Talk of the Town

This Hour has Seven Decades

Wed. Oct. 27, 7:30 - 9:00 pm

With: Patrick Watson, Broadcaster and author of This Hour Has Seven Decades

In a broadcasting career that began in radio 61 years ago, Patrick Watson has written, produced, directed, acted in or hosted literally thousands of television programs and films. In the 1980’s he left the creative side of broadcasting for the very political position of Chairman of the CBC during a tumultuous time at the Corporation. He has returned to television as the Commissioning editor for History Television and as the host and narrator for the Canadians series.

In his new book, This Hour Has Seven Decades, he tells a life story that takes us inside some of the most significant events in Canadian cultural history in the last 50 years. His publisher describes how, in 1955 while television was still in its infancy, Watson was drawn to the new medium:

“Patrick Watson, much to his surprise, found himself hosting a CBC television series at the age of 26, and within weeks had abandoned both his doctoral studies and a promising career in publishing to sail into the uncharted waters of the new medium. Ten years later he was one of the best known people in Canada, primarily due to a television series called This Hour has Seven Days, which regularly reached more viewers than Hockey Night in Canada, and was on the front pages of the nation’s major newspapers week after week during its spectacular two-year run.”

Here is how Patrick Watson describes one of the things that made Seven Days so notable:

“Both Douglas Leiterman and I were close to obsessive about the image on the screen. That was the true content of the program, as we saw it: what the audience saw and heard. We studied movies. We saw that the stronger directors used enormous close-ups and lit them with little fill and strong backlight. We saw how smoke or haze in a scene gave it three dimensions, and not wanting to spend our always over-stretched budget on smoke machines, we turned off the air conditioning in the studio and got all the smokers (a majority, in those days) to go into the studio and smoke it up for a few minutes before recording. This gave us that sense of depth, and a visible slash of hard backlight lancing down aggressively from the grid onto the guest, dramatically placing him or her on an exposed and menaced salient…Our preoccupation with the image, with constantly making the picture on the screen so compelling that you could not turn away, was our way of saying to the audience, We know you’re really smart, but we have some stuff you haven’t seen, and we want to share it with you. And we promise not to waste your time. “

When This Hour Has Seven Days was cancelled by CBC management for being too controversial, there was a huge public outcry and eventually a parliamentary committee hearing and finally an investigation by a special appointee of the Prime Minister. That is just one of the stories we will hear about when Patrick Watson join us at Talk of the Town.

The discussion will take place at UBC Robson Square. Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604-822-5675.

Biography

Patrick Watson, Commissioning editor for History Television, is the host and narrator for the CANADIANS series. The veteran television producer, actor, host and best selling author was the first independent chairman of the CBC. Best known for his work in current affairs (Close Up, The Watson Report), and documentary film (Struggle for Democracy, The 700 Million), Watson has maintained an active interest in dramatic production and acting. His series Witness to Yesterday, a dramatic television series of encounters with great figures from the past, was created for History Television in 1997, featuring entirely new confrontations with some of history’s most fascinating figures. He has most recently produced and directed The Conjurer, a magical spectacle starring David Blaine.

Selected Bibliography

This Hour Has Seven Decades, Patrick Watson, McArthur and Co., 2004
Wittgenstein & Goshawk, Patrick Watson, McArthur and Co., 2004
The Canadians: Biography of a Nation, Patrick Watson, McArthur and Co., 2003
Ahmek, Patrick Watson [illustrated by Tracy Thompson], Stoddart Kids, 1999
The Struggle for Democracy, Patrick Watson & Benjamin Barber, Lester & Orpen, Dennys, 1988

Links & Readings

Links

Patrick Watson

The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago has a comprehensive profile of Patrick Watson.

This Hour Has Seven Days

The same site has an excellent summary of the two-year whirlwind that was This Hour Has Seven Days.

Windsurfing on a Peg Leg

In 1960 Patrick Watson suffered an accident that resulted in the amputation of his left leg above the knee. This profile is from Abilities Magazine.

Historica Moments

Patrick Watson’s belief in the importance of history has led to creation of 60 vignettes on Canadian history that can be viewed at this site.

Readings

Inside Seven Days, Eric Koch, Prentice-Hall, 1986.