So, today, I noticed #Caillou was trending. As some of you know (and Stargate EP Michael Greenburg would never let me forget – “I don’t know how you used to do things on Caillou, but here on Stargate…”), this animated series (based on the beloved French children’s book series) was one of the first shows I developed for television. Now, Caillou has received a lot hate over the years. He’s been accused of being a whiney, entitled brat. But isn’t that almost every kid? Anyway, I felt bad in having contributed to the image of what kids are really like instead of the adorable idealized versions found in most cartoons, so I felt the need to apologize. Passionate discourse ensued.
Trivia: #Caillou was one of the first shows I developed early in my writing career.
I'm sorry. pic.twitter.com/cHjYCqIvJP— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) September 18, 2020
And, hey, Happy Birthday to the USAF!
Happy 73rd Birthday to the U.S. Air Force
Had the pleasure of working with them on many great seasons of #Stargate #SG1. @usairforce (1/3)— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) September 18, 2020
Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael E. Ryan made a guest appearance on #Stargate #SG1, portraying himself in the episode "Prodigy". (2/3) pic.twitter.com/91xBWVpVVR
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) September 18, 2020
Three years later, Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper guested on the #Stargate #SG1 season 7 finale "Lost City Part 2". He assured me it would be a singular t.v. appearance. “You sure?”I asked. “Next week, I better not turn on my t.v. and catch you on Moesha.” (3/3) pic.twitter.com/zmeRk4oqoI
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) September 18, 2020
Our Crime Club discussion of Sexy Beast has been rescheduled to Monday!
My nephew loved the show!
I only remember the name of that show and, for better or worse, have never seen an episode. Now I’m perversely curious!
LOL, the DoD released a photo congratulating the USAF. It featured the Blue Angels. Fly Navy!
oops, sorry, State Department, not the DoD.
Hey, I think that guy played a substitute teacher on Moesha. I had no idea Calliou was such a bad ass, I should have paid more attention to his dirty tank top and unfiltered cigarette behind his ear.
That twitter thread on Caillous cracked me up over morning tea. Kids in the main are shits. And obviously of little value ( it’s not like we get paid a cent to bear and raise them). Animals are much better.
It was so cool the USAF was involved in Stargate.
I appreciate Caillou for its realism. My oldest would get so distracted by artistic choices in illustrations, I had trouble teaching him to read from illustrated books because he’d get so worked up, “Why does he look like that?” Caillou was one of the first shows he’d watch in part because it didn’t have the distraction of cutesie distortions. He was much older than you’d expect when he watched it, but him watching TV was a break I’d been waiting for for a long time.
Also, with autism, sometimes kids have a hard time picking out which part of a scene is what they’re supposed to be looking at to follow a story and Caillou and Kipper were the shows that blurred the non-relevant parts of a scene and paced out the speaking and action predictably and my son would follow the narrative to some degree, as opposed to not at all with other shows, followed by running into another room and making some mess when I’d show him other shows. He still has trouble picking out the significant events of a story (damn you, Common Core, and your 80% fictional literature minimum requirement), but at least he had some exposure to following stories. It wasn’t exactly early exposure, but it would have been later without Calliou and Kipper.
Oh, and he may have been watching Cailliou more for the intellectual challenge of finding plotholes. He was not fair. You don’t want him proofreading your scripts.