Delilah (Canadian TV series)

Delilah is a Canadian situation comedy television series which aired on CBC Television from 1973 to 1974.

Delilah
Genresituation comedy
Written byBryan Barney
Directed byRon Meraska
Jack Sampson
StarringTerry Tweed
Miles McNamara
Barbara Hamilton
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
ProducerDavid Peddie
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkCBC Television
Release4 October 1973 (1973-10-04) –
3 January 1974 (1974-01-03)

Premise

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Delilah marked the CBC's first situation comedy in prime-time, having aired its previous sitcom Toby in daytime.[1]

Delilah (Terry Tweed) moves out of the city and becomes a small community's first female barber. Her barbershop was intended to be given to her younger brother Vincent (Miles McNamara), but he must first graduate from school.

Other series characters include Delilah's Aunt Peggy (Barbara Hamilton), the town's newspaper editor T.J. (Eric House), family friend Franny Tree (Peter Mews), Frances (Kay Hawtrey), Mavis (Joyce Gordon) and Isabel (Paulle Clark).[2]

Production

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Delilah was recorded before a live studio audience. Six of the episodes were written by Bryan Barney under script editor Jean Templeton.[1]

Scheduling

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This half-hour series was broadcast on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) from 4 October 1973 to 3 January 1974.

Reception

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The series generally received poor reviews and negative audience reception. It was cancelled after a single 13-episode season.[1] However, CBC's next sitcom, King of Kensington, fared much better and became a multi-year success.[1] Toronto Star television critic Jim Bawden declared the series as "Worst Canadian Sitcom", declaring the scriptwriting to be "appalling" and discovered an absence of laughter from the audience when he attended a taping of an episode.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Miller, Mary Jane (1987). Turn Up the Contrast - CBC Television Drama Since 1952. Vancouver: UBC Press / CBC Enterprises. pp. 125, 133–135. ISBN 0-7748-0278-2.
  2. ^ Corcelli, John (August 2005). "Delilah". Canadian Communications Foundation. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  3. ^ Bawden, Jim (10 October 1992). "Roasting turkeys". Toronto Star. p. SW4.
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