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For the Record is a Canadian television drama anthology series that aired on CBC Television from 1976 to 1985. The series aired docudrama-style television films on contemporary social issues, typically airing between four and six films per year.

After a nearly decade run, the series was cancelled in 1985, although the CBC opted to continue commissioning similar television films as standalone productions, beginning with 1986's Turning to Stone.

Concept

For the Record was intended as a series of dramas which would take an honest look at problems in Canadian society, among them many about mental illness and "flawed social institutions". It evolved out of the anthology series Performance, with some of its early films having been originally announced as entering production for that series before ultimately airing as episodes of For the Record instead.

Critical assessment

Gail Henley remarked in 1985 that For the Record dramas were "information laden" when compared to their more emotional American counterparts and emphasises the importance of research and documentation for the series. As Bill MacVicar put it:

Topicality is both a blessing and a bane for television. Since the time from concept to telecast can be much shorter than for movies, television appears better briefed and more up-to-date. But the voraciousness of the medium encourages clumsy or cynical abuse of topicality; all too often (as in the slack Lou Grant the mere act of raising an issue is assumed to be tantamount to solving it; in other cases, solutions are so slickly simplified that what purports to be an investigation is little more than a case of special pleading. In contrast to this frequent shortcoming, the CBC's For the Record series tends to do justice to the problems it airs.

Episodes

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

References

1. ^ Henley, Gail (April 1985). "On the record: For the Record's 10 distinctive years". Cinema Canada: 18–21. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
2. "Lightyears ahead". Cinema Canada, March 1977.
3. Sid Adilman, "Movie dramatizes horrors of prison". Toronto Star, February 21, 1986.
4. Collins, Richard (1990). "National culture; or, Where is here?". Culture, Communication and National Identity: The Case of Canadian Television. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802027334. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
5. MacVicar, Bill (1 March 1982). "Reach for the topical". Maclean's. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
6. "Everything but reality in TV show". The Globe and Mail, 5 February 1976.
7. "Important' CBC drama still dreary". The Globe and Mail, 27 February 1976.
8. "Dynamo filmmaker with a patriot's passion: For Peter Pearson the only word is win". The Globe and Mail, 13 March 1976.
9. "TV drama explores union organizing". Toronto Star, 4 January 1977.
10. "Docu-dramas: reality meets fiction". The Globe and Mail, 15 January 1977.
11. "TV choice". Toronto Star, 22 January 1977.
12. "Jutra brings warmth, humanity to mental hospital drama". The Globe and Mail, 5 February 1977.
13. "Reality of rape in CBC drama". The Globe and Mail, 28 January 1978.
14. "CBC's slick journalistic drama carries a Hollywood trademark". The Globe and Mail, 11 February 1978.
15. "Has docu-drama gone too far?". The Globe and Mail, 11 March 1978.
16. "Prison show deserves at least a life sentence". The Globe and Mail, 3 December 1978.
17. "Cementhead is minor league". The Globe and Mail, 17 February 1979.
18. "Tangled tale tedious". The Globe and Mail, 17 March 1979.
19. Betty Swimmings, "RCMP drama misses mark". Ottawa Citizen, March 14, 1980.
20. Stephen Gauer, "Mercy killing as high drama". Ottawa Journal, March 22, 1980.
21. "Shamata to play in CBC TV drama". The Globe and Mail, 16 July 1980.
22. Gerald Pratley, A Century of Canadian Cinema. Lynx Images, 2003. ISBN 1-894073-21-5. p. 164.
23. "Fiona Reid enters the political arena". The Globe and Mail, 27 February 1982.
24. "Trained shrinks sent in to score for the defence: Does insanity excuse murder?". The Globe and Mail, 6 March 1982.
25. "Failure of comic touches deals High Card a fatal blow". The Globe and Mail, 13 March 1982.
26. "Torturers and the tortured go on record in TV special". The Globe and Mail, 20 March 1982.
27. "Sneezy Waters won't let success go to his head". The Globe and Mail, 26 November 1983.
28. "Pinsent's past helped with role in farm drama". Broadcast Week, 5 March 1983.
29. Carlo Coppola, "Reviewed Work: "Reasonable Force". Television drama for the series "For the Record," by BRIAN KIT MCLEOD, PETER LOWER". Journal of South Asian Literature Vol. 21, No. 1, SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN WRITERS: THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE (Winter, Spring 1986), pp. 181-185.
30. "In black and white". The Globe and Mail, 18 February 1984.
31. ^ "Record shows rare gems, many duds". The Globe and Mail, 23 February 1985.
32. "Producer knows how to use 'tools' of trade". The Globe and Mail, 9 March 1985.
33. "Pinsent proves again that he can do it all". Broadcast Week, 7 September 1985.

External links

• For the Record at IMDb

• 1970s Canadian anthology television series
• CBC Television original programming
• 1976 Canadian television series debuts
• 1985 Canadian television series endings
• 1980s Canadian anthology television series
• Canadian television docudramas