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Caillou is a French-Canadian educational children's television series that was first shown on Télétoon and Teletoon, with its first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997; the show later moved to Treehouse TV, with its final episode being shown on that channel on October 3, 2010. The series, based on the books by Hélène Desputeaux,[1][2] centers on a 4-year-old boy named Caillou who is fascinated by the world around him.

Plot
Caillou lives with his mother, father, and younger sister, Rosie. He has many adventures with his family and friends, and uses his imagination in every episode.

Each episode in Seasons 1–3 has a theme and is divided into several short sections that mix animation, puppet skits, and video of children in real-life situations. In Seasons 4–5, the episodes are divided into three short sections; the puppet segment was dropped, along with the "Real Kids" version of the segment.

During the first season, many of the stories in the animated version began with a grandmother (who is also the show's narrator) introducing the story to her grandchildren, then reading the story from a book. Since the second season, the narrator/grandmother is an unseen character.

Production
Caillou books have been published by Chouette Publishing Inc. since 1989.[17]

The series was originally broadcast in French in Canada, and the episodes were later translated into English, and re-runs in English began on PBS and PBS Kids Sprout in the United States. The original books were also in French. Caillou was designed primarily for toddlers. It was created by child developmental psychologists.

In 1997, 65 five-minute episodes of Caillou were aired in Canada and in selected markets worldwide, including the US, as mentioned above. In 2000 there were 40 thirty-minute episodes of the show, containing a mixture of the five-minute episodes plus new stories, songs, real kids segment and puppets. This was followed by another 16 thirty-minute episodes containing all-new stories in 2003. The film Caillou's Holiday Movie was released on October 7, 2003.

On April 3, 2006, a new set of 20 episodes finally premiered after a three-year hiatus. Caillou started attending preschool and there were new themes and a new opening. The show was renewed for a second season in 2003.[18]

On November 14, 2012, PBS Kids announced that a 26-episode 4th season of Caillou would premiere March 11, 2013.[19][20]

For the franchise's 25th anniversary in 2014, a DVD/book combo pack was released,[21] as well as a reissue of the holiday film Caillou's Holiday Movie with a 25th anniversary logo on the cover artwork.[22]

Reception
A 2011 study conducted at the University of Virginia, published in the journal Pediatrics, tested the show's effect on preschool-aged children's attention spans and cognitive abilities. The study had three groups of four-year-olds each engaged in activities; one group watched Caillou, another watched SpongeBob SquarePants, and the third group drew pictures. After nine minutes, the children were tested on mental functions; those that watched Caillou had very similar results to the group that drew pictures, both of whom performed significantly better than the group that watched the SpongeBob episode.[23]

In a May 2017 article from the National Post, writer Tristin Hopper identified Caillou to be "quite possibly the world's most universally reviled children's program," noting "a stunning level of animosity for a series about the relatively uncontroversial daily life of a four-year-old boy."[24] Examples include several "I hate Caillou" pages made on Facebook, posts saying that Caillou is a ripoff of Charlie Brown, numerous parenting blogs criticizing the series, and petitions on Change.org for the show to stop airing. A common criticism towards the series is the "petulant, manipulative and spoiled" behaviour of the titular character, the lack of consequences Caillou is given, and the "poor parenting" presented in the parent characters. As Hopper explained, "This has understandably led to theories that this is an accurate portrayal of Canadian parenting and that Canada is raising a generation of psychopaths. Or that Caillou's parents are so blasted on Canadian weed that they are unable to summon the presence of mind necessary to properly discipline their child." He called the series "a toddler version of Sex and the City or Mad Men," criticizing its lack of educational value: "Unlike most children's programming, Caillou makes almost no attempt to educate its young audience. There are no veiled math problems, spelling lessons or morality tales; it's just calm, non-threatening, bright-coloured people navigating everyday tasks."[24] These criticisms of the show's titular character have been echoed on online platforms, with the formation of anti-Caillou groups online such as "I Hate Caillou" on Facebook and "r/FuckCaillou" on Reddit.[25][26] On a segment of the late-night talk show Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver hyperbolically exclaimed "Fuck you, Caillou!" in a comedic comparison.[27]

As Caillou appeared as a much younger child in the original line of children's books, he originally had no hair. When illustrators found that adding hair made him look unrecognizable, it was decided that Caillou would never have hair.[28][29] This has led to an urban legend that the protagonist has cancer.[30]

The staff of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Embellishing everything he sees with his rich imagination."[31] The New York Times wrote "Caillou looks at the world through the eyes of its 4-year-old namesake."[32] Lynne Heffley of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Caillou grows and learns to make sense of his world."[33]