American Reacts to the BEST Canadian Children's Shows 

The Littlest Hobo was a stray dog. No one owned him. In every episode, there were people (different people in every episode) who had some sort of problem. The Littlest Hobo would wander into their lives, solve the problem, and then wander off to his next adventure.

You will kick yourself when you realize that DanGer bay is danger, as in something that may cause harm. I had to chuckle 😄🤗 Sharon, Lois and Bram's Elephant show was a staple for our kids. Their songs were mostly old fun songs.

You know you're Canadian if you'd trust your kids in the care of a grown man in tights playing a flute to a chicken.

I knew Ernie Coombs family personally when growing up. I'm still great friends with his cousin Ben. He was very important to alot of kids in Canada for many years. 🙂

Many years ago I had to go to a child’s funeral, the parents were well liked and the husband a member of the business community in a big Canadian city. The child was 5 or 6 when they died after a long and terrible illness. The funeral was held on a weekday morning, with hundreds of businessmen in attendance. The couple were remarkable people and decided that the service should be the one their child would have wanted.Hymns were replaced with children’s songs. Watching a church packed with a few hundred high-powered executives with their impeccably dressed wives singing "Skinamarink" and doing all the gestures and movements to the song, is one of the strangest and most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

Just heard one of our local morning radio hosts include “tickle trunk” in a sentence today. Mr. Dressup is embedded in Canadian culture,

I can hear the Friendly Giant theme in my head and the "here's a chair for two to curl up in"....fantastic kids show

There was also Fraggle Rock. I remember watching and loving it as a kid but when I watched reruns the only thing I can remember thinking was "How high were the screenwriters?" LOL Still I have fond memories of it.

The fact that you didn't listen to the theme songs for these kills me a bit inside. The Raccoons and The Littlest Hobo themes are forever engrained in a special part of my brain...There's a voice, that keeps on calling me...Down the road, is where I'll always be....

Fun Fact: Fred Rogers first started with the CBC and before moving back to the states as he was picked up by PBS, he pitched a show called "Butternut Square" to show off Ernie Coombs' real talent. In Butternut Square Ernie played Mr. Dressup for the First time and Butternut Square eventually gave way to Mr. Dressup. (The Treehouse is suppose to be in the Butternut Tree of Butternut Square). Also, after retirement from TV Ernie still played Mr Dressup for many years until his death, and when he eventually became a Canadian Citizen he said that Mr. Dressup was finally a Canadian.

The Littlest Hobo is a Canadian classic and that dog was just as popular here as Lassie was in America, The theme song was actually quite popular as well.

Mr Dressup was my neighbor. Ernie Coombs. He and his wife were wonderful people he went into depression when she died. My grandmother helped lift him back up. They remained friends until his death

Street Cents was a great program that developed kids critical thinking skills and consumer choices. They tested products and things kids could purchase and explained why they were good quality or a bad use of your money. They revealed the effects of advertising and corporate greed. It also taught kids about money, saving, and how to run a business.

A while ago, I went to a bookstore, and the Littlest Hobo theme song started playing; suddenly, everyone there started quietly singing it. It was hilarious and really wholesome. A kid's show that was missed: Today's Special and in Québec Passe-Partout (I think that would've been the most well-known).

There was a show called "You Can't Do That On Television" which was produced in Canada but was very popular in the US as well. And "The Hilarious House Of Frightenstein" was also popular.

Learning French as a child watching Chez Hélène. It was a 15 minute daily show from 1959-1973.

Mr. Dress up was who inspired me as an artist. He taught us how to do simple cartoons and create stories. Using one’s imagination in many ways. Miss this man. The friendly giant I loved to. Loved “rusty”. Raccoons was a very serious topics cartoon. More adult themes of working world and friendship. The elephant show was fun as a young child. Good fun songs and catchy tunes. Teaching about kindness and friendship and working together.

And in french canada, "Passe-Partout" is LEGENDARY!! They filmed like 4 seasons but they had re-runs for about 30 years before they decided to do a modernized version

you have to watch the Friendly Giant right from the beginning. with the drawbridge to the castle, the music, and the welcome. it's the most heart warming intro ever.

Most people might not know this, but Canadian Sesame St. was different than the US version. Mostly in the B roll stuff, like learning French words instead of Spanish, I remember a lot of sign language on the Canadian version as well.

