Up: [[Story]] Created: 2023-03-29 ## Whose Giant is It? Americans and Canadians fight over who The Friendly Giant belongs to. The answer is both countries. It began as a radio program and then very early tv show at the University of Wisconsin when Bob was there doing an economics degree. The head of children’s programming for the CBC, Fred Rainsberry, saw the show, and enticed Bob to Canada with a 26 episode contract. He went on to make more than 3000 episodes between 1958 and 1985 when the show was cancelled and replaced by ‘Fred Penner’s Place’, a program sometimes referred to as ‘the Giant killer’. People were furious at the cancellation. There was so much fuss that the cancellation ended up being argued at the level of the federal government. ## Episode Structure Each episode of The Friendly Giant was 15 minutes long, improvised by Homme and Rod Coneybeare who handled the puppets. Each episode had a theme and each included music. Homme described the show’s intention as inculcating *respect for the words and music of life*. The shows were thematically based, and usually included some chat between Homme and the puppets, a picture book being read, and a song, all, for example, on the theme of horses.The themed shows were intended to keep children’s attention focused on one thing for 15 minutes which, Homme acknowledged, was much harder than changing things up one minute at a time. I’ve traced [[My Love of Miniatures and Puppets Started Here]] at least in part to The Friendly Giant. Perhaps it’s also at least partially responsible for my passion for teaching through thematic segments. ## Unchanging The set didn’t change, the show length didn’t change (even under pressure to make it a half hour program), and Homme refused the usual commercial spinoffs of books, lunch boxes and mass-produced Rusty and Jeromes. He was unwilling to capitalize on children’s trust in him. That’s so impressive. Bob Homme died in 2000 at the age of 81 after a three year battle with prostate cancer. He had received the Order of Canada two years prior. > [!user] Sources > [Homme’s obituary in the Canadian Encyclopedia](https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robert-homme-the-friendly-giant-obituary) [tv tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/TheFriendlyGiant) [article from Kingston newspaper](https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/canadian-ingenuity-music-books-respect-with-the-friendly-giant)