Broadcast Week, March 30 to April 5 1996

The Legacy of
Avonlea
It's the end of the road for a show that played a vital role
in the growth of the Canadian TV industry

by Louise Leger

It's a world where right and wrong are easily distinguished -- where helping out a neighbour is second nature, and it's never too much trouble to set an extra place setting for an unexpected dinner guest. It's an optimistic, mannerly, turn-of-the-century place not yet tarnished by war, political deceit and confessional talk shows. It's Road to Avonlea, and this week the Kings, the Dales, the Pettibones and the rest of the gang come together one last time. "Good Lord," Aunt Hetty might say, "Surely Providence didn't mean for this to happen!" The millions of viewers who have embraced the show during its seven years probably feel the same way.

Reflecting on the tremendous success of the show in Canada and around the globe, executive producer Kevin Sullivan says, "Road to Avonlea was an antidote to most television pumped into our living rooms, including the news. It didn't push any buttons and involved people emotionally with the characters. Avonlea is a world that is very black and white, and that doesn't exist anymore."

Still, Sullivan felt it was time to wrap up the show that began as a spin-off of his successful Anne of Green Gables mini-series. "It had reached its zenith. I didn't want it to become an imitation of an imitation." He feared that before too long, the public's affection for the show could begin to atrophy. "I wanted viewers to have fond memories of it."

There's no doubting the loyalty of its audience. Although its ratings had begun to fall off, Avonlea still reached an average of more than 1.2 million viewers a week. On the U.S. Disney Channel, its 12 million viewers made it that network's highest rated series ever. Shown in over 140 countries, it remains the biggest dramatic TV export in Canada's history.

But more than entertaining millions, Avonlea had a profound impact on the way Canadian television was produced and perceived. With a per-episode budget of $1.2 million, and an unmatched attention to period detail, it helped establish a new standard for Canadian TV production values. It won countless awards: 15 Geminis (out of approximately 70 nominations) three Emmys (out of 10 nominations), four CableAce awards (14 nominations) and innumerable international accolades.

Over it's seven-year run, Avonlea employed some 500 actors -- a record for a Canadian series -- and about 200 crew on an annual basis. It turned some of those actors, such as Jackie Burroughs and Sarah Polley, into household names. "The show has meant a lot of work for actors, directors, writers and crew people," says John Ryan, producer on the final season of the show. "It has paid off a lot of mortgages and bought a lot of cottages." It was also the first Canadian series to engage in "stunt casting," bringing in a bevy of international film stars for guest roles, including Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lloyd, Michael York, Stockard Channing and Dianne West.

Maria Topalovich, chief executive of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television calls Avonlea a "breakout show." She says, "Road to Avonlea has been extraordinarily important for the TV industry, particularly the independent production community. It has entrenched itself as first-class Canadian television, and that reflects well on other production companies in Canada. Any sort of groundbreaking has to be recognized, whether it's from Sullivan, Atlantis or Alliance. You can't isolate Sullivan in this. But if you have one, then two, then three Canadian production companies that offer consistently high-quality product then Canada becomes a viable co-production partner [or producer of product worth buying.]"

Phyllis Platt, executive director of CBC Television Arts & Entertainment programming, agrees. "Avonlea opened doors around the world for Canadian drama production. It certainly was one of the trail-blazers in that sense. Avonlea's identification with the CBC was certainly a help to us in raising our international profile."

With Avonlea, Sullivan was able to take full advantage of the expansion of the global television market spawned by the proliferation of U.S. cable channels and increased European demand for programming. Now Canadian production companies like Sullivan, including Atlantis Films (TekWar, The Outer Limits, Lost in the Barrens, Traders), Alliance Communications (Night Heat, E.N.G., Due South) Cinar (Million Dollar Babies), Nelvana (Jake and the Kid, Nancy Drew/The Hardy Boys), and Paragon Entertainment (Forever Knight, Kissinger and Nixon, Lives of Girls and Women), have together made Canada the second largest exporter of television in the world, after the United States.

Amidst this boom, Avonlea stood out by showing that it was possible to produce television that was clearly Canadian, with frequent references to local politics, the judicial system and British roots, and still achieve broad international appeal.

"Avonlea looks Canadian and sounds Canadian," says John Brunton of Insight Productions, executive producer of another home-grown series, Ready or Not. "Up until recently, that was meant as a criticism. With Avonlea, it is quite the opposite."

Brunton also gives Avonlea credit for boosting the international reputation of Canadian productions. "Ready or Not is sold in almost 40 countries around the world and certainly Avonlea helped pave the way for that kind of international respect for Canadian family programming. This year Ready or Not is on the Disney Channel and they may not have taken note of our show if it wasn't for Avonlea. Who knows?"

For Sullivan and his partner/wife Trudy Grant, Avonlea has obviously been financially lucrative, the keystone to a $50-million-a-year business operated out of the stylish $3-million building they own in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood. Avonlea has also solidified the reputation of Sullivan Entertainment and acted as a springboard to other Sullivan projects including Butterbox Babies (the highest rated Candian movie ever), Under the Piano and his new series, Wind at My Back. Depicting the struggles of a family during the Great Depression, the drama is scheduled to slide nicely into Avonlea's CBC Sunday night timeslot.

For viewers who will regret saying good-bye to Aunt Hetty, Sara, Felicity, Felix and the rest of the Avonlea gang, Wind at My Back promises to be stamped with the same Sullivan homespun charm. But unlike Avonlea, Wind at My Back does not have the involvement of Disney or any other foreign company. Says Sullivan, "We decided to finance it completely out of Canada, and then perhaps sell it afterwards." Judging by his track record, that should be as easy as finding a friendly neighbour and a good cup of tea in Avonlea.