Sidney M. Cohen 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 director A television director is in charge of the activities involved in making a television program or section of a program. They are generally responsible for decisions about the editorial content and creative style of a program, and ensuring the pro ...

specializing in live multi-camera productions requiring minimal editing and is also a TV program creator. Cohen was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

and began his career with

CFCF-TV CFCF-DT (channel 12) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Noovo flagship CFJP-DT (channel 35). Both stations share studios at the ...

and later

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- ...

. In 1967, he served on the administrative staff of

Expo '67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

(the World's Fair) in Montreal, associated with the TV division and worked with notable TV series, including ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

''. He relocated to Toronto at the conclusion of Expo '67 to join

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

Productions with TV game show pioneers

Dan Enright Daniel Enright (né Ehrenreich; August 30, 1917 – May 22, 1992) was an American television producer, primarily of game shows. Enright worked with Jack Barry from the 1940s until Barry's death in 1984. They were partners in creating programs for ...

and Jack Barry. This association began his quiz and game show career. Cohen spent 3 seasons in Ottawa producing and directing numerous series with the

CTV CTV may refer to: Television * Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet North America and South America * CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media ** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...

affiliate (

CJOH-TV CJOH-DT (channel 13) is a television station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, part of the CTV Television Network. It is owned and operated by network parent Bell Media alongside Pembroke-licensed CTV 2 outlet CHRO-TV (channel 5). Both stations share ...

, before returning to Montreal for 8 years, where he produced and directed for CFCF. In 1972, his first game show for CTV was '' Puppet People'', a series for children featuring live action and puppets interacting. He later produced and directed ''The Art of Cooking'' in 1974, the first of 9 cooking series he's directed. In 1976, Cohen started his independent production company Super People Productions, which created many successful TV series, including the hit game show ''

The Mad Dash ''The Mad Dash'' is a television game show created by Sidney M. Cohen (who hosted the pilot episode) which first appeared in 1978 on Canada's CTV network and ran until 1981. The series proved to be a family favourite based on Canada's BBM rating ...

'', which was revived for Polish TV in 2001. In 1979–80, he directed ''Say Powww'', a local adaptation of the ''

TV POWWW ''TV Powww'' (often stylized as ''TV POWWW'') was a franchised television game show format, in which home viewers controlled a video game via telephone in hopes of winning prizes. History The ''TV Powww'' format, produced and distributed by Fl ...

'' franchise in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, hosted by Jack Clark. Cohen returned to Toronto in 1981 to begin production of '' Thrill of a Lifetime'', one of TV's original reality series, telecast internationally and revived in 2002. Through the 1980s and 90s, he produced and directed 21 different series including ''

Midday Noon (or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for meridiem, literally 12:00 noon), 12 p.m. (for post meridiem, literally "after noon"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour clock) or 1200 (military time). Solar ...

'' for

, ''

Test Pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

'' for

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

, ''

TimeChase ''TimeChase'' was a history-based quiz show series created by Sidney M. Cohen and Jay R. Cohen originally telecast on Canada's History Television channel. Hosted by Sheldon Turcott, it featured questions based on decades in history. It was prod ...

'' a history quiz series, and ''

Just Like Mom ''Just Like Mom'' is a Canadian television game show which ran from 1980 to 1985 on CTV. A total of 595 episodes were taped at CFTO-TV Studios in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. It was hosted by Stephen Young during the show's fir ...

''. He directed the daytime Canadian coverage of the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

. He was also executive producer and director of ''

Canada AM ''Canada AM'' was a Canadian morning television news show that aired on CTV from 1972 to 2016. Its final hosts were Beverly Thomson and Marci Ien, with Jeff Hutcheson presenting the weather forecast and sports. The program aired on weekdays, an ...

'', CTV's TV morning news program. Another pet project included '' Porthole TV'', a show dedicated to

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours know ...

s, for international syndication; Sidney himself hosted many of the episodes, and a new series is in development. In 2007, Cohen directed his second season of the quiz series for the

TVtropolis DTour (styled as DTOUR) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel was originally established by Canwest in 1997 as Prime, a cable companion to Global with a general entertainment format focusi ...

Network, ''

Inside the Box ''Inside the Box'' is a Canadian television game show which debuted on September 18, 2006, on the cable network TVtropolis, and was syndicated in the United States by Program Partners in the 2008 television season. In the show, three contestan ...

''. In 2008, he directed his fifth season of '' Cooking with the Wolfman'' for APTN TV and directed ''@issue'', a current affairs series. In 2009, he produced and directed his 8th and final season of ''

Reach for the Top ''Reach for the Top'' (also known simply as ''Reach'') is a Canadian academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Matches are currently aired online through Reach ...

'' (Ontario), for

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 E ...

as well as the Canadian national final of the academic competition. In 2010, he produced and directed the debut season of ''Who'd You Rather?'' for Canada's mensTV channel and in 2012 completed season six of ''Cooking with the Wolfman'' for APTN TV. In 2014 Sidney completed 3 seasons of ''Accessibility in Action'', a lifestyle/magazine series featuring inspiring stories for Accessible Media's AMI-TV. He currently directs lifestyle programming and some episodes of ''

The Agenda ''The Agenda with Steve Paikin'', or simply ''The Agenda'', is the flagship current affairs television program of TVOntario (TVO), Ontario's public broadcaster. Anchor Steve Paikin states that the show practices long-form journalism. Each hour ...

with Steve Paikin'' for TVO. Sidney is married to Susan M. Cohen, a Toronto-based artist. They have 2 children, Jay Cohen, and

Tracy Cohen Tracy Cohen is a Canadian television producer. She has worked on numerous series including ''Kenny vs. Spenny'', ''Mayday'', ''Style Her Famous'', ''Superstar Hair Challenge'', ''Instant Beauty Pageant'', ''Three Takes'', ''Pop Cultured'', ''Se ...

and 2 beautiful grandchildren, Max and Maggie who are the best 2 grandchildren we could ask for. (Max was born in 2011 Maggie in 2013) This last part was added by Max.

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Sidney M. Canadian television directors Anglophone Quebec people Canadian Jews Mass media people from Montreal Expo 67 Living people Year of birth missing (living people)