Toronto Star - December 18, 1985

"Green Gables movie delighted 4,908,000 viewers"
Sid Adilman

Part 1 of the two-part Anne Of Green Gables movie on Dec. 1 drew the largest audience for any single Canadian show on CBC-TV, other than sports events, since rating methods changed in 1977.

Anne captured and delighted 4,908,000 viewers of all ages when aired at 8 p.m., according to the Nielsen ratings. That represented 47 per cent of all those watching any Canadian TV station for the two-hour period. And CBC research shows that it had an over-all 88 per cent enjoyment index.

Only three Stanley Cup playoff games last year are estimated to have had more viewers, according to network spokesman Cec Smith.

The previous non-sports CBC ratings champion was the drama Riel Part 1 (1979) with 3,096,000.

Anne topped all Canadian TV shows that ratings week, including CTV's leader, The Cosby Show, which on Nov. 28 attracted 4,742,000 viewers.

The 80-year-old Lucy Maud Montgomery classic starred Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth and was brought to the screen by 29-year-old independent Toronto producer Kevin Sullivan, who was the director, co-producer with Ian McDougall and co-writer of the script with Joe Weisenfeld.

Touched hearts

The sensational response is not only a strong vote for Canadian programming but for a show made by a private Canadian producer - in this case, with investments from CBC, Telefilm Canada's Broadcast Fund, the American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), CITY-TV and West German TV.

"It's wonderful," Sullivan said of the ratings. "The film obviously touched a core in the hearts of Canadians.

"The story shines through by the grace of its performers. I felt I had the right actors for the roles. Women fall over Farnsworth, men love Dewhurst and Megan epitomized the role.

"I could tell from audiences who saw it at preview screenings how moved they were by it."

Dewhurst was so enthused by her role as Marilla Cuthbert that while filming interior scenes in Scarborough she offered to be available for a weekly series based on the other Anne books.

"I'm not sure a weekly series is the best format," Sullivan said yesterday. "This material is too special to degenerate into a weekly series. Maybe a sequel, though. There have been some discussions about that."

PBS will air the entire movie at one showing in March and there is talk of a CBC repeat next year.

Reviews from TV critics were uniform raves. Hockey ranks first.

Ratings for the two-hour Part 11, aired the next night, won't be known for another week because Nielsen runs two weeks behind and only this month is beginning overnight service.

Ironically, CBC guaranteed advertisers an audience of 2.4 million, but under its agreement sponsors do not pay extra because the figure so exceeded the prediction.

Over-all, live Canadian hockey coverage ranks first.

CBC reports these ratings champions - all registered in 1984: The fifth and deciding Stanley Cup game (Edmonton Oilers versus New York Islanders), 6.1 million; division finals (Calgary at Edmonton), 4,940,000; conference finals (Montreal-Islanders and Edmonton- Minnesota), aired the same night to a combined rating of 4,590,000.

Other top CBC dramas: Chautauqua Girl (1983), 2,609,000; Love And Larceny (this fall), 2,242,000, Gentle Sinners, 2,226,000 and Charlie Grant's War (both this year), 2,066,000.

Source: Toronto Star