High Hopes (1978 TV Series)

"High Hopes" is a Canadian television soap opera that was shown on both Canadian and United States television. It was produced by Y&R Associates, Ltd, in conjunction with DCA Productions, Incorporated, and was filmed in Toronto. It was shown on CBC Television, in Canada, and was sold to US television stations in Syndication. The show was directed by Bruce Minnix.

Actor Bruce Gray headlined the cast as Dr. Neal Chapman, a family counselor who lived and worked in the Canadian college community of Port Hamilton, and the community's college, Delaney College. Much of the action was set at either the college, or his large home which also served as his office.

Living with the divorced Neal was his eighteen year old daughter, Jessie (Marianne McIssac); his mother, Meg (Doris Petrie); Louise Bates (Jayne Eastwood) the real estate agent who had sold Neal his house, and his close friend, attorney Walter Telford (Colin Fox, Granville Van Dusen), who lived with his wife, Evelyn Telford (Deborah Turnbull). Walter, Evelyn, Louise and another person, Dr. Jean Bataille, were all tenants in Neal's home

Neal also worked with Dr. Dan Girard (Jan Muszynski), a physician who worked at Port Hamilton's hospital.

Besides being involved romantically with Louise, he was also involved with television talk show host, Trudy Bowen (Barbara Kyle). One of the families he counseled was the Stewart family; successful husband Michael Stewart, Sr (Michael Tait); his wife, Norma, (Vivian Reis) and their son, Michael, Jr. (Gordon Thomson). Another family he counseled was the Sperrys, Amy (Gina Dick) and her mother, Doris (Mignon Elkins).

Much of the focus was Neal counseling his many clients, who were other members of the Port Hamilton community, and/or the Delaney College community, whilst his own troubles mounted, including the trauma of realizing that Jessie was the daughter of his ex-wife, Helen's (Candace O'Connor) sister, Paula Myles (Nuala Fitzgerald). Upon hearing this, Jessie took her mother's name of Myles, and then went after the man she had long thought was her father.

The show had a brief run in 1978, and was eventually cancelled. Musical arrangement was produced by Aeolus Productions, known for the themes on American soap operas like "All My Children" and "One Life to Live".

Notable actors on the show, besides Gray and Eastwood, included Gordon Thomson, undoubtedly the show's most successful alumnus (he played Michael Stewart, Jr), who went on to much greater fame as the nasty Adam Carrington on the prime-time soap "Dynasty"; Dorothy Malone who had been best known for her role of Constance MacKenzie in the 1960s soap opera, Peyton Place who played Carol Herzog; actor Nehemiah Persoff who played Carol's husband, Dr. Aaron Herzog; Granville Van Dusen and Colin Fox both of whom played attorney, Walter Telford; and Geraint Wyn Davies in one of his earliest roles, playing a Delaney College student named Glen.

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