For the Record (Canadian TV series)
For the Record is a Canadian television drama anthology series that aired on CBC Television from 1976 to 1986.[1] The series aired docudrama-style television films on contemporary social issues.[2]
For the Record | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama anthology |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | 39 |
Production | |
Producer(s) |
|
Production company(s) | CBC Television |
Release | |
Original release | 8 February 1976 |
Concept
For the Record was intended as a series of dramas which would take an honest look at problems in Canadian society, among them many about mental illness and "flawed social institutions".[3]
Critical assessment
Gail Henley remarked in 1985 that For the Record dramas were "information laden" when compared to their more emotional American counterparts and emphasises the importance of research and documentation for the series.[1] As Bill MacVicar put it:
Topicality is both a blessing and a bane for television. Since the time from concept to telecast can be much shorter than for movies, television appears better briefed and more up-to-date. But the voraciousness of the medium encourages clumsy or cynical abuse of topicality; all too often (as in the slack Lou Grant the mere act of raising an issue is assumed to be tantamount to solving it; in other cases, solutions are so slickly simplified that what purports to be an investigation is little more than a case of special pleading. In contrast to this frequent shortcoming, the CBC's For the Record series tends to do justice to the problems it airs.[4]
Episodes
1976
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "The Insurance Man from Ingersoll" | Peter Pearson | Peter Pearson, Norman Hartley | Michael Magee, Charlotte Blunt, Warren Davis, Mavor Moore | February 8, 1976 |
An opposition MPP in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario makes explosive charges of political corruption against the government.[5] | |||||
2 | "A Nest of Shadows" | Peter Carter | Michael Mercer | Louise Rinfret, Ralph Endersby | February 15, 1976 |
3 | "A Thousand Moons" | Gilles Carle | Mort Forer | Carole Laure, Nick Mancuso, Adeline Coppaway | February 29, 1976 |
An elderly Métis woman living in Toronto wants to return to her hometown before her death.[6] | |||||
4 | "Kathy Karuks Is a Grizzly Bear" | Peter Pearson | Ralph L. Thomas | Lesley Angus, Red Burnett, Rudy Lipp, Donnelly Rhodes, Dixie Seatle | March 7, 1976 |
A swimmer who aspires to perform a marathon swim across Lake Ontario copes with an unscrupulous coach.[7] | |||||
5 | "What We Have Here Is a People Problem" | Francis Mankiewicz | Michael Mercer | George Waight, Heath Lamberts | 1976 |
1977
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | "Maria" | Allan King | Rick Salutin | Diane D'Aquila, Enzina Bertini, Jean Gascon | January 9, 1977 |
A woman organizes a labour union.[8] | |||||
7 | "Someday Soon..." | Don Haldane | Rudy Wiebe, Barry Pearson | John Vernon | January 16, 1977 |
Farmers in Manitoba try to resist a hydroelectric dam development that threatens to flood their land.[9] | |||||
8 | "Dreamspeaker" | Claude Jutra | Anne Cameron | Ian Tracey, George Clutesi | January 23, 1977 |
Adaptation of Anne Cameron's novel Dreamspeaker.[10] | |||||
9 | "Hank" | Don Haldane | Don Bailey, Ralph L. Thomas | Bob Warner | January 30, 1977 |
10 | "Ada" | Claude Jutra | Claude Jutra, Margaret Gibson | Janet Amos, Jayne Eastwood, David Fox | February 6, 1977 |
Several women struggle in the mental health system.[11] | |||||
11 | "The Tar Sands" | Peter Pearson | Peter Pearson, Peter Rowe, Ralph L. Thomas | Kenneth Welsh, Ken Pogue | September 12, 1977 |
1978
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 | "A Matter of Choice"[12] | Francis Mankiewicz | Anne Cameron | Michael Ironside, Roberta Maxwell, Fiona Reid, Gary Reineke | January 29, 1978 |
After being sexually assaulted by her acquaintance David (Reineke), Carol (Maxwell) struggles with the moral and legal complexities of whether to report her assault to the police. | |||||
13 | "Scoop"[13] | Anthony Perris | Douglas Bowie | Scott Hylands, Lloyd Bochner, Deborah Templeton, Sabina Maydelle | February 12, 1978 |
14 | "Dying Hard"[14] | Don Haldane | Bill Gough | Neil Munro, Clyde Rose, Claude Bede, Austin Davis, Estelle Wall | March 12, 1978 |
15 | "Seer Was Here"[15] | Claude Jutra | Claude Jutra, Don Bailey | David Hemblen, Robert Forsythe | December 3, 1978 |
1979
