Genre dramatic anthology No. of seasons 1 Running time 30 min. Final episode date 19 December 1996 Number of seasons 1 Written by Thomas King, Duke Redbird | Country of origin Canada No. of episodes 4 First episode date 28 November 1996 Network CBC Television Number of episodes 4 | |
Producer(s) Angela Bruce
Maryke McEwen
Bonnie Siegel | ||
Four Directions is a Canadian dramatic anthology television series, which aired on CBC Television in 1996. The series consisted of four half-hour teleplays about First Nations characters and stories.
Contents
Background
First announced in 1992 as a 13-week series focusing on "the diversity of First Nations cultures", the planned series was reduced to eight, then to six and finally to four episodes by the time it actually went into production in 1994. In addition to writing one of the four episodes, Thomas King served as story editor for the series.
In addition to the episodes produced, rejected scripts were also submitted by Evan Adams and Drew Hayden Taylor.
Despite the episodes being completed in 1994, the series remained unscheduled for another two years until the network decided in 1996 to air it as a companion piece to the long-running drama series North of 60, which was at that time nearing the end of its run and airing a reduced number of episodes. Accordingly, two weeks in the fall of 1996 were chosen, during which two episodes of Four Directions would air in the North of 60 time slot.
During the delays in producing and scheduling the series, King publicly criticized the CBC for not undertaking sufficient effort to ensure that First Nations people were given the opportunity to get involved in and learn the production process.
Followup
The series was reaired on VisionTV in 1999.