I am so disappointed that The Hilarious House Of Frightenstein never made the cut... I remember watching as much of it every weekday in the morning and having to miss the last 10 minutes to get ready for the walk to school... Maybe everyone forget that it was a Canadian show ....

I grew up in the US, but just across the border from Canada. I watched Mr. Dressup, Friendly Giant, and Chez Helene (though I didn't remember any of the French). The Friendly Giant Theme is permanently etched in my brain, and I find myself humming it every now and then out of nowhere...

SO DISAPPOINTED NOBODY MENTIONED “TODAY’S SPECIAL!” Today’s Special was my go-to for YEARS as a child.

Hammy Hamster was a brilliantly filmed series with some very funny characters including GP the guinea pig, Matty the rat and of course Hammy. You should watch an episode. The stories are still interesting and amusing to an adult audience.

Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) is a Canadian actor. He named his son Finnigan after the puppet from Mr. Dressup.

Everyone knows the theme from the Littlest Hobo and it wasn’t just for kids. It was a “family” show.

Fred Penner is beloved by my generation. I saw him play at a bar in my 20’s and the whole room was singing along to all his songs including The Cat Came Back and Sandwiches are Beautiful.

You Can't Do That On Television was pretty popular, they invented the concept of dropping buckets of green slime when someone said a specific word. Rick Moranis was living in Toronto doing the final season SCTV in 1983, he watched the show, yeah, adults watched it too, and came up with the idea of a ghost made of green slime for Ghostbusters when he was cast, Slimer, the iconic line "He slimed me" comes from YCDTOT.

Big one missing: "Fraggle Rock!"

Danger Bay? I always thought danger was a pretty easy word to pronounce…as in dangerous!

Actually fun fact: my cousin-in-law is an actor in Toronto and was one of those chosen to play the Polkaroo character in The Polka Dot Door back in the early 90s. It's become a cherished part of our family lore. :)

The Littlest Hobo was like Lassie. I love that someone outside of Canada is curious about our shows.

Me: Tell me you're not a Canadian without telling me you're not a Canadian. Tyler: Who is Mr. Dressup?

I remember driving home from work in September 2001, listening to CBC Radio News and they announced Ernie Coombs’ (Mr. dress up) death. I burst into tears like he was a relative of mine. He died exactly one week after 9/11 and I think it touched a lot of Canadians who grew up watching him. His famous Tickle Trunk housed wonderful costumes - something new in every show - and then he would act out a story. All kids (and parents too) loved to watch him draw on his easel. He was a talented man and his show felt like a fun daily visit.

The interesting thing about Mr Dressup is that he (Ernie Coombs) and Fred Rogers were cut from the same cloth. In fact, most Americans wouldn't know that Fred Rogers got his start in Canada working together for the CBC. Eventually they went their separate ways, but each of their impacts were considerable in the ways that both shows were produced, sharing many of the same core values. Also have to give a shout out to Sharon, Lois & Bram, aka The Elephant Show aka Skinnamarink TV, and Polka Dot Door, our answer to Romper Room. I've met Fred Penner several years ago at our local music festival. He had a much longer beard, but such a warm caring man, very grandfatherly in nature.

I can't believe nobody mentionned Fraggle Rock, Edison Twins, Caillou, Arthur, Ovide and the gang and Rocket Robin Hood. I am also disappointed no Quebecers went on and mentionned the legendary Passe-Partout, Fanfreluche, Bobino, Cornemuse, Radio Enfer, Cent tours de Centour, Le Club des 100 watts, Wattatatow and Vazimolo.

No one mentioned Romper Room ❤

I was obsessed with Theodore tugboat when I was 4, and then I fangirled when I was 12 when I saw a real life Theodore tugboat in Halifax.

"You can't say that on television." Alanas Moresett (sic) Pretty good young teenager show.

I loved the polka dot door and Hammy Hamster! I also forgot to mention the Uncle Bobby Show, Tiny Talent Time and the Hillarious House of Frightenstein with Vincent Price as a guest star.

One that was criminally missed was Today's Special. Jodie works over night in the children's department of a department store. With a magic hat and magic words she brings one of the store manaquines (Jeff) to life each night. There's a mouse named Muffy (a puppet) and the night security guard Sam Crenshaw (also a puppet). Hijinx ensue.

