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Poll: What is your favourite Canadian TV show of the 1970s?

15 Comments

The second round of the NHL playoffs are in full swing, the perfect time to hold our own little set of playoffs—with a distinct Canadian TV flare. Unlike the Stanley Cup playoffs, however, TV, Eh’s Great Canadian TV Playoff boasts solely homegrown head-to-head matchups of television shows.

Starting today and through the rest of the month, we’ll pit eight television shows (just like the NHL) from the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 2000s against one another until the final showdown to name the top Canadian TV series of all time on May 29.

It all kicks off with the 1970s (voting for the 1980s begins Thursday), so cast your vote now and spread the word.

What is your favourite Canadian television series of the 1970s?

  • SCTV (39%, 30 Votes)
  • The Beachcombers (21%, 16 Votes)
  • The Friendly Giant (14%, 11 Votes)
  • Mr. Dressup (9%, 7 Votes)
  • The Hilarious House of Frightenstein (8%, 6 Votes)
  • King of Kensington (5%, 4 Votes)
  • The Trouble with Tracy (3%, 2 Votes)
  • Swiss Family Robinson (1%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 77

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15 thoughts on “Poll: What is your favourite Canadian TV show of the 1970s?”

  1. That’s an eccentric list. Kids and adult, no Mr. Dressup but a lot of shows I’ve never heard of, plus a show that’s the butt of every joke about the worst Canadian TV ever. And who calls it Second City Television? I almost didn’t vote for it because I didn’t catch you meant SCTV.

  2. You are brave to open yourselves, yet again, to those who think they could make a better list than you. But the comments are as valuable as the poll, so keep that thick skin! I am not from Canada but watched SCTV in the US (and loved it), so that’s my vote.

  4. I wasn’t even alive in the 70s so I didn’t vote. I was born in 1983 and though I’ve seen some reruns of shows like King of Kensington and Beachcombers, I just couldn’t get into them. I saw a couple of SCTV reruns and liked them okay.

      1. Lol. I had an “I feel old” moment the other day in the car, while listening to the Sirius 90s music channel and singing along to a Green Day song when my daughter said “Mom, please don’t listen to your stupid old 90s music again.”

  5. So the list changed? How are you gonna compare results for shows that were added later to the same poll? Do you do political polling too cuz no wonder they’re always off.

    1. I swapped out two shows that had no votes, so it won’t have any bearing on the final results. I’m keeping voting open a day longer to compensate. I got enough feedback regarding better suited shows to represent the 1970s that it made sense to make the change.

      1. 2 shows will have 1 less day of voting than the others no matter how many days you add. But whatever. It’s going to be SCTV.

  6. A bit to the side of the point: but a frustration I’ve had with my long time Canadian film/TV hobby is the fact that so many old shows just get lost to history, even with on-line venues and the like. I suspect your list is so, um, eclectic because most people today (myself included!) have never even seen old series like The Manipulators, The Collaborators, and others. I’ve long thought the CBC or some other organization should put sample episodes on-line if only as historical curiosities.
    .
    As say: not exactly relevant to your list, just a kind of pop cultural lamentation. :)

    1. I agree. There’s so many shows I’ve never even had the chance to see. I’ve always wanted to check out an episode of The Trouble with Tracey, Kids of Degrassi Street, The Forest Rangers or The Campbells but you can’t find them anywhere.

      1. Kids of Degrassi Street and The Forest Rangers are on DVD, though TFR is likely out of print and wasn’t released past the first season. The only shows on that list that have “proper” DVD representation are Frightenstein and SCTV.

        One show people remember that should have replaced The Trouble with Tracy: Global/TVOntario series Witness to Yesterday. That was a show from Global’s initial 1974 season which endured in reruns, IIRC.

        1. I haven’t bought a DVD in maybe 10 years and I’m not planning on buying any in the near future but hopefully those series will eventually find their way to streaming.

        2. Almost forgot about Witness to Yesterday! Off-beat concept, great performances and great execution (I still recall little nuggets I learned from it). Was revived a couple of times: well, once under its name, and another time Patrick Watson basically did the same concept as Titans.
          .
          Just googling it now I found an SCTV spoof of it on youtube – just to tie things together :)

  7. I missed the poll, but I can say I watched all these shows, some in reruns.

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