Distinguished Canadians
1971 Canadian TV series or program
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Distinguished Canadians (originally titled Interview) is a Canadian talk show television series which aired on CBC Television from 1971 to 1972.
| Distinguished Canadians | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Interview |
| Genre | talk show |
| Presented by | John David Hamilton |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Ain Soodor |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBC Television |
| Release | 23 August 1971 – 21 August 1972 |
Premise
John David Hamilton interviewed guests such as Claude Bissell (academic), Donald Cameron (politician), George Ramsay Cook (historian), Marshall Crowe (Canada Development Corporation), Gratien Gélinas (playwright), Pierre Juneau (CRTC), Georges-Henri Lévesque (priest, sociologist), Wilder Penfield (neurosurgeon), Allison DeForrest Pickett (entomologist), Charlotte Whitton (Ottawa mayor) and John Tuzo Wilson (geoscientist).[1]
Scheduling
This half-hour series, under the original Interview title, was broadcast on Mondays at 10:30 p.m. (Eastern) from 23 August to 20 September 1971 in the first season.
The second-season episodes were aired on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. from 16 April 1972 to 4 June 1972, after which it returned to the Monday 10:30 p.m. time slot until its final broadcast on 21 August 1972. The title changed to Distinguished Canadians as of the 30 April 1972 episode.
Reception
In a mixed review, Keith Ashwell of the Edmonton Journal wrote, "In some ways Distinguished Canadians is interesting. The camera doesn't wander. It likes hard-cropped shots of a face talking. The program insists on a convivial atmosphere here so that the inquisition is surreptitious, the confessions seemingly self-generated. But where it fails, as it did so dismally with Juneau is when J.D. is lulled by his own urbane, assuring style."[2] The Calgary Herald's Bob Shiels said of an episode of Hamilton "talking to" Hugh MacLennan, "Talking heads. Take away the cameras and they might have had a fair-to-middling radio show".[3] In another review, Shiels said the show has "no production values whatsoever. This CBC offering is simply a conversation – the kind of show identified as radio with a camera pointed at it."[4]