TVOntario

Ancient Civilizations

Martha Speaks

Martha, a beloved family dog, is accidentally fed alphabet soup — this gives her the power of speech and the chance to speak her mind to anyone that will listen.

renegadepress.com

Aboriginal hip-hop artist Jack Sinclair and his best friend Zoey Jones established an underground ezine called renegadepress.com. What started as a pet project soon took on a life of its own pushing Jack, Zoey and their crew of renegade reporters to deliver the goods on what's really going on in the lives of today's teens.

The Undefended Border

Explores the furious post-9/11 pace of immigration police work in Canada, revealing individual investigators staggering in the blur of competing urgencies. The series pulls back the layers of bureaucracy to reveal the priorities and the police work behind individual cases involving illegals, following their progress through investigation, detention, and deportation.

Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series

Anne: The Animated Series was a half-hour animated television show produced by Sullivan Entertainment and created by writer/director/producer Kevin Sullivan. The series was developed for PBS and each episode contained an educational aspect. Each show had a problem for one or more of the show’s characters to face and solve. In conjunction with these problems, PBS “Ready-to-Learn” guides were created for teachers in America to use in the classrooms. The educational objectives of the show support a child’s development of his/her identity, reinforced through lateral thinking and the use of a child’s magnitude to absorb daily challenges, and it also appeared on some VHS tapes from Lyrick Studios, HiT Entertainment and Nest Family Entertainment. More recently, Sullivan Entertainment has re-written the “Ready-to-Learn” educational guides for the not-for-profit organization Free the Children. Free the Children will implement these Anne Lesson Plans in the Kenyan Schools they have built and hope to take them to other countries they work in around the world.

Corduroy

Corduroy and his friend Lisa experience the world from the point-of-view of an urban child, with the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations of a big, bustling, vibrant city. Lisa and Corduroy’s world is one where diverse people and cultures live together in a contemporary community.

George Shrinks

George Shrinks is a French-Canadian/American/Chinese animated television series. It is based on the children's book by William Joyce, produced in China by Jade Animation and in Canada by Nelvana, in association with Public Broadcasting Service. It tells the story of a ten-year-old boy named George who, one night dreams that he is three inches tall, only to wake up and discover that it is true. The show details his adventures with his friends and family going all through his adventures on his mini machine's that George and his musical father have created.

Inquiring Minds

An exploration into the answers of obscure questions.

Elliot Moose

Elliot Moose is a Canadian children's live-action and animated series which was aired on TVOntario in Canada and PBS in the United States as part of the PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch until it was cancelled. Currently, the series airs on the TV station Qubo in the United States. Based on a series of children's books by Andrea Beck, its 104 episodes show the adventures of a young moose named Elliot who lives in a place called "The Big House", and shares adventures while having lots of fun with his friends; Beaverton, Lionel, Socks, and Paisley. The series was produced by Nelvana, then later on Corus Entertainment. The series was developed by Jed MacKay and produced by Marianne Culbert. The series was unique in that half of the stories were animated, and half were live action; reflecting children's real world of play and their imaginary world. The music was composed by Bruce Ley and Jed MacKay.

Zoboomafoo

Zoboomafoo is an American children's television series that aired from January 25, 1999, to April 28, 2001, and is still shown today in syndication depending on the area, and it is regularly shown on PBS Kids Sprout. A total of 65 episodes were aired. A creation of the Kratt Brothers, it features a talking Coquerel's Sifaka, a type of lemur, named Zoboomafoo, or Zoboo for short, and a collection of repeat animal guests. Every episode begins with the Kratt brothers in "Animal Junction", a peculiar place in which the rules of nature change and wild animals come to visit and play. After January 16, 2004, the show was pulled from its weekday airing on most PBS stations, though some continue to air the show.

Noddy

After years of sailing the sea, Noah Tomten, a retired sea captain, owns an antique toy store called Notions Oddities Doodads and Delights of Yesterday, a variety of toys, from a weasel living inside of a jack in the box to a dog pretending to be a superhero, along with his pet lobster. Two of his grandkids, Kate and Truman, as well as Kate's friend DJ, come to visit him from time to time.

