The History of Caillou: The Most HATED Cartoon Character

uncle scooby hi i'm scrappy dude [Music] now how many times have you heard that this guy is the most hated cartoon character of all time probably often when it comes to the discussion of who is the most hated cartoon character ever created it can often turn out to be a massive debate due to the subjectivity of what people consider to be hate-worthy people can say that they hate some characters because they're too annoying they're too stupid they're too mean-spirited they're too obnoxious or it could be a mix of some of these together but very rarely do people share the same answer even when it comes to scrappy dew as infamous of a legacy he has some could argue that there are times when he can have his redeeming moments but as of recent the answer to that question suddenly became more unanimous as one cartoon character pushed audiences to their limits to the point where they said they had enough and it's time to put him in his place and who could cause this level of raging hatred you're getting to be a big boy you caillou grow some hair and leave the house yes among all the cartoon characters out there caillou has gradually climbed up the ranks to become the most hated of them all in fact he's already prominent to becoming one of the worst things to ever come out of canada it's debatable if he is the worst but he is certainly up there and yet some may wonder how is it that this innocent looking bald kid from a preschool show gathers such worldwide hatred from the mass what did he do to deserve this amount of hellish backlash this is the story of how a canadian children's program became a global television icon but then have the same thing that got him famous turned against him to become the symbol of what every young child should never be so why is caillou the most hated cartoon character well let's find out it all started way back in the canadian province of quebec where author christine lerer and illustrator elen despitol teamed up to create a new children's book that would stand out from the others at the time back then books towards the youngest demographic would always have animals as their lead but the duo decided that for their book they wanted a character that the children could directly relate to someone that they could see themselves in the story and what better way to make a relatable character for children than to make them a human child the result turned out to be a nine-month-old baby that later became a four-year-old boy inspired by the studies of french psychoanalyst dr francois dalton whose works revolve around the premise of respecting the child the same way one should do with an adult in fact even the name of the character caillou came from a part of dr dartos studies which is french for pebble or little rock however in order to make their new character stand out so that he doesn't look like any ordinary kid they decided to keep one tray from their first idea of him as a baby keep him bald there were rumors that caillou was meant to be depicted as a child with cancer but as family guy said it best but caillou wasn't a cancer survivor the show's creators just made a weird choice so in 1989 the first caillou book was released by schwett publishing and it became an immediate success in fact to this day caillou is still a powerhouse among children's books that feature dozens of little stories where in 2015 they sold over 50 million copies all around the world but caillou's true claim to fame wouldn't happen until 8 years later when the animation studio cenar decided to grow in the field of children's programming after their success with arthur and turn the bald kid into an animated series much like the books the show presents the slice of life stories of a four-year-old boy living with his family and sometimes getting lost in his own imagination all while staying true to the philosophies of the works of dr dalton from time to time the series also included special segments to spice up the show like starting with a grandma reading to her kids a caillou book and puppet sketches starring the cat gilbert but those parts only lasted for a couple of seasons at the most and eventually was scrapped to make more room for that kid's big bald head the show made its official premiere in french on the canadian channel teletune on september 15 1997 and aired in english a month later the kid didn't start taking his first steps outside of canada until in 2000 where it aired on pbs kids in the united states and then later gradually made his mark all around the world and just like the books caillou succeeded at making a show that fully resonated with preschoolers and quickly became one of the biggest animated programs in canada from there the series had a long life on television where it was producing new episodes for 13 years with only some breaks in 2004 2005 and 2009 where caillou had a total of 144 half-hour episodes in a span of five seasons along with a direct-to-video christmas feature called caiu's holiday movie concluding the series on october 13th 2010. however even if they stopped making new episodes caillou's legacy was far from over in fact that was only one chapter in our story that just explained what caillou did now here comes the real juicy part behind the scenes the studio sonar went through its own crazy history as they were making more caillou episodes which found themselves hopping to new managements and some trouble these include a massive fraud scandal that resulted in the longest criminal trial in front of a jury in canadian history being bought out by nirvana's founder and former president michael hirsch and topper taylor respectively for 190 million dollars and turned into cookie jar group and once that got even bigger by acquiring more big name brands like care bears strawberry shortcake and geek entertainment cookie jar got bought out by dhx media now called wildbrain in 2012 for 111 million dollars but even if they owned the biggest library of kids tv shows they were very well aware that one of their most profitable was caillou and even without any new episodes they made sure that the reruns were still globally available and doing strong for channels like pbs kids and treehouse tv which the latter took the place of teletune to be caillou's main canadian hub now at this point the children that used to watch the show have all grown up studying in college have jobs and some even have kids of their own eventually those people would look back at the show that they once loved and reminisce at the times when they joined caillou on his little adventures to which with a new adult and more responsible mentality they all concluded with a realization that they never thought of before holy crap caillou was absolutely horrible throughout the 2010 decade as the internet and social media became prominently mainstream the backlash over the bald child became more and more vocal hate groups were created petitions to take them off the air were made negative reviews came flooding in on websites and he even became a popular subject for satire videos including a viral series on youtube called caillou gets grounded [Laughter] how dare you make a website while grounded that is it you are grounded grounded grounded for 56 822 490 256 additional years seems rather shocking to see how the internet went severely hard towards an innocent looking cartoon child but they all have one justifiable reason to why people have such a grueling