Each week a
group of children climbed the ladder to the Treehouse to
be greeted by Danny and his puppet friends JoJo and
Frank. The show was built around Danny Coughlan's
ability as a singer and his skill in drawing. The
content was based on Ted Rooney's five textbooks which
deal with reading, mathematics, spelling, grammar and
sensory-motor body balance exercises. The script
contained many elements of cautionary wisdom and
exhortations for conventional manners. Visitors included
regulars such as Lisa, the mailgirl who arrived with
letters to Danny. She then stayed on to demonstrate,
with the children's participation, some useful physical
exercises.
Later in the
series, on-location segments were added, e.g., Danny's
interviews with Wayne Gretzky, a feature on the Blue
Jays, and how to become a good baseball player. The
drawing segments later included the use of computers.
Here's the crew
of TREE HOUSE, a popular kids show on
CKCO-TV with Danny Caughlin. Left to
right...Pat Ludwig, Ted Rooney, Betty
Thompson, Danny, Ken and Terry Thomas. Ken
and Terry did the puppets.
This
particular episode of this classic
Canadian kid's show was originally
broadcast on ATV or ASN (Nova Scotia) in
the late 80's...I think 88. Through
sheer luck I came across this footage
after picking up some used VHS tapes at
a Flea Market in Halifax in 2002. While
I hated this show as a kid I must say
it's pretty cool to see now. Gotta love
RoboFlop! I'd be shocked if anyone else
had more tape of this show. What a great
find!
If you have any
additional CKCO-TV program
memorabilia
you wish to share,
please email info@CKCO-History.com