The Greatest Canadian

The Greatest Canadian
The Greatest Canadian logo
GenreDocumentary
Developed byCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
Written byGary Pearson
Directed byGuy O'Sullivan
Country of originCanada
No. of episodes13
Original release
Release17 October 2004 (2004-10-17)
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The Greatest Canadian is a 2004 television series consisting of 13 episodes produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to identify one greatest Canadian of all time, according to those who watched and participated in the program.[1]

The series two-hour debut on 17 October 2004 garnered more than one million viewers, with approximately 500,000 to 700,000 viewers per episode thereafter. The initial nomination phase received more than 10,000 names submitted for consideration.[2] The second phase of the process concluded on 28 November at midnight and the following evening the winner from more than 1.2 million votes was revealed to be Tommy Douglas.[3][4]

The series was inspired by the BBC production the Great Britons and has a spiritual sequel, The Greatest Canadian Invention.

The Greatest Canadian experienced strong initial ratings, some fall-off during its run, and a partial rebound for the finale. The series was credited with bringing the CBC public "buzz" and a younger demographic. Conversely the series was critiqued, by University of Calgary communication professors Bart Beaty and Rebecca Sullivan in their book Canadian Television Today, as middlebrow "nationalist pandering."[5]

  1. ^ "And the Greatest Canadian of all time is…". CBC Archives. 2005.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference archive1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Sheila A Sorrentino; Leighann Remmert, MS RN; Mary J Wilk (2016). Mosby's Canadian Textbook for the Support Worker - E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-77172-107-3.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference cbc2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Beaty, Bart; Sullivan, Rebecca (2006). Canadian Television Today. University of Calgary Press. pp. 24, 86. ISBN 978-1-55238-674-3. Retrieved 31 August 2023.