''Airwaves'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television

dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series, which aired on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in 1986 and 1987.

Plot

The Toronto-filmed show starred

Roberta Maxwell Roberta Farnham Maxwell (born June 17, 1941) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actress. Biography Maxwell began studying for the stage in her early teens. She joined John Clark (actor/director), John Clark for two years as the child co ...

as Jean Lipton, a radio talk show host and widowed mother, who lived with her daughter Zoe, played by

Ingrid Veninger Ingrid Veninger (born August 21, 1968) is a Canadian actress, writer, director, producer, and film professor at York University. Veninger began her career in show business as a child actor in commercials and on television; as a teen, she was fea ...

, and her father Bob, played by

Roland Hewgill Roland Hewgill (February 11, 1929 – November 9, 1998) was a Canadian actor."Hewgill began career in Stratford". ''The Globe and Mail'', November 13, 1998. Primarily a stage actor, most famously associated with the Stratford Festival, he also had ...

."Airwaves gets back to basics after reaching too far". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', February 27, 1987. Maxwell has indicated that Canadian journalist-activist

June Callwood June Rose Callwood, (June 2, 1924 – April 14, 2007) was a Canadian journalist, author and social activist. She was known as "Canada's Conscience". Callwood achieved acclaim and a loyal following for her articles and columns written for na ...

was a basis for her portrayal of Jean. The show's cast also included

Taborah Johnson Taborah Johnson, also known as Tabby Johnson, is a Canadian singer and actress. She is the sister of actor Clark Johnson and rock and jazz singer Molly Johnson. She began her career in the Toronto production of ''Hair'' as a teenager. She was su ...

, Alec Willows, and Kimble Hall. Writers for the series included

Judith Thompson Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canad ...

John Frizzell John B. Frizzell (born in Kingston, Ontario) is a Canadian screenwriter and film producer. After several years writing, directing and co-producing the documentary series ''A Different Understanding'' for TVOntario, Frizzell joined partners Niv Fic ...

, Susan Martin, Rob Forsythe,

Linda Svendsen Linda Svendsen (born Vancouver, 1954) is a Canadian screenwriter and author. Biography She has lived in her birth city for most of her life. Her works include many critically acclaimed short stories. Her stories were anthologized and published i ...

and

Paul Gross Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in Calgary, Alberta. Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series ''Due So ...

Production

Some of the early episodes were criticized as clunky, with Ross McLean of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' writing that the show seemed unsure of its identity, and even the producers later acknowledging that they had tried to fit too much into a half-hour show. The show was retooled slightly in its second season, with the writers getting a firmer grasp on the stories they wanted to tell and adding two new characters: Christopher Bolton in the role of Matt, Jean's nephew, and Patrick Rose as Dale, Jean's new coworker at the radio station. Critics responded favourably to the changes, with even McLean himself noting by 1987 that the show had significantly improved."Shaking down hosts and bolstering Airwaves". ''

'', March 21, 1987. The show was modestly successful, with an average audience of 850,000 viewers per week in its first season. and 761,000 viewers in its second."Snapped off". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', June 10, 1987. Although the CBC was willing to order a third season, the producers decided to end the series as they felt it was better to move on to other projects than to continue tinkering with a show that wasn't getting the ratings they wanted. However, CBC subsequently reran the first two seasons, outside of prime time, in 1990. The series was repeated on

Vision TV VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is currently owned by ZoomerMedia, a company ...

from 1989 to 1991."Year later, YTV and Vision TV mature". ''

'', September 6, 1989.

Episodes

Season one

Season two

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Airwaves (Tv Series) 1986 Canadian television series debuts 1987 Canadian television series endings 1980s Canadian comedy-drama television series CBC Television original programming Television shows set in Toronto Television shows filmed in Toronto Television series about radio Television series by Alliance Atlantis