"Kids
have this kind of butterfly mind that goes from plant
to plant quickly," says Roger Price, producer of Whatever
Turns You On. "The program reflects that."
The show (airing on CTV Saturday morning), a pilot for
a network series next fall, is a spinoff of Price's
You Can't Do That On Television, a local,
weekly show in Toronto that boldly uses 10-to-15-year-old
performers in a live comedy and music format. Competing
against the U.S. networks' Saturday morning cartoon
lineup, You Can't Do That On Television
has won a 32-share of the ratings, partly because of
an on-air phone-in quiz game and prize give-aways. "We
stole Canadian kids back to watching Canadian TV," Price
says.
The CTV pilot features Laugh In veteran
Ruth Buzzi and rock group Trooper, with seven young
performers (from a core cast of 18 non-professionals)
including 15-year-old Christine (Moose) McGlade. "If
she were a dancer or a pianist she'd be hailed as a
child prodigy," Price says proudly, adding that Moose
has a natural talent for taking studio directions while
talking on-air.
If
the show does sell to the network as a series, Price
says, "We would really love to do it live. But it would
add so much to the cost that I don't think CTV would
go for it." Neither is he sure about using imported
guest stars on the show (the local program uses just
children and one stooge-adult). "Ruth Buzzi was marvellous,
but I don't know how lucky we'd be on a regular basis
finding bog stars who are that good in working with
children."
Price,
37, came to Canada only last year, and before that worked
in England on television for adults. He didn't become
interested in children's programming until he started
having kids of his own (he now has five). After doing
a BBC documentary on raising children, he produced The
Tomorrow People, a popular adventure series.
Price says the message of that show, and of Whatever
Turns You On, is that "just because you're small
and just because you're young, you shouldn't let that
hold you back. And I think there's an additional message
for this current show, that just because you're Canadian,
you shouldn't let that hold you back."