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | "Cementhead" | Ralph L. Thomas | Ralph L. Thomas, Roy MacGregor | Tom Butler, Peter Dvorsky, Martin Short, Kate Lynch | February 18, 1979 |
Bear Bernier, a minor league hockey player from Sudbury, is willing to do whatever it takes to make the National Hockey League.[16] | |||||
17 | "Je me souviens / Don't Forget Me" | Robin Spry | Carmel Dumas | February 25, 1979 | |
18 | "Homecoming" | Gilles Carle | Anne Cameron | March 4, 1979 | |
19 | "Certain Practices" | Martin Lavut | Ian Sutherland | Richard Monette, Alan Scarfe | March 11, 1979 |
20 | "Every Person Is Guilty" | Paul Almond | Ralph L. Thomas, Roy MacGregor | Ken Pogue, Lynne Griffin | 1979 |
A journalist (Ken Pogue) tries to investigate a physical attack on his daughter.[17] | |||||
21 | "One of Our Own" | William Fruet | Florrie Adelson | October 3, 1979 | |
1980
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
22 | "The Winnings of Frankie Walls" | Martin Lavut | Rob Forsyth | Al Waxman, Chapelle Jaffe | March 2, 1980 |
23 | "Harvest" | Giles Walker | Rob Forsyth | Jan Rubeš | March 9, 1980 |
24 | "Maintain the Right" | Les Rose | Tony Sheer | Laurie Brown, Nicholas Campbell | March 16, 1980 |
25 | "A Question of the Sixth" | Graham Parker | Grahame Woods | Lawrence Dane, Maureen McRae | March 23, 1980 |
26 | "Lyon's Den" | Graham Parker | Tony Sheer | Mary Bellows, James Blendick, Mogens Gander | 1980 |
1981
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
27 | "A Far Cry from Home" | Gordon Pinsent | Helen Weils, Bill Gough | Mary Ann McDonald, Richard Monette | February 1, 1981 |
28 | "Snowbird" | Peter Pearson | Margaret Atwood | Robert Christie, Jayne Eastwood, Doris Petrie | February 8, 1981 |
29 | "The Running Man" | Donald Brittain | Anna Sandor | Chuck Shamata, Barbara Gordon, Colm Feore, Kate Trotter | February 22, 1981 |
A married man struggles to come to terms with his homosexuality.[18] | |||||
30 | "Cop" | Al Waxman | Grahame Woods | March 8, 1981 | |
31 | "Final Edition" | Peter Rowe | Tony Sheer | March 22, 1981 | |
1982
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
32 | "An Honourable Member" | Donald Brittain | Roy MacGregor | Fiona Reid, Don Francks, Eric House | February 28, 1982 |
Trish Baldwin, a backbench Member of Parliament, is named to the Cabinet of Canada but struggles to balance her political ambitions with her personal integrity when she has to defend a major government project in her riding to which she is personally opposed.[19] | |||||
33 | "By Reason of Insanity" | Donald Shebib | David McLaren | Patricia Collins, John Wildman, Hrant Alianak | March 7, 1982 |
Psychiatrists try to evaluate whether or not an accused murderer is insane.[20] | |||||
34 | "High Card" | Bill Gough | Anna Sandor | Chuck Shamata, Celine Lomez, Helen Hughes | March 14, 1982 |
A photographer gets himself into financial trouble by overusing his credit cards.[21] | |||||
35 | "Becoming Laura" | Martin Lavut | Gordon Knot | Jennifer Jewison, Tom McCamus, Shelley Thompson | March 21, 1982 |
A troubled teenager tries to establish her identity.[22] | |||||
36 | "Blind Faith" | John Trent, Jack Nixon-Browne | Ian Sutherland, Edward Cullen | Sneezy Waters, Florence Paterson, Peter MacNeill, Martha Burns | March 28, 1982 |
Marge Aylesworth (Paterson) inherits her late husband's horse racing business.[23] |
1983
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
37 | "Ready for Slaughter" | Allan King | Roy MacGregor | Gordon Pinsent, Diana Belshaw, Layne Coleman, Booth Savage | March 6, 1983 |
A farmer struggles to hold onto his business despite his increasing financial debt.[24] | |||||
38 | "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" | Zale Dalen | Nicholas Campbell, Robert Joy, John Wildman | March 13, 1983 | |
39 | "Reasonable Force" | Peter Rowe | Brian Kit McLeod, Peter Lower | Deepa Mehta, Abdul Merali, Lee Taylor | March 20, 1983 |
An Indo-Canadian family in Vancouver struggles to deal with racism.[25] | |||||
40 | "Moving Targets" | John Trent | Allan Royal | March 27, 1983 | |
1984
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
41 | "Kate Morris, Vice President" | Danièle Suissa | John C. W. Saxton | Kate Trotter, Scott Hylands | February 19, 1984 |
A woman struggles to be taken seriously in her business career.[26] | |||||
42 | "I Love a Man in Uniform" | Don McBrearty | John Frizzell | Tom Butler, Denis Forest, Dan MacDonald, Stephanie Morgenstern, Dixie Seatle, Timothy Webber, Kenneth Welsh | February 26, 1984 |
43 | "Hide & Seek" | René Bonnière | Barry Wexler | Bob Martin, Ingrid Veninger, David Patrick, Alan Scarfe | March 4, 1984 |
