Regional Television

general
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Starting a thread inspired by an early one on Regional Radio (someone bump this thread up! It's good!), I thought a thread on Regional TV could be interesting. Using ‘regional’ loosely here.

[upl-image-preview url=//i.imgur.com/SewLsSG.png]

YTV is a Canadian kids TV station. Based in Toronto, but broadcast nation wide, it launched September 1, 1988 with a special hosted by John Candy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MG90yxn-AU

I probably didn't start watching til the early 90s. One thing that made the station really interesting was it's use of [PJs (or Program Jockeys)](https://www.blogto.com/film/2015/02/the_top_10_ytv_pjs_of_all_time/) and some hideous looking puppets who hosted short segments between shows. Since YTV was for children, they didn't play as many commercials so they had to fill the time. Here's a playlist sampler of one of the more popular segments, The Zone. It's still going today, but these clips are from the 90s.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLksubP8_o5Hx-JixwzlUF3CClx0k1738q

I've recently been contributing to[ this wiki ](https://ytv-schedule-archives.fandom.com/)which is trying to provide a listing of schedules since 1988. Something about filling in the blanks is strangely relaxing.

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canadian television is something else

https://youtu.be/4QoayVM0C6U?t=1015
there was the game show Uh Oh
where “The Punisher” would uh punish wrong answers by pouring slime all over children

https://youtu.be/NkywIf4z4yc
there were quite a few canadian puppet shows — nanalan is probably the one that is most remembered

https://youtu.be/wLBuYR8pYA4?t=65
freaky stories was a childrens horror anthology series hosted by a roach and a slimy worm

3

Oh my.

When I have some time to go do some proper searching for clips I will try and share some 80's and 90's Australian TV with you all. If you are keen and want to get ahead of the game, try searching for _Aggro's Cartoon Connection_ for example.

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Living in Wales there‘s some real low-budget TV being made “regionally”. I say that in inverted commas because Wales is classified as a broadcast region rather than a “country” when broken down across UK broadcasting regions. Wales has its own Channel 4 called S4C (Sianel 4 Cymru - "Wales’ Channel 4), which is part funded by the BBC, in addition to the UK Channel 4 which is independent of the BBC. Simple!

That aside a lot of programming, particularly for children, is translated from English creations, but there's some borderline cursed stuff being made.

Obviously all these clips will be in Welsh so your mileage may vary with these.

This clip is a song about the weather from the early 90s. I don't recall whether it was a regular thing but I imagine that it would have been used as an intro to a weather segment on kids TV given that they probably blew quite a lot of their budget on making it. The bird is called Wcw (Oo-coo) which is the Welsh onamatapoeia for the noise a cuckoo makes, and the "weithiau mae'n braf, weithiau mae'n heulwen" hook means "sometimes it's nice, sometimes it's sunny". Not sure whether this is a dig at Wales' weather being almost exclusively "pissing it down". Also the video weirdly namedrops my dinky hometown.

https://youtu.be/qd1cnYOgI5I

Moving onto the late 90s is this deeply embarrassing kids game show, Nics Nain (literally translated as Nan's Knickers). I've no idea how this was commissioned but whoever thought that was a good theme must've been high as heck. I think it only ran for one, maybe two series - it was pretty terrible. My school was chosen to go once and for some reason the teachers picked people that weren't known for their athleticism.

https://youtu.be/wbMPmrbgnEU

Moving onto programmes for adults is the BBC's longest running soap opera across the UK, Pobl y Cwm ("Pob l err cwm" - literally translated as "The Valley Folk/People"). I found a subtitled promo!

https://youtu.be/hjtcKSAwBXY

Finally something more contemporary, and genuinely excellent is Hinterland / Y Gwyll, which as far as I know is still on Netflix. Essentially a detective drama set in the seaside town of Aberystwyth (and is a much better representation its namesake from Koudelka!). Everything is filmed twice, once in English and once in Welsh which is pretty wild. Anyway, this is something that I would actually recommend watching.

https://youtu.be/c2ueudddiRs

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@“pizzascrub”#p48179 yeahh! It's got that cheapo-weirdness.

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oh my i am not prepared to embrace this amount of nostalgia, @hellomrkearns and @pizzascrub - i had completely forgotten Nanalan existed…! i think we are all the same age and grew up in the same geographic area. i am the single biggest consumer of @“hellomrkearns”#p48289 YTV excavations, and i hope they never ever stop. i had no idea John Candy launched YTV! wow.

i'll contribute more YTV weird low budget kids' programming in the form of PJ Katie's Farm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3atXmfKckg

and to add a bit of non-kids' programming to the mix, let's talk about Rex Murphy, Canada's best (and sadly departed) curmudgeonly and witty old newsman. he delivered essays on CBC tv, and was always worth paying attention to, whether you agreed with him or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgcfhXIwwP8

