Under The Umbrella Tree is a Canadian children’s TV show created by Noreen Young. It first aired in 1987 and ran until 1993, for 4 seasons. It originally aired in Canada on CBC, and, starting in 1990, on the Disney Channel in the US. The first season was only broadcast in Canada, but seasons 2-4 were distributed to Disney in the US, Canal Famille in Quebec, and other countries as well. It continued to run in syndicate on the Disney Channel until 1997. It was billed as the first “sitcom for kids”, a totally original concept at the time.
The show starred Holly Larocque as Holly Higgins, a freelance artist who shares an apartment in Ottawa with puppet characters Gloria Gopher, Iggy Iguana, and Jacob Bluejay. Their apartment features a prominent umbrella tree plant in the living room- hence the name Under The Umbrella Tree. Episodes frequently incorporated humor and music, with various life lessons being taught like honesty, respect, and being a good friend. The show was also known to highlight diverse guest characters of different ethnicities and abilities, and sometimes covered difficult childhood experiences such as divorce or the death of a pet.
There were 270, 15 minute episodes produced. In addition to these were 12 30-minute specials. Regular length episode production ended in 1990. After that 10 of the 30 minute specials were produced between 1990 and 1993.
Under The Umbrella Tree has also been dubbed into other languages including the French Sous L’arbre Parasol and Russian.
Under The Umbrella Tree- Unofficial Fansite 