Wow, amazing. I'd heard almost all the complete episodes had been erased. Quite a find!

This is generally considered perhaps the cheapest and worst Canadian TV show ever aired. When they made a mistake, they often just left it in, because they didn't want to have to start reshooting and waste videotape and studio time. 

And what odd casting. Diane Nyland, in addition to being a fairly decent actress, was actually an accomplished ballerina and, according to her obit, an "award winning director-choreographer." I don't think this was her proudest moment. It also says she was married to "radio personality" Frank Proctor - would that be the same guy you hear on AM740? 

Steve Weston was also said to have had a fine acting career, once you get past this disaster. He died after falling off a roof. 

I'm sure paterson1 will have something to say about this, but this show was one of the reasons I've always had a bad impression about CanCon. I will admit things have vastly improved since the early 1970s when this was on. Yet, inexplicably, my brothers and I always watched it. Seems odd. Or in the words of one of the show's old catchphrases, "Doesn't it to you?"

I watched that show every day myself. Although I could tell that it wasn't of great quality even at the age of 10, tv reception at my house wasn't good before cable because of us being near the Gatineau hydro corridor -- and so CFTO was the only channel that came in clearly for us. But I liked both Nyland and Weston, and wasn't surprised to find out later that they were both talented actors trapped in a bad show. And yes, her husband was indeed AM740's Frank Proctor.

IMO, the biggest problem with the Trouble With Tracy was the actual scripts.  Even in 1970/71 these old time radio stories were very dated, and the 1930's/40's New York humour didn't travel well.  There was an  attempt to update the characters and include Tracy's hippie brother in shows. But the actual scripts were the original words written by Goodman Ace from 1930 to 1945 for the radio program Easy Aces.

The sets while sort of cheap looking were adequate, and the acting was stilted partially because of the weak humour in the copy.  The program had and continues to have a cult following apparently. 

Another issue was CTV itself.  The network had flirted with bankruptcy a few times and had no choice but to run all 130 episodes to recoup some of the money.  Actually the show was quite expensive and a big risk for a network like CTV.  Trouble With Tracy ran 5 days a week for 26 weeks and was repeated various times through the years. The repeats were cancon filler in off hours, but also the program as mentioned did have a certain cult popularity with viewers.

Normally a show like this with poor reviews and ratings would have been cancelled after only a few airings.  This has happened various times with all of the the US networks when a show only airs a handful of times and then is scrapped.  CTV didn't have that option and needed to try and get some of it's money back from the production.  This made The Trouble With Tracy an even longer toothache and more memorable in how poor the show was.  Had it been cancelled after one week, nobody would have remembered it decades later.   

Last edited by paterson1 (April 5, 2023 10:35 am)

It's rather amazing CTV would take on such a big commitment and then try to save money by using second hand scripts instead of hiring writers.

CHCH was much more successful with Hilarious House of Frightenstein which was also made on the mass production model (filming 100+ episodes over several months for use in daily syndication) - difference being HHOF had writers and the comedic brilliance of Billy Van.

You can get away with cheap production values if you have good writing and talent but you can have great production values and a lemon if the writing isn't there.

Last edited by Hansa (April 5, 2023 12:48 pm)

130 episodes of Trouble with Tracy were produced in a matter of months (6 episodes a week, apparently) on a shoestring budget by CFTO in 1970 with the intent of running them daily and selling them throughout North America for syndication.

130 episodes of Hilarious House of Frightensten were produced in a matter of months by CHCH in 1971 on a shoestring budget  with the intent of running them daily and selling them throughout North America for syndication.

CFTO had to keep running the show daily into the early 80s in order to recoup their costs - but were not able to sell it to the US (AFAIK) and only had limited sales in Canada and has long been regarded as an embarassment. 

HHOF also was a daily staple on CHCH into the 1980s - but was a hit among children and teens (don't know the ratings but I suspect they were good) and the show was sold throughout Canada and the US and became a cult favourite and was even streamed by Crave last year. It probably would still be on TV today had it not been for the unfortuante decision by its producers not to bother getting lincensing for the music in the popular "Wolfman" segments - they might have been able to convince record companies in 1971 to give permission due to the promotional value of airplay, had they asked - but getting the music licensed today would be prohibitively expensive. 

Must have been galling for the mighty CFTO and CTV to be outclassed by an independent station based in Hamilton. 

Last edited by Hansa (April 5, 2023 1:32 pm)

You and I have clashed before on Party Game, which I put on the same level as "Tracy" in terms of cheap CanCon programming, but I can't deny it was popular. I'll just never understand why.

Anyway, you're right that there are only few episodes of it left and I'm not sure any are complete. Here are a couple of snippets from YouTube, which unfortunately can't be displayed here but are at the links below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRRw7CUcBI0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJ4PSOmfh4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJ4PSOmfh4

 

Yes, Frank Proctor currently at AM 740 was indeed her husband; in real life.

Last edited by John D (April 5, 2023 3:05 pm)

"Headline Hunters" was also another show...  again, hosted by Jim Perry.
It aired on a weeknight, and iirc, was part of the CTV evening schedule.


 

Glen Warren wrote:

We had a math teacher who appeared as a contestant on "Definition".  He was a great teacher, but a terrible player of the game. He lasted one or two rounds, and was eliminated.  He told us that about 2 or 3 months after the airing of the episode that he appeared in, he received his consolation prizes.  He said his wife would never have to buy pantyhose again, as their was this large box of Leggs Pantyhose... he figured it was like a lifetime supply!  
 

I think the grand prizes were pretty much on the same level as the consolation prizes on that show. 


PJ
 

Does anybody remember the Canadian game show "Pitfall" from the early '80s? It was hosted by Alex Trebek, a few years before he started his Jeopardy! run. I remember it being touted as one of the first Canadian game shows that gave out prizes that were on a par with its U.S. counterparts (or at least approaching that). Which sounded impressive, until it was revealed that the company producing the show, Catalena Productions, went bankrupt even before Pitfall made it to air. The company had previously produced a revival of Let's Make a Deal, and were sued by Monty Hall and Stefan Hatos for nonpayment for their producer duties on that show. As a result, many (if not all) of the contestants on Pitfall never ended up getting their cash or merchandise prizes. According to Wikipedia, Alex Trebek only ended up getting half of his promised salary for hosting the show. Trebek had reportedly framed a bounced cheque for $49,000 from the company and hung it up on the wall in his home.

Pitfall - Wikipedia


PJ

Speaking of The Trouble With Tracy, there's another infamous Canadian show that's getting something of a recall - although not exactly a reboot. A production company has acquired the rights to the life story of George Kresge. Who's that? If you could read my mind (it's light reading!) you'd know him by his stage moniker - The Amazing Kreskin. 

His career, which he described as a "Mentalist," aired for years on CTV. The documentary, which is being done by the same people who brought you CBC's Harold Ballard's story last year, is due to be ready for 2024. No word yet on where it can be seen. 

But if you're a fan of Kreskin, who is still alive at age 88, you probably should be able to divine the answer well in advance!

By the way, when Kreskin predicted a UFO sighting over Las Vegas or he'd donate $50,000 to charity - and it didn't happen - he went on Art Bell's show. But when Kreskin demurred from paying the money with a pretty flimsy excuse, he was banned from the syndicated show for good, after an angry Bell confronted him on air to explain his failure. Call it "The Trouble With Kreskin."

 

Some more on the Pitfall story...





PJ
 

[img]https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123070689/trouble-with-tracy-1971-wor/[img]

Last edited by Bill101 (April 17, 2023 10:34 pm)