The Littlest Hobo featured a dog that would come into people's lives, solve their problems, and then move on, ready to help other people. I felt so sad when he moved on. I kept hoping he would stay with people. But he had work to do!

Yes, my childhood TV was Mr Dress-up and The Friendly Giant.

16:45 The Littlest Hobo is about a dog who travels from place to place by himself helping folks in need. The dog was actually played by 2 different german shepherd dog's at different times. The original dog was deemed very intelligent and took commands like any human actor. It was meant to be a family oriented show. watched it religiously growing up.

As a Canadian it had never occurred to me other countries didn't know about Mr. Dressup.

The fact I'm old enough to remember all of these, remember watching them, and being sad when alot of them ended makes me sad for kids today, who don't have these wholesome heroes to look up to

Tyler-- There was 4,000 episodes of Mr Dressup - Ernie Combs- worked on the Mr Rogers show first before coming to Toronto in the early 60s... You might also check out the animated Rocket Robinhood made here in the 60s. The Littlest Hobo is actually a really great TV series more family drama than just kids show.

In my part of Canada, we did not really watch any of these... It's what happen when you live in a different language. We grew up on: Passe-Partout Le club des 100 watts Watatatow Les Intrépides Robin et Stella Vazimolo Bibi et Geneviève Iniminimagimo Les Débrouillards

I loved watching popular mechanics for kids and the magic school bus before going to school.

Mr. Rogers spent time in Canada developing a kids' show on the CBC, and he brought Ernie Combs with him as his assistant and puppeteer. When Mr. Rogers went back to the US to develop his show for PBS, Ernie Combs stayed in Canada and the show they worked on together became Mr. Dressup.

Rainbow Country was my favorite Canadian show growing up along with The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. In my later years , I worked in the small town that Rainbow Country was filmed and had my own adventure looking from a Beaver float plane to find an injured park ranger!

Raised in a very bilingual northern Ontario town in the ‘60s I would watch Mr. Dressup, and the Friendly Giant, but also “Chez Helene”, a fusion of english and french, and if you were lucky you got to watch “Bobino et Bobinette”, but only if you had a french channel. Luckily for us one of our 2 channels just happened to be French.

Skinamarinky Dinky Dink from The Elephant Show is ICONIC! I could literally hear it after so many years of not hearing it and know the words and the "dance" Littlest Hobo is so good and sweet. I love the theme song Mr. Dressup is iconic. Even if you weren't around for its run, you know of it The Toy Castle was a personal fave of mine, but wouldn't say it was the best

I'm quite a bit older and this is a show I loved as a kid in Canada... The Forest Rangers (TV Series 1963-1966)

Most of these are older than what I watched when I was a kid. Some that I loved were Mystery Hunters, Elliot Moose, Franklin, George Shrinks, Uh Oh, Prank Patrol.... So many others

I never thought of The Littlest Hobo as a kids show. It was very much like Lassie meets Highway to Heaven or Touched By an Angel except that the main character was a dog and he was very much from earth. He would just befriend someone in the beginning of an episode, solve a life crisis problem, then just walk out of their life at the end of the episode

Fun fact: Fred Penner married my grant Aunt. He's a distant relative of mine! I watched him on tv before I knew he was related!

So 'Mr. Rogers Neighborhood' actually got it start in Canada as 'Mister Rogers'. Ernie Coombs came up with Fred Rogers to help with the show, and when Rogers went back to the states, Coombs stayed behind and started his own show... Eventually becoming a Canadian citizen and spending the rest of his life here.

I was lucky enough to see Mr. Dressup, live on stage at the Cobalt Mining College somewhere around 1972 or 73.

Mr dress up aka Ernest Coombs was one of my favourite shows as a kid growing up in Nova Scotia Canada. Then as the age of 21 I moved to Pickering, Ontario where Ernest Coombs lives. I was a live in nanny for a family there. One day I had the 3 year old for a walk in her stroller and I looked to my right where a man was out gardening who said hi then I realized it was Mr dress up! I was so excited that I was seeing this person I loved watching on tv growing up. He talked to us and said he knew the family and had invited us in so I could see the most famous puppets he ever had Casey and Finnegan but I declined even though I really wanted to but I told him I’d have to check with her parents if I was allowed to take her there. He said well if they do I’m always around. I told the parents that night and they said they were good friends they lived in the same subdivision and that I could take her there anytime. So I got to go back and see Casey and Finnegan they were in a glass case above his fireplace mantle but I wasn’t allowed to touch them but I touched the cases they were in plus he had the tickle trunk from the show as well and I got to touch that and see the different toys inside. It was so awesome. Tyler you should watch a whole episode of it you’ll see the attraction even as a adult. I’m 46 and it still makes me feel happy when I think of that show and Ernest Coombs

