TVOntario

Quadratics

Quadratics is a six-part Canadian instructional television series produced by TVOntario in 1993. The miniseries is part of the Concepts in Mathematics series. The program uses computer animation to demonstrate quadratic equations and their corresponding functions in the Cartesian coordinate system.

The Final Chapter?

The View from Here

The View from Here is a Canadian television series, which airs on TVOntario. Hosted by Ian Brown, the program airs documentary films. The series is a frequent nominee for Best Documentary Series at the Gemini Awards, and won the award in 1999 and 2000.

Eric's World

Eric's World was a children's sitcom, which aired on a number of Canadian networks in 1991–1996, and was produced by Cambium Productions, running for five seasons. The showed starred Eric Nagler, who had previously appeared on Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show. The show also featured Ashley Brown as Max, Michelyn Emelle as Andrea, Daniel DeSanto as Horace, Niki Holt as Kaley, Maggie Huculak as Marian the Librarian, and Nicole Lyn as Prue.

The Secret City Adventures

The Secret City Adventures was a series of television programs designed to teach children how to draw. The series was produced by Maryland Public Television and aired on PBS and TVOntario in the late 1980s. The series starred Mark Kistler as Commander Mark who led viewers through various drawing exercises and examples. The show also featured other characters, including Moonbot, Unibear, Pigasus, Furbles, Violet the Dragon, and others. Occasionally, guest artists would appear on the show to demonstrate other art forms.

Skooled

Skooled is a Canadian children’s educational television series produced by Toronto production company Breakthrough Films & Television and originally broadcast on TVOntario in Canada, and syndicated to other networks throughout the world. The show was filmed at Lakefield College School in Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield, Ontario, near Peterborough. The second season was filmed with a new cast, including the return of Phil Pallen as vice principal of the school. The second season was filmed at another private boarding school, Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario. The "students" of the school were secondary school teachers from all over Ontario.

Almost Home

A young man named Ken Matthews hitchhikes from Manitoba back to his home town of Cornwall, Ontario. Each episode details the interesting people he meets along the way.

The Toy Castle

The Toy Castle is a children's television show that airs in Canada on Treehouse TV. It was produced from 2000-2003 by Sound Venture Productions. It was inspired by the Christmas movie The Tin Soldier. The stories are about a group of toys in a toy castle that magically come to life when the children are asleep. This series won a Gemini Award for "Best Preschool Series".

Miss BG

Miss BG is a 3-D animated series based on the Gudule et les bébés French children's book series published by Hachette-Jeunesse, authored by Fanny Joly and illustrated by Roser Capdevila. It is a joint Canadian/French production and is distributed by Breakthrough Animation. One hundred episodes have been produced to date.

North America: Growth of a Continent

North America: Growth of a Continent was an educational television show which was produced and broadcast by TVOntario in 1980-81. The series was narrated by Gordon Pinsent.

Landscape of Geometry

Landscape of Geometry was an educational television show that illustrated the principles and applications of geometry. The series was produced and broadcast by TVOntario in 1982–83 and was hosted by David Stringer.

The Science Alliance

The Science Alliance was an educational television show which was produced and broadcast by TVOntario in 1981-82. The hosts were Rex Hagon and Judy Haladay. The typical episode would feature the hosts demonstrating various aspect of the subject of the episode. In addition, a largely unseen narrator named Bryant would interrupt at pertinent points with a vignette called "Bryant's Giants of Science" which would tell the story of a figure in the history of science and their contribution to scientific knowledge.

Big Ideas

Big Ideas is a Canadian television series produced and broadcast by TVOntario, on the air since 2001. The program showcases public intellectual culture. It was conceived by Wodek Szemberg who continues to serve as producer of the program. The show presents public lectures by acclaimed university educators and other distinguished guests. The show is intended for a general audience. The original host, Irshad Manji, was succeeded by Canadian actor/director/playwright Andrew Moodie on 2006-01-07. In September 2011 Piya Chattopadhyay took over as host. Big Ideas airs on TVOntario on Saturday and Sunday at 5 PM, with repeat airings at 5:00 AM on Sunday and Monday morning. In 2007, Big Ideas held its Best Lecturer competition for the second time. Dr. Michael Persinger, from Laurentian University, received the best-lecturer award. Podcasts of the current lectures are available through the Big Ideas website as well as from iTunes.

