Hugo Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Author of WWW:Wake and FlashForward

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Prisoners of Gravity

Prisoners of Gravity was the most thoughtful and creative television program ever produced anywhere in the world about the literature of science fiction, and it was a substantial Canadian success story. In first-run, it was one of the most popular series on its originating network, TVOntario, lasting for five seasons and 139 installments; it also ran on several PBS stations.

Among the program's many honors were:

the Broadcast Media Award from the International Reading Association (for the Ray Bradbury installment, which featured Robert J. Sawyer);
a Silver Medal from the New York Festivals of Television (for the installment on Zero Population Growth);
an Honorable Mention from the Columbus International Film and Video Festival (for the installment on Sexism and Feminism);
two Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards ("Auroras") (with Robert J. Sawyer accepting on PoG's behalf during the ceremony at the 1994 World Science Fiction Convention); and
two nominations for the Gemini Award (the Canadian counterpart of the Emmy) in the Best Lifestyle-Information Series Category (for the program's third and fourth seasons).

All of the author videos included on Grolier's CD-ROM version of John Clute and Peter Nicholls's Encyclopedia of Science Fiction are actually clips from Prisoners of Gravity.

"In 139 episodes of Prisoners of Gravity, the one guest we would tape for 30 minutes and have all 30 minutes end up on the air was Rob Sawyer. When we needed a quote on a subject, we'd phone him up, he'd come boogying down to our studio, give us twelve pithy quotes, and go home again."
— Rick Green
Host, Prisoners of Gravity

"Robert J. Sawyer made more appearances on Prisoners of Gravity than any other guest — more often than Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, or William Gibson. I have interviewed over 600 writers, and Rob is one of the most thoughtful, provocative, and articulate. He has a degree in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson University, and he knows how to deliver what producers want. This knowledge of media, coupled with his wide-ranging and thorough grasp of science and science fiction, makes him an ideal guest. Rob's real gift is the ability to find the most compelling and correct metaphor, guiding viewers effortlessly through a landscape they might otherwise find forbidding or inaccessible. I have repeatedly recommended Mr. Sawyer to producers with the CBC, Discovery, and CTV, and many have called me back to thank me for his name."
— Mark Askwith
Co-Creator and Producer, Prisoners of Gravity

Robert J. Sawyer was the most frequent guest on Prisoners of Gravity, making a total of sixteen appearances — more than anyone else in the program's history (and, indeed, he was the final guest interviewed on the final installment of the series, an episode on "Evolution"). Rob was the only interview subject to be invited to the series' wrap party at TVOntario. He appeared in the following installments:

#	TOPIC	Season	Air Date
1	Time Travel	1st	11 December 1989
2	Holidays	1st	18 December 1989
3	High Technology	2nd	6 December 1990
4	Family	2nd	20 December 1990
5	AI and Robotics	2nd	24 January 1991 (2 clips)
6	Myth	2nd	4 April 1991
7	Ecology	2nd	18 April 1991
8	Dinosaurs	3rd	5 March 1992
9	Mars	3rd	19 March 1992
10	First Contact	4th	1 October 1992
11	Ray Bradbury	4th	22 October 1992
12	Space Travel	4th	5 November 1992
13	Information	4th	21 January 1993
14	Alien Design	5th	30 March 1994
15	Brain and AI	5th	20 April 1994
16	Evolution	5th	27 April 1994

Prisoners of Gravity Canceled

First published in the June 1994 issue of Alouette: The Newsletter of the Canadian Region of SFWA

Copyright © 1994 by Robert J. Sawyer

Don Duprey, Managing Director of English Programming for TVOntario, the television service of the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, has canceled the network's multiple-award-winning series Prisoners of Gravity after five seasons.

PoG was created by Mark Askwith, Daniel Richler, and Rick Green, hosted by Green, and produced and directed by Gregg Thurlbeck, with Shirley Brady and Askwith as Associate Producers. The weekly half-hour series explored science fiction and comic books.

Ratings were better than ever, the series was a bargain to produce at just $23,000 per episode, and awards kept pouring in. A package of ten shows aired recently on several PBS stations in the United States, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's editorial in the June 1994 Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction lauded the show.

As Canadian Regional Director of SFWA, Robert J. Sawyer sent Duprey a letter protesting the show's cancellation:

On behalf of Canada's science fiction writers, I'm writing to protest in the strongest possible terms the cancellation of Prisoners of Gravity.
PoG was innovative, intelligent, alternative fare — exactly the sort of thing tax-funded broadcasters are supposed to provide.
The program was inexpensive to produce, and covered fields that no one else in North America was looking at. TVOntario's indifference to the series has been apparent since day one — terrible time slots, constant uncertainty about the show's renewal status, little promotion. Despite that, the show won national and international awards, and, through word-of-mouth, a large and loyal audience — many of whose members doubtless first discovered TVO through Prisoners of Gravity.
Canadians spend a lot of time agonizing over the appropriateness of government-subsidized arts. PoG was unique, vastly popular, and an important showcase for Canadian writers. The decision to cancel the series only reinforces the most basic argument against "public" broadcasting — that those who control the purse strings often operate from personal agendas, rather than giving the public what it clearly wants. Apparently someone at TVO was embarrassed by having such pop-culture topics as science fiction and comic books on the schedule, and, without accountability to the tax payers who fund the service, decided to cancel what was, in many ways, the best, most innovative, most thought-provoking show on television. Canada's science fiction writers deplore this decision.

Further letters of protest would be most welcome, says Executive Producer Thurlbeck. Write to Don Duprey, Managing Director of English Programming, TVOntario, Box 200, Station Q, Toronto, Ontario M4T 2T1.

Meanwhile, Thurlbeck and company are trying to place a similar program elsewhere, with Toronto's City-TV a likely possibility. City-TV, run by Canadian media mogul Moses Znaimer, produces and syndicates several magazine-style light-information shows, including MediaTelevision, MovieTelevision, and FashionTelevision. Thurlbeck hopes to get Znaimer to add ScienceFictionTelevision to his line-up. Sad to say, though, PoG host Rick Green would not be part of any revived series; he's decided to take this opportunity to move on to other projects [including The Red Green Show]. We wish him well.

Now for the good news: on June 6, 1994, the CRTC licensed The Canadian Discovery Channel. That cable-TV channel intends to buy the existing stock of over one hundred Prisoners of Gravity programs for airing in prime time, so it looks like series will finally get a national audience in Canada. [In 1997, Canada's new SF cable channel, Space: The Imagination Station, began airing PoG repeats, as well.]

Hugo Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer ROBERT J. SAWYER Author of WWW:Wake and FlashForward

Prisoners of Gravity

Prisoners of Gravity Canceled

Copyright © 1994 by Robert J. Sawyer

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Hugo Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Author of WWW:Wake and FlashForward