‘Beyond the superficial’
In her 16 years as ‘Cityline’ host Tracy Moore focused on the ‘nitty gritty real-life issues’
It had been an emotional week for “Cityline” host Tracy Moore, who announced the cancellation of the show on her social media accounts last Tuesday. “Do I love Cityline? Always and forever. Am I a little heartbroken? Absolutely,” she said.
Moore was the show’s third host in 40 years. Its original host was Dini Petty, from 1984 through 1989, then Marilyn Denis picked up the mantle until 2008, when Moore began her run.
Last week’s cancellation, added to the loss of Denis’s afternoon show on CTV a year ago, will change the Canadian television landscape, especially for women, its predominant audience.
Poignantly, the news coincided with “Cityline’s” 40th anniversary. The show’s final week comprised daily celebratory tributes, culminating in a special farewell episode last Friday.
“It’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Moore told me about the final week. “The connection with viewers goes beyond the hosts.”
“Cityline” hit screens well before the internet, which has of course splintered viewership and made it difficult for generalized lifestyle shows to continue. It also preceded specialty TV channels that focus purely on food or homes.
“This show was where you could learn about what paint to choose, about what to wear as the mother of the bride. Figuring out what to make for dinner is what drives most people batty; you could find that here on Mondays and Wednesdays,” Moore said. The poor guest chefs, she added. “I don’t cook and Marilyn didn’t either.” There is no better ingredient than relatability.
But it went deeper than that, especially in latter years. “This show was always committed to taking down that fourth wall,” said Moore, referencing the ephemeral space between the show and the audience. “It went beyond the superficial parasocial relationships into the nitty gritty real-life issues: job loss, health issues, miscarriage.”
She could have added racism and microaggressions and misogynoir, suicide, menopause and fatphobia, among the hundreds of meaningful topics “Cityline” brought into viewers’ living rooms each mid-morning.
Moore shared a lot of her own vulnerable moments on the show. “Part of that is me leading the way. Taking down barriers, an invitation for viewers to take down their own walls,” she said.
One issue she will address “till the cows come home” is society’s fixation on the scale. As a woman in broadcast, she fought through her feelings and feedback on her changing weight and emerged triumphantly defiant.
“The concept and construct that we should hate ourselves as we are is lazy and unacceptable.”
These important topics seasoned the show’s lively lifestyle mix of fashion, home decor, beauty, health and relationships, with a good dose of audience participation. A spoonful of sugar, you could say.
The viewers were passionate and loyal. “The moments I remember the most from the show have to do with moments of connection,” Moore said. “I was once in Barcelona and walking down La Rambla, and a woman came running up to say, ‘Hey you’re that Citytv lady!’ The same thing would happen in No Frills.”
Over the years, Moore has interviewed the Kim Kardashians and Heidi Klums of the glitter monde, but “for me it was always about the real people with the real stories.”
One woman and her son stick in Moore’s mind. “He was a young child, living with cancer, and his mom said she didn’t dream about being at his wedding, she just wanted to be there at his first day of kindergarten. She was so open with us and she really allowed us to fall in love with the son she lost.” Importantly for Moore, the show was able to follow up with the family on air.
The gravitas was all mashed up with “light, fun, happy moments.” On set, Moore’s delight has always been contagious. Last week’s show wrap was filled with clips of her being covered in slime, decked out in hilarious Halloween costumes and bursting into her gratifying belly laugh.
When Moore was first offered the “Cityline” hosting job, it meant leaving a broadcast journalism-focused career path. Moore, who grew up in Richmond Hill, was a university graduate with both a degree in political science and a master’s in journalism.
But the show’s personal focus fit and showcased Moore’s remarkable ability to connect. Over time, she became comfortable sharing more of her own life.
“People saw both my pregnancies on air, so there was some public investment,” she said. This deepened during the pandemic when Moore leaned into her social media account, allowing viewers to feel like we got to know her husband, Lio Perron, kids Sidney and Eva, and dog Ozzie.
It hasn’t always been an easy road, she said, “being not only a Black family, but a Black public-facing family. It is not an easy journey for them to go through.”
Still, she said, it felt right to share their reality. “We aren’t very fancy and we are very normal,” she said. “Any kind of façade that TV people take on, any pretending that your life is something that it isn’t, I’m not into that.”
Ultimately, that personal touch is what Moore hopes her legacy as “Cityline’s” final host will be. Plans were still being finalized for Moore’s next chapter, but the network said she will move to hosting a new national, live one-hour morning show under the “Breakfast Television” brand.
“I think it is important that people know I care. It is important that we care about each other. We’ve moved so far away from that,” she said.
After 16 years of making people feel seen, whether in studio or watching at home, Moore’s MO remains the same. “Let me hear your story.”