Here's Looking at Us: Celebrating 50 Years of Cbc TV - Tapa dura

On September 8, 1952, English-language CBC-TV went to air for the first time, albeit with the logo upside down. Apart from that one little glitch, the terrified group of talented young people who put on that first live show launched the new network with imagination and verve.

In Here's Looking at Us, Stephen Cole takes the reader on an eye-opening, evocative, often funny journey through the first 50 years of CBC-TV, from the excitement of filming its first drama starring future author Timothy Findley, to the thrill of bringing Olympic gold medal hockey games to the entire country thanks to satellite technology.

This popular history of the shows, people and events that define the first half century of the network is told through the reminiscences, profiles and oral histories of more than a hundred on-air and behind-the-scenes personalities, including Norman Jewison, Robert Goulet, Don Harron, Juliette, Anne Murray, Norman Campbell, Don Chevrier, David Suzuki, Wendy Mesley, and Jonathan Torrens. Their stories are complemented by a wealth of archival photographs, memorabilia and illustrations – more than 350 in all, many previously unpublished. Both text and images provide snapshots of Canadian life past and present as viewed through the lenses of CBC-TV cameras filming docudramas, comedy shows, news programs, variety shows, children's programs and sports events.

From the network's longest-running program, Country Canada, to one-night tours de force, Here's Looking at Us is a celebration of the quietly entertaining as well as the most memorable Canadian television moments of the past 50 years.

Stephen Cole is a freelance writer and author of two books, The Last Hurrah and Slapshots. He lives in Toronto.