Switchback had a number of different incarnations before it got scuttled.
At first it was hosted by actor Shawn Thompson and was aimed at tweens and teens. Under that formula it was at its most successful yet also its most smarmy. High points included "Ken-dini over the falls" which was a Ken Doll inside of a KFC bucket tossed over Niagara Falls then recovered intact.
Then there was the infamous "Who is 'Ron Jeremy'?" contest. The show, already unusually adult for a kids show, had taken callers amongst whom some were quite mischievous and this included a young man who identified himself as Ron Jeremy. Shawn Thompson subsequently invited viewers to submit suggestions as to whom 'Ron Jeremy' might be perhaps unaware it was the name of a notorious and prolific pornographic film star. I don't know if this was brought to the attention of parents of the kids watching the show but I suspect it may have been as Thompson was replaced by new host Eric Tunney.
Did Thompson try to get himself fired so that he could go back to America to do soap operas again? Or was he just trying to see if anybody was watching? It was on Sunday mornings so perhaps he thought nobody was.
The show featured a gossip reporter who gave infotainment style reports on 1980s musicians. Comedian Howard Busgang guest-starred and did the occasional sketch. The singer for Toronto alternative band Images In Vogue also showed up for an interview and ended up staying as another sidekick.
Eric Tunney's era wasn't particularly long either and the show was given a makeover by the CBC to make it more in keeping with a kids show that didn't compromise family values advocates ideas of what a children's show should really be.
A rather portly radio show host was brought in along with a perky young English woman who answered viewer mail. I stopped watching almost immediately and so did a lot of the kids who had been watching. It had ceased to the kind of guilty pleasure with lewd humor that initially drew us in.
