Switchback (TV series)

Last updated

Switchback was a Canadian television show for children and teenagers, created by Nijole Kuzmickas which aired on CBC Television in the 1980s. [1] An interactive youth variety show which aired on Sunday mornings, the series mixed music videos, celebrity interviews, cartoons, comedy and puppetry segments, and viewer contests. [2]

The show was produced in several Canadian cities simultaneously, sharing some segments but each featuring their own local hosts and predominantly local content. [3] Editions of the series were produced in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Regina, Halifax, Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto, with each also seen on some other CBC stations that did not produce their own Switchback. [3]

Hosts of the show included Rick Scott, Gordon White, Bob Geldof, Richard Newman, Andrew Cochrane and Stu Jeffries in Vancouver; Stan Johnson in Halifax; [1] Shawn Thompson, Howard Busgang, Dale Martindale and Eric Tunney in Toronto; Laurie Mustard and Jim Ingebritsen in Winnipeg; Howard Glassman, Ian MacGillvray and Keith Sandulak in Calgary; Brigitte Robinson, Tom New, Johnson Moretti, Natalie Gray, Terry Dimonte and Don Westwood in Ottawa; and Bill Wright in Regina.

The Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary editions of the series were cancelled in 1988, [4] with viewers in those areas receiving one of the remaining editions thereafter. [5] At the same time, the Halifax edition went through some controversy when it dismissed popular longtime host Stan Johnson. [6]

All of the remaining editions of the program were cancelled in early 1990, amid budget cuts at the CBC. [7]

Related Research Articles

Global Television Network Canadian broadcast TV network

The Global Television Network is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after CTV, and has fifteen owned-and-operated stations throughout the country. Global is owned by Corus Entertainment — the media holdings of JR Shaw and other members of his family.

<i>Hockey Night in Canada</i> CBC broadcasts of the National Hockey League in Canada

CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the Hockey Night in Canada brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its history in various platforms.

<i>Canada AM</i> Defunct Canadian morning news program

Canada AM was a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, and was produced from CTV's facilities at 9 Channel Nine Court in Scarborough, Toronto.

<i>Canadian Idol</i> Television program

Canadian Idol is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show Pop Idol. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons. Elena Juatco assumed the role for season four, Dave Kerr had the role in season five and Jully Black in season six.

CBC News Network is a Canadian English-language specialty news channel owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It broadcasts into over 10 million homes in Canada. As Canada’s first all-news channel, it is the world's third-oldest television service of this nature, after CNN in the United States and Sky News in the United Kingdom.

<i>Breakfast Television</i> Canadian morning program television brand

Breakfast Television (BT) is the branding used for morning shows broadcast by stations of Rogers Media's television network Citytv. As of November 17, 2020, BT only broadcast in Toronto, while the versions in Vancouver, and Calgary were cut; versions used to be broadcast in Winnipeg, Edmonton and Montreal, but have been cancelled and replaced with alternative programming. The version broadcast by the Atlantic Satellite Network continued to use the brand under licence from Rogers until 2011, when it was re-launched as CTV Morning Live upon the service's rebranding as CTV 2 Atlantic.

CKO was a Canadian radio news network which operated from 1977 to 1989. The CKO call sign was shared by twelve network-owned stations, as listed below.

CBC News Division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. Founded in 1941, CBC News is the largest news broadcaster in Canada and has local, regional, and national broadcasts and stations. It frequently collaborates with its French-language counterpart, Radio-Canada Info, though the two are organizationally separate.

CityNews is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as CityPulse as a standalone local newscast on the network's Toronto and Vancouver stations owned by CHUM Limited. Through the acquisitions of the Edmonton, Winnipeg and Calgary A-Channel stations in 2004, it was relaunched under the CityNews brand on August 2, 2005 and later expanded to Montreal in 2012. The remaining Citytv stations airs the news headlines segments during each station's Breakfast Television morning show.