Adaptation of Thomas J. Ryan's 1977 science fiction novel The Adolescence of P-1. | |||||
44 | "Slim Obsession" | Donald Shebib | Janet Kranz, Martin Langer | Susan Wright, Paul Kelman | March 11, 1984 |
45 | "Rough Justice" | Peter Yalden-Thomson | March 25, 1984 | ||
46 | "A Change of Heart" | Anne Wheeler | Joy Coghill, Ken James | April 1, 1984 | |
1985
Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
47 | "The Boy Next Door" | John Hunter | John Hunter | Chris Owens, Chapelle Jaffe, Michael Hogan | February 10, 1985 |
A mother struggles to cope with the behaviour of her troubled teenage son.[27] | |||||
48 | "Where the Heart Is" | Carol Moore Ede | Suzette Couture | Margo Kane, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Jackson | February 23, 1985 |
After divorcing from her white husband, an indigenous woman discovers that she has lost her First Nations status.[27] | |||||
49 | "The Front Line" | Douglas Jackson | Ken Mitchell | Brent Carver, Monique Mercure | March 3, 1985 |
An activist priest encourages his congregation to protest a local factory which is manufacturing parts for military equipment.[27] | |||||
50 | "Tools of the Devil" | Peter Yalden-Thomson | Don Truckey | Marc Strange, Heath Lamberts | March 10, 1985 |
A journalist (Strange) tries to investigate the secret agenda of a politician (Lamberts).[28] | |||||
51 | "The Exile" | Gordon Pinsent | Michael Mercer | Denis Akiyama, Robert Ito, Hiroshi Nakashimi, Jim McLarty | September 15, 1985 |
Three generations of a Japanese Canadian family deal with the ongoing consequences of the Japanese Canadian internment in World War II.[29] |
References
- Henley, Gail (April 1985). "On the record: For the Record's 10 distinctive years". Cinema Canada: 18–21. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- "Lightyears ahead". Cinema Canada, March 1977.
- Collins, Richard (1990). "National culture; or, Where is here?". Culture, Communication and National Identity: The Case of Canadian Television. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802027334. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- MacVicar, Bill (1 March 1982). "Reach for the topical". Maclean's. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- "Everything but reality in TV show". The Globe and Mail, February 5, 1976.
- "Important' CBC drama still dreary". The Globe and Mail, February 27, 1976.
- "Dynamo filmmaker with a patriot's passion: For Peter Pearson the only word is win". The Globe and Mail, March 13, 1976.
- "TV drama explores union organizing". Toronto Star, January 4, 1977.
- "Docu-dramas: reality meets fiction". The Globe and Mail, January 15, 1977.
- "TV choice". Toronto Star, January 22, 1977.
- "Jutra brings warmth, humanity to mental hospital drama". The Globe and Mail, February 5, 1977.
- "Reality of rape in CBC drama". The Globe and Mail, January 28, 1978.
- "CBC's slick journalistic drama carries a Hollywood trademark". The Globe and Mail, February 11, 1978.
- "Has docu-drama gone too far?". The Globe and Mail, March 11, 1978.
- "Prison show deserves at least a life sentence". The Globe and Mail, December 3, 1978.
- "Cementhead is minor league". The Globe and Mail, February 17, 1979.
- "Tangled tale tedious". The Globe and Mail, March 17, 1979.
- "Shamata to play in CBC TV drama". The Globe and Mail, July 16, 1980.
- "Fiona Reid enters the political arena". The Globe and Mail, February 27, 1982.
- "Trained shrinks sent in to score for the defence: Does insanity excuse murder?". The Globe and Mail, March 6, 1982.
- "Failure of comic touches deals High Card a fatal blow". The Globe and Mail, March 13, 1982.
- "Torturers and the tortured go on record in TV special". The Globe and Mail, March 20, 1982.
- "Sneezy Waters won't let success go to his head". The Globe and Mail, November 26, 1983.
- "Pinsent's past helped with role in farm drama". Broadcast Week, March 5, 1983.
- Carlo Coppola, "Reviewed Work: "Reasonable Force". Television drama for the series "For the Record," by BRIAN KIT MCLEOD, PETER LOWER". Journal of South Asian Literature Vol. 21, No. 1, SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN WRITERS: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE (Winter, Spring 1986), pp. 181-185.
- "In black and white". The Globe and Mail, February 18, 1984.
- "Record shows rare gems, many duds". The Globe and Mail, February 23, 1985.
- "Producer knows how to use 'tools' of trade". The Globe and Mail, March 9, 1985.
- "Pinsent proves again that he can do it all". Broadcast Week, September 7, 1985.