This Hour Has Seven Days

This Hour Has Seven Days, a weekly television program which ran from 4 Oct 1964 to 8 May 1966. Produced by CBC public affairs, the show achieved unprecedented popularity through its combination of serious topical and satirical elements, fast-moving pace and occasionally unorthodox and innovative subject matter. Its success was also due to the strong appeal of hosts Laurier LAPIERRE, Patrick WATSON, John DRAINIE and Dinah Christie. Conceived and produced by Douglas Leiterman and Patrick Watson, it was directed deliberately at a mass audience and borrowed many of its techniques from light entertainment. At the same time, the program earned the respect of the audience by presenting 9 hour-long documentary films of considerable depth and substance, such as Beryl Fox's The Mills of Gods about Vietnam (Dec 1965). From the beginning, CBC management raised questions about journalistic procedures which were judged to be crusading and sensationalist. The tensions came to a climax in Apr 1966 and led to a major crisis which was defused on May 1 when PM Pearson appointed Stuart Keate, publisher of the Vancouver Sun, to study the conflict and make recommendations. Negotiations for the continuation of the program for the next season collapsed in July 1966 when Reeves Haggan, head of CBC public affairs, resigned.

See also Dinah CHRISTIE in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.