1979 cast of Whatever
Turns You On
On
March 18, 1979, halfway through the premiere season of You
Can't Do That On Television, a network version
of the series commenced production. This was a taped series
titled Whatever Turns You On and it aired
in a primetime slot in 1979 on CTV, a national Canadian
television network of which CJOH was an affiliate.
WTYO
was a fast-paced sketch comedy for youth hosted by Christine
McGlade and linked together from the familiar
YCDTOTV link set. Usually, one or two storylines would run
throughout each episode, most often unfolding on the link
set. WTYO had topics, opposite sketches and
of course green slime, water, pies, etc. The program was
done before a live studio audience, however, canned laughter
later replaced the live audience. The series was shot at
CJOH. Roger Price and Geoffrey Darby were the writers. Darby
directed the series, while Price produced it.
WTYO
featured the acting expertise of Ruth
Buzzi, a player in early-1960s variety
shows, and a prominent member of the Laugh-In
cast. In WTYO, Buzzi played all of the adult
female characters. These include Mom, Miss Fit (a teacher),
Miss Take (Mr. Dime's southern talking secretary), Miss
Inform (a very funny nurse), Lois (a female version of Barth)
and the old lady at the theater.
Opposite Buzzi was Les
Lye, from the YCDTOTV cast.
A lot of Les's familiar adult male characters appeared in
WTYO. These include Ross, Senator Prevert,
Mr. Schidtler, the Principal, Nasti, Seth Pool, along with
Mr. Dime (the president of the T.H.E. Television Network)
and R. Sole (the producer).
All of the original, classic YCDTOTV kid cast
members appeared in WTYO. These are Christine
McGlade, Kevin
Somers, Jono
Gebert, Kevin
Schenk, Lisa
Ruddy and Rodney
Helal. In fact, one can view the main
cast of WTYO by playing the 1981-90 YCDTOTV
opening animation in slow-motion. A portion of the animation
comes from WTYO. During the segment in which
the kids get off the school bus, the kids (in order) are
WTYO-age: Kevin Somers, Kevin Schenk, Christine
McGlade, Jono Gebert, and Marc Baillon. Most people do not
realize that 1981-90 YCDTOTV used the format
of WTYO and not the 1979 YCDTOTV
format.
