Network: CTV Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1978 to 1990
Broadcast Medium: Television
A light-hearted but highly successful approach to consumer affairs was introduced to CTV in 1978 with Live It Up, a fast-paced half-hour of well-written, snappily delivered segments on the merits or otherwise of various products and services, including such widely diverse topics as the diagnostic value of hair analysis and the amount of pork in different varieties of canned pork and beans. Jack McGaw and Alan Edmonds were the two original hosts, with Mary Lou Finlay, Liz Grogan and Dianne Buckner as co-hosts at various times over the run of the series. Other regular spots went to Ron Carlyle as the Watchdog, and Jonathan Rudin as the Legal Beagle.
The series debuted in September 1978 on Thursdays at 9:00pm, and was soon delivering over 1,000,000 viewers each week. After a few schedule shifts early in its run, the program settled in at 7:30pm Mondays in the Fall of 1985, where it stayed until being cancelled at the end of the 1989-90 season. Jack McGaw and Alan Edmonds produced the show for CTV.
Written by Pip Wedge – June, 2002