Seeing Things (TV series)
Seeing Things is a Canadian comedy-drama mystery television series which originally aired on CBC Television from 1981 to 1987. It was also seen in Europe, South Africa, Singapore, Spain, Australia and the United States.[1] In all, 43 episodes were produced. With the exception of "Seeing R.E.D." (90 minutes) episodes were one hour long.
| Seeing Things | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Mystery Comedy-drama |
| Created by | David Barlow Louis Del Grande |
| Written by | David Barlow Louis Del Grande |
| Directed by | George McCowan |
| Starring | Louis Del Grande Janet-Laine Green Martha Gibson |
| Composer(s) | Philip Schreibman |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 43 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Robert Allen |
| Producer(s) | David Barlow Louis Del Grande |
| Production location(s) | Toronto |
| Cinematography | Nikos Evdemon |
| Editor(s) | Vincent Kent |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Production company(s) | CBC |
| Distributor | CBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBC Television |
| Original release | 15 September 1981 – 15 May 1987 |
The show starred Louis Del Grande as Louis Ciccone, a newspaper journalist who solves murders with the help of postcognitive visions. Louis can only control this ability by investigating clues given in a vision. (In some episodes, such as "Seeing the Country", he is able to stop visions from entering his mind.) Only when he discovers new information will further visions occur, which provide increasingly more detail until they finally reveal the murderer.
Del Grande (formerly an actor, writer, and co-producer of the hit sitcom The King of Kensington) was also the show's creator and writer.
The show also starred Del Grande's real-life wife Martha Gibson[1] as Ciccone's ex-wife Marge, who, even though she and Louie were separated, continued to help him with his cases. Marge even drove Louie around town (Louie, like Del Grande in real life, was too hyper to get a driver's license), though she initially rejected Louie's desire to rekindle their relationship (they finally became a couple again in the show's final season). Del Grande and Gibson were married, then divorced in real life; they had re-wed just before the series started.
The supporting cast included Janet-Laine Green as crown attorney Heather Redfern, as well as Frank Adamson, Lynne Gordon, Ivan Beaulieu, Murray Westgate, Louis Negin and Cec Linder.
Seeing Things was a hit, and guest-starred several celebrities, such as Ronnie Hawkins, Bruno Gerussi, Gordon Pinsent and Karen Kain. Another notable appearance is by Mark McKinney of The Kids in the Hall, who played a character working in a morgue in the episode "Different Point of View". The show won several awards. In 1983, Del Grande won an ACTRA Award for Best Actor in a Television Drama, and Sheldon Chad won an ACTRA award for Best Writer Television Drama for the episode "Seeing Double".
In Canada, it aired on Sunday evenings, typically drawing 1.1 million viewers. In the United States, it was broadcast by PBS.[1]
At the time it first aired, it was the "most successful home-grown program in Canada".[1]
Episode list
Season 1: 1981
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "I May Be Seeing Things, But I'm Not Crazy" | 15 September 1981 |
| 2 | 2 | "Sight Unseen" | 22 September 1981 |
| 3 | 3 | "A Charming Sight" | 29 September 1981 |
Season 2: 1982
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | "An Eye for an Eye" | 20 October 1982 |
| 5 | 2 | "Looking Back" | 27 October 1982 |
| 6 | 3 | "Seeing Double" | 3 November 1982 |
| 7 | 4 | "Through the Looking Glass" | 10 November 1982 |
| 8 | 5 | "Eyes Too Big for His Stomach" | 17 November 1982 |
| 9 | 6 | "Evil Eye" | 24 November 1982 |
| 10 | 7 | "Hear No Evil, See No Evil" | 1 December 1982 |
| 11 | 8 | "In the Eyes of the Law" | 8 December 1982 |
Season 3: 1984
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 1 | "Seeing R.E.D." | 15 January 1984 |
| 13 | 2 | "Someone Is Watching" | 22 January 1984 |
| 14 | 3 | "I'm Looking Through You" | 29 January 1984 |
| 15 | 4 | "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" | 5 February 1984 |
| 16 | 5 | "Snow Blind" | 12 February 1984 |
| 17 | 6 | "An Eye on the Future" | 19 February 1984 |
| 18 | 7 | "Second Sight" | 26 February 1984 |
| 19 | 8 | "Looking Good" | 4 March 1984 |
Season 4: 1985
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 1 | "Fortune and Ladies' Eyes" | 3 February 1985 |
| 21 | 2 | "Seeing the Country" | 10 February 1985 |
| 22 | 3 | "You Can't Believe Your Eyes" | 17 February 1985 |
| 23 | 4 | "Defective Vision" | 24 February 1985 |
| 24 | 5 | "Eye in the Sky: Part 1" | 3 March 1985 |
| 25 | 6 | "Eye in the Sky: Part 2" | 10 March 1985 |
| 26 | 7 | "I'll Be Seeing You" | 17 March 1985 |
| 27 | 8 | "Blind Alley" | 24 March 1985 |
Season 5: 1986
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 1 | "The Walls Have Eyes" | 26 January 1986 |
| 29 | 2 | "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" | 2 February 1986 |
| 30 | 3 | "If Looks Could Kill" | 9 February 1986 |
| 31 | 4 | "The Eyes of Ra" | 16 February 1986 |
| 32 | 5 | "I'm Dancing with Stars in My Eyes" | 23 February 1986 |
| 33 | 6 | "Optical Illusion" | 2 March 1986 |
| 34 | 7 | "Look at Me, Look at Me" | 9 March 1986 |
| 35 | 8 | "That Hang Dog Look" | 16 March 1986 |
Season 6: 1987
| Nº | Ep | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 1 | "Here's Looking at You" | 24 February 1987 |
| 37 | 2 | "Eye of the Beholder" | 3 March 1987 |
| 38 | 3 | "Spectacle of India" | 10 March 1987 |
| 39 | 4 | "Another Point of View" | 17 March 1987 |
| 40 | 5 | "The Naked Eye" | 24 March 1987 |
| 41 | 6 | "Bull's-Eye" | 31 March 1987 |
| 42 | 7 | "Gifted Pupils" | 7 April 1987 |
| 43 | 8 | "A Vision in White" | 15 May 1987 |
References
- Kaufman, Michael T. (21 May 1984). "American mystery series for Canadian TV a hit". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
Further reading
- Berger, Nadine (1 February 1985). "Keeping an eye on Seeing Things creator Louis Del Grande" (Interview). CBC. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- Ruddy, Jon (19 September 1981). "Second-sighted star". TV Guide.
- Miller, Mary Jane (2011). Turn Up the Contrast: CBC Television Drama since 1952. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774843218.