Network: CBC Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1969 to 1970
Broadcast Medium: Television
Aired Thursday nights from December 1970 to June 1972. Aired Friday nights from December 1972 to June 1973.
This half hour program of original drama offered viewers a mix of the conventional and the experimental. It was hosted by Charles Oberdorf, writer and broadcaster. In spite of the show’s small budget, reportedly $7,000 per episode, it did offer some great productions: gorilla film making if you will.
Some of the productions from series included Blackship, written by Jack Winter, about a clipper that sank off Japan in 1863, taking with it 460 Chinese people who had been on their way to work as laborers in the U.S.A. Subsequent programs included The Picnic and The Musical Chairs, both by Warren Collins; Joy Fielding’s Open House; The Couch, written by Grace Richardson; The System, by Eric Koch and Frank McEnaney; Sniper, by Rudi Dorn; and Boss, by Michael Spivak. The first season also featured a reading by Vancouver poet David Watmough, and Wind, an audio-visual presentation with film and music by Norman Symonds.
Other contributors included Paul Withrow, Angus Braid, James W. Nichol, Ron Taylor, Sheldon Rosen, Tony Flanders, and Mavor Moore. Herb Roland, George Jonas, Rudi Dorn, and Mario Prizek were among the regular directors for the series, with other shows directed by Gil Taylor, Brian Demude, Lorne Michaels, and David Cronenberg who wrote and directed Secret Weapons in 1972.
The series was also a showcase for monologues such as Bits And Pieces: Gordon Pinsent, and That Hamilton Woman, with Barbara Hamilton, and a television adaptation of Mia Anderson’s solo tour de force, Ten Women, Two Men, and a Moose.
Written by John Corcelli – September, 2005