''Bits and Bytes'' was the name of two Canadian educational

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

produced by

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

that taught the basics of how to use a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

. The first series, made in 1983, starred

Luba Goy Luba Goy ( uk, Люба Ґой; born November 8, 1945) is a Canadian actress, comedian and one of the stars of ''Royal Canadian Air Farce''. Life and career Goy was born in Haltern, Germany, to Ukrainian parents and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Ca ...

as the Instructor and

Billy Van William Allan Van Evera (11 August 1934 – 8 January 2003), known by the stage name Billy Van, was a Canadian comedian, actor, and singer. Biography Van was born in Toronto, Ontario, and dropped out of Bloor Collegiate Institute in Grade ...

as the Student. ''Bits and Bytes 2'' was produced in 1991 and starred

as the Instructor and Victoria Stokle as the Student. The Writer-Producers of both ''Bits and Bytes'' and ''Bits and Bytes 2'' were Denise Boiteau & David Stansfield.

Title sequence

The intro sequence featured a montage of common computer terms such as "ERROR", "LOGO" and "ROM", as well as various snippets of simple computer graphics and video effects, accompanied by a theme song that very heavily borrows from the 1978 song "Neon Lights" by

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

."Six Toronto TV shows ahead of their time"
''Toronto Star'', by Ed Conroy, March 25, 2016

Series format

The first series featured an unusual presentation format whereby Luba Goy as the instructor would address Billy Van through a remote video link. The video link would appear to Luba who was seated in an office on a projection screen in front of her. She was then able to direct Billy, who appeared on a soundstage with various desktop computer setups of the era. Popular systems emphasized included the

Atari 800 The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE ...

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor, an ...

, Tandy

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

, and

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

. Each episode also included short animated vignettes to explain key concepts, as well as videotaped segments on various developments in computing. In 1983 TVOntario included the show's episodes as part of a correspondence course. The original broadcasts on TVOntario also had a companion series, ''The Academy'', that was scheduled immediately afterward in which ''Bits and Bytes'' technology consultant,

Jim Butterfield Frank James "Jim" Butterfield (14 February 1936 – 29 June 2007), was a Toronto-based computer programmer, author, and television personality known for his work with early microcomputers. He is particularly noted for associations with Commodore ...

, appeared as co-host to further elaborate on the concepts introduced in the main series.

''Bits and Bytes 2''

In the second ''Bits and Bytes'' series, produced almost a decade later, Billy Van assumed the role of instructor and taught a new female student. The new series focused primarily on IBM PC compatibles (i.e. Intel-based 286 or 386 computers) running DOS and early versions of Windows, as well as the newer and updated technologies of that era. For that series, a selection of the original's animated spots are reaired to illustrate fundamental computer technology principles along with a number of new spots to cover newly emerged concepts of computer technology such as advances in

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

and data management. Although the possibility of a ''Bits and Bytes 3'' was suggested at the end of the second series, TVOntario eventually elected instead to rebroadcast the

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crown co ...

computer series, ''Dotto's Data Cafe'', as a more economical and extensive production on the same subject.

Episodes (1983-84)

* Program 1: Getting Started * Program 2: Ready-Made Programs * Program 3: How Programs Work? * Program 4: File & Data Management * Program 5: Communication Between Computers * Program 6: Computer Languages * Program 7: Computer-Assisted Instruction * Program 8: Games & Simulations * Program 9: Computer Graphics * Program 10: Computer Music * Program 11: Computers at Work * Program 12: What Next?

Episodes (1991)

* Program 1: Basics * Program 2: Words * Program 3: Numbers * Program 4: Files * Program 5: Messages * Program 6: Pictures

Crew

* Original Music - Harry Forbes, George Axon * Animation Voice - Fred Napoli * Animation - Grafilm Productions Inc. * Consultants -

, David Humphreys, Mike H. Stein, Jo Ann Wilton * Unit Manager - Rodger Lawson * Production Editors - Michael Kushner, Paul Spencer, Brian Elston, Doug Beavan * Production Assistant - George Pyron * Executive Producer - Mike McManus * Director - Stu Beecroft * Written & Produced by - Denise Boiteau and David Stansfield

References

External links

TVOntario's official (but incomplete) archive of the original series
via the Internet Archive'
Wayback Machine

Complete archive of the original series
on YouTube, including episodes and standalone clips of all of the animations and interviews * * {{IMDb title, title=Bits and Bytes 2, id=0212647

1983 Canadian television series debuts 1991 Canadian television series debuts TVOntario original programming Television shows filmed in Toronto Computer television series 1980s Canadian children's television series 1990s Canadian children's television series