Best tv shows like Today's Special
Last updated March 2024
Looking for tv shows similar to Today's Special? Share your expertise to direct others find suitable movies and tv series you've viewed already. Assist in growing the community that suggests videos to each other. We appreciate your contribution!
Plot Summary:
Today's Special was a Canadian children's television show produced by Clive VanderBurgh at TVOntario from 1981 to 1987. It also ran on Nickelodeon and the Faith and Values Channel/Odyssey as well as many PBS stations throughout the United States. 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.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 832
Genere: Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: Canada
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: educational
Best tv shows and movies like Today's Special (1981):
Similar in 89%
Enchanted Musical Playhouse: The Velveteen Rabbit (1984)
Plot Summary:
A sick boy's toy rabbit comes to life. Part of the Enchanted Musical Playhouse series. Marie Osmond played the part of the Velveteen Rabbit. Songs were composed by the Sherman Brothers.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 138
Genere: Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Phillip the Small (1976)
Plot Summary:
Philipp is a small boy, who other guys pick on, because he's not as large as them. But when a musician gives him a magical flute, he can make objects bigger or smaller.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 40
Genere: Family, Fantasy
Country: East Germany
Duration: 70 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Phantom Pups (2022)
Plot Summary:
A young boy and his family move into a haunted home, where he meets three adorable ghost pups and tries to help them turn back into real dogs.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 216
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Horror
Country: Canada
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 75%
The Upside Down Show (2006)
Plot Summary:
The Upside Down Show, was a Logie Award winning show featuring Shane Dundas and David Collins that airs on Noggin, Nick Jr. Australia and ABC Australia. On the show they play brothers who live together in a strange house with a variety of unusual rooms. The show premiered on Nick Jr. Australia in August 2006 and on Noggin US on 16 October 2006, with 13 episodes developed by the highly acclaimed Sesame Workshop. The Sesame Workshop logo used on this show can only be seen on Noggin. Initial views of The Upside Down Show were disappointing, as it failed to match the views of Play With Me Sesame and Caillou during the 2006-2007 season. The show's début was criticized as being similar to Ernie and Bert. On 27 December 2006, in a New York Post interview, Shane Dundas expressed doubts about the return of the show for a second season. On 1 June 2007, the Umbilical Brothers announced on their website that Nickelodeon/Noggin USA were not interested in a third season of The Upside Down Show, despite its success. In 2007, the show won the Creative Craft Daytime Emmy Award for Main Title Design and a Parents' Choice Award Silver Honor for Television.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 826
Genere: Comedy, Family
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: educational
Similar in 75%
Teletubbies (2015)
Plot Summary:
Welcome to Teletubbyland! Join in the fun with Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laalaa and Po as they learn lots of new, exciting things about the real world. Perfect for curious little minds!.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 351
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: UK, Canada
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
The Polos (2018)
Plot Summary:
The Bo Bolu Expedition Team is composed of six children who are brave to explore and love science. They go to the sky to the universe, dive to the bottom of the sea, and shuttle between deserts and rainforests. Bo Bolu's footsteps have crossed the entire planet and happened. A thrilling and interesting story! The six friends not only share knowledge from the real world, but also break the routine and experience some things that seem incredible in reality!.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Family
Country: Canada
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Kiri and Lou (2019)
Plot Summary:
"Kiri and Lou" follows the adventures of Kiri, a feisty little dinosaur with overpowering emotions and Lou, a gentle but thoughtful creature. Kiri and Lou live in a forest of cutout paper and other creatures made of clay. They are joined by motherly Pania, sensitive Sorry, who is an extremely fast little animal who cares about everyone, and Dalvanius. Kiri and Lou invite children to learn about empathy, kindness and the true meaning of friendship. Together, these clay creatures navigate a forest of feelings with laughter, adventures and songs.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 197
Genere: Family
Country: New Zealand, Canada
Duration: 5 min
Plot tags: educational
Similar in 83%
Ready, Steady, Wiggle! (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Wiggles perform songs for the children with their friends.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 186
Genere: Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Music
Country: Australia
Duration: 11 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
Scout & The Gumboot Kids (2015)
Plot Summary:
A hybrid animated and live-action children's show about mindfulness and nature. The show features Scout, a curious mouse who leads the Gumboot Kids through a series of clues that take them outdoors to solve nature mysteries.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 47
Genere: Family
Country: Canada
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 89%
Jackanory (1965)
Plot Summary:
Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap-o'-Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996, clocking up around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run. The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett and broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show returned on 27 November 2006 for two one-off stories. The show's format, which varied little over the decades, involved an actor reading from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially commissioned still drawing, often by Quentin Blake. Usually a single book would occupy five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday. A spin off series was Jackanory Playhouse which were a series of thirty minute dramatisations. These included a dramatisation by Philip Glassborow of the comical A. A. Milne story "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh".
