The Secret City was a television program designed to teach children how to draw, starring Mark Kistler as as the fictional ‘Commander Mark’ who led viewers and in-studio club members through various drawing exercises in a sci-fi clubhouse setting full of fun, fantasy, and adventure.
While the show’s format essentially prioritizes instruction over narrative, ongoing ‘drama’ is created by the frequent addition of new key features to the emerging scenery of the giant Secret City mural. Often Special Guests would appear on the show to demonstrate other art forms or practical applications for drawing skills.
The show was created by John Price & Mark Kistler, based on Bruce McIntyre's AVDP. Much of the series was edited live in-camera and was shot in a somewhat semi-scripted format. It was produced at Maryland Public Television through private funding by Children's Video Associates, and intended for broadcast via national PBS syndication. It also aired on TVOntario.
Téléfrançais was a French language children's television show, produced by TVOntario from 1984 until 1986. The series of 30 ten-minute episodes has become a popular teaching tool, and is used by many educators to teach French as a second language to elementary and middle school children. The show's name is a portmanteau for télévision and français.
The show follows the adventures of two children named Jacques and Sophie, and Ananas, a talking pineapple who resides in a junkyard. Other recurring characters are Pilote, Ginette, the Annonceur, Monsieur Pourquoi, Louis Questionneur, Brigitte Banane, and the comic skeletal musical group Les Squelettes. The programs were produced by Jennifer Harvey and directed by David Moore. The catchy theme and all of Les Squelettes' songs were written by the team of Bruce Ley and Jed MacKay.
All the characters and scripts were created by Ken Sobol.
The shows featured the everyday adventures of a group of characters living on Pigeon Street, an area of flats and terraced housing in a British city, also home to several pigeons which appeared in each show but only occasionally featured in the plot. Characters included Clara the long distance lorry driver, her husband Hugo the chef, Mr Baskerville the detective, Mr Jupiter the astronomer, Mr Macadoo the petshop owner, and twins Molly and Polly, who were only distinguishable by the letter M and P on their jumpers.
Not so very long ago, Jasper lived at the South Pole with his family, as is normal for penguins. But one day it happened: in his unbounded curiosity, Jasper had dared to go too far to the edge of the breaking ice cap. Suddenly there was a loud cracking noise from behind him and before he knew it, he was sitting on an ice floe, which, propelled by the current, pulled him ever further towards the horizon... until he drifted in to the harbour of a town. He looked for a cool and damp place to sleep and finally found just such a spot next to an old refrigerator, which stood in a forgotten corner at the very back of a junk shop. Since everything was so new and exciting, Jasper decided to stay for a while. However, so that his family would not be worried about him, he sent them regular reports of his experiences and observations in his "new" world. And what could be a better way of doing that, than sending a message in a bottle...
Sofia and Emil have agreed to give each other presents for Christmas. When the present for Sofia turns out to be expensive, Emil asks his friend Liam for help earning some money.