Broodcaster wrote:

Like The Agenda with Steve Paikin and miss Saturday Night at the Movies.

The Agenda is generally good watching. Paikin is generally a straight shooter who occasionally shows his bias, but unlike the CBC they are not afraid to put together genuinely ideologically diverse panels and the result is some good discussions. Unwatchable when Paikin sits and the woman with the hair hosts.

I have found myself staying on for a number of compelling programs which followed Steve at 9:00 pm, including some good BBC-type docs. The one where they have two opposing political representatives playing city mouse and country mouse in each others ridings is well done. My wife and I also really enjoy the adorable wildlife rescue show.

During the day it seems to be entirely given over to kids' programming.

I remember when TVO first signed on. It was then known only as CICA-TV, Channel 19 in Toronto. I think they also used OECA, the Ontario Educational Communications Authority.
 
It’s too bad the anniversary video doesn’t acknowledge John DeLazzer, the very first voice heard on the station when it debuted in Sept. 1970. He was their announcer and did all the IDs.
 


There were only two shows I ever watched on the newcomer. The first was a program that concentrated on weird logic puzzles and questions designed to stimulate your mind. (Obviously didn’t work on me!) It might have been called "It StandsTo Reason."
 
The other was Magee & Co., a 15 minute 6:30 PM weekday show starring Michael Magee (aka Fred C. Dobbs of CKEY fame) that was often really terrible but occasionally rose to brilliance. In one episode of the latter type, he played every single one of his characters at the same time, in a show that must have taken weeks to shoot in the pre-digital era.
 
It was a satire of “Reach For The Top” called “Reach For The Bottom” and was hosted by a character named Johnny HeeHaw (a take-off on CTV's Johnny Esaw.) At one point in the “show,” the audience begins booing him. Thinking he’s off camera, HeeHaw repeatedly gives them the finger, with a giant scowl on his face. But when he realizes the camera is on him, he instantly reverts to a huge phony smile and keeps it frozen on his face for at least 15 seconds.
 
At another point, one of the characters notes of the show that, “This is as stupid as Party Game!”
 
I was just a very young teen when it aired and remember watching it on our kitchen TV when my family was all having supper. I couldn’t finish my meal I was laughing so hard. It must have made an impression for me to recall it all these years later.
 
I’ve tried to find this episode for a long time in the Internet age, but it appears to have long disappeared into the TV ether. I rarely tune in now, but that's my favourite memory of what morphed into TVO.

Broodcaster wrote:

Like The Agenda with Steve Paikin and miss Saturday Night at the Movies.

Elwy Yost cared about film and it showed every Saturday night.  Long before the TCM era,  Elwy's showing of uncut movies along with the accompanying interviews and insights,  made for a great viewing experience.

He always seemed to find the "gems" that had been long forgotten and not broadcast for many years.
 

Media Observer wrote:

Elwy Yost cared about film and it showed every Saturday night.  Long before the TCM era,  Elwy's showing of uncut movies along with the accompanying interviews and insights,  made for a great viewing experience.

He always seemed to find the "gems" that had been long forgotten and not broadcast for many years.
 

I always liked Elwy Yost, as well - until I actually met him. A long time ago, when I was at Ryerson's RTA, we were given an assignment to produce a radio documentary. I choose a profile of a well-known comedian who I loved and I had access to lots of source material. But I needed at least one local interview. So I called TVO and asked to get a Q&A with Elwy, who I figured would know a lot about every star (not to mention the fact that I hoped getting a local "celebrity" would increase my mark!)

I got to the complex on time and was ushered into Elwy's office. He was sitting there looking over a piece of paper, which I think was a press release of some kind, but I couldn't see it. But it was clear he wasn't happy. As I sat there with mic in hand, getting ready with my questions, he turned to me and said, "Have you ever seen anything like this? "

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"This is horseshit! I can't believe it!" He then went on for at least a minute about how they were giving him terrible product and complaining Rodney Dangerfield-like that he didn't get any respect.  

To this day, I'm not sure what he was referring to, but he was obviously upset. Talk about making a first impression! 

To be fair, the rest of the hour went well and he was very generous with his time and answers. And yes, I did get a good mark on the thing although in retrospect, the pacing of the doc was way too fast and needed a lot more breathing room - something I would learn later when I was actually producing real radio documentary segments.

I want my money back.

DeepTracks wrote:

Does anyone,but me, remember CH 19 broadcasting LIVE, from the Victory Burlesque Theatre (in Toronto), the midnight show on New Years Eve - I think 70 or 71?

I invited two of my friends over to my house and we waited until midnight to watch what we hoped would be something 'special' - if you get my drift. It didn't really turn out to much of anything - really.

I did a quick Google search in an attt to verify this but couldn't find anything.



 

Nothing to do with TV0 but one of my early concert experiences was seeing the New York Dolls at the Victory and it was an afternoon show which I just realized for the first time why. They had other things to do at night.
 

I also believe it may have been the first UHF station in Canada. For years, many stations were on in the States but Canada never got into the higher frequencies until the 70s. But if memory serves, CICA was the first. 

DeepTracks wrote:

Hey Hansa...I'm sure that "milestone" is in fact what I'm claiming I watched.

And Fitz....here's the poster for that New York Dolls show;

Wow thanks for this DT.

I honestly don't remember seeing Rush. Perhaps we got there after they had played and I thought the show was in the afternoon. Possible I saw another show there in the aft. The glam and proto punk NY Dolls were great. I bought their first album after reading the reviews in Creem and RS etc. Local radio would not touch them at the time not even CHUM FM

Last edited by Fitz (February 14, 2020 1:31 pm)