Mary Walsh: Open Book

Mary Walsh: Open Book was a weekly book club series on CBC Television, which aired from 2002 to 2005. Similar to Oprah's Book Club, the series was hosted by actress and comedian Mary Walsh, who moderated a discussion about books and literature with a panel of celebrities and other guests. Each episode of the series was structured around discussion of a single book, including both Canadian and international literature, and both fiction and non-fiction titles. The series aired at 11 p.m. on Sunday nights, attracting relatively strong ratings for a late time slot.

Mary Walsh: Open Book
Genre	Talk show
Presented by	Mary Walsh
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	64
Production
Production locations	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Running time	30 min.
Original release
Network	CBC Television
Release	2002 (2002) – 2005 (2005)

Participants included actors Megan Follows, Greg Malone, Paul Gross and Mark McKinney, political scientist Janice Stein, lawyer and politician Jerome Kennedy, writers Susan Musgrave and Evelyn Lau, singer Jann Arden, journalist Pamela Wallin and columnist Jan Wong.

Michael Donovan was the creator of Open Book.

Episodes

Season 1

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Guests	Original release date
1	1	"Edna O'Brien, The Country Girls"	Noreen Golfman, Megan Follows, Ian Brown	July 21, 2002 (2002-07-21)
2	2	"Beryl Bainbridge, According to Queeney"	Sandra Shamas, Pamela Wallin, Fiona Reid	July 28, 2002 (2002-07-28)
3	3	"Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version"	Mark McKinney, Ed Macdonald, Greg Sinclair	August 11, 2002 (2002-08-11)
4	4	"Ian McEwan, Atonement"	Jann Arden, Jackie Maxwell, Barry Newhook	August 18, 2002 (2002-08-18)
5	5	"Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage"	Jan Wong, John Frizzell, Jackie Maxwell	August 25, 2002 (2002-08-25)
6	6	"Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines"	Mark McKinney, Diana Swain, John Frizzell	September 1, 2002 (2002-09-01)
7	7	"V.S. Naipaul, Half a Life"	Evelyn Lau, Michael Crummey, David Gilmour	September 8, 2002 (2002-09-08)
8	8	"Pat Barker, Regeneration"	David Gilmour, David Macfarlane, Janice Stein	September 22, 2002 (2002-09-22)
9	9	"Joan Didion, Political Fictions"	Jan Wong, Diana Swain, John Frizzell	September 29, 2002 (2002-09-29)
10	10	"J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"	Albert Schultz, Susan Musgrave, Kenneth Oppel	October 6, 2002 (2002-10-06)
11	11	"David Foster Wallace, A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again"	Mark Farrell, Greg Sinclair, Noreen Golfman	October 13, 2002 (2002-10-13)
12	12	"Mary Karr, The Liar's Club"	Jann Arden, Jan Wong, Susan Musgrave	October 20, 2002 (2002-10-20)
13	13	TBA	TBA	TBA

Season 2

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Guests	Original release date
14	1	"Sandra Gulland, The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B."	John Frizzell, Sheila McCarthy, Scott Thompson	October 12, 2003 (2003-10-12)
15	2	"JT LeRoy, Sarah"	David Gilmour, Noreen Golfman, Bryden MacDonald	October 19, 2003 (2003-10-19)
16	3	"Robert D. Kaplan, Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History"	Margaret MacMillan, Heather Mallick, Carolyn McCool	October 26, 2003 (2003-10-26)
17	4	"Margaret Drabble, The Peppered Moth"	Eleanor Wachtel, Fiona Reid, Susan Goyette	November 2, 2003 (2003-11-02)
18	5	"Margaret Visser, Much Depends on Dinner"	Heather Mallick, Neville MacKay, Patricia Rozema	November 9, 2003 (2003-11-09)
19	6	"Antonia White, Frost in May"	Shirley Douglas, Bette MacDonald, Wendy Crewson	November 16, 2003 (2003-11-16)
20	7	"Greg Critser, Fat Land"	David Foot, Diana Swain, Fiona Reid	November 23, 2003 (2003-11-23)
21	8	"Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita"	Greg Malone, Ed Macdonald, Lynn Coady	November 30, 2003 (2003-11-30)
22	9	"Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones"	Sylvia Hamilton, Sheila McCarthy, John Frizzell	December 7, 2003 (2003-12-07)
23	10	"Ian Rankin, Tooth and Nail"	Paul Gross, Jerome Kennedy, Alison Gzowski	December 14, 2003 (2003-12-14)
24	11	"Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine"	Ed Macdonald, Jennifer Podemski, Evelyn Lau	December 21, 2003 (2003-12-21)
25	12	"Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass"	David Gilmour, Noreen Golfman, Spider Robinson	December 28, 2003 (2003-12-28)
26	13	"Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept"	Katherine Govier, David Macfarlane, Jackie Burroughs	January 4, 2004 (2004-01-04)
27	14	"Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World"	Lloyd Axworthy, Warren Kinsella, Lesley Choyce	January 4, 2004 (2004-01-04)
28	15	"Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men"	Svend Robinson, Kim Campbell, Stevie Cameron	January 11, 2004 (2004-01-11)
29	16	"Margaret Laurence, The Diviners"	Lisa Moore, Susan Goyette, Jackie Burroughs	January 18, 2004 (2004-01-18)
30	17	"William Trevor, The Collected Stories"	Geoff Pevere, Evelyn Lau, Michael Winter	January 25, 2004 (2004-01-25)
31	18	"Mary Gordon, The Shadow Man"	Kathleen Edwards, Brian D. Johnson, Sylvia Hamilton	February 1, 2004 (2004-02-01)
32	19	"Ruth Rendell, A Dark-Adapted Eye"	Alexa McDonough, Jerome Kennedy, Evelyn Lau	February 8, 2004 (2004-02-08)
33	20	"Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea"	Stevie Cameron, Paul Greenhalgh, Vincent Walsh	February 22, 2004 (2004-02-22)
34	21	"Fay Weldon, Down Among the Women"	Cameron Bailey, Michael Winter, Shirley Douglas	February 29, 2004 (2004-02-29)
35	22	"Doris Lessing, Martha Quest"	Erica Ehm, Hana Gartner, Lesley Choyce	March 14, 2004 (2004-03-14)
36	23	"Percy Janes, House of Hate"	Geoff Pevere, Peter MacNeill, Susan Goyette	March 21, 2004 (2004-03-21)
37	24	"Graham Greene, The Comedians"	Michael Crummey, Mark Critch, Elizabeth May	March 28, 2004 (2004-03-28)
38	25	"Claire Tomalin, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self"	Elliott Leyton, Margaret MacMillan, Fiona Reid	April 4, 2004 (2004-04-04)
39	26	"Virginia Woolf, Orlando"	Michael Crummey, Marni Jackson, Ian Brown	April 18, 2004 (2004-04-18)

