| The Big Comfy Couch | |
|---|---|
| Format | Children's television series/Educational |
| Created by | Cheryl Wagner |
| Starring | Alyson Court Bob Stutt Fred Stinson Grindl Kuchirka Edward Knuckles Robert Mills Taborah Johnson Ramona Gilmour-Darling |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 100 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Wallace Avenue Studios, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Radical Sheep Productions Nashville Public Television Owl Television Amity Entertainment Tadpole Kids American Public Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | YTV PBS Treehouse TV |
| Original run | March 2, 1992 – 2006 |
The Big Comfy Couch is a Canadian children's television series about Loonette the Clown and her doll Molly, who solve everyday problems on their "Big Comfy Couch". It aired from 1992 until early 2006. Re-runs of the show are still being aired on Treehouse TV and formerly on PBS from 2006 to 2009. It was produced by Cheryl Wagner and Robert Mills, directed by Wayne Moss and Mills. It premiered on March 2, 1992 in Canada and in 1995 in the USA on public television stations across the country. There is also a Spanish version of the show titled, "El Sofa de mi Imaginacion". It also aired in the United Kingdom on GMTV's kids block.
The show's 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.
Contents |
Each episode contains several common elements. Early in each episode, Loonette performs an exercise routine she calls the "Clock Rug Stretch", often extended, sometimes short to save time for other surprises, fast if she's in a hurry and normal when she comes back, or in a floppy way; and toward the end, she performs a high-speed clean-up routine called the "Ten-Second Tidy". If, however, there is no mess made, then it is called the "Ten-Second Untidy, Tidy" (where Loonette has to make a mess and then clean up afterward). If the mess was already cleaned up, then it is called the "Ten-Second Silly" (where Loonette has to be silly for 10 seconds). If Loonette did not make a mess but Molly did, then Molly has to do the "Ten-Second Tidy" with Loonette's help.
Other oft-repeated elements include reading a story to Molly, who sometimes either chooses a story to hear, gives Loonette a book and glasses (often by holding the book and wearing reading glasses), or turning on the lights for Loonette; visits to various places in "Clowntown", songs that emphasize the episode's lessons or themes, and a trip to Granny Garbanzo's garden. Here she encounters Snicklefritz (full name being Snickle-Gustav-Amadeus-Fritz), 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. Both were black (possibly for the purposes of diversity). All episodes end with Loonette and Molly having a nap and sometimes reminding the viewers to remember the rules on today's episode.
In season 7, Loonette and Molly play the Dream Game and Molly gives out the letter that the dream starts with and provide what they will be dreaming about. In season 6, Loonette and Molly play the Doll School Game where Molly learns the alphabet as well as numbers (mainly 1-10). A similar element used in seasons 1-5 is the Alphabet Game, where a certain letter is shown on a giant alphabet block and Loonette uses certain words beginning with that letter and also makes the letter's shape with her body to get the viewers to guess the letter.
Along with the lessons and problem solving sequences, the show also emphasized imaginative play. 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 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. Early in the first season, Molly had discovered "The Dust Bunnies". However, Loonette didn't believe that there are dust bunnies under the couch.
The show was originally produced by Radical Sheep Productions and Owl Television, then Canadian children's television network YTV and WITF-TV Harrisburg, with a run of 65 episodes. In 2002, 13 new episodes were produced with Benny Smart, an American children's television production company, Tadpole TV and Treehouse TV, a companion channel of YTV, and Nashville Public Television.
Radical Sheep Productions, and Amity Entertainment in association with Treehouse TV and Nashville Public Television, produced 22 additional episodes, which debuted on American Public Television in 2006.
Loonette the Clown is the lead character, portrayed by Alyson Court from 1993-2002 and Ramona Gilmour-Darling from 2003-2006. She is a young clown living with her dolly, Molly, on the eponymous Big Comfy Couch, an oversized couch.
She frequently reads stories to Molly, always performs a Clock Rug Stretch, and likes to visit her Granny Garbanzo. Auntie Macassar (or more recently, her Uncle Chester) frequently sends Loonette postcards which Major Bedhead delivers on his unicycle (similar to Reba the Mail Lady from Pee-wee's Playhouse). Loonette is gifted in the art of classical dance and runs "Miss Loonette's Dance Academy". Another gift she possesses is the unusual ability to clean just about any mess up in ten seconds, which she calls the "Ten Second Tidy". (In reality, the video's action was sped up during post-production of an episode).
Originally, Loonette was too young to visit Clowntown, but starting from 2006, Loonette makes frequent (adult supervised) trips to Clowntown to visit Granny Garbanzo's "Cabbage Club Cooking School" and Major Bedhead's "Clown Chi Mojo Dojo and Dancing School". The trips to this second location indicates that she practices martial arts.
Molly is Loonette's dolly. Loonette found her in a barrel with a sign marked "Free to a good home", and adopted her. She is puppetered by Bob Stutt.
Molly wears a blue dress (sometimes a yellow one, and a light green one in the books), and occasionally wears bunny pajamas. She believes that dust bunnies really exist, despite Loonette's disbelief; and her favorite food is doughnuts. She only speaks by cartoon bubbles, and usually answers Loonette's yes-no questions by either nodding or shaking her head. The two lounge around the couch all day, with the exception of the "Clock Rug Stretch" and daily adventure, sometimes involving Granny or Major Bedhead, a postal service employee who also plays bit parts. Each day includes a few songs and a story (which, when told by Loonette, involves her wearing huge yellow reading glasses and holding a blue storybook); and is concluded with "The Ten-Second Tidy", and a nice nap.
The series aired on PBS for a certain amount of time, and reruns can be seen on Treehouse TV.
Additional items for kids, like coloring pages, can be found on the 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. Other merchandise for kids also includes VHS's, DVD's, coloring books, stuffed plush dolls, puzzles, and life size dolls (example: Loonette).
Season 1 - 1992
Season 2 - 1993
Season 3 - 1994
Season 4 - 1995
Season 5 - 1996
Season 6 - 2002
Season 7 - 2006
Time-Life Video was the main distributor for releasing the Big Comfy Couch series under Time-Life Video's children's label Time-Life Kids. VHS releases are also released by Goldhil Video.
The Big Comfy Couch has 5 DVDs featuring the new season starring Ramona Gilmour-Darling. The DVDs and VHS tapes that feature Alyson Court are no longer made, but can be found in certain websites such as Amazon.com.
In 2007, a live theatrical production entitled Molly's Fool Moon Festival toured in Canada. The show included Loonette the Clown, Molly, Granny Garbanzo, Major Bedhead and others.
The production was produced by Koba Entertainment, and presented by Paquin Entertainment Group.
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