This Hour has Seven Days

Home · Programs · This Hour has Seven Days

In just two seasons between 1964 and 1966, This Hour has Seven Days staked its claim as the most defiant and controversial program in Canadian broadcasting history. Created by Douglas Leiterman and Patrick Watson, Seven Days launched a new era of public affairs television, actively taking on the role of the nation's ombudsman and interrogator. Some — including certain members of the CBC brass in Ottawa — called it "sensationalism," "arrogant" and a breach of journalistic neutrality. But Canadians loved it. Millions tuned in every Sunday night at 10 p.m. to watch the show everyone would be talking about the next day. The CBC Digital Archives presents nine complete episodes here, selected from the 50 programs made before the show was cancelled. Due to copyright issues, satirical sketches and songs that originally aired between news segments have been edited out.

61 television clips

You must sign in to leave a comment on this clip.

This hour has seven days. There will never be another program on CBC that approaches its excellence unless--it is reborn.

Submitted by: Tom Oliver

A dazzling debut

Broadcast Date: Oct. 4, 1964

How's this for a premiere: Lee Harvey Oswald's mother says her son is being framed; the Beatles stir up a fan frenzy in Toronto; and a fugitive union boss on the lam is caught, on film at least. "Seven stories await you in the next hour," say the hosts of the stunning new public affairs program. More than that, it promises a bold, innovative agenda of responsible journalism and presents the show's manifesto to prove it. This Hour has Seven Days hits the air on Oct. 4, 1964 with something for everyone, rounding out the opening hour with a tribute to Harpo Marx and a tale of woe from the jocular Lord Denning.

A dazzling debut

• The opening segment about union leader Hal Banks reportedly bumped a satire of Queen Elizabeth, just hours before this premiere episode went to air. The British comedy troupe "The Establishment" told the Toronto Star "this last-minute decision makes us wonder if some kind of censorship is not involved." The Queen was due to arrive in Canada the next day. At the time, Seven Days producer Patrick Watson denied the charge, saying "we felt the Hal Banks affair was a stronger opener and decided on it instead." But the charge re-surfaced many years later in Knowlton Nash's book The Microphone Wars, where he writes that the skit was "banned" by CBC management.

• One week after the shooting of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, established the President's Commission on the Assignation of President Kennedy, which came to be know as the Warren Commission after its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Warren Report, issued on Sept. 27, 1964, was 888 pages long and concluded that there had been no conspiracy to kill the president, just the lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald.

• The Beatles debut in Toronto made the front page of every daily newspaper in the city. The Globe and Mail's banner headline read "Paddy-Wagon Ruse Fools Beatles' Fans." The Toronto Star blared "200 swoon in the battle of the Beatles." This was part of their first North American tour and the start of the phenomenon called Beatlemania on this side of the Atlantic.

• The Fab Four played two concerts at Maple Leaf Gardens on Sept. 7, 1964, an afternoon appearance at 2:30 p.m. and evening show at 8 p.m. Ticket prices ranged from $4 to $5.50.

This Hour has Seven Days: A dazzling debut

Medium: Television

Program: This Hour has Seven Days

Broadcast Date: Oct. 4, 1964

Guest(s): Joyce Davidson, Lord Denning, Margaret Dumont, Guy Favreau, Mark Lane, Marguerite Oswald, Robert Reguly, Rita Schwerner

Host: John Drainie, Laurier LaPierre, Carol Simpson
Reporter: Larry Zolf, Robert Hoyt

Duration: 54:26

Last updated:
April 4, 2008

End of list

Activez le Javascript sur votre navigateur...

9 clips in this topic . page

All clips from this program

Show

61 results available . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 > »

Media	Title and date	Description
Television 6:57	May 8, 1966 'Oracle of the Electric Age'	Robert Fulford interviews McLuhan on the effects of mass media.
Television 42:57	May 8, 1966 This Hour has Seven Days: The last hurrah	Despite uncertainty about its future, Canada's most popular public affairs program delivers one final night of dynamite television to an adoring nation.
Television 5:41	May 8, 1966 Insuring sabotage?	Commercial airline pilots worry that airport flight insurance motivates mid-air saboteurs.
Television 10:41	May 8, 1966 Lonely homes for the aged	Thousands of senior citizens lodged in the nation's nursing homes face final years of boredom and neglect.
Television 6:58	May 8, 1966 Walter Gordon asks: Who should own Canada?	Former Finance Minister Walter Gordon says it's do or die for Canadian economic independence.
Television 9:27	May 8, 1966 Leonard Cohen on the road to singing sensation	Leonard Cohen leaves his blissful domestic life on Hydra, Greece, with the intention of cutting a country and western album in Nashville.
Television 1:26	April 17, 1966 Don't speak to me in French	In 1966, the language prejudice is palpable.
Television 7:11	April 3, 1966 Beer deaths	A number of people die after drinking Dow beer in Quebec.
Television 2:47	March 20, 1966 Steven Truscott's mother speaks	Host Laurier LaPierre gets emotional over alleged wrongful conviction.
Television 2:47	March 20, 1966 Host's on-air tear hastens end of Seven Days	An interview with the mother of Steven Truscott prompts an emotional reaction from Laurier LaPierre.
Television 6:54	March 20, 1966 Canadians react to the Munsinger affair	Students comment on the Munsinger affair from This Hour Has Seven Days.
Television 7:16	March 13, 1966 Munsinger found in Munich	Toronto Star reporter tracks down the blond bombshell.
Television 13:30	March 13, 1966 Gouzenko on Seven Days	A disguised Igor Gouzenko appears in his famous This Hour Has Seven Days interview.
Television 3:00	Feb. 6, 1966 Cops ban 'lewd' drawings	An artist censored for depicting lesbians discusses censorship's double standards.
Television 3:56	Jan. 30, 1966 Canadian teens speak out on Vietnam	Teens give their thoughts on Canadian politicians and their policies on Vietnam.

61 results available . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 > »

CBC Archives