<i>Night Heat</i> Canadian police crime television series

Night Heat is a Canadian police crime drama series that aired on both CTV in Canada and CBS in the United States. Original episodes were broadcast from 1985 to 1989. Night Heat was the first Canadian original drama series that was also aired on a United States television network during its original broadcast. It was also the first original, first-run drama series to be aired during a late night time slot on a television network in the United States.

The John Drainie Award was an award given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to broadcasting in Canada. Although meant to be presented annually there have been years where it was not presented.

CBC News produces a variety of local newscasts for CBC Television's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os) throughout Canada. On most stations, the local news operation is branded with standard, regional titles such as CBC Toronto News. However, there are variations to this naming convention for northern Canada and certain markets where CBC has historically been strong in local news

Let's Go started at CBC Vancouver as a summer musical series for teenagers, July 17, 1964 to Sept. 4, 1964. There were 8 Lets Go shows produced and broadcast locally on CBUT Vancouver, Friday evenings at 7:30 PM. Fred Latremouille and Randi Conlin were Hosts, with the Classics as the house band. Regular performers were Gillian Russell, Susan Pesklevits, Mike Campbell, Nancy Davis, Tom Northcott, Howie Vickers, Marcel Chouinard, Stan Cayer, and Ed Whiting. Produced and directed by Ain Soodor, script assistant Chris Paton, studio director Al Vitols.

Living is a group of regional Canadian lifestyle television programs that aired on CBC Television stations. The initial broadcast was on January 15, 2007. Due to budgetary issues, the Living programs were not continued past the end of the 2008–09 television season. The final episodes of each Living series aired on August 28, 2009.

Andrew "Sandy" Stewart was a Canadian television producer and writer. He was the producer of Reach for the Top, a CBC high school quiz show that continues today as an off-air competition.

Global News Canadian news network, division of Global Television Network

Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned-and-operated stations.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television presents an annual award for Best Comedy Series. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards program, since 2013 the award has been presented as part of the expanded Canadian Screen Awards.

Global News Hour at 6 is the name of local newscasts that air on Global, each city has a different edition of the program. The show debuted in 1968, originating at CHAN-TV Vancouver. GlobalNews Hour at 6 airs on CHAN-DT Vancouver, CICT-DT Calgary, and CITV-DT Edmonton. CHBC-DT Kelowna's flagship newscast is the hour-long Global News at 5. CIII-DT Toronto and CKMI-DT Montreal both air newscasts known as Global News at 5:30. CFRE-DT Regina, CFSK-DT Saskatoon, CKND-DT Winnipeg, CISA-DT Lethbridge, CHNB-DT Saint John, and CIHF-DT Halifax all air half-hour newscasts known as Global News at 6. CHAN, CITV, and CICT, CFRE, and CFSK also air a 5PM newscast known as Global News at 5, which airs before Global National.

Ear to the Ground is a Canadian music television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1992 to 1995. Focusing on a single Canadian musician or band each week, the series mixed interview segments and live performance clips in a documentary style. It was a spinoff of the network's daily series Video Hits, which had in its final years sometimes devoted special episodes to a single musician or band under the name Video Hits Presents.

References

  1. 1 2 "Switchback a Cinderella tale". The Globe and Mail , March 23, 1984.
  2. ↑ "Vancouver kids' show taking a step forward". The Globe and Mail , November 24, 1984.
  3. 1 2 "The joys of live TV; Fumbles don't bother host of Switchback - they're part of the fun". Ottawa Citizen , October 11, 1986.
  4. ↑ "CBC-TV pulls plug on Switchback". Toronto Star , March 20, 1988.
  5. ↑ "Switchback gets bigger audience". Ottawa Citizen , March 28, 1988.
  6. ↑ "Popular Halifax show revamped: Fired TV host assails CBC policy". The Globe and Mail , June 22, 1988.
  7. ↑ "Switchback falls victim to CBC budget cuts". Toronto Star , February 4, 1990.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.