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and if we‘re willing to consider Japan a “region,” then i have to mention getsuyou kara yofukashi (“staying up late from monday night”) with Matsuko Deluxe and Shingo Murakami as the most consistently hilarious show i’ve ever seen in my years in Japan. it used to come on around midnight, and had a variety of segments, but my favourites were always the ones where they profiled local weirdos. for me the closest analogy would be vintage David Letterman “is this anything” anti-comedy. pretty edgy by Japan tv standards. i‘m not sure if it’s on anymore because now i have children and staying up late at night sounds like a terrible idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHAo98nWj2A&list=PL3ECDhEXWFv_nsuRslekoZOVFywUrB6Qj

1 Like
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@“whatsarobot”#p48518 lol did you see Phil was on The Zone today? Promoting some retro YTV clothing.

https://twitter.com/MIKERPHONE/status/1461130123332231173?t=PHw2YD2yI7ETN2E7hRdYHw&s=19

https://youtu.be/55qPOZj0H3I

https://retrokid.ca/

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/pj-phresh-phil-ytv-retro-collection-interview


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@“hellomrkearns”#p48620 haha that is amazing. Phil seems like one of the coolest dudes… what, how do i even quantify it? ever? of all time?

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@“whatsarobot”#p48519 I actually heard someone talking about this show a couple weeks ago so seems like it is still airing!

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@“wickedcestus”#p48623 excellent! i do have one of those tv recorder devices, so maybe i should look into that! thanks

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More YTV stuff. The very Canadian into to Dragon Ball. (Extremely worth a listen)

https://youtu.be/mVrVTinOsBw

And Dragon Ball Z
https://youtu.be/xAOCnSKz-x8

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I had no idea that Dragon Ball Z opening was Canada exclusive!!! What a classic.

Continuing on the Canada train...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5LGYTzBavM

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@“wickedcestus”#p48703 You have shattered my nostalgia bone into thousands of pieces with this one.

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Ok I'm keeping this thread going with the groundbreaking CityTV.

Check out this CityPulse intro from 1980. What other channel would use The Temptations "Masterpiece" as their intro song?
https://youtu.be/IZ1gh8ZJUj0

It was real and gritty.
https://youtu.be/Dvf5l2TTy8E

To celebrate their 'Gutsy' 1st anniversary in 1973, they aired this incredilby suggestive video of a woman's hand and a candle....
https://youtu.be/hWcDMf7ZzuA

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@“pizzascrub”#p48179 My roommate has a sibling who was a regular YTV audience member and maybe even a contestant on Uh-Oh!? I'll have to double check!

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@“hellomrkearns”#p49199 It was real and gritty.

You're not kidding. For those who don't know, CityTV had a public booth up until 2008 where people could record themselves talking (or doing shit) and the videos would later air on the channel as an interstitial called Speaker's Corner. I want to post a clip but don't feel like screening it for problematic pre-reddit opinions!! Also RIP Mark Dailey.

I didn't catch as much of the Anti-Gravity Room as I wish I had (or Buzz. Remember Buzz? I swear Daryn Jones bumped into Phil while out on a segment, and Phil just tags along for the rest of it, but I've never been able to find the episode. [Maybe I don't want to see it, though](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_(TV_series)#Recurring_sketches_and_characters)) and that sucks because it was an extremely cool news show about comics/manga, video games and animation in the nineties, and I would continue to be starved for video content like it into the 2000s when Electric Playground (with Tommy Tallarico) would unfortunately be the one to fill the vacuum it left.

Anyway, here's Phil Guerrero playing Saturn games at Sega of America in 1996:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFURcIBYrBA

Also!! Video and Arcade Top 10!! With its Crashman-ass theme song and all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdj9dECy8hc

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@“hellomrkearns”#p48701


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very Canadian into to Dragon Ball.

i may be getting some parts of this wrong -- i am not going to fact check - heh

Canada has laws about broadcasting. Radio stations have to play a large percentage of Canadian music. if you have ever say , listened to a canadian rock station and wondered why they play so much Rush , Nickleback , or The Tragically Hip , that would be why.

so when anime started being imported to the west the scam that the broadcasters came up with was they would produce two dubs - a canadian and an american. they both largely have the same canadian cast and similar scripts.
that was enough for the law

that canadian dragon ball z intro sure got me pumped up as a kid. i love the metal style vocalist screaming , "DRAGONBALL Z"

i worked on an animated show where the actor that plays goku voiced a butler octopus.
he said that they got paid per word and dragon ball had a lot of screams and sound effects that he did not get paid for.

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@“pizzascrub”#p49208 you nailed it.

Canadian voice actors = Canadian content

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@“connrrr”#p49205 My roommate has a sibling who was a regular YTV audience member and maybe even a contestant on Uh-Oh!? I’ll have to double check!

That rules. A ton of Uh Oh episodes are officially available on YouTube so worth a look.

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>

@“connrrr”#p49205 Buzz. Remember Buzz?

wow...I almost completely forgot about that show. Looks like [Mike Beaver](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0064773/?ref_=tt_cl_t_2) was also on it, who was also on YTV shows [It's Alive!](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337548/) and was the Punisher on Uh Oh!

Here's Daryn whale watching in Newfoundland in a segment from The Zone that just popped up on YouTube today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkchhzC9EFk

Another Canadian wormhole, here's a promo for the 1997 launch of Teletoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a_PMgix2NQ