''The Way It Is'' is a Canadian public affairs television program 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 1967 to 1969.

Premise

Following the cancellations of ''Close-Up'', ''Sunday'' and ''

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 ...

'', this new journalistic program occupied the traditional Sunday night current affairs time slot on CBC. The set included three screens which displayed images projected from behind.

Jan Tennant Jan Tennant (born 1937) is a Canadian television journalist. Early life Tennant was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1937, growing up in the High Park North neighbourhood, attended Runnymede Public School and Humberside Collegiate Institute, and then ...

was a script assistant who later became one of the network's announcers. Story editors included Barbara Amiel and Tim Kotcheff. John Saywell, a Toronto professor, hosted the program. Other presenters included Warren Davis, Peter Desbarats, Ken Lefolii, Percy Saltzman, Patrick Watson and Moses Znaimer.

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

was among the program's guests. The program often featured long-form documentaries. "Mr. Pearson", a profile of Prime Minister

Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian scholar, statesman, diplomat, and politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. Born in Newtonbrook, Ontario (now part of ...

, was originally completed in the mid-1960s. It was not broadcast until this program, after director Richard Ballentine made minor edits, added some narration and adjusted the audio mix.

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 ...

(''This Hour Has Seven Days'') produced "Fasten Your Seatbelts: A Report on Airline Safety" as a co-production with the US

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

Donald Shebib Donald Everett "Don" Shebib (born 27 January 1938) is a Canadian film director. Shebib is a central figure in the development of English Canadian cinema who made several short documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada and CBC Televisi ...

produced films such as "San Francisco Summer 1967" and " Good Times Bad Times" for the program.

Beryl Fox Beryl Fox (born December 10, 1931) is a Canadian documentary film director and film producer. Biography Fox was born in 1931 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating from the University of Toronto she was hired by the CBC and worked there from ...

's documentary "Vietnam, Last Reflections on a War" was also featured.

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

wrote a theme son
(page 5)
''The Way It Is'' was cancelled in 1969 by Knowlton Nash when he became chief of the CBC's news and public affairs.

Scheduling

This hour-long program was broadcast on Sundays at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern). Its first season ran from 24 September 1967 to 23 June 1968, then its second season was from 29 September 1968 to 29 June 1969.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Way It Is, The (Tv program) 1967 Canadian television series debuts 1969 Canadian television series endings 1960s Canadian television news shows CBC Television original programming