Caillou Joins the Circus (Caillou)

Spoiler alert: He doesn't join the circus, but he does throw a tantrum.

**"Caillou Joins the Circus"** is the eighth episode of Season 1 of *Caillou*. It is known for being the 2nd worst Caillou episode ever made following Big Brother Caillou. The episode is extremely controversial/infamous due to Caillou throwing a huge temper tantrum when he found out that the circus was actually ***the next day,*** rather than next week, month, or was flat out cancelled. Caillou's tantrum caused the episode to be banned. It was first aired on September 24, 1997 in Canada and then on September 21, 2000 in United States.

## Why It's a Clown

1. It is known for being the 2nd worst *Caillou* episode ever made (following Big Brother Caillou) due to Caillou's infamous tantrum when he found out by Boris that the circus was not next week, next month, or was flat out cancelled, but ***tomorrow**,* which is the most ridiculous reason to throw a tantrum, especially for that of a 4-year-old, causing the show to yet again receive even further criticism.
2. **Misleading title:** Caillou does not go to the circus in this episode at all, as the circus is only seen in at the beginning of the episode in his dream.
3. Caillou's tantrum when he cries is very annoying and ear-grating to listen to, and what doesn't help is that the same exact crying sound effect would later be re-used in later episodes of the series, such as *Caillou Makes a New Friend*, which was also banned.
	* Speaking of which, Caillou's temper tantrum caused children who watched the episode to **emulate** his behavior, which caused many complaints from parents of these children, leading to them making petitions to get the show cancelled, in which it did.
4. The animation, while decent, unfortunately suffers from a few errors.
	* When Caillou is throwing his tantrum, he tries to play with one of his toy cars. However, a wheel falls off, and in the very next shot, the wheel completely disappears.
		+ In the very next shot however, if you look carefully, all four of the wheels are back on it again.
		+ Rosie is strangely shown to not fear clowns in this episode, unlike in Caillou's Halloween and Caillou Is a Clown where she was afraid of clowns.
5. While Boris does briefly scold Caillou for his behavior by telling him to "stop all that racket", he still doesn't punish him for his bratty and naughty behavior.
6. The episode never explains on how or why did Caillou think he was going to the circus that day, thus making his temper tantrum even more ridiculous.
7. The rest of the episode isn't really that interesting, as Caillou continues to whine for a little more throughout the episode until Boris decides that they can make it at home. It also never shows Caillou **actually** going to the circus at the end.

## Redeeming Qualities

1. Like the other episodes in the earlier seasons, the animation is decent and is smoothly animated, despite suffering from a few animation errors.
2. The quote "Silly old car! Silly! Silly!" can actually be quite funny.
3. Boris actually scolds Caillou for the first time for throwing a tantrum, as he goes back upstairs to the bathroom to tell Caillou to "stop all that racket", which is rare of him to do.
4. The beginning of the episode (before Caillou throws a tantrum) is decent.

## Reception

The episode was met with a very negative reception from both critics and audiences alike, and is known for being the 2nd worst episode in the entire series following Big Brother Caillou. The episode currently has a 2.3/10 on IMDb.

Caillou's temper tantrum caused the episode to become a subject for various internet memes, such as YouTube Poops.

## Trivia

* Caillou's infamous temper tantrum was actually featured in the intro.