Wimzie's House
Wimzie's House is a half-hour Canadian preschool television program produced in Montreal which ran as La Maison de Ouimzie on Télévision de Radio-Canada in the morning and Radio-Québec in late afternoons starting September 4, 1995, and in English on CBC Television starting October 21, 1996 and in the United States on Public Broadcasting Service from September 1, 1997 to August 31, 2001. Reruns of the show aired in the United States on the Cookie Jar Toons block on This TV, in syndication as part of the Cookie Jar Kids Network block, and on Light TV from December 22, 2016 to September 30, 2019. The series was produced by Cinar, with the PBS telecasts presented by Maryland Public Television from 1997 to 2001. The show's puppetry is in the style of Sesame Street, which led to some legal troubles with The Jim Henson Company, in 1999. There were two FMV PC games based on the series. Treehouse TV also aired this show in reruns from 1999 to December 2005.
Plot
Wimzie is a little girl monster who lives with her parents, grandma, and baby brother. The basic plot was that Wimzie's friends would always come over for the day and they would play together. This usually resulted in a problem and two songs that would eventually lead to the moral of the episode. The cast never expanded beyond the eight main characters. There were some friends and neighbors mentioned, but they never made a real physical appearance.Characters
- Wimzie - The protagonist of the series, who is a dragon/bird hybrid with a unique appearance, yellow-orange skin, purple hair tied in pigtails decorated in baby blue bows and red wing-like antlers on the top of her head. She is five years old, and also introduces each episode in the beginning of the series. In musical numbers, she performs a few of her solo songs which are titled "When There's A Job To Do", "Turtles", "Be Exactly Who You Are", "Something In My Head", and "I Love You". She has a baby brother named Bo. Horace possibly has a crush on her.
- Rousso - Wimzie's father. He is a calm dragon with orange skin and blond hair. He works as a firefighter. When not on the job, Rousso likes to relax. He's a little slow but very kind-hearted. It has been revealed that he has a sister named Alice who is Wimzie's aunt.
- Graziella - Wimzie's mother. She is a bird with pink skin and blond hair in a beehive hairdo. When not on the job, Graziella will spend time with children, often giving them advice. She works as a pilot and is often away from home for extended periods. She has the same voice as Mommy from Caillou, and has a brother named Mario, Wimzie's uncle, who forgot to send Wimzie a binga-boinga on her fifth birthday.
- Bo - Wimzie's baby brother. Being still a baby, he often gets most of Yaya's attention, and the others keep tabs on him as well. Unlike Wimzie, he is a full dragon and not a hybrid like his big sister. He is still learning to talk, so he mostly communicates in gibberish. He is around the age of 12–18 months.
- Yaya - Wimzie's 150-year-old grandmother and Graziella's mother. She runs a daycare in Wimzie's house for Wimzie and her friends while their parents are working. She has lavender skin and her hair is a stack of orange, blond and purple. She occasionally gives the children advice when they need it. Despite her old age, she is full of energy, often being more than a match for a houseful of children, daughter and son-in-law. She also silences everyone during an argument by making a foghorn blowing noise and sound, and, nobody knows how she does it. She has a bedroom that is only seen in the intro.
- Jonas - A goblin who is five years old and loves science. He collects dirt and has a surprisingly large collection. His skin is green with purple hair and he wears eyeglasses and a propeller cap. Often in his explanations, he would include his catch phrase "It's very scientific." Lou Lou is his little sister. Wimzie possibly has a crush on him.
- Loulou - Jonas' three and a half-year old sister. She wants to be like the bigger kids, yet isn't quite ready to make the jump. She is capable of understanding Bo's baby-jabber. She has the same voice as DeeDee and her complexion is yellow-green. She wears eyeglasses and has purple hair like her brother, tied in a high ponytail decorated in a bow. Her solo songs are titled "When I'm Scared", "I wanna be Big Right Now", "Left Out", and "What's so good about being big?".
