Soaps in Canada

[Skylover]

I've been monitoring Neighbours on Amazon, and I've noticed that it isn't appearing in the Top 10 in Canada despite being available on Amazon Prime there. I did some reading into soaps in Canada, and it appears there have never been any long-term soaps in Canada, and they've relied on imports. Is Canada just not a soap-watching nation then? I was wondering how imported soaps have fared there over the years. I hope Neighbours does start to pick up a bit of an audience there, but I feel that is unlikely.

[te.]

I'd assume the audience size in Canada might not have made it financially possible to produce a long-running daytime soap, especially with part of the country being French-speaking? I'm guessing that's why attempts to produce soaps like Strange Paradise were syndicated in the US.

Paradise Falls is on YouTube at least...

[kalbir]

Y&R is huge in Canada and has been since the 1970s.

Another World was popular in Canada from the 1970s until the very end. It's following remained in Canada even though it was in the lower tier ratings-wise in the United States during the final 20 years.

Edited September 30, 2023 by kalbir

[beebs]

We watch soaps, but as they've said upthread, we relied mostly on imports, I think less due to financials rather than how easy it is to just air American and British soaps.

 

Y&R has always been HUGE here, helped by it airing a day ahead and in late afternoon (usually 4 or 4:30pm ET). As @kalbir said, AW was massive up here, and I read an article that also mentioned that Texas had also been a huge hit up here, topping the ratings for many weeks early on. I do remember AMC airing for many many years on CBC to great success (I believe CBC began carrying it in 1982, though it may have begun earlier), and EON for many years as well, though i couldn't tell you how successful it was. Global aired DAYS for decades as well, but that ended when the show went to Peacock. I believe it airs on cable now.

There's also a sizeable audience for British soaps, Coronation St. has been quite popular on CBC for years, and Emmerdale as well, to a lesser extent.

We've made attempts of our own, obviously. I remember reading that CBC Radio aired a version of Search For Tomorrow in 1957, with DAYS' Corrine Conley playing Jo. As far as I know, it's still in their archive. Obviously we tried again on TV with High Hopes in the 70s, but again, nothing long-term. I think our biggest problem was that we didn't jump on the train early enough on, relying so heavily on American shows, it's quite a missed opportunity.

[Skylover]

Thanks for the replies

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 I would have liked to see a Canadian soap air long term. 

[Liberty City]

I've always been shocked Canada has not produced its own original daytime soap opera; I feel like it would be something worth investing in.

[kalbir]

Eileen Davidson interview from early 1983 where she talks about Y&R popularity in Canada.

Marla Adams and Tracey Bregman appearance at 1985 Children's Miracle Network Telethon in Toronto.

 

[dc11786]

There has been a history of attempts to develop a Canadian soap opera, but they haven't produced long term results. The ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Scarlet Hill: around 1963-1964, this show was launched initially as an anthology series featuring week long stories and some recurring players. I think this format went on for about 26 weeks. Around the summer of 1964, the show shifted to a single continuing story format set in the boarding house run by Kate Russell, with her daughter Ginny, her brother Harry MacClane, and the tenants at Kate's boarding house. I have a week's worth of scripts from this version of the show. The show maintained the practice of having a single write a week's worht of episodes. I haven't viewed the scripts in a while, but I believe the main thrust was on some female character (possibly Ginny) having recently miscarried her baby and the impact it was having on her engagement to one of the tenants, who wasn't the child's father, but had agreed to raise the child as his own. The new format may have run slightly longer than the first, but I don't think so.  

Moment of Truth: In 1965, this show was produced in Canada and aired both on NBC and I believe the CBC or some other station in Canada. The show was about a college town where Douglas Watson played the central lead. He was a psychiatrist, I believe, and his friends, family, colleagues, and patients made up a bulk of the story. This show ran for under a year.

House of Pride: this was developed as a twice a week, thirteen week serial that was suppose to premier in the fall of 1974, before being shifted to January, 1975, before premiering in September, 1974, in a once-a-week format despite being produced as a twice-a-week show. This ran for at least one season of 26 episodes and a second season. I've been doing some research today because of this thread, and this was very intriguing. The storyline followed the expansive Pride family who had branches living throughout Canada. Each branch filmed their story in their respective regional television center and then teh show was edited together. The opening storyline saw the patriarch, Old Dan Pride, passing away and the ensuing fight for the family's ancestral property, the House of Pride of the center. One of the brothers, Ross Pride, a politician, was looking to sell it to land developers. The show had some initial positive reviews despite fears that it would end up like another Canada drama series, "The Whiteoaks of Jalna."

