Soon to take his leave from Radio-Canada where he served as the topper of children’s programs, Michel Lavoie has been called many things: inspired, highly critical, caring, naive and a great defender of children and their interests.

Playback spoke to several industry professionals, as well as friends old and new, and asked them to comment on Lavoie’s 25 years with r-c and cbc. Here’s what they had to say.

Championing Cdn. culture

Allan Mirabelli, chairman of the Alliance for Children and Television, was Lavoie’s communications teacher at Montreal’s Loyola College 25 years ago. (Lavoie is currently completing a term as act treasurer.)

‘Whatever Michel touches, be it scripts, proposals or whatever, it’s congruent with his views of children’s needsŠwhat their educational needs are, their entertainment needs, what our culture should offer them. It’s always consistent,’ says Mirabelli. ‘He wants Canadian children to see themselves on Canadian screens such that they will be inspired. And Michel has delivered on that.’

Mirabelli says Lavoie has earned the loyalty and respect of many colleagues over the years.

‘Michel’s a very modest guy. During our last awards ceremony, I said a few words about his retirement. Michel wasn’t expecting it. Well, he fell apart, crying and everything. You see, it’s the children and the products that he produces that count to him, not Michel Lavoie.’

Lavoie’s first commissioned production as the newly named head of youth programming at r-c in 1990 was the hugely successful Productions sda series Les Debrouillards. The show ran over five full seasons featuring, among others, cohosts Marie-Soleil Tougas and Gregory Charles.

Debrouillards was producer Diane England’s first show for sda, and as such, she says the multiple Prix Gemeaux-winning program was a ‘beau bebe’ for both her and Lavoie. Sur la piste, now in its third year on r-c, is another show developed by England and licensed by Lavoie.

‘They were happy years,’ recalls England. ‘In the youth sector, people weren’t seeking to become stars.’

What’s special about Lavoie, she says, was his willingness to program for children, and not only in terms of the broadcaster’s or adults’ interests.

‘Michel’s understanding of kids is phenomenal. He can be very critical. We weren’t always on the same wavelength. He could just call you up and say things like, ‘Hi, you know, I don’t really like your new project.’ He’s open that way, but it’s always from the point of view and the interest of the children. To my mind that’s probably his best quality.’

Although children’s shows have more access to Telefilm Canada funding this year due to the extra ctcpf money, England says year in, year out r-c’s youth programming department is still being downsized.

‘Too bad,’ she says. ‘Because if there is a certain type of programming which has helped put Radio-Canada on the map it has been their youth programs, which have been praised around the world.’

Vision and guts

Robert Roy, chairman of the Quebec branch of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and an act director in the 1980s, says, ‘In difficult times, when ratings and revenues are always stressed, it takes vision and guts to defend a sector like children’s programming. And Michel has those guts. The proof is in his work.’

Roy, who headed up children’s television at r-c some 20 years ago and was later named director general of network programming, says there’s always been a special place for children at the public network.

‘From the beginning, in 1952, we decided to give children’s programming a significant chunk of time ­ 20% of the schedule. Four in the afternoon to 6 p.m. is a major slot for acquisitions and studio programming. So, when appointing someone to head up the children’s section, we’ve always needed someone who would defend that special concern. We need a visionary, and Michel has defended that vision well.’

Sense of wonderment

Prisma producer Laurent Bourdon says Lavoie has a special interest in international children’s issues, always making sure he was up to date on the latest trends even when he wasn’t personally present at the big program markets. ‘He was never chauvinistic, he was always open,’ says Bourdon.

Prisma produces the new r-c children’s game show Les Mondes de Sismi, and earlier, the house produced Pacha et les chats (Kitty Cats), a widely traveled and delightful puppet show launched in 1991.

Lavoie’s vision ­ not to mention the initial licence ­ helped make Kitty Cats a success both on the local level and internationally, says Bourdon.

And because Lavoie was a director for many years, Bourdon says he has sharp creative and production skills.

Bourdon says people with weighty responsibilities in broadcasting often become disillusioned, but not Lavoie.

‘He is very close to children. He seems to have an intuition of what kids like and don’t like. He’s a guy who’s as rational as he is naive. A funny combination. He has this real sense of wonderment.’

Dr. Andre Caron, founder and director of The Centre for Youth and Media, Universite de Montreal, says, ‘Here at the Media Centre we’ve worked very closely with Michel on program policy, research and development for r-c. We pretest some of their shows and look at programming strategy.’

Sesame Street years

Besides their Old Timers Hockey affiliation (with the hint from Caron that Lavoie may be the better goal scorer), the two men have known each other since the mid-1970s during the early days of Sesame Street. Caron was doing his PhD at Harvard with the acclaimed Dr. Jerry Lesser, a key personality at the Children’s Television Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street, when Lavoie was asked (in 1975) to executive produce the Canadian version.

‘They contacted Michel and asked him to be the director of the Canadian Sesame Street show. Michel came up with the direction and ended up doing research with my sister and brother-in-law.’

Brought out the best

Dr. Alison d’Anglejan, a recently retired psycholinguist from the Universite de Montreal and a member of Sesame Street’s advisory board since 1976, says, ‘Working with Michel was enormous fun. He’s a witty, bright, caring person who brought out the best in everyone.’

D’Anglejan and Lavoie consulted on language issues, her field, and they became personal friends, she says.

‘Michel’s concept for the Canadian Sesame Street was to introduce some content that was part of Canada, such as multiculturalism. We taught a little French to sensitize the children to the fact that one in four Canadians is French-speaking. It was important that it didn’t look just like the American show. He always wanted it to have symbols and content that were specifically Canadian.’

Listens to kids

Jean-Pierre Morin, president of Productions jbm, a joint venture with Pixcom president Jacquelin Bouchard, says he approached Lavoie with a program concept called Watatatow in 1990. The show became a long-running and award-winning teen soap, in part because of Lavoie’s decision to program it at 5 p.m., making additional Telefilm funding available. ‘By the end of the year we’ll have produced 562 episodes. We do 90 a year!’ says Morin.

Lavoie also programmed jbm’s latest kids’ show, La Bande a Frankie, and earlier, Pixcom’s critically acclaimed teen special Ici Ados-Canada.

‘More and more we’re pressured to make children’s shows for the parents. But Michel always makes children’s shows for children. He listens to kids,’ says Morin.

Of her husband and the father of her two daughters, Patricia Lavoie, vp live-action production and development with Cinar Films, says, ‘He’s not necessarily a guy who stands in the spotlight with ease. But this tribute is well deserved.’

The tv programming and producing couple met while standing in line to register for post-ba work at Concordia University and have worked in the same field ever since, including 17 seasons on Sesame Street.

‘We lived the show for many years. Finally, we made a deal to stop talking about it at homeŠand get a life,’ says Patricia Lavoie.

‘I wouldn’t say that Michel is exactly retired. He’s leaving the cbc. He wants to enter the private sector and do new things. All his international contacts are important because that’s the way our industry is headed ­ with more foreign coproduction. So Michel is being courted and has offers to consider.

‘You’ve really got to love children’s programming and kids to do the job well,’ she says. ‘It wasn’t a high-profile field when we got into it. Michel has been so successful at what he d’es because he’s focused, he has a lot of energy, and he’s enthusiastic. But most importantly, he has this special ability to understand both the French and English cultures.’