- Horace - A four-year-old troll, Horace isn't as smart as the other kids, but is always asking questions and learning things. He is the strongest of all the children, but angers easily and can sometimes be rough. He gets along best with Bo and his big sister Wimzie, whom he possibly has a crush on. He has the same voice as Binky Barnes from Arthur and his skin is light blue and his hair is orange and very straight. He also has a cousin named Morris who looks a lot like him, and they are both voiced by the same actor. A running gag throughout the show shows always saying, "Uh/um...question." and then another character, like Yaya, Graziella, Wimzie, or Rousso would usually respond by saying, "Yes, Horace?".
Episodes
Season 1 (1995)
- The Cookie Crisis
- Boo!
- The Magic Crayon
- I Want My Mommy
- Flower Power
- Babies Have It Made
- The Scaredy Cats
- The Treasure Hunt
- The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- What's the Matter with Horace?
- You're Not My Friend
- To Share or Not To Share
- The Play's the Thing
- The Lucky Pin
- Queen For A Day
- A Fishy Fish Story
- To Tell the Truth
- Jonas, The Actor
- All Alone
- You Just Gotta Keep Trying
- A Medal for Horace
- By the Numbers
- Mad at Dad
- Aahhchoo!
- Wimzie's Hushabye
- The Tattletales
- I Dare You!
- We Want Toys!
- The Personal Trainer
- Jonas and All of His Hits
- Who Do You Trust?
- Jonas' Big Purple Map
- Wimzie's Three Wishes
- Who's The Boss?
- The Great Moving Day
- The Mighty Monster Power Piggies
- Wimzie's Scary Dream
- The Little Red Wimzie
- Friendship Day
- Bye Bye Birdie
- A Little Privacy, Please?
- I'm Scared for Daddy
- Bo Goes Bonkers!
- Identical Cousins
- The Hand-Me-Down Sweater
- I Think I Forgot Something
- Mommy's Afraid
- The Stuke-A-Piddleys
- The Tooth Fairy
- Wimzie's Late
- The Cookie Caper
- Wimzie's Big Trip
- The Lost Bone
- Official Backwards Day
- Doctor Wimzie
- The Assistant Grown-Up
Season 2 (1996)
- The Sore Winner
- To Each His Own
- The Contest
- Please Don't Say That!
- Be Yourself
- The Boys Against The Girls
- The Storm
- You Have to Learn the Trade
- Substitute Daddy
- Wimzie the Magician
- The Best Hiding Place on Earth
- The Jingle
- Mind Your Manners
- Picking a President
- We Can Do It!
- The Accident
- Happy Birthday, Yaya!
- The Dropsies
- Icky, Yucky and Goofy
- Cinderloulou
- Loulou Thinks Big
- Nicknames
- A Little Bit Testy
- Noises Night and Day
- Motherly Love
- I Don't Like Chores!
- Imagination in Action
- Promises, Promises
- The Telephone Call
- Am I Dreaming?
- What's the Truth?
- Wimzie the Prankster
- My Doll is for Sale
- The Show-Off
- Growing Up is Hard To Do
- From Dirt... to Ice Cream
- Shaggy's Visit
- Wimzie's Rainbow Wig
- Ants in My Pants
- The Silent Treatment
- Daddy's Girl
- Go for the Gold
- Wimzie's Family Career Day
- It's Bedtime!
- The Blackout
- Who Needs Yaya?
- All 'Round the World in a Day
- The Big Dinosaur
- The Gizmo-A-Gig-A-Bopper
- The Surprise That... Wasn't
- The Ugly Scary Statue
- Horace Goes Whammer
- Wimzie Sees It All
- Wimzie the Interrupter
- The Magic Starfruit
- The Perfect Christmas
Songs
- Wimzie's House Theme Song
- Uh-Oh!
- Always Tell the Truth
- Best Of Friends
- I Don't Like That
- They Are Mine!
