CITYLINE
City -- Wednesdays
CITYLINE 25th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL
City -- February 25
Blasts From The Past
Tracy Moore Marks The 25th Anniversary Of
"Cityline" With A Walk Down "Memory" Lane
By Eric Kohanik
Minutes before taping begins, host Tracy Moore chats up the crowd before choosing one person to undergo a makeover that makes jaws drop at the end of the show. After the taping is done, exhilarated audience members file out, still abuzz over what they've seen – and over their gift bags containing products highlighted on the show.
“I want to sit in that audience and get those prizes,” Moore jokes later.
Cityline has been a daytime staple for a quarter-century, growing from a local show to a popular fixture across Canada. With most episodes featuring themes – including “Around the House,” “Family Day,” “Home Day” and “Fashion Friday” – the show has built its following with the help of a lengthy roster of lifestyle experts who make regular guest appearances.
Cityline will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a primetime special on Feb. 25. Hosted by Moore, it will showcase highlights pulled from Cityline's archives.
“It's going to be a walk down memory lane, for sure.” Moore says.
At the helm of Cityline for just over five years, the 39-year-old Moore is the third regular host in the show's history. Although Dini Petty headlined the show when it launched, it was Marilyn Denis who was the face of Cityline from 1989 until 2008.
Amid the complex division of media assets after ChumCity (then City's parent company) was acquired by CTVglobemedia (now Bell Media) in 2007, Denis (also a morning-radio co-host on Toronto's CHUM-FM) ended up in CTV's bullpen. The network eventually launched The Marilyn Denis Show in 2011, using a format similar to Cityline.
Citytv and Cityline, meanwhile, became part of the Rogers media empire. After Denis' departure in May 2008, the show used a series of guest hosts before making Moore the regular host in October.
“It's been a good run,” Moore reflects. “I don't even think we thought it was going to be this amazing. It's really turned out well.”
A married mother of two, Moore started her career as an intern at CTV before becoming a videographer at CBC. She worked in news at CBC Newsworld (now called CBC News Network) and Toronto 1 (now known as Sun News) before jumping to City's Breakfast Television as its reporter and backup news anchor. After taking time off to have her first child, Moore decided to switch gears, becoming one of Cityline's guest hosts before landing the gig as regular host.
Coming from a news background, Moore says it was “about a year-and-a-half” before she felt comfortable in the role. “It's such a big show that, for the first few months, you're trying to figure out who these guest experts are, what the tone is supposed to be, and how to deal with a live audience,” she says. “Doing a live lifestyle show is about instant reaction and that's a tough transition. It took a few months to really understand how Cityline connects with viewers.”
Cityline's longtime supervising producer, Chrissie Rejman, disagrees with how soon Moore caught on. “It was over the course of a month,” Rejman insists. “Tracy was laughing. She was forgetting that she was 'interviewing' somebody and, instead, she was having a conversation. That was the difference. That's what we looked for.”
Rejman is effusive in praising how Moore connects with viewers – and the studio audience. “What Tracy is absolutely fantastic at is she's always willing, after the show, to have her photo taken,” says Rejman. “That personal contact with everybody is a really important ingredient.”
For her part, Moore says she is just trying to be herself. “With television being the way it is right now, people need a little bit of levity with their information,” she says. “This is what I get from the audience.
“They have a date with us every morning. They trust us. And we take that very seriously.”
Cityline – City – weekdays
Cityline 25th Anniversary Special –
City – Feb. 25
(First published in Channel Guide Magazine - February 2014.)
