This miniseries was developed at the time that the Forsyte Saga was popular. it was meant to the CBC's answer to that. However the CBC's answer was an unwatchable and baffling mess. It was impossible to follow a coherent story line. Everything was shown in flashbacks over generations and characters came and went with no apparent coherence.
One particularly odd decision was to cast Kate Reid in two parts as a grandmother and granddaughter. The grandmother lay dying in her bed in the house for many episodes and then for no apparent reason roared up to the house driving a sports car in modern times. What the viewer was supposed to make of this is something only the director could tell.
The program was quite unpopular in English Canada for the simple reason that nobody could understand what was going on on the screen. However, true to form, the Canadian media blamed Canadian for not supporting Canadian talent. The series was later re-cut into a more understandable form and shown on the CBC. There was little reaction to this.
As others have pointed out, this baffling mess of a program did not help the perception of Canadian television. However it must be said that the CBC can claim the distinction of creating the worst miniseries in the history of television. With a bomb like this, Canada could rule the world.
