From The Friendly Giant to Today’s Special: Relive the Shows That Influenced Several Generations
TORONTO, November 17, 2025 — Museum of Toronto has announced the re-mount of the latest multidisciplinary exhibition at the Museum of Toronto’s outpost location at the Harbourfront Centre titled “Mr Dressup to Degrassi: 42 Years of Legendary Toronto Kids TV”. The chronological exhibition is an exploration of the dramatic shifts in the way children’s television in Toronto was created and produced from 1952 to 1994. The exhibition opens on November 28th and runs until March 15th 2026 at 225 Queens Quay West.
Explore the magic of Children’s TV from this time period and how it has brought cultural significance in the way it has influenced generations and reflected contemporary values. From 1952-1994, Toronto was a global player in this era of children’s television programs. For the past four decades, our city has brought together initiative, thought leaders, creators and unexpected collaborations which lead into forming a powerful television industry and one of the most prominent ones in the world.
By dissecting how television was used as an educational tool and the thematics it presented, we can learn how important the role of early Canadian-produced content is in today’s entertainment industry. Throughout the exhibit, in addition to numerous clips from everyone’s favourite shows like Mr. Dressup, Today’s Special, The Friendly Giant, Polka Dot Door, Degrassi, the exhibit features original costumes, puppets and more.
Co-curated by Ed Conroy, Retrontario, a cultural historian, writer, producer, archivist and vintage video sleuth, and Museum of Toronto, this exhibit will feature stories from key figures of children’s television as well as behind-the-scenes videos, notable puppets and more. His new book, ImagiNation: The Golden Age of Toronto Kids’ TV (2025, Dundurn Press), will be available for sale on site at the exhibition.
The Museum of Toronto CEO Heidi Reitmaier said, “We were so thrilled by the response to the original exhibition, we seized the opportunity to bring back the brilliant story of Toronto’s influence on children’ s television since the invention of TV, so more visitors can reminisce and share their stories and memories of their favourite children’s programs. It is a story filled with joy, humour and creativity.”
This exhibit timeline of 1952 to 1994 will be broken down into decades to pull out moments to highlight unique themes including:
1950s: Networks Exploring the role and rise of networks and their relationship to children’s programming beginning in 1952 when CBLT (Ontario’s CBC flagship English service) first signed on the airwaves with a family program, Let’s See, featuring the (grotesque) puppet Uncle Chichimus.
1960s: Diversity Highlighting the role diversity played in children’s programming made in Toronto with the airing of Uncle Bobby and Friends in 1968, the first children’s series in North America to feature sign language, via co-host Bev Marsh.
1970s: Education The creation of TVOntario in 1970, as part of the ministry of education, was a moment to explore the desire to use children’s tv as an educational tool through curriculum based programming.
1980s: Cultural Values The creation and success of Degrassi Junior High in the 1980s as a jumping off point to look at the exportation of culture and cultural values, and ideas about our city itself, through children’s tv. The success of Dear Aunt Agnes from 1986 to 1989 in speaking to older children through addressing social issues such as divorce, peer pressure, alcoholism, bulimia and more.
1990s: Personalities Looking at the ways in which children’s programming created TV personalities through the launch of The Zone programming block on YTV in 1991 and the introduction of a rotating group of “Program Jockeys” who would provide an entertaining segue into each new show. The initial group of PJs included PJ Jazzy Jan (Janis Mackey), Gord the PJ Man (Gordon Michael Woolvert), and PJ “Fresh” Phil (Phil Guerrero).
To learn more about “Mr Dressup to Degrassi: 42 Years of Legendary Toronto Kids TV”, visit museumoftoronto.com.
Exhibition Information
The exhibition opens to the public on November 26th 2025 and will run until March 15th 2026.
The Museum of Toronto outpost space is located at Harbourfront Centre, 225 Queens Quay West, Toronto. Museum of Toronto is always free, with donations encouraged.
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