Mighty Machines

Mighty Machines is a Canadian children's television show about machines and how they work. It airs on TVO, Treehouse TV and other channels in Canada, including Access in Alberta, the Saskatchewan Communications Network, and Knowledge in British Columbia. It also aired on Discovery Kids in 2005, on Qubo in the U.S., and a French-language version airs on TFO in Ontario and on channels in Quebec. It was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1996 in the category of Best Children's Program or Series. The full series is also available for instant viewing in the U.S. through Netflix and their streaming service.

The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon

The story follows Dudley, a dragon who recently woke up from centuries of hibernation and his new ten-year-old friends Matt and Sally. The two kids would guide Dudley around the modern world and the trio would learn about environmentalism, friendship and pro-social values.

Join In!

Every program had a number of elements woven into the plot line that invited its audience to "Join In!"; in games, songs, puzzles, or stories. The cast also broke the fourth wall, talking to the camera, and thus the audience, as if they were right there on set. The songs broke away from the usual children's format, offering a wide variety of rhythm and styles. The cast also sang live on each show.

Prisoners of Gravity

Prisoners of Gravity was a Canadian public broadcasting television news magazine program that explored speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books — and its relation to various thematic and social issues. Produced by TVOntario, the show was the brainchild of former comic retail manager Mark Askwith and writer Daniel Richler, and was hosted by Rick Green. The series aired 139 episodes over 5 seasons from 1989 to 1994.

Spirit Bay

Life on an aboriginal reserve as seen through the eyes of young teens.

Téléfrançais

Téléfrançais was a French language children's television show, produced by TVOntario from 1984 until 1986. The series of 30 ten-minute episodes has become a popular teaching tool, and is used by many educators to teach French as a second language to elementary and middle school children. The show's name is a portmanteau for télévision and français. The show follows the adventures of two children named Jacques and Sophie, and Ananas, a talking pineapple who resides in a junkyard. Other recurring characters are Pilote, Ginette, the Annonceur, Monsieur Pourquoi, Louis Questionneur, Brigitte Banane, and the comic skeletal musical group Les Squelettes. The programs were produced by Jennifer Harvey and directed by David Moore. The catchy theme and all of Les Squelettes' songs were written by the team of Bruce Ley and Jed MacKay. All the characters and scripts were created by Ken Sobol.

Bits and Bytes

Bits and Bytes was the name for two Canadian television series, starring Billy Van, who teaches people the basics of how to use a computer. The first series debuted in 1983 and the second series, called Bits and Bytes 2, in 1991. The first series also included popular comedian Luba Goy as the instructor to Van. The intro sequence featured a montage of common computer terms such as "ERROR", "LOGO" and "ROM", as well as various snippets of simple computer graphics and video effects, accompanied by a theme song that very heavily borrows from the 1978 song Neon Lights by Kraftwerk. The series were produced by TVOntario. The Writer-Producers of Both Bits and Bytes and Bits and Bytes 2 were Denise Boiteau & David Stansfield. The original series featured an unusual presentation format whereby Luba Goy as the instructor would address Billy Van through a remote video link. The video link would appear to Luba who was seated in an office on a projection screen in front of her. She was then able to direct Billy who appeared on a soundstage with various desktop computer setups of the era. Popular systems emphasized included the Atari 800, Commodore PET, Tandy TRS-80, and Apple II. Each episode also included short animated vignettes to explain key concepts, as well as videotaped segments on various developments in computing. In the new 1991 series, Billy Van assumed the role of instructor and taught a new female student. As a decade had passed, the new series focused primarily on IBM PC compatibles running DOS and earlier versions of Windows, as well as the newer and updated technologies of that era.

Today's Special

Today's Special was a Canadian children's television show produced by Clive VanderBurgh at TVOntario from 1981 to 1987. It also ran on Nickelodeon and the Faith and Values Channel/Odyssey as well as many PBS stations throughout the United States. It was set in a department store, based on the flagship location of the now defunct Simpson's in Toronto. Many sequences for it were shot at the Queen Street West and Yonge Street store after hours.

Give & Take

A sequel series to 'Trade Offs' 1982