Season 3

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Guests	Original release date
40	1	"Janice Kulyk Keefer, Thieves"	Katherine Govier, Fiona Reid, Greg Malone	October 3, 2004 (2004-10-03)
41	2	"James Joyce, Dubliners"	Geoff Pevere, Andy Jones, Robert MacNeil	October 10, 2004 (2004-10-10)
42	3	"Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea"	David Gilmour, Ralph Benmergui, Valerie Buhagiar	October 17, 2004 (2004-10-17)
43	4	"Joel Thomas Hynes, Down to the Dirt"	Cameron Bailey, Ed Macdonald, David Gilmour	October 24, 2004 (2004-10-24)
44	5	"Martin Clark, The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living"	Heather Mallick, Michael Winter, Leo Furey	October 31, 2004 (2004-10-31)
45	6	"Nuala O'Faolain, Are You Somebody?"	Diana Swain, Michael Winter, Fiona Reid	November 7, 2004 (2004-11-07)
46	7	"J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace"	Ed Macdonald, Austin Clarke, Ian Brown	November 14, 2004 (2004-11-14)
47	8	"Jane Smiley, The Greenlanders"	Michael Crummey, Jackie Burroughs, Jennifer Baichwal	November 21, 2004 (2004-11-21)
48	9	"Sebastian Faulks, Birdsong"	Jackie Burroughs, Susan Goyette, Noreen Golfman	November 28, 2004 (2004-11-28)
49	10	"John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever"	Brian D. Johnson, Geoff Pevere, John Frizzell	December 5, 2004 (2004-12-05)
50	11	"Richard Ford, Independence Day"	Mark McKinney, Michael Winter, Kerri Sakamoto	December 12, 2004 (2004-12-12)
51	12	"Jonathan Bate, John Clare: A Biography"	Mark McKinney, Susan Goyette, Stephen Kimber	December 19, 2004 (2004-12-19)
52	13	"Rian Malan, My Traitor's Heart"	John Frizzell, Marni Jackson, Hana Gartner	January 2, 2005 (2005-01-02)
53	14	"Christopher Byron, Testosterone Inc: Tales of CEOs Gone Wild"	Robert MacNeil, Heather Mallick, Ralph Benmergui	January 9, 2005 (2005-01-09)
54	15	"Hugh MacLennan, Two Solitudes"	Linden MacIntyre, Cameron Bailey, Émile Gaudreault	January 16, 2005 (2005-01-16)
55	16	"Elizabeth Bowen, The Last September"	Susan Goyette, Heather Mallick, Seamus O'Regan	January 23, 2005 (2005-01-23)
56	17	"William Boyd, Any Human Heart"	Marivel Taruc, Bill Casselman, Seamus O'Regan	January 30, 2004 (2004-01-30)
57	18	"Jonathan Lethem, Motherless Brooklyn"	Mark McKinney, Johanna Schneller, Julie Stewart	February 6, 2005 (2005-02-06)
58	19	"Gil Courtemanche, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali"	Linden MacIntyre, Rick Salutin, Don Connolly	February 13, 2005 (2005-02-13)
59	20	"Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker"	Ralph Benmergui, David Gilmour, Katherine Govier	February 27, 2005 (2005-02-27)
60	21	"Roland Huntford, The Last Place on Earth"	Ralph Benmergui, Douglas Bell, Lisa Taylor	March 6, 2005 (2005-03-06)
61	22	"Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment"	Greg Malone, Ed Macdonald, Julie Stewart	March 13, 2005 (2005-03-13)
62	23	"Olivia Manning, The Balkan Trilogy"	David Gilmour, Julie Stewart, Linden MacIntyre	March 20, 2005 (2005-03-20)
63	24	"Gabriel García Márquez, Living to Tell the Tale"	Tal Bachman, M. G. Vassanji, Jane Urquhart	March 27, 2005 (2005-03-27)
64	25	"Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time"	Linden MacIntyre, Michael Crummey, Julie Stewart	April 3, 2005 (2005-04-03)

Impact

The show was spoofed on Royal Canadian Air Farce as Open Book with Marg the Princess Warrior, with Roger Abbott impersonating Walsh in her Marg Delahunty persona from This Hour Has 22 Minutes, discussing books with her guests (including Luba Goy's Margaret Atwood). The running gag was Marg's tendency to rant incessantly about each book and then stray off-topic into her political views and declaring her opinion supreme, eventually driving away her guests.

External links

• Mary Walsh: Open Book at IMDb