''Toby'' was a Canadian

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

, which aired on CBC Television in the 1968-69 television season. The show starred Susan Petrie as Toby Mitchell, a teenage girl juggling her family life and her friendship with

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the 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 one of the thirtee ...

exchange student J. J. Roberge ( Robert Duparc). The show also starred Arch McDonnell and Micki Moore as Toby's parents, and Peter Young as her younger brother Mark. Although the show aired during a period of great social change, the show was somewhat of a throwback to an earlier era, depicting Toby as relatively innocent and traditional. The ''

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 pa ...

'' described the show as "Canada's own

Gidget Gidget () is a fictional character created by author Frederick Kohner (based on his teenaged daughter, Kathy) in his 1957 novel, ''Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas''. The novel follows the adventures of a teenaged girl and her surfing fri ...

". Petrie herself commented to the ''Star'' that "Toby is supposed to be the perfect teenager. I'm not sure I believe her yet.... You know, I would like to tell it like it is. Toby is the type of girl who will go to college, marry the guy she meets in English 345, arrange flowers, be a good hostess — and raise more Tobys." The show was not particularly successful, and was not renewed for a second season.

External links

Queen's University Directory of CBC Television Series
via archive.org) 1968 Canadian television series debuts 1969 Canadian television series endings 1960s Canadian teen sitcoms CBC Television original programming Television series about families Television series about teenagers Television shows set in Ontario {{Canada-comedy-tv-prog-stub