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 409
Genere: Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 15 min
Plot tags: anthology, anime, children's story
Similar in 89%
Don't Eat the Neighbours (2001)
Plot Summary:
Don't Eat the Neighbours is a children's comedy series that originally aired in the United Kingdom and Canada in 2001-2002. It was filmed mainly with puppets, but occasionally used computer graphics. The series was focused on the characters Rabbit, Wolf, and their children. Music for the show was done by Jim Guttridge, with the theme done by Dan Gagnon, Sandy Nuttgens, and Michael Scott. Only four episodes were released on VHS and DVD in the 2001 volume A Rabbit for All Seasons.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 166
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK, Canada
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: slapstick comedy, computer animated
Similar in 75%
HOW (2020)
Plot Summary:
A revival of the 1960s and 1990s TV series where children can learn the answer to anything beginning with "how". New presenters Sam, Vick and Frankie demonstrate, and are set tasks by "Head of HOW", original series presenter Fred Dinenage.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB Votes:
Genere: Family
Country: UK
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: educational
Similar in 90%
LazyTown Extra (2008)
Plot Summary:
This show features the LazyTown characters in short, humourous sketches whilst Ziggy visits the UK to encourage healthy eating and getting active.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 215
Genere: Family
Country: Iceland
Duration:
Plot tags: educational
Similar in 80%
Simon and the Witch (1987)
Plot Summary:
Simon is a very sensible young schoolboy, who has a friend who is a real witch. She is very silly, and a huge showoff.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 188
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 15 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Gullah, Gullah Island (1994)
Plot Summary:
Gullah Gullah Island is an American children's television series starring Ron Daise and Natalie Daise. It was the first show designed for preschoolers to feature a black family.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Family, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 20 min
Plot tags: sitcom, feel good, humorous, semi serious, educational
Similar in 81%
Teletubbies (1997)
Plot Summary:
Teletubbies is a British BBC children's television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 31 March 1997 to 5 January 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll's creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. The programme's original narrator was Tim Whitnall. Teletubbies was also aired internationally in the United States on the Public Broadcasting Service public television on 6 April 1998 and aired until 19 June 2005. It would continue to air reruns until 29 August 2008, when it was pulled from the schedule along with Mister Rogers Neighborhood and Boohbah. In 2002, production was cancelled and it was announced that no new episodes would be produced, with the last episode being aired on 5 January 2001. However, a total of 365 episodes had been produced – enough for a full year. Teletubbies, particularly notable for its high production values, rapidly became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad and won a BAFTA in 1998. Teletubbies Everywhere was awarded "Best Pre-school Live Action Series" at the 2002 Children's BAFTA Awards. Although the programme is aimed at children between the ages of one and four, it had a substantial cult following with older generations, mainly university and college students. The mixture of bright colours, unusual designs, repetitive non-verbal dialogue, ritualistic format, and the occasional forays into physical comedy appealed to many who perceived the programme as having psychedelic qualities. Teletubbies was controversial for this reason. Other critics felt the show was insufficiently educational.
IMDB Rating: 3.8
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: UK
Duration: 28 min
Plot tags: humorous, retro, absurd, funny, light, not serious, controversial, spooky, offbeat, surreal
Similar in 75%
The Hoobs (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Hoobs is a BAFTA-winning television programme created and produced by The Jim Henson Company and Sesame Workshop.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 176
Genere: Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Country: Australia, UK, Canada, USA, British Virgin Islands
Duration:
Plot tags: educational, feel good, humorous, semi serious, nostalgic
Similar in 87%
Between the Lions (1999)
Plot Summary:
Between the Lions is a PBS Kids puppet television series designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, in Mississippi. The show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and 2007. The target audience is children 4 to 7 years old. It has the same puppet style as Sesame Street and several season 2 episodes, notably in Dance in Smarty Pants, had a few characters from Sesame Street guest appearing. Between The Lions started its 10th and final season on September 20, 2010. The Show Ended in November, 22 2010 Along with Reading Rainbow.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: educational, clever, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 89%
In the Night Garden (2007)
Plot Summary:
In the Night Garden is a magical place that exists between the waking and sleeping imagination of children close to the representation of a nursery rhyme.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music
Country: UK
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: semi serious, feel good, humorous, educational, light, contemplative, weird
Similar in 85%
Detention Adventure (2019)
Plot Summary:
Three nerdy friends and the school bully must get themselves thrown into detention to find the entrance to a labyrinth of trap-laden tunnels protecting the fabled hidden lab of Alexander Graham Bell.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: Family
Country: Canada
Duration:
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
Topsy and Tim (2013)
Plot Summary:
Follow the activities of two children.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 198
Genere: Family
Country: UK
Duration: 11 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Sesame Street (1969)
Plot Summary:
Sesame Street is a long-running American children's television series created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. The program is known for its educational content, and creativity communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, animation, short films, humor, and cultural references. The series premiered on stations on November 10, 1969 to positive reviews, some controversy, and high ratings.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: educational, retro, feel good, humorous, semi serious, sketch comedy, hispanic, vintage, weird, 2d animation
