The Friendly Giant

**The Friendly Giant** was the first ever children's television rpogram that aired on CBC and was later moved to CBC Kids.

## Summary

The short, 15-minute show was perhaps most famous for its opening sequence. Each episode would begin with the camera panning to the left over a detailed model of part of a village, farm, harbor, city, etc as Friendly could be heard narrating and observing the goings-on in the town below. The pan would continue until it stops at the Giant's great big boot on the right coming into view at the edge of the village and Friendly would ask the viewers to "Look up … waaaaay up!" and the Giant would thus invite everyone to come visit his castle, telling them that he'll meet them there after letting the drawbridge down and opening the front doors. The traditional tune "Early One Morning" would then be heard being played on harp and recorder, while the camera slowly zoomed into a model of the Giant's castle, the drawbridge slowly dropped down, and the medieval doors that says "Friendly Giant" opened wide in welcome as promised. Once inside, the Friendly Giant would put out miniature furniture for his viewers beside his feet (with only his feet and hands visible), saying, "Here we are inside, here's one little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in, and someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." Then the camera would pan up, as the Giant gave his iconic invitation to "Now, look up, waaaaaay up, and I'll call Rusty... Rusty?" to which he would then summon his friend, Rusty the Rooster. Typically, Jerome the Giraffe would visit, poking his head in through a high window after being whistled for by Friendly. Rusty the Rooster, who lived in a book bag hanging on the wall by the window, would emerge and produce, from the bag, books to be read and other props, some seemingly larger than could fit in the bag.

The rest of the show focused on gentle, humorous chat between Friendly, Rusty, and Jerome, followed by a story or a musical performance. When extra instrumentation was needed, a pair of otherwise silent puppet cats and raccoons and a rooster — Angie and Fiddle, the Jazz Cats and Patty and Polly, the Raccoons with recorder and bassoon and Buster, a Rooster with electric bass guitar — joined in (puppeteered by Gustáv Hársfai (Sr) and Linda Keogh (Jr)). Music for the show was composed by the show's harpist, John Duncan.

At the conclusion of a typical show, Friendly plays "Early One Morning" on his recorder, says goodbye to his friends and his viewers as he puts his miniature furniture away: "It's late. This little chair will be waiting for one of you, and a rocking chair for another who likes to rock, and a big armchair for two more to curl up in when you come again to our castle. I'll close the big front doors and pull up the drawbridge after you're gone. Goodbye. Goodbye." His hand waves goodbye as the camera zooms out and the castle's medieval doors are closed and the drawbridge is raised. As a silvery moon with a smiling face rises into the sky, a cow jumps over it as in the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle". Originally, other things besides the cow would appear in the sky such as a bird, Pegasus, etc. On occasion, often for episodes devoted to musical performances, episodes would take place during the night.Template:Citation needed

The shows were largely ad libbed, typically based around a one-page plot summary for each episode. This gave the show an added spontaneity uncommon to most children's shows, though the series was marked by a go-slow, gentle nature with naturalistic discussions between Friendly, Rusty, and Jerome, as though the friends were meeting and simply having a conversation as opposed to actually having a set storyline. The simple repetition of its main elements from show to show put it fundamentally at odds with the bolder, ever-changing nature of such shows as *Sesame Street*, but complemented *Mr. Dressup*, which was a similarly low-key children's series.

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, *The Friendly Giant* launched a block of children's programming aired by the CBC each weekday morning.

## Cancellation

In 1984, the Canadian federal government made deep cuts into the CBC budget, and *The Friendly Giant* was cancelled soon afterwards, though CBC executives insisted that the show's passing was unrelated to the cuts.Template:Citation needed It was commonly thought at the time that the move was intended to create enough public outrage that the government funding cuts to the CBC would be reversed.Template:Citation needed While there was strong public sentiment to keep the show on the air, the funding cuts were not reversed, and no new shows were made. It aired regularly for years afterwards as repeats.

The show's replacement, *Fred Penner's Place*, has been referred to by some people as "the Giant Killer".

By the time *The Friendly Giant* ended, more than 3,000 episodes of the show had been produced.