TV North: Everything You Wanted to Know About Canadian Television

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson University in Toronto.

TV North is an alphabetical listing of over 550 Canadian-produced
television shows. The entries include a description of the show, cast
and production details, wittily opinionated critical comments, and
sometimes “critics cheer” or “critics jeer” quotations. Also
included are a list of Gemini Award winners, dating back to the
beginning of the awards in 1986, a useful alphabetical index of personal
names, and some interesting historical sidebar opinion pieces (e.g., TV
comes to Winnipeg.). Although Kenter claims that his selection of
programs is subjective and not comprehensive, every program this
reviewer could think of was found, and the work fills an important gap
in the literature of Canadian television history. Well illustrated with
photographs, TV North is not just for reference, but a fun book. For
many, browsing through it will be a nostalgia trip, but especially for
baby boomers who may have forgotten about such shows as The Peppermint
Prince, Just Mary, Hidden Pages, and A Go Go ’66. Anyone who watches
Canadian television should enjoy this book.