This just unlocked a ton of childhood memories. I also loved Fred Penner as a kid. I would get so excited when he popped out of that bush 🤣

Am I the only one who giggled when Danger was pronounced Dang-er bay! I've done that before with other words.😅

For Canadians of a certain vintage, The Forest Rangers, Chez Helene, Littlest Hobo, Friendly Giant, Mr. Dress Up, Degrassi High.

Look up, way up, and I'll call Rusty. The friendly Giant's opening. Rusty was a puppet ( chicken). Another show was Chez Helene😊

I'm a bit older vintage so my favourite was The Friendly Giant. Both shows were big on kindness.

Who else remembers Uncle Bobby?

The fact that no one said Babar is wild to me!

The littlest Hobo clip you showed was from the 50's movie. The TV show was the dog wandering from town to town, meeting people and helping them solve problems/crimes etc.

I wanted my own tickle trunk so bad!

You should look up an early show called " The Hilarious House of Frankenstein"

I actually cried when I heard the news that Ernie Coombs had died. I absolutely loved Mr DressUp.

I'm a bit disappointed you didn't at least play the intros to the various shows. Most of them are very ear-wormy that will take Canadians back in an instance. "The Raccoons" and "Littlest Hobo" especially had themes that every Canadian will recognize (or in the case of the Raccoons will still hear on the radio as "Run with us" will still be played a lot. Mr Dressup and Mr Rogers were contemporary and basically started at the same time and had similar shows teaching similar themes. Mr Dressup had Cassie and Finnigan as his puppets, and they are nationally recognized; the puppets are actually part of the CBC museum in Toronto now. The Friendly Giant had another theme that people would recognize with the haunting flute being played as he invited everyone in to listen to him tell stories. He may seem dry to today's audiences but he was friendly and courteous. Danger Bay (Danger as in the hazard, not how you pronounced it) was an evening drama so it wasn't really targeted at kids but kids could watch it. (The Littlest Hobo was a similar adult drama for all ages). Reboot was done by Mainframe Entertainment, out of Vancouver, early pioneers in CG Animation. (They did the Dire Straits Money for Nothing video). They also did shows like Beast Wars/Beast Machines, and War Planets (Shadow Raiders) as well as the 4 seasons of Reboot. (ABC only paid for 2 seasons, hence the iconic "The ABC's They've turned on us!" line as well as the Binome people performing B S n P) Fred Penner and Sharon Lois and Bram (the Elephant show) were shows to teach music and entertain and teach morals basically. And yes, Skinnamarinkiedinkiedink is a song that S, L & B made famous and wormed into the minds of generations of Canadians. Street Cents was done by the Halifax CBC studios. It is basically a consumer education program aimed at kids and teens. Early seasons had a theme/storyline with the villanous "Buy-Co" corporation, but as time went on, they morphed it into a consumer product show, where the hosts would teach basic economics, budgeting, as well as review products (where especially bad products would be thrown into The Pit) One that you didn't see mentioned was another Halifax studio production called "Wonder Why?". It was a science show hosted by a local meteorologist who would teach simple science of all sorts; from weather related science, to ocean science, plate tectonics, and more.

We (my brother & I) grew up with Mr. Dressup (originally known as Butternut Square), Under the Umbrella Tree, Fred Penner's Place, Barney, Sesame Street (& Canadian Sesame Street, which later became Sesame Park), Polka Dot Door, Polka Dot Shorts & The Big Comfy Couch. We were a little too young, but knew of The Friendly Giant, The Elephant Show & Today's Special. We did get a number of US children's shows as we were a little older like Eureeka's Castle & Blue's Clues).

The Raccoons had the best theme song of all time

I'm really sad that no one mentioned The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. I guess I'm just too old. I really would love to see Tyler react to that.

Pretty confident there are thousands of household pets named Casey and Finnegan all across Canada.

