Sometimes I long for the innocence of childhood, when I didn’t know or care if the shows I watched were Canadian or not. But it turns out many of the ones I remember most fondly were.

Inspired by a lively Twitter discussion about a post on the weirdest Toronto shows, here are my top 10 picks of Canadian shows that helped shape my early childhood, in no particular order:

The Littlest Hobo

The concept was perfect in its simplicity: a dog who wanders from town to town, helping people in need (just don’t ask too many questions about why or how plausible). Plus, that theme song remains the best/worst earworm of all time.

SCTV

The show that spawned a constellation of Canadian stars that persists today, and that inspired a generation’s sense of humour. My brother and I used to use an old-fashioned tape recorder to perform sketches of our SCTV-inspired radio show. Mercifully we recorded over and over the same tape so no evidence survived past childhood. John Candy and Andrea Martin we weren’t.

Max the 2000 Year Old Mouse and Professor Kitzel

Maybe it was eat your vegetables educational TV disguised as an animated series about a mouse, but we woke up early to catch reruns of Max and feel smug when we realized the events the little rodent witnessed had taken place more than 2000 years ago.

Yes I’m cheating by combining these, but even as a barely sentient child, I knew one or the other of Max or Kitzel was a knockoff of the other. I had no idea they were by the same production company and Paul Soles was the voice of both Max and Kitzel. The professor (pictured in the top image) and his time machine kept me entertained with more cheesy jokes, less smug.

Mr. Dressup

Who was a bigger part of Canadian childhood than Ernie Coombs? Other than our parents, I guess. Casey and Finnegan were among my childhood BFFs, and I always wanted a Tickle Trunk of my own.

Live it Up!

Street Cents came along later but Live it Up! was my first taste of a child-friendly consumer affairs show. It was bizarre, it was funny, it was bordering on boring for a kid, but I loved it anyway. I think I was seduced by the Watchdog and “What bugs you” lady, and hypnotized by that annoying theme song.

Romper Room

There were multiple versions of this show localized for various markets, and I have what’s likely a spurious memory of being at a taping. It may have been some random public access show, since I can’t find evidence of a Romper Room filmed in Edmonton, Calgary or Prince George, where I lived as a child, and I don’t remember being creeped out by that stalkerish Magic Mirror. Maybe it was all a fever dream, like Polkaroo.

Hangin’ In

This sitcom about a youth drop-in centre was by the producers of King of Kensington, and touched on some serious themes (with some serious guest stars — see video). Star Lally Cadeau made me want to be a psychologist when I grew up, until I realized I didn’t like people or their problems.

Smith & Smith

For the longest time, when people referred to the Red Green Show I thought that was their way of referring to one of this show’s signature sketches. Husband and wife Steve and Morag Smith teamed for this kinder, gentler, funnier precursor to that more famous series.

Bizarre

Looking back, the humour was likely too mature for my impressionable little head — though we would have been watching the sanitized CTV version — but we watched a lot of sketch comedy and adored John Byner and Super Dave Osborne. Oddly I never saw Super Dave, the more family-friendly spinoff.

The Friendly Giant

No list of children’s shows could be complete without Friendly, Rusty and Jerome. That beautiful opening sequence and the show’s signature music is imprinted on my brain.

By Marsha Greene

After a jam-packed weekend at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference, I went home feeling totally stretched — my mind from the insightful panelists, my voice from greeting and meeting industry folks, and my stomach from Caplansky’s grilled cheese sandwiches.

If you’ve talked to me or follow me on Twitter, it’s no secret that I was most looking forward to seeing Mara Brock Akil at the conference. She did not disappoint. One of her many insights from the panel was this: own your authority. When she was the youngest person in the room, she owned it to be the authority on the voices of the young characters. She was raised by a single parent, and she owned her ability to speak to that experience. It’s great advice in general, and especially for young writers trying to find their place in the room. If you haven’t seen her newest BET show Being Mary Jane, you should— it’s a masterclass in owning your vision, and there’s nothing like it on television right now.

Day 1 also included “Crafting Mythic Stories with David. S. Goyer,” who delivered a fine-tuned presentation that was the perfect blend of instruction and personal reflection. He spoke about finding the universal truths in mythic stories that connect with the audience on a human level, even if your subject matter is super-human. Goyer is a total pro, and it doesn’t hurt that from the middle of the theatre he looked remarkably like Stanley Tucci.

I was disappointed to have missed Corey Mandell’s “Creating a Successful TV Series Engine” in the afternoon. Call it the gift and the curse of free coffee — I took a bathroom break and by the time I returned to the theatre it was full. But I did manage to get highlights from the magical TSC Twitter Elves, who diligently captured each panel in a series of 140-character posts.

“Checking In with Eugene and Dan Levy” was the perfect start for a sleepy Sunday morning. They took us through their journey of bringing Schitt’s Creek to the screen, and it was super fun hearing the more personal father-son moments, like when Eugene said to Dan re: the show, “This isn’t Girls, Daniel.”

Jeff Melvoin’s panel “Running the Show: Moving from Writer to Showrunner” managed to terrify us with the responsibilities of showrunners and delight us with the best use of clip art since the early 80s. I left it thinking, “You have to be crazy to want to do this job!” Luckily, Melvoin implied being crazy is a prerequisite.

Day 2 ended with the hilarious Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair of High Maintenance, “The Greatest Show not on Television.” It was their first trip to Canada and they praised our politeness as a people (though I submit one ride on the TTC during rush hour would banish that opinion). While the success of their web series is probably not duplicable, they gave great insights on their collaboration with Vimeo and filmmaking on a budget.

All in all, it was a great weekend and I’m incredibly grateful to TV, eh? for the opportunity to attend the conference. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find out what moisturizer Mara Brock Akil uses.

A graduate of CFC’s Bell Media Prime Time Television program, Marsha has a degree in Creative Writing from York University and was the recipient of the Brian Linehan Award for Outstanding Artistic Promise from Humber’s TV Writing and Producing program. Marsha has lent her skills to scripted and factual productions for Discovery, Food Network, Family Channel, Global and the award-winning documentary Chinee Girl. Most recently, Marsha worked as a story editor for Global’s medical drama Remedy, and as the interactive writer for Epitome’s new teen drama series Open Heart.