What is interesting about my research, in regards to this thread, is the point is made how Canadian television has historically struggled to develop dramas in general. Also, there was a big push for regional television production in each province, which meant that resources were split around the country. This may have been one of the reasons that there were problems with developing a homegrown show. 

High Hopes: Most people are aware of this one. I think about six months of episodes between April and September 1978 were produced and part of a syndication deal in the United States. The storyline featured a lot of mini-stories with the patients that Dr. Neal Chapman (Bruce Gray) treated including Dorothy Malone playing a mother of a woman who struggled with Malone's remarriage. The more interesting tale involved Neal's daughter, who was actually the illegitimate daughter of the girl's "Aunt" Paula. Paula was looking to reconnect with her former lover, Michael Stewart. Michael was Jessie Chapman's biological father and a well to do businessman. His neurotic wife Norma Stewart was a patient of Neal's after losing her daughter within the past few years. A friendship was developing between Jessie and the Stewart family unaware of the connection. 

In some of the articles about High Hopes, there is mention how the production facilities weren't really in place for a soap opera in Canada and that they had made one of the characters, Neal's love interest Trudy Bowen, a talk show host with the high hopes of repurposing the set for an actual talk show to justify the costs of the production studio. 

Country Joy: This obscure entry was on for about two seasons. Different articles suggest that the show was anywhere from 8 to 17 episodes in its first season. Also, I think it may have only played in part of the country in its first run and it aired once a week at night. The second season aired daily between November 17, 1979, and January 4, 1980, or something like that. The thrust of the story was on the second marriage of Dick Brugencate to Joy and the reaction from his mother and two children from his previous marriage. 

33 Brompton Place: The next two entries are more steamy. This entry, from 1981 or 1982, was billed as a miniseries when it aired in Canada, though there seems to be hope they could have made it a contiuing series. There were about 5 or 6 episodes and the show was aire din the United States on Showtime under their adult anthology Romance which was a precursor to A New Day in Eden and the next entry...

Loving Friends, Perfect Couples: This Lorimar series was produced in Canada and aired on Showtime. I believe there were about 130 episodes, but I don´t know if they all aired in the States or Canada for that matter. This premiered on Showtime in January, 1983, and I think aired similarly in Canada.

Mount Royal: In the mid-1980s, this attempt at a Canadian Dallas or Dynasty aired for a single season. it was about a wealthy family headed by Patrick Bauchau and Domini Blythe. The show's only season was more self-contained episodes, but I imagine the show would have been serialized had there been a second season. 

Foreign Affairs: This was a co-production with the Netherlands and partially filmed in South American. Set in a Canadian embassy in Buenos Aires, the political and sexual intrigue among the staff and their family played out for about 100 or so episodes. This aired around 1991 or so. It was also aired in the States on the Nostalgia channel. 

Family Passions: Another co-production with a German company, "Family Passions" featured a mix of Canadian, American, and I believe German actors. The show was developed by Jorn Winter and had Roscoe Born, Kin Shriner, and Roberta Biseau among its cast members. It is most notable for having a lesbian storyline and being an early (if not first) acting appearance for Hayden Christianson. The storyline involved with the wealthy Haller family who ran an automobile company with corporate offices in Canada and Germany. I don't know how long this one last but I feel like it was six to nine months. 

Riverdale: This show aired for about three season in the mid-to-late 90s.  I think it was an attempt at a "Coronation Street" style show. It aired two to three times a week. It was set in a surburban community. I believe a single episode is available on YouTube. 

Paradise Falls: Another steamy nighttime soap. This one was well known for including LGBTQIA+ characers. I think the grandson of the mayor was involved in an affair with another man and he remained a major character for most of the show's run. 

Metropia: This showed aired on Omni in the early 2000s. It was initially a daily show that aired for 65 episodes in its first season. It was set in a large urban environment (it may have been Toronto). The storylines were also heavy into the sexual conquests of the show's main characters. Most noteable to me was the affair between a South East Asian man and the brother of the woman he was suppose to marry in an arranged marriage. A second season was produced of something like 13 episodes before entering into a rerun cycle and never returning. 

