The Big Comfy Couch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Big Comfy Couch | |
|---|---|
| Format | Children's television series/Educational |
| Created by | Cheryl Wagner |
| Starring | Alyson Court (1993–2003) Ramona Darling (2006–present) Bob Stutt Fred Stinson Grindl Kuchirka Edward Knuckles Robert Mills Taborah Johnson |
| Country of origin |  Canada |
| No. of episodes | 78 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | YTV Treehouse TV American Public Television |
| Original run | March 2, 1993 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
The Big Comfy Couch is a Canadian children's television series about Loonette the Clown and her friends, produced by Cheryl Wagner and Robert Mills and directed by Wayne Moss and Mills. It premiered on March 2, 1993 in Canada and in 1994 in the USA on public television stations across the country.
The shows format revolves around Loonette the Clown, who lives with her doll, Molly, on the eponymous Big Comfy Couch. Episodes are generally focused on a theme or a lesson. For example, Season 3's episode "Full of Life" explored the concepts of "full" and "empty", while "Sticks and Stones" dealt with name-calling and teasing.
Each episode contains several common elements. Early in each episode, Loonette performs an exercise routine she calls the "Clock Rug Stretch", and toward the end, she performs a high-speed clean-up routine called the "Ten-Second Tidy". Other oft-repeated elements include reading a story to Molly, visits to various places in "Clowntown", and a trip to Granny Garbanzo's garden. Here she encounters Snicklefritz, Granny Garbanzo's cat; Major Bedhead, the local mail-delivery clown, who travels on a unicycle; and of course, Granny Garbanzo herself. The conversation with Granny Garbanzo is often used as the episode's "teachable moment", where Granny offers Loonette advice or lessons, often with the help of Major Bedhead, who delivers gifts and messages from Auntie Macassar or Uncle Chester.
Along with the lessons and problem-solving sequences, imaginative play is also emphasized. These episodes often take place in the context of a "visit to Clowntown", with sites such as Granny Garbanzo's "Cabbage Club Cooking School" and Major Bedhead's "Clown Chi Mojo Dojo and Dancing School". Additionally, Loonette is gifted in the art of classical dance and runs "Miss Loonette's Dance Academy". In early episodes, Loonette was too young to visit Clowntown alone, but in later seasons, she makes frequent (adult supervised) trips to Clowntown, and volunteers at the "Clowndergarten", where she teaches "little clowns" (played by young children) games, songs, and stories. This imaginative play was also demonstrated through dress-up games and through Loonette's dollhouse, in which she imagined the adventures of "The Foley Family". Shown first as a doll-sized family, in Loonette's imagination they would become a family of regular-sized clowns, whose actions were shown in high speed and with a musical background in the style of old silent movies. The Foleys (a mother, father and son) did not speak.
The show was originally produced by Radical Sheep Productions and Owl Television, then Canadian children's television network YTV, with a run of sixty-five episodes. In 2002, thirteen new episodes were produced with Benny Smart, an American children's television production company, Tadpole TV and Treehouse TV, a companion channel of YTV.
Radical Sheep Productions and Amity Entertainment in association with Treehouse TV and Nashville Public Television, produced thirteen additional episodes, which debuted on American Public Television in 2006. This marked the debut of Ramona Gilmour-Darling as Loonette, replacing Alyson Court.