hatred over caillou he is a completely frustrating brat in almost every episode there is always that one moment where the kid does something bad gets overtly angry and immediately throws a temper tantrum and believe me when i say that this happens way too often than it probably should we can cut it into little duckies like grandma does no i don't want to make ducky that's for babies go out of my room no no no no stay out i want chocolate chip cookies what mommy you and rosie have to learn how to work out your own problems [Music] in fact caillou's short temper is so commonplace in the show that it's even a part of the main theme song where he states that growing up is not so tough except when i had enough and at that second part it shows him banging on the floor and angrily crying technically some people can argue that this is just how toddlers are sometimes they do behave this way whenever things don't go their way and this is actually a part of dr delto's studies where she found that children do face problems in their lives the same way that adults do it's just that children don't have the same communication skills that would help solve them thus limiting their options on how to respond in a way it's true what people hate about the series is the way they accurately present children but it's not entirely that why people hate caillou so much yes he could be a complete like any kid his age but his biggest problem is that he is a complete and nobody does anything about it very rarely or even never in all those 144 episodes does it happen when caillou gets punished for bad behavior no matter what he does no matter how bad it was no matter if it was intentional or not everything goes his way and he gets away with just about anything one of the most infamous examples is from the episode big brother caillou where one of his first interactions with his baby sister rosie is by kissing her on the forehead then goes completely 180 and pinches her and the dad was right there caught him in the act and not a single punishment was given but you know what's even crazier this is actually tamer than in the original book where instead of pinching her caillou just full-on bit her which is definitely worse but also hilarious because it makes me think that caillou is a ravenous beast okay caillou it's your turn to take care of rosie why would you do that to rosie and the worst thing about him is that he's not just a monster and gets away with just about anything but he is all that and is supposed to be a role model for children if you remember back in the beginning the whole purpose of caillou is to give toddlers a character that they could connect and relate to rather it be when reading about him or seeing him on tv keep in mind that the franchise is specifically aimed for the youngest target demographic the ones who are beginning their lives and gradually discovering the world around them they are possibly the most easily influential group of people out there so imagine how you have this character that is around their age always acting like a republican politician by throwing tantrums until he gets what he wants and keeps starting consequences to his action and displays it all on screen for the kids to watch they'll unironically believe that this is how life works without proper parenting they'll just imitate caillou's behavior and learn the hard way that it's probably not a good idea to do that and that life is not a caillou episode and this also reveals another major flaw with caillou there really isn't much for them to gain from watching the show seriously what do children learn from caillou are there any basic skills or good morals they learned from him you know other than using your imagination sure a preschool show doesn't have to be educational but can you really trust a series that tells your kids that this is how you get whatever you want however with this increasing amount of backlash it was inevitable that caillou's reign over television would come to a close at the start of 2021 pbs kids announced that they would no longer air caillou on its channel while it was still on in other countries like in canada the public felt a massive relief that one of his biggest markets would no longer show that stupid bald kid on tv it was a rare occurrence that the whole internet rejoiced and celebrated that their children would no longer fall trapped to the terrible ways of the french canadian rock as for wildbrain the most they ever did with caillou was make a new series for both amazon prime and youtube but they're just remakes of older episodes and while it may no longer be on american television the company did promise that they'll figure out some plans of what more they want to do with the most profitable bald child overall how caillou became the most hated cartoon character is the same reason why he became a preschool icon he was originally conceived as the personification of dr dautol's studies of how children should be respected as much as adults do along with giving them a character that they could directly relate to however as time moved on and caillou's popularity was globally at an all-time high that same philosophy was progressively warped to the point where the child got an unrealistic amount of respect where he could just get away with practically anything and when those kids who used to read and watch him grew older and wiser they looked back with fresh eyes and realized that the last thing this bald-headed freak should be is a role model for toddlers and if there's one important lesson that both kids and adults took from caillou's legacy and backlash it's the importance of discipline while children should be rewarded for good behavior it is equally important to punish them for the bad ones to teach them that they shouldn't do that thus helping them become a better person as they grow older otherwise with no consequences to any of their actions they'll end up exactly like caillou where they'll do whatever it takes to get whatever they want and have things go their way believing that nothing could stop them sure caillou was a positive influence in the preschool market highlighting the importance of making relatable characters that children could see themselves in but his title as the most hated cartoon character also taught the market and the public about being mindful of what children consume especially when they are most prone to copying what they see on screen thankfully now that we know better that nobody wants a caillou as their child we can all rest easy knowing that there will never be a preschool show that will be as popular as caillou that feature the same lack of educational value and hateable whiny brats as the stars that never face consequences to their actions animat feels satisfied thinking that there will never be a popular show like caillou did anybody hear that [Music] i use low testosterone father again indulged caillou's tantrum clearly trying to raise a sociopath

Channel: ElectricDragon505

Views: 1,676,518

Keywords: AniMat, ElectricDragon505, Animation, Caillou, Caillou hate, Caillou history, animation history, Canada animation, Canadian animation, Caillou gets grounded, Caillou brat, hated cartoon characters, worst cartoon characters, Caillou rude, hated cartoon shows, worst cartoon shows, hated cartoons, worst cartoons, worst preschool show, worst preschool series

Id: xZpzo-wqr6k

Length: 16min 56sec (1016 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021