- It's Okay To Say What We Feel
- Time to Relax
- Pretending
- Some Things In Life Just Take Time
- Together
- I Wish I Were A Baby
- I Rather Just Be Me
- Frightened In the Night
- Count On Your Friends
- Sometimes There Are Two of Me
- I Know What I Should Do
- Let's Laugh Together
- Playing Hide and Seek
- Why Do We Need Friends?
- Even If We Fight
- Left Out
- Making Our Friendship Grow
- It's My Turn
- If It's Mine
- We Want To Have Fun
- Dilemma
- I Do Well When I Feel Good
- Rousso's Recipe
- Sick Of Being Sick
- Sometimes Friends Can Make You Mad
- Animal Friends
- Goldfish Goldfish
- Love Makes Life Worth Living
- True Or False
- When It Hurts
- Sometimes Everyone Feels Afraid
- All Alone
- Number 1
- Try Try Try Again
- Practice Makes Perfect
- Forgetting Is Okay
- The Things You Miss
- One Two Three
- There's Only One Me
- Lullaby for Bo
- That Makes Me Mad!
- Darn These Allergies
- Things That I Don't See
- I Have A Secret
- When I Have A Friend
- The One Color Crayon Blues
- Tattletale
- Green Grape Funk
- Don't You Dare
- Everybody Must Have Toys
- There Are Ways To Say I Love You
- You Gotta Get Physical
- Healthy Habits
- Hands Are Not Made For a Fight
- Time-outs
- On TV! On TV!
- Not Too Much TV
- I Love My Dirt
- Permission First
- The Wishing Song
- Families and Friends
- I Was Born To Lead
- Life Is Simply Grand
- When I Miss Someone I Love
- To Help A Friend
- The Mighty Monster Power Piggies
- Find Your Own Dream
- The Monster Mask
- I Like To Dream
- On Lazy Days
- When There's A Job To Do
- Are You My Friend?
- Even If We're Friends
- It's Okay To Cry
- We All Need Taking Care Of
- Yaya's Diary
- Tape Recorder Rap
- Turtles
- I'm A Fireman
- Where Is Bo?
- Taking A Nap
- Stand Up and Speak Out
- I Like To Be Me
- Brand New Again
- What Makes Something Special
- Me and My Dad
- Feeling Afraid
- Sometimes I'm Scared
- Invisible Me
- The Words You Say
- That's The Rule
- Stay Awake
- Tick Tock Clock
- Right On Time
- Snacktime Is Fun
- Privacy
- It's Fun To Go Travelling
- Disappointment
- Digging In The Dirt
- Bones
- Let's Be Different
- The Searching Song
- I'm Taking Care of Mommy
- Yaya's Good Tummy Soup
- It's Fun To Be Detectives
- Responsibility
- I Won
- I Like Painting Pictures
- Playing Dress Up Is Such Fun
- Watch Your Words
- Shhhhh
- Boys and Girls
- Scary Noises
- Find A Better Way
- Our Dad
- Magic!
- Do The Right Thing!
- Trying To Figure Problems Out
- Good Manners
- Presidents
- No Problem!
- Brothers and Sisters
- Imagination
- Better Be Careful!
- I'm Special
- What's So Good About Being Tall?
- I Wanna Be Big Right Now
- The Nicknames
- We All Need Each Other
- Noisy Noises
- I Love Snow
Legal troubles
A confidential settlement allowed CINAR to continue broadcasting the series, selling show merchandise, and a "mechanism for preserving the distinctive look of Jim Henson's Muppets in CINAR's future productions."
Ronald A. Weinberg, CINAR President and Co-CEO:
Media
Video releases
Five hour-long VHS tapes were released by Sony Wonder in 1999 to 2000.- It's Magic Time!
- You're Special
- Pet Tales
- Babies Have It Made
- Happy Holidays
DVD releases