Treehouse TV
Launched on
November 1,
1997,
Treehouse TV is a
Canadian cable television specialty channel with programming targeted towards
preschoolers. Its name comes from YTV's old children's programming block, The Treehouse (although Treehouse TV has a slightly younger target audience). The station is owned by
Corus Entertainment. The programming is commercial-free.
Between shows, the channel features an interstitial series known as "Treetown", featuring adult-looking three-year-old characters Tansy (played by Kathleen Leroux) and Rosabelle (played by Denise Shaw). Treehouse now broadcasts a full lineup of original programming (including Canadian shows), as well as a few long-forgotten children's programs from PBS and TVOntario. The channel even tours the country as "
Treehouse Live!". It is rumoured that their mascots are
Toopy and Binoo, as they get "special" commercials and whenever the show comes on, it shows Toopy and Binoo sitting on a couch while Toopy says "Hi, my name is Toopy, and this is Binoo, and we're next on Treehouse!" instead of the announcer saying "Toopy and Binoo, next on Treehouse!"
Treetown Guests
Some of the guests that appeared on the "Treetown" show, included
Douglas John who sung the theme song to
Ants In Your Pants,
Sharon, Lois and Bram,
Eric Nagler,
Lenny Graf,
Judy & David,
The Snapping Toes and
The Stylamanders.
Treehouse was previously a program block on
YTV. It aired weekday mornings until 1998, after which it was replaced with an unhosted block, simply called "YTV Jr."While most hosted blocks had one or two hosts, Treehouse had 3 PJs (Program Jockeys) and was also co-hosted by the Fuzzpaws (stuffed animal puppets, similar to Muppets)As the name may suggest, it was set in a treehouse. PJ Katie had her own show, called PJ Katie's Farm, where she acted out stories with clay animals.
After Treehouse
After Treehouse was cancelled, The Fuzzpaws got their own show on YTV Jr. and PJ Katie went on to become Jenny on The Zone (Katie was her middle name, there already was a Jenny with YTV at the time she was a PJ)The name YTV Jr. was later dropped; there was still children's programming shown at the time, but there was not a special name given to it.
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Official Site
