Today's Special
| Today's Special | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by | Clive VanderBurgh |
| Starring |
Jeff Hyslop Nerene Virgin Bob Dermer Nina Keogh |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Production | |
| Running time | 28:50 |
| Release | |
| Original network |
TVOntario (Canada) Nickelodeon (US) |
| Original release | September 1, 1981 – July 1, 1987 |
Today's Special is a Canadian children's television program produced by Clive VanderBurgh at TVOntario from 1981 to 1987. It was set in a department store, based on the flagship location of the now defunct Simpson's in Toronto. Many sequences for it were shot at the Queen Street West and Yonge Street store after hours.
In the children's department of a major department store, each night when Jodie arrives for work, she carries a mannequin (Jeff) upstairs, where Muffy says the magic words "hocus pocus alimagocus!" This brings him to life.
Many early episodes focused on a tangible object as a subject, such as hats or costumes, with the show revolving around teaching about it. Later episodes dealt with more complicated ones, such as the episode "Wishes" dealing with sacrificing one thing for another, or "Phil's Visit", which dealt with alcoholism.
Short films, often less than a minute long, were often inserted as breaks in the episode's main plot, narrated by Robyn Hayle (the same actress who provided the voice of TXL). These included Mime Lady segments, animated quizzes designed to test a child's observation, narrated storybooks, and popular nursery rhymes (which an unseen Muffy would introduce with "And now I'd like to introduce a nursery rhyme by Mother Goose").
Many episodes featured one or more one-time visitors to the store. Some would cause problems for the characters, while others would befriend them and help solve their problems. These visitors included the characters' friends or family, people coming to the store to do their jobs, people brought there by magic ("Treasure Hunts", "The Queen of Hearts"), bizarre, non-human characters ("Space", "Sam and the Robot"), and real-life celebrities ("Opera", "Trash"). Magic was important to many episodes, and the characters sometimes would have an adventure that involved it.
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