Write On

Write On was an educational television show which was produced and broadcast by TVOntario. The series starred Jack Creley as Mr. R.H. Morton, Diane Dewey as Miss Newton, and Paul Brown as Henry Kent. The premise of the series is of the misadventures of the staff of a small newspaper under the editorship of the tyrannical Morton with his subordinates, Miss Newton the secretary and Henry Kent, a young reporter. Considering Kent has poor writing and grammatical skills for a professional journalist, the staff have numerous events that illustrate various lessons about writing. Furthermore, Kent often have equally educational daydreams where he is a dashing hero illustrating various writing concepts. Every episode of Write On was five minutes in length. They were written by Ken MacKay and Jed MacKay.

Readalong

Readalong was an educational, Canadian television program for young children, first produced in 1976 for TVOntario. The program taught fundamentals of reading with the help of live child actors and puppets, including a comically dressed grandmother figure named Granny and anthropomorphic footwear: a brown, male boot and pink, female shoe named, appropriately, Boot and Pretty. Other characters were Mister Bones, the Explorer, House, and the Thing. The Granny, Boot, and Pretty puppets are now housed at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Noreen Young, who designed the puppets, also created puppets for other programs, including Under the Umbrella Tree. The characters were developed by Ken Sobol, who also wrote all the scripts for the series. The show's music was composed by Eric Robertson.

Studio 2

Studio 2 was a daily current affairs newsmagazine on TVOntario in Ontario, Canada. The show won several Gemini Awards, and was hosted by Steve Paikin and Paula Todd, and first aired in 1994. TVOntario announced the program's termination on June 29, 2006. The final episode aired on June 30, and was replaced that fall with a new series hosted by Paikin, The Agenda. Rather than a newscast style, Studio 2 tackled certain current news stories affecting many Canadians with a focus often on Ontario. Regular topics on the show included healthcare, federal politics, provincial politics, terrorism, foreign affairs, the environment, the arts and many others. The show usually performed a deep analysis, often with open discussions among experts or even interviewing specific figures involved in the issues. Also included were arts and current affairs documentary segments, live performance, and in-depth personal interviews.

Parlez-moi

Parlez-moi was an educational television series which was produced and broadcast by TVOntario from 1978 to 1980, with repeat broadcasts for several years afterwards. The host was Marc Favreau, who also played Sol the Clown.

The Agenda

The Agenda with Steve Paikin is the flagship current affairs program of TVOntario, Ontario’s public broadcaster. The show practises what anchor and senior editor Steve Paikin calls "long-form" journalism. Each hour-long program tackles no more than two topics, and often only one. "We give people what they tell us they want: more intelligent analysis, and more robust, thought-provoking debate and discussion among newsmakers and experts," Paikin says. The show airs weekdays on TVO at 8 and 11 pm. Content is available on demand online at tvo.org and through mobile media. During the 2007 Ontario provincial election campaign, The Agenda provided extensive coverage, with leaders discussing and debating their parties' platforms, candidates from across the province talking about concerns in their regions and the people of Ontario acting as citizen correspondents, speaking up about issues in their home town. The Agenda plans a similar exercise for the 2011 Ontario provincial election.

Zardip's Search for Healthy Wellness

Zardip's Search for Healthy Wellness was an educational Canadian television show from the 1980s intended to teach public health messages to schoolchildren. Zardip Pacific, played by Keram Malicki-Sánchez, is an alien from a planet whose inhabitants are becoming sick as they do not know how to live a healthy lifestyle. He takes the form of a boy and ventures to Earth to report the habits of humans to his home planet. He befriends a group of teenagers, who instruct their new and ignorant friend on topics ranging from nutrition to exercise, all the while unaware of Zardip's true identity. The show has a cult following among Canadians who attended grade school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, due to memories of watching the videocassettes in class, or watching the shows as they aired on TVOntario.

Acme School of Stuff

The Acme School of Stuff is a half-hour Canadian children's television show which aired on TVOntario between September 1, 1988 and December 1, 1990. The Acme School of Stuff was hosted by its producer David Stringer. The show primarily consisted of theory of operation on a subject or certain item at the beginning, then a field trip to a plant in the middle and following another theory of operation on some other item or subject at the end. Notable features included: ⁕A Rube Goldberg machine made from devices explained on the show, as an opening scene ⁕Technical facts presented in a way understandable to school age children in a conversational manner ⁕Breaking the fourth wall by use of camera and lighting effects, and audible comments by the TV crew Many of the episodes have been uploaded to YouTube under the acmeschool channel.