''Gisèle's Big Backyard'' is a Canadian children's television series, which aired on

TVOntario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian Public broadcasting, publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates ...

from 2006 to 2019. Hosted and produced by children's entertainer and educator Gisèle Corinthios as a continuation of her earlier series ''The Nook'', the series featured Corinthios, puppet supporting characters and guests entertaining and educating children according to the HighScope curriculum of early childhood education. The series aired as short segments inserted between other programs in the

TVOKids TVOKids (stylized as tvokids) is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by TVO (formerly TVOntario) in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three ter ...

programming block. It also produced interactive games and educational videos for the TVOntario website. Puppets included Sticks the Squirrel (Jason Hopley), Jay the Blue Jay ( Ali Eisner), Melvin the Skunk (Marty Stelnick), This (Ryan Field), That (

Frank Meschkuleit Frank Meschkuleit (born 1962) is a Canadian voice actor, puppeteer and comedian known for his role as Toopy on the Canadian television series ''Toopy and Binoo''. Early life Meschkuleit was born in Toronto to Anna (née Apke) and Siegfried Mesch ...

), and Polkaroo. Polkaroo's quartet of " Polka Dot Door Friends" Bear, Dumpty, Humpty and Marigold also appear in smaller-than-human doll size rather than larger-than-human suits. This was their first re-appearance since ''

Polka Dot Shorts ''Polka Dot Shorts'' is a Canadian children's television series produced and broadcast by TVOntario from 1994 to 2001. It was created, produced, and edited by Jed MacKay.Keri Sweetman, "TVO shuffles its show schedule for youngsters". ''Ottawa Citi ...

'' ended in 2001. The series won the

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

for Best Pre-School Program or Series at the

21st Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 21st Gemini Awards were held on November 4, 2006, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was co-hosted by several celebrities, took place at the River Rock Casino Resor ...

in 2006, and was nominated in the same category at the

24th Gemini Awards The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television's 24th Gemini Awards were held on November 14, 2009, to honour achievements in Canadian television. The awards show, which was hosted by Ron James, took place at the Stampede Corral in Calgary and was ...

in 2009 and at the

26th Gemini Awards The 26th Gemini Awards was held on September 7, 2011 to honour achievements in Canadian television. The ceremony was broadcast live from the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto, and aired on CBC Television. The show was hosted by Russell Pet ...

in 2011. At the 26th Gemini Awards and the 1st Canadian Screen Awards, Corinthios received nominations for Best Host in a Children's or Youth Program or Series The series ended production of new episodes in 2016, although previously produced segments have continued to air on the network."Gisèle Corinthios exits TVO’s Big Backyard"
''TV, eh?'', July 9, 2016.

References

External links

* 2005 Canadian television series debuts 2016 Canadian television series endings 2000s Canadian children's television series 2010s Canadian children's television series 2000s preschool education television series 2010s preschool education television series Canadian preschool education television series TVO original programming Canadian television shows featuring puppetry {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub