The first in a line of shows coming out of CBC TV’s new retro production department, Jimmy MacDonald’s Canada, a hit show from 1964 that fanned pro-monarchy, anti-youth culture sentiments, will be resurrected as an eight-episode series debuting on June 12 at 11 p.m. This time around, the mockumentary by the same name will be using 75% news and documentary footage from the ’60s. Actor Richard Waugh will play the title role.
Jimmy MacDonald’s Canada will cover a different subject matter each week beginning with rock ‘n’ roll on June 12. Other topics in the pipe include technology, fashion and food. Joining Waugh is veteran comic Teresa Pavlinek who plays a prissy columnist. ‘I believe this show is aimed at a psychographic more so than at a demographic, ‘ explains Maria Mironowicz, head of the retro production department. ‘I think it appeals to the curious, to anyone interested in archives, or to people who just want to see what it was like before.’ Other shows slated for a mid-September debut include Pop-Up Royals, a comic look at the Queen’s many tours of Canada with Scott Thompson hosting in character as Her Majesty; a one-hour doc entitled John and Yoko Give Peace A Song, about their famous Montreal bed-in and two hour-long documentaries airing on CBC Newsworld called Extreme Weather.
