''Background'' was a Canadian journalistic television 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 ...

from 1959 to 1962.

Premise

The series was an in-depth review of current news items. It replaced CBC's previous Sunday night journalistic series ''This Week''. It looked at the week's stories in more detail and was a forerunner to

This Hour Has Seven Days ''This Hour Has Seven Days'' was a CBC Television news magazine that ran from 1964 to 1966, offering viewers in-depth analysis of the major social and political stories of the previous week. The show, inspired by the BBC and NBC-TV satire seri ...

. Its first season was hosted by University of Saskatchewan political science professor Rick Hart. Hart, however, was inexperienced in broadcasting and left the series after the first season. The series was led in following seasons by a selection of journalists and analysts who included Arnold Beichman, Alistair Cooke, Philip Deane, Robert Fulford, Robert McKenzie,

Michael Maclear Michael Maclear, OC (1929 – December 25, 2018) was an award-winning Anglo-Canadian journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former correspondent for various CBC programs and for CTV's '' W5''. He is the great-great-grand-nephew of South African ...

and Malcolm Muggeridge. Documentaries featured on ''Background'' included features on various world regions, the United Nations, and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer.

Douglas Leiterman Douglas Leiterman (1927 - 2012) was a Canadian television producer. Early life Douglas Stone Leiterman was born in 1927 in South Porcupine, Ontario. In 1945, before his 18th birthday, he joined the Canadian Merchant Navy and became Second Mate o ...

produced "The Critical Years", a series within the ''Background'' series, for the final 1961–1962 seasons of the series.

Production

''Background'' was produced by Cliff Solway, who complained of difficulty finding guests who could provide a sufficiently forceful presentation for the show.

Scheduling

For its first season, the series aired Sundays at 11:15 p.m. in a 25-minute time slot from 5 July 1959 to 26 June 1960. The next season, this was adjusted to a 20-minute time slot starting at 11:20 p.m. from 9 October 1960 to 1 January 1961. ''Background'' expanded to a 30-minute time slot at 10:00 p.m. Sundays from 19 February to 25 June 1961. In 1962, the series was randomly scheduled.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Background (Tv Series) CBC Television original programming 1959 Canadian television series debuts 1962 Canadian television series endings Black-and-white Canadian television shows