![]() Later in 1981, the new American youth-oriented cable network, Nickelodeon, took an interest in YCDTOTV. In the meantime, some YCDTOTV cast members continued to hone their on-camera skills through appearances in Bear Rapids, a Price/Darby pilot television film that was never picked up, and Something Else, a local game show on CJOH with a format somewhat similar to the live and local episodes of YCDTOTV. At the time the season ended, it was uncertain whether the show would continue. The season proper ended in May, but cast members were asked to come back in May and June 1981 to film some additional scenes for the syndicated version of the show (including re-writes or re-shoots of already-filmed sketches to filter out Ottawa-based or Canadian content). The format of the 1981 episodes as aired on CJOH was similar to that of the inaugural 1979 season, with the differences being that each show featured skits revolving around a certain topic (something that carried over from Whatever Turns You On) and that the disco dancers were replaced by video game competitions. In January of 1981, production on YCDTOTV resumed, and a new set of episodes aired locally on CJOH through May of that year. The show was placed in the 7:00 pm timeslot on Tuesday nights, and had low ratings as a result. Ruth Buzzi joined the cast and the 22 children from the first season were trimmed down to seven: Christine "Moose" McGlade, Lisa Ruddy, Jonothan Gebert, Kevin Somers, Kevin Schenk, Rodney Helal, and Marc Baillon (another first-season cast member, Elizabeth Mitchell, only appeared in the pilot episode). The format was shortened to a half-hour, removed local content, added a laugh track and replaced music videos with live performances from popular artists from Canada at the time, including Trooper, Max Webster, Ian Thomas and disco singer Alma Faye Brooks. However, thanks to Roger Price, the entirety of season one is now available for viewing online.Īfter a successful first season, a national network version of the program entitled Whatever Turns You On was produced for CTV and debuted in September 1979 (having already aired an hour-long pilot episode in May). As the studio masters of these episodes no longer exist, for many years all but three of the first-season episodes were believed lost forever (with the three extant episodes existing due to home video recordings). It was an instant hit, scoring an over 30% rating in its target demographic within a few months. The show was originally meant to offer a program for children on Saturday mornings which was pure entertainment and made no attempt to be educational. The show's trademark green slime hitting prank was introduced in 1979, as was the practice of using the phrase "I don't know" as a trigger for the prank. Veteran comedy actor Les Lye played several recurring characters and was initially the only adult to perform in the show's sketches, although actress Abby Hagyard later joined the show to become "the other grown-up" in the cast roster, and frequently played "Mom" opposite Lye's role as "Dad." Occasionally the older children in the cast (such as Christine McGlade, Sarah West, or Cyndi Kennedy) played adult characters. Also, after a music video aired, Johnson would tell the viewers interesting facts about the artist featured in the video. The show's disco dance segments were MCed by Jim Johnson, a local radio disc jockey. ![]() Every week the show took its "Roving Camera" to hangouts around town, recording kids' jokes or complaints about life, which would be played on the following week's broadcast. ![]() The format also included performances by local disco dancers and special guests such as Ottawa-based cartoonist Jim Unger. The show consisted of comedy skits, music videos (usually three per episode) and live phone-in contests in which viewer could win a variety of prizes (transistor radios, record albums, model kits, etc.). You Can't Do That on Television debuted in 1979 on CJOH-TV in Ottawa as a low-budget variety program with some segments performed live. 2.2 Opening animation: The Children's Television Sausage Factory. ![]() 1.4 Changing of the guard and controversies.
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