''Saying Goodbye'' is a Canadian television

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

anthology series, which aired on

TVOntario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...

in 1990.John Haslett Cuff, "Intimate, focussed drama: Saying Goodbye, a Canadian series about death and grieving, confirms that Canadians can produce polished drama that doesn't ape American TV". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', October 23, 1990. The series consisted of five half-hour short drama films about people grappling with

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

, either dealing with grief after the death of a loved one or confronting their own mortality. Each episode was paired with a half-hour studio panel discussion on

bereavement Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also ha ...

moderated by

Roy Bonisteel Roy Earnest Bonisteel, (29 May 1930 – 16 August 2013) was a Canadian journalist and, from 1967 to 1989, host of the CBC Television program '' Man Alive''. Life and career Bonisteel was born in Ameliasburg, Ontario and was a seventh generat ...

. The series was also sold on videotape for use in

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

and

grief counselling Grief counseling is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help people cope with the physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive responses to loss. These experiences are commonly thought to be brought on by a loved person's death, but may ...

education programs.Ted Shaw, "Five-part series deals with death". ''

Windsor Star The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays. History The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...

'', October 23, 1990.

Episodes

Critical response

John Haslett Cuff of ''

'' praised the series as evidence that Canadians "can produce powerful, polished drama that doesn't ape American TV and actually has something interesting and important to communicate", and lamented that the series wasn't running 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 ...

so that the entire country could watch it.

Awards

As the series run crossed over the eligibility cutoff dates for the

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in th ...

, the series was eligible for both the

5th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 5th Gemini Awards were held on December 4, 1990 to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and was broadcast on CBC Television. ...

in 1990 and the

6th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 6th Gemini Awards were held in March 1992 to honour achievements in Canadian television. There were no awards issued in 1991, so this year’s awards covered productions from 1991 and 1990. The award ...

in 1992.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0238578 1990s Canadian drama television series 1990 Canadian television series debuts 1990 Canadian television series endings 1990s Canadian anthology television series TVO original programming Canadian educational films