‘Caillou’ Canceled: Twitter Rejoices as Show Grounded by PBS
Caillou #Caillou
Caillou, the long-running PBS Kids show, will no longer air on the channel in 2021. Though the PBS Kids Twitter page posted a guide giving tips about how to break the news to children, most parents were more than glad to see the back of a show they have long-complained was teaching their children bad habits.
One user summed up the general feeling about the news when they wrote, “First major win of 2021 is Caillou finally being canceled with his stupid, b***** bald-headed a** self.”
Another, meanwhile, joked, “Don’t let the silly distractions like Georgia and Dr Dre distract you from the fact that #Caillou was cancelled today. 2021 already proving to be the year we need, not the one we deserve.”
This user was not the only one to equate the news with the Georgia run-off elections. Another user tweeted: “Not only did Warnock win and Ossoff is projected to win, but Caillou got canceled, too. 2021= Progress.”
As is always the case with Twitter, users had the perfect meme for the occasion, with many users using “the evil is defeated” meme from 2012 movie The Cabin in the Woods to express their feelings about the news.
The PBS show, which debuted in 2000, has long been a bugbear of parents who believe the show taught their children how to whine and be bratty. Writing on parents’ review sit Common Sense Media, for example, one parent wrote, “I work in a daycare and have witnessed the effect this show has on kids. Every time during our 25 minute/day TV break if this show was on the kids obviously began acting like Caliou [sic] the second it went off. Constantly throwing tantrums and whining about everything. I never even give it a chance with my kids at home.”
Parents were not the only one who did not like Caillou’s behavior while he was airing on PBS Kids. A viewer tweeted, “Caillou was a nightmare. I was a child when this show started (like 6), and even I remember Caillou being a massive brat…Lord. I still hear his whiny little cry for his parents. It haunts my dreams.
When Caillou began trending on Twitter, the social media page incorrectly labeled it as politics news, which led to a string of jokes all of its own. For example, one user tweeted: “I don’t know what war crimes Caillou had to commit to be trending on politics, but whatever they were I totally believe he did them.”
It should be noted, however, that the reaction to Caillou being canceled was not all negative. Some were sad that a show they had loved all their childhood was over—though luckily no one pulled a Caillou-like tantrum over the news.
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