The Greatest Canadian
| The Greatest Canadian | |
|---|---|
 The Greatest Canadian logo |
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| Genre | Documentary |
| Developed by | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Written by | Gary Pearson |
| Directed by | Guy O'Sullivan |
| Broadcast | |
| Original airing | October 17, 2004 |
Officially launched on April 5, 2004, The Greatest Canadian was a television program series by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to determine who is considered to be the greatest Canadian of all time, at least according to those who watched and participated in the program. The project was inspired by the BBC series Great Britons.
Radio-Canada, the CBC's French-language arm, was not involved in The Greatest Canadian project, reducing the input of Canada's French-Canadian minority over the results. The CBC did make its website available in French, however.
The "Greatest Canadian" was not decided by a simple popular poll, but was instead chosen through a two-step voting process.
On October 17, 2004 the CBC aired the first part of The Greatest Canadian television series. In it, the bottom 40 of the top 50 "greatest" choices were revealed, in order of popularity, determined by polls conducted by E-mail, website, telephone, and letter. To prevent bias during the second round of voting, the top ten nominees were presented alphabetically rather than by order of first round popularity.
This second vote was accompanied by a series of documentaries, where 10 Canadian celebrities acting as advocates each presented their case for The Greatest Canadian. Voting concluded on November 28 at midnight and the following evening, November 29, the winner was revealed to be Tommy Douglas.
The series has a spiritual sequel, The Greatest Canadian Invention.
Contents |
[edit] Top 10
On October 17, 2004, the top 10 nominees were revealed in alphabetical order, and on November 29 the top 10 were announced in order of votes:[1]
[edit] Other editions
- Other countries have produced similar shows, see also: Greatest Britons spin-offs
Germany ran their version on ZDF and called it Unsere Besten (Our Best).
KRO (part of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting) ran the De Grootste Nederlander (The Greatest Dutchman).
The Discovery Channel (in conjunction with AOL) ran The Greatest American in May 2005.[2]
The South African Broadcasting Corporation ran the Great South Africans.
In Finland, YLE ran Suuret Suomalaiset (Great Finns).[3]
In France Le Plus Grand Français (The Greatest Frenchman) ran on France 2.
In Belgium.: De Grootste Belg and Le plus grand belge.
A Czech version called The Greatest Czech (Největší Čech) aired in June 2005.
100 Welsh Heroes was the result of an on-line poll carried out in 2003-4.
A Bulgarian version, The Great Bulgarians (Великите българи), finished in February 2007.
In Romania, the show called "Mari Români" (Great Romanians) started in May 2006; on July 8, Televiziunea Română (TVR) presented the 100 Greatest Romanians, and on October 21 the Greatest Romanian of all the times.
In Portugal, RTP chose dictator António de Oliveira Salazar as the Greatest Portuguese.
Argentina ran their version on Telefe and called it El Gen Argentino (The Argentine Gene). Started on August 27, 2007.[4]
In Spain, Antena 3 chose the current head of state, King Juan Carlos I, as The Most Important Spaniard in History, on May 22, 2007.
Ukraine ran their version on Inter and called it Великі українці (The Great Ukrainians). To broadcast 2007–2008 season, 2007.[1]
In Greece, Skai TV ran the show Great Greeks.
In Italy, Rai Due chose Leonardo Da Vinci as the greatest Italian ever on February 10, 2010.
[edit] See also
- Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
- List of Canadian Victoria Cross recipients
- List of Companions of the Order of Canada
- List of inductees of Canada's Walk of Fame
- Canadian Newsmaker of the Year
- Notable Aboriginal people of Canada
[edit] References
- ^ "Who is The Greatest Canadian? CBC viewers respond". The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2010. http://www.filibustercartoons.com/greatest%20Canadians.htm. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
- ^ "AOL TV". Tv.channel.aol.com. http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ "Suuret Suomalaiset | Arkistoitu". yle.fi. June 1, 2011. http://www.yle.fi/suuretsuomalaiset/. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- ^ http://www.telefe.com.ar
[edit] External links
- The Greatest Canadian at the Internet Movie Database
- The Greatest Canadians from the CBC Archives – Clips about the lives and accomplishments of the Top 10.
- CBC.ca - Grands Canadiens (French)
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