The Friendly Giant - Format

Format

The short, 15-minute show was perhaps most famous for its opening sequence. Each episode would begin with the camera panning over a detailed model of part of a village as Friendly could be heard observing the goings on in the town below. Suddenly, his giant boot would come into view and Friendly would ask the viewers to "Look up, waaaaay up!" and the Giant would invite everyone to come visit his castle. The traditional tune Early One Morning would then be heard being played on harp and recorder, while the camera slowly zoomed into the Giant's castle, whose drawbridge and doors opened wide in welcome. Once inside, The Friendly Giant would put out miniature furniture for his viewers beside his feet (with only his feet and hands visible), saying, "One little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two more to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." Typically, Jerome the Giraffe would visit, poking his head in through a high window. Rusty the Rooster, who lived in a book bag hanging on the wall by the window, would emerge and produce from the bag books to be read and other props, some seemingly larger than could fit in the bag.

The rest of the show focused on gentle, humorous chat between Friendly, Rusty and Jerome, followed by a story or a musical performance. When extra instrumentation was needed, a pair of otherwise silent puppet cats — Angie and Fiddle, the Jazz Cats — joined in (puppeteered by Gustáv Hársfai (Sr) and Linda Keogh (Jr). Music for the show was composed by the show's harpist, John Duncan.

At the show's conclusion, Friendly would put his miniature furniture away and his large, kindly hand would wave goodbye as the camera would zoom out and the castle's drawbridge would be raised; as a silvery moon with a smiling face rose into the sky a cow would jump over it. Once, when the cow failed to make an appearance, the CBC was inundated with phone calls from disappointed viewers. (On occasion, often for episodes devoted to musical performances, episodes would take place completely at night.)

The shows were largely ad libbed, typically based around a one-page plot summary for each episode. This gave the show an added spontaneity uncommon to most children's shows, though the series was marked by a go-slow, gentle nature. The simple repetition of its main elements from show to show put it fundamentally at odds with the bolder, ever-changing nature of such shows as Sesame Street.

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, The Friendly Giant launched a block of children's programming aired by the CBC each weekday morning; it was followed in the block by Mr. Dressup and the Canadian version of Sesame Street.