Jimmy MacDonald's Canada
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Jimmy MacDonald's Canada: The Lost Episodes is a Canadian television series that aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the summer of 2005. The show is a mockumentary: about 75 per cent of the program is news and human interest footage from the CBC archives of the 1960s. The remainder of the program is commentary by hosts Jimmy MacDonald (Richard Waugh) and Marg Margison (Teresa Pavlinek), and commentaries by modern-day Canadians about the impact that the fictional show had on Canada in the 1960s.
Commentaries have been provided by:
- former Governor General of Canada Adrienne Clarkson
- former Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin
- former Prime Minister Joe Clark
- CTV news anchor Lloyd Robertson
- popular historian Pierre Berton (who died before the show was broadcast)
- Paul Henderson, a famous hockey player from the 1970s.
- Don Cherry, hockey commentator.
The premise of the show is that Jimmy MacDonald's Canada was a wildly popular TV show in the 1960s, but that MacDonald has a breakdown and fled to northern Canada, taking all of the show episodes on film with him. His plane crashed, and the films have recently been found. The humour of the show is derived from the differences in social values between the 1960s and today.
MacDonald begins each episode by saying: "I'm Jimmy MacDonald, and I'm going to give it to you straight!"
MacDonald provides commentary on trends in Canadian society from a reactionary viewpoint, opposing such "fads" as physical fitness, rock music and fashion.
Margison hosts a segment called "A Woman's Advice", providing advice on social issues based on personal experiences. "Let's build a great Canada!" she encourages viewers at the end of each segment.
Each episode has a section called Outrage of the Week where Jimmy presents three (outrageous) clips and then picks the one that outrages him the most.
MacDonald also regularly promotes the show's (fictional) sponsor, "Provincial Brand" cigarettes.
The final episode of the show, about the sexual revolution, is the one in which MacDonald suffers his breakdown on the air because of his outrage over how the show was turning out with what he believed was taboo material. MacDonald had Victorian sensitivites.
