Borderline High (lost Canadian afterschool special; 1992)

TV guide listing for Borderline High in the Prince George Citizen from June 1992.

Status: Lost

Borderline High is a 50-minute special featuring dramatizations and interviews with Canadian teens talking about their experiences of dropping out that aired on YTV. The movie was created by YTV for Employment and Immigration Canada.

Synopsis

Borderline High was a television special that aired in Canada on YTV, with a runtime of 50^[1] minutes. It features a cast of five students at a Canadian high school each portraying different reasons for them to drop out^[2], followed by interviews with real students on their personal experiences with dropping out. The fictitious students’ stories were dramatized, and may or may not have been inspired by the real students’ interviews. The film was hosted by Alanis Morissette as herself.^[3] In the finale of the film, Alanis performs a music video of her hit song, "Too Hot", in the halls of Borderline High with "special choreography."

The five characters in the film are Alanis, Julie, Dixie, Noah, and Eduardo. They were portrayed by singer Alanis Morissette and actors Henriette Ivanans, Max Piersig, Phil Guerrero, and Veronica Cecil respectively.^[4]

Background

This TV movie was created by YTV for Employment and Immigration Canada. It was directed by Richard Mortimer and both written and produced by Josh Morris. The score was created by John McCarthy.

According to an interview with Pierre H. Cadieux, Minister of State for Youth: “The YTV music and drama special, ‘Borderline High,’ had received $25,000 under the federal "Stay-in-School" initiative.” Co-production funding was made available to YTV under the Stay-in-School initiative as a sponsorship. According to this interview, as seen in the Calvinist Contact, the ultimate goal of the film was to give students a message on the importance of continuing their education, much like other similar educational films.

The newspaper article mentions that the actors portray themselves in the special and that it is an hour long, though these are likely false. Alanis Morissette, the most well-known of the five actors, portrays herself, and the official runtime from government sources is listed as 50 minutes, which was likely rounded up to an hour for the sake of brevity.

Availability

The film aired from at least May to July of 1992 on the channel YTV.^[5] More specifically it aired at a 9 PM time slot. It can be seen on TV guides for Prince George, British Columbia as well as Ancaster, Ontario. It also reportedly aired on Cable 10 in Squamish, British Columbia according to the local newspaper, the ‘’Squamish Times’’.^[6]

Gallery

TV guide in the Prince George Citizen.
1992 Article in the Calvinist Contact.

External Links

References

↑ 1995 TERMIUM Plus database search page for Borderline High. Retrieved 3 Apr '23
↑ July 1992 issue of the Calvinist Contact. Retrieved 3 Apr ‘23
↑ Prince George Citizen June 1992 TV Guide. Retrieved Apr 3 ‘23
↑ Borderline High’s IMDb page. Retrieved Apr 3 ‘23
↑ YTV Schedule Archive Wiki. Retrieved 3 Apr ‘23
↑ November 1992 Squamish Times newspaper. Retrieved 6 Aug ‘22

[1] 1995 TERMIUM Plus database search page for Borderline High. Retrieved 3 Apr '23

[2] July 1992 issue of the Calvinist Contact. Retrieved 3 Apr ‘23

[3] Prince George Citizen June 1992 TV Guide. Retrieved Apr 3 ‘23

[4] Borderline High’s IMDb page. Retrieved Apr 3 ‘23

[5] YTV Schedule Archive Wiki. Retrieved 3 Apr ‘23

[6] November 1992 Squamish Times newspaper. Retrieved 6 Aug ‘22

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