From Shakespeare to cop shows, sitcoms to docudramas, for over threedecades the CBC has presented viewers with every variety of televisiondrama and has become Canada's closest equivalent to a nationaltheatre. Turn Up the Contrast is the first book to explore the contentof Canadian television drama and is both a critical analysis and asurvey history of how Canadians have used the medium to tell themselvestheir own stories.

As a part of her research, Mary Jane Miller watched thousands ofhours of television, sampling series and viewing in their entiretyshorter programs such as movies and mini-series. Asking a variety ofquestions, she selected a number of programs for detailed analysis, anddevotees of The Beachcombers, King of Kensington, Seeing Things,Cariboo Country, Wojeck or A Gift to Last will be pleased to find theirfavourites among those discussed at length.

A University of British Columbia Press / CBC EnterprisesCo-Publication.

"This book offers much more than a digest of review pieces; it stands on its own as valid and scholarly criticism." - Choice

"Turn Up the Contrast will be the essential reference book for some time; it is full, informative, discussable, and well indexed." - Canadian Theatre Review