Additional items for kids, like coloring pages, can be found on the Big Comfy Couch website Official Big Comfy Couch Website. Episodes also can be seen on video on demand in some cable and satellite systems on Studio 4 Kids, as well as in short-form on Studio4kids.tv.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Loonette the Clown: Alyson Court (Seasons 1-5) / Ramona Gilmour-Darling (Season 6)
- Molly: Bob Stutt
- Granny Garbanzo: Grindl Kuchirka
- Major Bedhead: Fred Stinson
- Auntie Macassar: Taborah Johnson
- Uncle Chester: Edward Knuckles
- Snicklefritz: Bob Stutt
- Dust Bunny Fuzzy: Bob Stutt
- Dust Bunny Wuzzy: Rob Mills
[edit] Episodes
Season 1-1993
- 101 - Pie in the Sky
- 102 - Pinch To Grow an Inch
- 103 - All Aboard for Bed
- 104 - Knit One Twirl Too
- 105 - Upsey Downsey Day
- 106 - Flippy Floppy Fun
- 107 - Something's Fishy Around Here
- 108 - Scrub-a-Dub
- 109 - Red Light, Green Light
- 110 - Gesundheit
- 111 - Ping Pong Polka
- 112 - Funny Faces
- 113 - Snug as a Bug
Season 2-1993
- 114 - Babs in Toyland
- 115 - 1-2-3 Dizzy Dizzy Me
- 116 - Wobbly
- 117 - Jump Start
- 118 - This Little Piggy
- 119 - Juggling the Jitters
- 120 - Hoopla
- 121 - Wrong Side of the Couch
- 122 - I Feel Good
- 123 - Boomerang
- 124 - Rude-I-Culous
- 125 - Make It Snappy
- 126 - Feast of Fools
Season 3- 1994
- 301 - Give Yer Head a Shake
- 302 - It’s About Time
- 303 - Clownus Interruptus
- 304 - Why?
- 305 - Monkey See Monkey Do
- 306 - Sticks and Stones
- 307 - Horsing Around
- 308 - All Over and Under
- 309 - Pants on Fire
- 310 - All Fall Down
- 311 - Traveling Papers
- 312 - Hiccups
- 313 - Full of Life
Season 4-1995
- 401 - Backwards!
- 402 - Picky Eaters
- 403 - Forty Winks
- 404 - Swing-a-Ling
- 405 - Spare Some Change
- 406 - Stuck in the Muck
- 407 - Gimme Gimme Never Gets
- 408 - One Step at a Time
- 409 - Enough Already!
- 410 - Where Do Clowns Come From?
- 411 - Are You Ready for School?
- 412 - Hit Parade
- 413 - Comfy and Joy
Season 5-1996
- 501 - Bad Hair Day
- 502 - Clownvitations
- 503 - Nothing To Do
- 504 - The Big Brain Drain
- 505 - One Potato Two Potato
- 506 - Earth to Loonette
- 507 - Lettuce, Turnip and Pee
- 508 - Time for Molly
- 509 - Gizmo Shmizmo
- 510 - Clothes Make the Clown
- 511 - Don't Tell
- 512 - You're a Gem!
- 513 - See Ya in My Dreams
Season 6-2002
- 601 - Clowning in the Rain
- 602 - Lost and Clowned
- 603 - Button Up!
- 604 - Scaredy Cat!
- 605 - It’s the Thought that Counts
- 606 - Growing Pains
- 607 - Donut Let It Get You Down
- 608 - Fancy Dancer
- 609 - The Big Bang Boom
- 610 - Ain't It Amazing, Gracie?
- 611 - Between the Covers
- 612 - Going Up
- 613 - Cool It!
[edit] Trivia
- The cleaning tasks portrayed in each episode's "Ten-Second Tidy" sequences obviously took longer than ten seconds in real life. For these segments, the video's action was sped up during the taping of an episode. Even sped-up, however, tidying took longer than ten seconds; the clean-up sequence generally took about fourteen seconds. In Season Five's episode "Gizmo Schmizmo", in which hundreds of ping-pong balls filled the room, the sped-up cleaning took forty seconds.
- The character name "Auntie Macassar" is a play on words. An antimacassar is a cloth or doily placed on the back of a couch to keep the upholstery clean; therefore, one would logically find an "Auntie Macassar" on "The Big Comfy Couch". (There is in fact an antimacassar displayed on the back of the middle cushion of the Couch.)
[edit] Funding
- Telefilm Canada
- Shaw Cable Fund
- Corporation For Public Broadcasting
- Paramus Park
- McDonald's
- Viewers Like You
- Kellogg's
- Oral-B
- Chuck E. Cheese's
- Wal-Mart
- Burger King
- Kimberly Clark
- Toys R Us
- Babies R Us
- Target Corporation