I'm glad someone mentioned Street Cents, no one I talk to ever remembers that one

This was my favourite video so far! Canadian children’s tv was world-class in the 70s & 80s! I actually played videos of all these for my son since they were so chill and educational

The host of Popular Mechanics For Kids was Elisha Cuthbert, who later played Kiefer Sutherland's (another Canadian) daughter on the TV show 24, and in movies like The Girl Next Door.

Littlest Hobo would be similar to Lassie

Hilarious House of Frightenstien I don.t know if this was seen in all of Canada but was very popular in Southern Ontario when I was a kid

Our son loved Dudley the Dragon and would play that theme song over and over and over again. We even had a stuffed animal at one time. Another of his favourite shows was Mighty Machines. Even has a scar related to that show! For older kids I would say Degrassi High was a long running show as well.

The best part of my school day was when our teacher rolled the tv into the classroom at the end of the period so we could watch Read All About It. Loved the eeriness of it and the music at the beginning. Loved Today's Special and the Edison Twins as well. Adored Hammy Hamster, Mr. Dress Up, The Friendly Giant, and Polka Dot Door. Tyler - Street Cents was a consumer education program geared towards teenagers. It tested out products that teenagers used everyday - clothes, shoes, bathroom products - to see which ones were the best quality - and which ones worked the best. Any that weren't worth the money were "tossed in the pit." Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

I forgot about hammy the hamster. So many memories flooding back after watching your reaction to some of our beloved kids shows. Reboot was cool. The first 3d generated of its kind I think

I was in Oakville, On and the Littlest Hobo trainer would bring the dogs to the Holiday Inn that my mom and dad worked at. He'd bring in the dogs, told them to lie down and he'd go get lunch and kids and adults were able to pet them. Well behaved dogs.

one kids show that i bet you never thought was Canadian is Arthur, it was made by Cinar studios in Montreal

I grew up watching the Littlest Hobo on my Grandma's lap. I remember those days with a smile.

The Buck Shot Show was what I grew up on. The Buck Shot Show was a local children's television series that aired on CFCN Television in Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 1967 to 1997.

Sharon, Lois and Brampton were doing a sound check when my junior high band was there to check out the Confederation Centre. Immediately 30 teenagers plunked themselves in seats and sang along, complete with actions, to Skinamarink. Love the memory.

Fred penned was another artist. Fun hide away in the woods. Like a fort. He had a nice friendly hippy kinda vibe. Love that theme song.

The Friendly Giant was such a classic. Thanks Tyler for bringing back memories. I loved Littlest Hobo too. Each episode, the dog would wander into someones life and solve problems.. get estranged lovers together, solve crimes, etc My favorite americain show was Thunderbirds when I was older.

You stopped just before the Forest Rangers. One of My favs.

*_There's a voice, that keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll ALWAYS be!_*

Mr. Dressup is certainly for older generations (millennial and older) a smaller portion of Gen Z and younger have watched Mr. Dressup. We were mainly raised on American cartoons with some Canadian-specific shows sprinkled in there. Stuff like SpongeBob, Fairly Odd Parents, etc. (basically all Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network shows). We also have some Canadian shows that you wouldn’t have heard of but we certainly have adopted many American shows, as is normal with Canadians of any age group

My favorites Mr dress up and the friendly Giant I watched them when I was a kid brings back memories ❤

Today's Special was one of my favorites that wasn't mentioned. Something a little more obscure and freaked me out as a child was Read All About it.

Can't neglect Fraggle Rock, which still holds up. The music and performances are A+. Also have a fondness for OwlTV. Awesome theme song and pretty cool show linked to Owl Magazine.

I’m surprised Fraggle Rock didn’t appear on the list!

I preferred "The Friendly Giant" to "Mr. Dressup". Jerome and Rusty rocked! Plus the iconic recorder theme.

I worked for a canadian book store chain and we had a Canada Day playlist that included beloved Canadian show theme songs. It was fun watching peoples reactions when the Littlest Hobo theme came on. Some would sing or just smile to themselves but others would get quite emotional. One day pretty burly dude in his 40s was crusing books when the theme song came on. His lip quivered and he said out loud "Nope!" And left immediately 😂 we also had the Racoons theme song which would ALWAYS result ina sing along. Every. Single. Time!