Just Like Mom makes room for Dad
When the hit Canadian game show Just Like Mom aired in the 1980s, some men expressed interest in auditioning and producers ended up doing a couple of episode with dads as well.
“We got letters from people where there was a single dad with kids, or there was a mom so terrified to be on TV and a kid so desperate to do it that we did some Just Like Mom and Dad episodes,” recalled Catherine Swing, who co-hosted the original series with her then-husband, Fergie Olver.
“When we first did Just Like Mom, there were very few dads responsible fully for children or sharing the workload as equally. There were more stay-at-home moms, too. It was a different time.”
A reboot of the show announced Monday will reflect such changes.
Just Like Mom and Dad will begin production this fall and is to premiere in January 2018 on Yes TV in Canada and BYU TV in the U.S.
Bell Media struck a deal to license the series format rights to Canadian production company Marblemedia, which launched an online casting call Monday.
The original Just Like Mom aired on CTV’s flagship station, CFTO-TV in Toronto, between 1980 and 1985 before going into syndication.
It saw children and their mothers being tested on how well they knew each other and also competing in a bake-off challenge. The children had to whip together recipes under a tight timeline and with a choice of regular and unusual ingredients, like ketchup and olives, which Swing said was a way to promote their sponsors.
The mothers then had to eat the creations and guess which one their child made. The winning team spun a wheel for the chance to win a grand prize.
“I do not believe anybody was sick, but I do recall faces of people taking a bite and then shaking their hands and their eyes tearing up, because it was full of vinegar or it was full of something,” Swing said.