Similar in 88%
Andy's Wild Adventures (2012)
Plot Summary:
Children's nature series. Andy Day embarks on wild adventures with his puppet friend Kip the cat. Their adventures take them all around the world in search of weird and wonderful animals.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 31
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 14 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
This Is Daniel Cook (2004)
Plot Summary:
This is Daniel Cook is a children's television series created by J.J. Johnson and Blair Powers and produced by Toronto's marblemedia and Sinking Ship Productions in association with Treehouse TV and TVO, and is shown in Canada on Treehouse TV, TVOkids, Access, Knowledge Network, and SCN. The series also airs on the Disney Channel, Disney Japan, and on ABC2. The series is about a child named Daniel Cook who learns new things and shares his experiences and adventures with other kids. For example, he learns about taekwondo, gymnastics, and animals. He also visits a fire station, a YMCA, and more. The show was filmed in Toronto, Ontario; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Every episode six minutes long, half-hour shows consist of five six-minute episodes. The series has been sold by Distribution360 to over eighty-five countries worldwide, and dubbed into fourteen languages. The series has also launched a six-volume book series distributed by Kids Can Press and produced by marblemedia. Five DVDs have also been released featuring episodes from the series. There is another television series that complements This is Daniel Cook, called This is Emily Yeung, which premiered on Treehouse TV in the Fall of 2006.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 126
Genere: Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 6 min
Plot tags: sentimental, explanatory, feel good, educational, semi serious
Similar in 76%
Boohbah (2003)
Plot Summary:
Boohbah was a children's television show. It premiered in 2003 on ITV in the United Kingdom, and on 19 January 2004 in the United States on PBS until 2 July 2006. It was created by Anne Wood with scripts by Alan Dapre and Robin Stevens. Anne Wood also created the children's show Teletubbies, and Boohbah is produced by the UK's Ragdoll Ltd. and the USA's PBS Kids. The similarity between this show and Teletubbies, both of which have a "science fiction" theme, is notable. One of the show's trademarks is a child's voice pronouncing the show's name in sing-song. "Boohbah" means "doll" in Hebrew, but it is not clear if this influenced the name of the show, or even if the creators are aware of this.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 614
Genere: Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 20 min
Plot tags: educational, funny, feel good, humorous, captivating, entertaining, semi serious, weird, learning, nostalgic
Similar in 82%
The Box of Delights (1984)
Plot Summary:
Based on the classic children's novel by John Masefield, the story follows the exploits of a young boy, Kay Harker, who finds himself drawn into a world of magic and danger when he encounters an old Punch and Judy man.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 922
Genere: Family, Fantasy
Country: UK
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Fraggle Rock (1983)
Plot Summary:
The Fraggles are a fun-loving community of creatures who live in a subterranean fantasy land where they love to play, sing and dance their cares away, sharing their world with the tiny Doozers and the giant Gorgs. The series teaches empathy and tolerance and encourages children to understand people different from themselves.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical
Country: Canada, UK, USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: retro, humorous, semi serious, nostalgic
Similar in 79%
H.R. Pufnstuf (1969)
Plot Summary:
H.R. Pufnstuf is a children's television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft in the United States. It was the first Krofft live-action, life-size puppet program. The seventeen episodes were originally broadcast from September 6, 1969 to December 27, 1969. The broadcasts were successful enough that NBC kept it on the Saturday morning schedule until August 1972. The show was shot in Paramount Studios and its opening was shot in Big Bear Lake, California. Reruns of the show aired on ABC Saturday morning from September 2, 1972 to September 8, 1973 and on Sunday mornings in some markets from September 16, 1973 to September 8, 1974. It was syndicated by itself from 1974 to 1978 and in a package with six other Kroft series under the banner Kroft Superstars from 1978 to 1985. In 2004 and 2007, H.R. Pufnstuf was ranked #22 and #27 on TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: psychedelic, fairy tale, humorous, stylized, semi serious, weird, campy, cult film
Similar in 75%
Bear in the Big Blue House (1997)
Plot Summary:
Bear in the Big Blue House is a television program for adults and children produced for the Playhouse Disney channel by Mitchell Kriegman and The Jim Henson Company. It first aired in 1997. In 2004, The Jim Henson Company sold the Bear in the Big Blue House franchise to The Walt Disney Company. The characters and show are currently owned and operated by the Disney subsidiary, The Muppets Studio.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family, Musical
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: educational, nostalgic
Similar in 85%
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968)
Plot Summary:
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an American children's television series that was created and hosted by namesake Fred Rogers. The series originated in 1963 as Misterogers on CBC Television, and was later debuted in 1966 as Misterogers' Neighborhood on the regional Eastern Educational Network, followed by its US network debut on February 19, 1968, and it aired on NET and its successor, PBS, until August 31, 2001. The series is aimed primarily at preschool ages 2 to 5, but has been stated by PBS as "appropriate for all ages". Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was produced by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA public broadcaster WQED and Rogers' non-profit production company Family Communications, Inc.; previously known as Small World Enterprises prior to 1971, the company was renamed The Fred Rogers Company after Rogers' death. The series could be seen in reruns on most PBS stations until August 31, 2007, when it was removed by PBS from their daily syndicated schedule. Despite this, a number of stations have chosen to continue airing it independently of the PBS feed.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Family, Fantasy, Music
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: retro, sentimental, sincere, feel good, serious, educational, vintage