Does Canada Have Original Daytime Soaps?

[JackPeyton]

Question....

Does Canada have any original daytime soaps? Or do they just broadcast American ones?

If they do not have any original ones, did they ever?

[ReddFoxx]

Strange Paradise aired from 1969-1970. There have been a few other daily soaps in Canada, but nothing really significant. Edit to add, Quebec does have something called Teleroman that seem to be popular http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A9l%C3%A9roman

[JackPeyton]

I wonder why. Esp since a lot of primetime shows and movies are filmed there.

[Adam]

We had Riverdale in the 90's.... it was at night. I think it was nightly? Or was it just weekly. I can't remember. Degrassi is about the closest thing to a soap Canada has now... but it was just weekly. Is it still even in production? As you can tell, I am behind on the status of my own country's t.v. How embarrassing.

[All My Shadows]

Degrassi is still on. Unfortunately. They should basically rename it "Degrassi: The Next Generation: The Next Generation" because they pretty much ditched the cast from the first 6-7 seasons and replaced them with new characters. I get that they want to keep the focus on the school, but snooooooze. They should have waited ten years like they did between the old show and the new show.

[JackPeyton]

I was talking about daytime soaps...

but i disagree. I love the new next gen cast, and they have enough of the older ones to add some to it. besides 90% of the actors were done after 8 years.

[All My Shadows]

IDK...it's not really the "new" people as much as it's the people who were introduced a few seasons ago, like Mia, Holly, Sav, etc. The freshmen are interesting, even though Darcy's little sis is dull. The Riley/Peter thing is good, but a little weird (don't even get me started on the one where Riley hooks up with that guy in the woods!).

I think there was a Canadian daytime soap in the 60s. "Scarlett Hill" something-or-other.

[MarkH]

So Wikipedia says this: (it's a bit complex, because not all of these were daily or daytime...but it's fair to say most of them were serial dramas).

The bigger point to take away from this is the DURATION of each of these soaps. It is hard to find one that ran for more than two seasons.

There are several reasons: (a) Canadians, notoriously, watch American television more...so it is hard to get a sufficient audience; ( In part, that is because Canadians get access to the US signal, and did in a fairly unfettered way during the formative years of television, and that set the Canadian appetitie; © Per se, the cost of producing an hour of soap is going to be pretty much the same in the US and Canada (Canadian productions are usually cheaper)...but Canada has one-tenth the population of the US...so it is hard to sustain these productions economically; (d) Many Canadian soaps, then, relied on international co-productions...and those notoriously fall apart; (e) owing to the lower budget of Canadian soaps, MOST of them have been dreck...I mean total awful sh*t...I mean near unwatcheable...I mean worse than Passions on its most eye-rolling day (and not even with that winking sense of humor).

In the end, a proud Canadian boy for exactly the first half of my life (to date), I was glued to Y&R from the time I was 8. Most Canadian soap viewers loved Another World. We were weaned on "the best"...so it was hard to compete.

• 1-11 Cameras (2006)
• 2-49th & Main (2006)
• 3-The Best Years (2007-present)
• 4-Black Harbour (1996-1999)
• 5-The City (1999-2000)
• 6-Degrassi (1983-1986, 1987-1989, 1989-1991, 1992, 2001-present)
• 7-Edgemont (2001-2005)
• 8-E.N.G. (1988-1994)
• 9-Falcon Beach (2006-2007)
• 10-Family Passions (1993-1994)
• 11-High Hopes (1978)
• 12-Metropia (2004-2006)
• 13-Moccasin Flats (2003-Present)
• 14-MVP (2008)
• 15-North of 60 (1992-1997)
• 16-North/South (2006)
• 17-Paradise Falls (2001-present)
• 18-Riverdale (1997-2000)
• 19-Train 48 (2003-2005)
• 20-Scarlett Hill (1962-1964)
• 21-Strange Paradise (1969-1970)
• 22-Street Legal (1987-1994)
• 23-Time of Your Life (1988-1989)
• 24-Whistler (2006-2007)
• 25-Loving Friends and Perfect Couples (1983)
• 26-Country Joy (1979)

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Strange Paradise is where Harding Lemay got his soap writing start, isn't it?

[ReddFoxx]

Yes

[MarkH]

Strange Paradise, which I saw hundreds of times, was the most awful thing ever ever produced. The stills in the second slide show, which I can't tell if it is a parody, tell all you need to know.

From http://www.strangeparadise.net/spsummary.html

[SFK]

I saw some Strange Paradise at WoST and I liked it! I believe Grayson Hall was in it.

EDIT: According to imdb, Grayson wasn't in it so I'm not sure if my mind is playing Tudi Wiggins tricks on me...

[Southofnowhere]

What about Family Passions?

[MarkH]

See entry #10

[Cat]

It was Tudi... before she went to Love of Life to play Meg.

Tudi Wiggins was a goddess. But that Strange Paradise clip was woah.... bad.