a black market baby-napping ring, and Ma harboring Soviet political dissidents inside her home.[12]             (The baby-napping ring could be ripped from today's Q Anon headlines. Pedophile pizza parlours, anyone?)

My mother and grandmother were devoted listeners and yes the closing of storylines came at a dreadfully slow pace. When you have one minute to review what happened in yesterday's episode, another minute to entice listeners to "tune in again tomorrow" plus three minutes of Oxydol laundry detergent [what my mom used] ads, that left a whopping 10 minutes for actual storytelling. The daytime drama ran from 1933-60. From 1942-49 it aired on both NBC and CBS. WLW was its original home station.