Caillou

This article is about the Canadian children's television show. For the main title character of the show, see Caillou (character).

Caillou
Logo for the show.
Genre	Children
Created by	Christine L'Heureux Hélène Desputeaux
Voices of	Bryn McAuley (1997-2000) Jaclyn Linetsky (2000-2003) Annie Bovaird (2003-2010)
Country of origin	Canada
Language(s)	French
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Teletoon (1997-2007) Treehouse TV (2009-present) PBS
Original run	October 2, 1997 – October 3, 2010

Caillou is a Canadian children's television show based on the books by author Christine L'Heureux and illustrator Hélène Desputeaux. During the first season, many of the stories in the animated version began with a grandmother (who is also the show's narrator) introducing the story to her grandchildren, then reading the story about the book. Since 2000, the narrator/grandmother is an unseen character. Caillou first aired on Canada's Teletoon channel in 1997; it later made its United States debut in English on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television on September 4, 2000 and aired its series finale on October 3, 2010. The show also began airing on Treehouse TV on September 7, 2009. Reruns air on PBS Kids Sprout.

Episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			Season premiere	Season finale
	1	40	October 2, 1997	July 5, 2000
	2	20	September 4, 2000	July 2, 2002
	3	16	November 15, 2002	October 7, 2003
	4	20	April 3, 2006	September 23, 2008
	5	26	September 1, 2010	October 3, 2010
	6	19	January 10, 2012	TBA

Plot

Based on the books by Christine L'Heureux, the show centers along a 4-year-old named Caillou (the titular character) who is fascinated by the world around him. Caillou lives in a blue house on 17 Pine St. (As mentioned in the episode "Where I Live") with his mommy, his daddy, and his 2-year-old sister, Rosie. Each episode in Season 1-3 has a theme and is divided into several short, attention-holding sections that mix animation, puppet skits, and video of kids in highly realistic real-life situations. In Season 4-5 episodes, they are divided in 3 shorts instead of 4. In the many seasons of Caillou, Caillou has many adventures with his family and friends. Sometimes things go wrong for Caillou and he can grow very upset. Despite the trouble, at the end Caillou is always happy.

Characters

Main article: List of Caillou characters

Caillou - A 4-year-old boy with a crazy imagination with friends who help him navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up. He always has troubles through his many adventures, and throws huge fits. Caillou and his family live in a two-story blue house, whose address is mentioned in one episode: 17 Pine St. His nickname is the "Prince of Pine Street". Caillou was first voiced by Bryn McAuley, then Brooke Pynn, then Jaclyn Linetsky, and then voiced by Annie Bovaird since 2003.

Production

The series was originally broadcast in French in Canada—from (August 29, 1998 - November 10, 2006) and the episodes were later translated into English, and re-runs in English began on PBS and PBS Kids Sprout in the United States. The original books were also in French. Caillou was designed primarily for adults aged between 30–80 years old. It was created by child developmental psychologists for psychiatric ward patients. Caillou books have been made since 1987 by Chouette Publishing Inc. In 1997, 65 5-minute episodes of Caillou were aired in Canada and in selected markets worldwide, including the U.S., as mentioned above. In 2000 they were added with 40 30-minute episodes of the show, containing a mixture of the 5-minute episodes plus new stories, songs, real kids segment and puppets. This was followed with another 16 30-minute episodes containing all-new stories in 2003. The film Caillou's Holiday Movie was released on October 7, 2003. On April 3, 2006, a new set of 20 episodes finally premiered after a three-year hiatus. Caillou started attending preschool, and there were new themes and a new opening. The new episodes were animated in-house using Adobe Flash animation rather than the animation being outsourced to Korea, as it was in previous seasons. Cookie Jar Entertainment renewed Caillou for a 26-episode Season 5, which was produced by South African animation studio Clockwork Zoo.

Music

Caillou has been referenced by controversial rapper Yung God. The lyrics are extremely explicit and the artist compares himself to Caillou. The song expresses Caillou's superiority to the popular television character "Dora the Explorer" who is also a cartoon character of the same genre.

Funding

• Viewers Like You (2000–Present)

External links

Channels

• Caillou on ABC 4 Kids
• Caillou on Canal Panda
• Caillou on Clan
• Caillou on Discovery Kids
• Caillou on Discovery Kids Brazil
• Caillou on PBS Kids
• Caillou on PBS Kids (French)
• Caillou on RTP2
• Caillou on Sprout
• Caillou on Treehouse

Others

• Caillou on Sprout
• Chouette publishing (publishers of Caillou)
• Official Caillou Website
• Caillou at the Internet Movie Database
• Caillou at TV.com
• Hélène Desputeaux official site