Nostalgia Canadiana

08/12/2025

A new book by Ed Conroy, founder of Retrontario. The book takes a nostalgic look back at fifty years of children’s television from the beloved — Polka Dot Door, Today’s Special — to the bizarre — Kiddo the Clown, Maniac Mansion.

08/01/2025

RIP

Sad news — children’s author Allan Ahlberg has died at the age of 87.

Alongside his late wife Janet, he created some of the most iconic books in British childhoods — Peepo!, Each Peach Pear Plum, Funnybones, The Jolly Postman, and many more.

Their stories were simple, warm, and full of character — the kind you remember forever. Together, they brought joy to millions.

Thank you, Allan, for all your wonderful books.

06/04/2025

🫡😢

04/30/2025

04/20/2025

Paul Rudd is in a new Switch 2 commercial. Last time he worked with Nintendo was in 1991 during the Super Nintendo days. I love it!

03/13/2025

Get ready for a nostalgic reunion at Niagara Falls Comic Con 2025! 🎉

Alyson Court & Fred Stinson are bringing The Big Comfy Couch back to life—featuring the screen-used couch! Don’t miss your chance to relive childhood memories up close!

Get your tickets today at nfcomiccon.com

01/30/2025

Sum-41 will play their final headlining show ever tonight in Toronto, Canada.

12/31/2024

12/22/2024

Gina Ekiss, designer of the Solo Jazz cup (circa 1990)

12/20/2024

This presentation of ReBoot: The Ride is scanned at 4K from a VistaVision 30fps film print, sourced from our friend Chris Johnson who got it from the Ridefil...

12/08/2024

On this day in 1979, The Kids of Degrassi Street debuted on CBC.
While this was the show that started the entire Degrassi franchise, it has long been overshadowed by the shows it helped spawn.
Let's learn more about it :)

In 1979, Linda Schuyler, a media teacher at Earl Grey Senior Public School in Toronto, received a copy of the book Ida Makes A Movie.
Around that same time, she showed an NFB film about a girl who lived with an alcoholic father to her students.

During the class discussion about the film, Schuyler noticed one student speaking in both first and third person. She realized that student likely lived with an alcoholic. She got counseling for the student and became inspired to adapt Ida Makes A Movie into a film.

She met with a entertainment lawyer named Stephen Stohn who told her to buy the rights to the book. Schuyler did so, buying the rights for $200. She and Stohn later married.
For the film, Schuyler changed the cat characters to human and shot it with a handheld camera.

To make the film, she used the company she founded with Kit Hood three years earlier called Playing With Time.
The after-school special aired on Dec. 8, 1979 and was a massive success. It spawned three more specials that aired between 1980 and 1982.

These four after-school specials have retroactively become the first episodes in the Degrassi Franchise as The Kids of Degrassi Street.
The show, Kids of Degrassi Street, debuted as a weekly series on Dec. 13, 1982.
To make the series, Yan Moore was hired as a writer.

The opening sequence of The Kids of Degrassi Street was shot in black and white in the Leslieville neighbourhood of Toronto.
Wendy Watson and Lewis Manne, who composed music for Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High also recorded the music for this series.

Over the course of its run, the series aired 26 episodes running until the series ended in 1986.
Many actors who appeared on The Kids of Degrassi Street later starred on Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. They would play different characters though.

Stacie Mistysyn played Lisa on The Kids of Degrassi Street. She later played Caitlin Ryan in multiple Degrassi series, earning a Gemini Award for her acting in 1989.
Neil Hope, who played Wheels later in Degrassi, played Griff on The Kids of Degrassi Street.

Annais Granofsky acted on Kids of Degrassi Street and later played Lucy Fernandez on multiple series of Degrassi.
Sarah Charlesworth played Casey on Kids of Degrassi Street and appeared as Susie in 21 episodes of the later Degrassi series.

While The Kids of Degrassi Street ended its run on Jan. 5, 1986 the success of the series led to Degrassi Junior High. That show debuted almost exactly one year later on Jan. 18, 1987. It later spawned subsequent Degrassi series that continue to this day.

While most of the episode plots of The Kids of Degrassi Street were lighthearted compared to the later serious tones of the Degrassi franchise, it was a landmark series for how it presented the lives of students.
In 1986, the show won an International Emmy.

I hope you enjoyed that look at The Kids of Degrassi Street.

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12/07/2024

Joe Carter played 6 innings with a jersey that spelled Torotno on its front.