O Canada (TV series)

Last updated
O Canada
O Canada title card.jpg
Created byBob Jaques
Kelly Armstrong
Glen Kennedy
Starring Sally Grace
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companies Cartoon Network Productions
National Film Board of Canada
Original release
Network Cartoon Network
Release1997 (1997) 
2002 (2002)

O Canadais a Canadian animated television anthology series, broadcast in the United States, and all across the Asia-Pacific region on Cartoon Network. [1] O Canada was the first Canadian cartoon series to air on Cartoon Network. The show also frequently aired in Canada on Teletoon, but not as much as it did in the United States on Cartoon Network.

Contents

Shown mainly on Sunday nights (early Monday mornings) at 12:00 midnight ET, O Canada featured a selection of animated shorts from Canada, mostly from the archives of the National Film Board of Canada. Some of the animated shorts featured were part of the NFB's Canada Vignettes collection of shorts first produced for CBC Television.

The title of the series originated from the name of Canada's national anthem, "O Canada".

One of the notable shorts featured in this series was Bob's Birthday, which would later serve as the basis for Comedy Central / Global Television Network's Bob and Margaret series, which would debut the following year. Despite its time slot, Bob's Birthday was censored with one scene, that featured Bob nude from the waist down, edited with a maple leaf electronically superimposed over his genitalia while other mature themes remain uncensored.

In 1997, Charles Solomon of TV Guide added this packaged series on the adult animated shows list and described it "a must for animation aficionados".[ citation needed ] Cartoon Network’s deal with NFB had since expired in 2002 in favor of Adult Swim. [2]

Shorts shown on O Canada

Notes

  1. This short aired once on Labor Day in 1997.
  2. This short originally contains nudity, which was superimposed for television airings.

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References

  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 434. ISBN   978-1538103739.
  2. Simensky, Linda (1997). "O Canada: Canadian animators". TAKE ONE. Archived from the original on November 27, 2004. Retrieved August 30, 2006.