I'm sure I have forgotten some, but I figured this is a good jumping off point. 

 

[Bright Eyes]

In my early teens (looking it up it was 2003-05) there was a show called Train 48. I never watched it myself, but it took place on the train where a lot of the dialogue was improvised.

[DRW50]

Thanks @dc11786 for the detailed list. I'd never heard of several of those. 

I'm not sure if they count, but there were also a number of softcore melodramas along the lines of a few you mentioned from the early '80s - one with Callan White and Page Fletcher, among others.

[Contessa Donatella]

As has been said AW & Texas were bigger in Canada than they were at home. In the 90s I was involved with several AW groups that were at least half made up of Canadians! From that I was also aware that Y&R was very big there. Beverlee McKinsey's best & most candid interview, also the most entertaining, is her "City Lights" interview which is Canadian. She talks quite a bit about Canada & its fans & also the laws governing how much & when US actors can work in Canada & in England & vice versa. Here is the link for the interview. Oh, yes, I should say that Beverlee unintentionally perpetuates an error that we've worked at correcting, and that is the idea that she was the first daytime artist to receive star billing. In fact, she actually was the last. No one has had it since & there were 5 instances of it before her. 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Donna L. Bridges
point out error

[Forever8]

This episode of Riverdale has been online for years. Wish it was more of the episodes out there. 

Riverdale was created by Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stohn, best known, of course, for creating and producing the Degrassi franchise.

I instantly recognize Melissa DiMarco, who will go on to play Principal Hatziklakos for many years on Degrassi. And one of the older women played Aunt Agatha on the Canadian children's TV show Noddy, which I used to watch on TVOKids in Michigan growing up.

 

[cody_1990]

There are few other Riverdale episodes posted by that same user as the posted above episode. If you check their channel, you’ll see them. Riverdale was a very interesting concept for Canadian television. The Degrassi team built a whole backlot “community” which included a mall set with many Canadian brand stores. They tried to make it as realistic as possible. Their definite goal was to make Riverdale the “Coronation Street” of Canada. The set also had a corner shop, homes and such. They even brought over one of Corrie’s big name directors to help with the first few episodes. The goal was to produce 2 half hour episodes a week, but CBC was very hesitant. The first season was 22 one hour episodes, which were broken up and re-broadcast in half hour increments.

I remember reading an article at the time of its launch. Linda Schuyler stated the show cost about $500,000 per episode to produce, but claimed they could cut that cost in half the longer they went on because of the permanent sets and a smaller cast. The show started out with strong ratings, but settled to about 700,000 viewers a week for the rest of its run. Not horrible for Canadian television, but not what CBC had hoped after making such a financial investment. The show was canceled in 2000 after producing 47 one hour episodes (94 half hour). It was a real shame.

I think had the show had better writers and more of a commitment from the network it could have been a real hit. The production and cast were really good. I remember the show ended with a cliffhanger. One of its main characters Stephanie, the wife of the shows villain was floating face down in a pool after taking to many pills when all her deep dark secrets came out (which included a sex tape, as seen in the episode above and the revelation that she ran down her illegitimate daughter). Real soapy stuff. 

Another interesting tidbit was that after the show was canceled cable channel “Showcase” offered to co-produce more episodes, if CBC agreed to continue funding the show as well. Showcase was really interested in entering the soap opera market, but CBC declined, and that is what eventually lead to the creation of the above mentioned “Paradise Falls”. 
 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by cody_1990

[cody_1990]

Also, Another show to add to the roaster is an early 70s show titled “Paul Bernard, Psychiatrist”. While not a true soap opera in its format, it aired weekdays from 1971-1972 on CBC. Each episode revolved around a doctor-patient therapy session. Some of the patients were recurring, giving viewers a chance to follow their story. All the stories were based on actual case studies. I believe about 130 episodes were produced. From what I read the show had a very large following, and more episodes were planned, but a labour dispute at the time led to its cancellation. 

[Xanthe]

There was a weekly nighttime series in 1999-2000, made and set in Toronto, called The City and starring Torri Higginson that I thought of as a soap.