''City Limits'' is a Canadian

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, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

, which aired on

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television ...

and later

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, ...

in the 1980s and 1990s."Catching up with old VJs: Much Music alumni create new careers". ''

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, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The news ...

'', December 24, 2002. The program premiered on CITY-TV in 1983, as an overnight series on Friday and Saturday nights. Hosted by

Christopher Ward Christopher Ward may refer to: * Christopher Ward (British politician) (born 1942), British solicitor and Conservative Party politician * Christopher Ward (conductor) (born 1980), British conductor * Christopher Ward (entomologist) (1836–1900), E ...

,"Rock music and CITY go together". ''

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 ...

'', August 25, 1984. the series originally featured a cross-genre mix of interviews, music news, comedy sketches and

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

s, and was essentially the prototype for MuchMusic's overall format. During this era,

Mike Myers Michael John Myers OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywoo ...

made several appearances on the program as Wayne Campbell, the character he would later take to ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' in the ''

Wayne's World "Wayne's World" was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live''. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" (1987) on the CBC Television series '' It's Only Rock & Roll'', as the main charact ...

'' sketches. After MuchMusic debuted in 1984, the program initially continued as a daily magazine series on the network, but soon became a weekly series with its daily mandate taken over by ''Rockflash''. As a weekly series, its focus shifted more toward

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alternative metal *Chris ...

and experimental programming, and its timeslot shifted first to Sunday afternoons and later back to Fridays at midnight. With this programming shift, Ward left the show and it was then hosted by

Kim Clarke Champniss Kim Clarke Champniss is a Canadian television personality and musician, best known as a VJ for MuchMusic during the 1980s. Background Kim was born in Bahrain and raised in London, England."Music puts glow in his eye now". '' Windsor Star'', Febru ...

, and finally by Simon Evans."MuchMusic 'restructuring' taking its toll". ''

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 par ...

'', November 4, 1994. In 1990, the program devoted a special episode to the annual

CASBY Awards The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The a ...

ceremony. In 1991, MuchMusic's programming committee determined that the program's late-night timeslot made it acceptable for the program to play Mitsou's video for "Dis-moi, dis-moi", which had otherwise been banned from rotation on the network as it featured considerable

nudity Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...

, although as a mainstream pop song incompatible with the show's format the program never played it. In 1992, MuchMusic introduced the daily alternative rock series '' The Wedge''. At this time ''City Limits'' shifted its focus further, with ''The Wedge'' playing the most popular alternative rock hits while ''City Limits'' played more underground and independent videos."$2,000 video is underground hit; Two Montrealers' Spotting Layton displays beat-poet style". ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of t ...

'', June 3, 1995. The program was cancelled in 1995, soon after Evans moved into a production role with the network and ceased appearing as an on-air host.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:City Limits (Tv Series) Citytv original programming Much (TV channel) original programming Canadian late-night television programming 1983 Canadian television series debuts 1995 Canadian television series endings 1980s Canadian music television series 1990s Canadian music television series