Back when local television stations produced something beyond their local newscasts, CFCF-12 (as it was known then) had a show called Travel Travel that showed off exotic destinations and plugged hotels that let them stay there for free while filming them. It featured some lovable local TV hosts like Don McGowan and Suzanne Desautels. The show ran for 10 years, from 1987 to 1997.
And now it’s back.
In Calgary.
Ricky Leong, a former Montrealer now living there, pointed out that the show has been added to CFCN’s schedule Sunday mornings at 10:30am.
CTV Calgary programming manager Connie Hempel told Fagstein via email that the “CTV-owned property” would run on the station’s schedule “occasionally”. Questions to her and to CTV’s national programming department about whether running a decades-old travel show (with, in some cases, laughably out of date information) might be a disservice to viewers went unanswered, as did questions about why they’ve chosen that out of all the programming in CTV’s archives to bring back to the air.
Well, at least it provides a bit of nostalgia for Montreal ex-pats living in Calgary, like Leong and Terry DiMonte. I suggested to DiMonte that they also bring back Fighting Back, the consumer rights show he hosted on CFCF during that era. But he wasn’t so sure: “I think I may have a hard time convincing the folks here to watch me fight for folks against Hydro Quebec et amis.”
Better that than hearing about the fantastic views from the observation deck of the World Trade Center in New York (hopefully someone will check the archives to make sure that one isn’t aired).
They’re doing it because it’s a cheap way to satisfy their Canadian content requirement.
I guess this is CTV’s idea of local production. 20 year old programming from another city.
Terry DiMonte? Don McGowan? Somebody check the calendar. Now all we need is Ralph “how is your bird?” Lockwood, The Friendly Giant with the chicken in a bag nailed to the wall, maybe some old reels of Andrew Marquis and gas at a dime a gallon and all will be well.
Heck, I remember when it was called Travel (insert last two digits of the year here), like “Travel ’76”, and it was hosted by the kindly Jack Curran. International travel really wasn’t as common then, so they’d rely on well-heeled jet-setters coming in to bring their slideshows and 8mm home movie footage…or at least that’s how my faulty memory recalls it!
Frankly, I’d love to have an all-retro-Canadiana channel precisely with all this stuff, but it’s either lost in archives, embattled with music rights issues or other nonsense…
The Travel Travel programs are supposed to be edited and out-of-date info such as “Air transportation furnished by Eastern Airlines, The Wings of Man” taken out…editing to be done by Martin Lucas of Lucas Productions Video, a neighbour of Travel Travel’s creator, former CKGM newsman and CP Air PR man, Gerry Dixon.
Jack Curran’s Travel 72 et al spawned the CF Cable tribute show, Travel World 95…shot in the same 405 Ogilvy studios…with an identical set, 2 chairs, stock footage video, guests discussing travel…but the primarily franco CF Cable 9 staffers had no idea that the entire set-up was done to pay tribute to Jack.
It was not stop footage, I was the cameraman and it was shot for 50% of the shows. Get your fact right.
I for one am thrilled that Travel Travel has returned. I watch it every Sunday (I just finished watching two episodes this morning). I have watched many travelogues over the the years and this is one of my favorites and I especially enjoy Don McGowan. On that note, would love to know what he is doing these days.