''Exploring Minds'' is a Canadian educational television series which aired on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...
from 1953 to 1956.
Premise
Lectures from various university academics throughout Canada were featured on ''Exploring Minds''. Episodes were produced in Toronto, Vancouver and other cities with support from numerous Canadian universities.
Charles Comfort
Charles Fraser Comfort, LL. D. (July 22, 1900 – July 5, 1994) was a Scottish-born Canadian painter, sculptor, teacher, writer and administrator.
Career and biography
Early life
Born near Edinburgh, Scotland, Comfort moved to Winnipeg in ...
and Peter Brieger hosted a sequence of lectures on various art forms. Canada's first Prime Minister was the subject of two programmes hosted by
Donald Creighton
Donald Grant Creighton (15 July 1902 – 19 December 1979) was a Canadian historian whose major works include ''The Commercial Empire of the St-Lawrence, 1760–1850'' (first published in 1937), a detailed study on the growth of the English merch ...
which featured
John A. Macdonald
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political ...
portrayed by
Robert Christie.
Series producers included David Walker (Toronto) and
Daryl Duke
Daryl Duke (8 March 1929 – 21 October 2006) was a Canadian film and television director.
Biography
Duke was born at Vancouver, British Columbia, where he became one of CBC Television's earliest regional producers. His career continued with C ...
(Vancouver).
Scheduling
The first season of this half-hour series was broadcast on Mondays at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) from 5 October 1953 to 19 April 1954. The second and third seasons aired Sundays at 6:00 p.m., from 3 October 1954 to 1 May 1955, then 30 October 1955 to 15 April 1956.
Reception
Despite efforts such as ''Exploring Minds'', academic programming fell out of favour at the CBC after its initial years. Conflicts arose due to producers attitudes towards creating a presentable broadcast, and the professors' lack of familiarity with the requirements of television production. In one incident, a producer recorded a scene with 12 young ballet dancers to illustrate light
refraction
In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one transmission medium, medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commo ...
although the professor merely wished to show a drawing of the concept.
See also
* ''
University of the Air''
References
External links
* {{Cite web , url=http://www.film.queensu.ca/CBC/E.html , first=Blaine , last=Allan , title=Exploring Minds , publisher=
Queen's University , year=1996 , accessdate=7 May 2010 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311081340/http://www.film.queensu.ca/cbc/E.html , archivedate=11 March 2010 , df=dmy
CBC Television original programming
1953 Canadian television series debuts
1956 Canadian television series endings
Black-and-white Canadian television shows