He's been on Oprah, has released five DVDs and a soundtrack, and walked the red carpet at the Junos. Daniel Cook, the young host of kids' show This Is Daniel Cook, is a tough act to follow.
Enter Emily Yeung. The seven-year-old host of Treehouse TV's follow-up series, This Is Emily Yeung, inspired the Maclean's Magazine article subtitled "After a Daniel Cook backlash, his hit show has a new host: a firebrand named Emily Yeung".
The meanies at Maclean's seem to have no qualms about pitting elementary aged kids against each other, but Daniel is continuing to do just fine and Emily, who had no previous acting experience, is making her mark in her own inimitable way. The first DVD of her adventures was released this week (available from the show's website or Amazon.ca).
"On her very first day, with no rehearsals, no experience, she just plopped into it with that warmth and charm," said executive producer Mark Bishop on a recent TV, eh? Blogtalkradio show. "It's not scripted. All those things she's asking in the episodes, they're actually coming from her little brain."
This is Emily Yeung is a 6-minute, live-action series following the star as she explores her world. "When we designed the show, the idea was that half of the adventures would be things preschoolers can relate to, making a pizza, making crafts, but the other half would be big aspirational things they can aspire to do someday when they grow up," explained the affable Bishop.
The DVD navigation matches the website to create a comfort zone for young viewers, and contains a few Easter eggs for them to find, including Emily's cat Misty and other bonus videos. It also showcases the series' experiential learning philosophy. Bishop pointed out that the producers try to match the This is ... activities to the kindergarten and grade one curriculums, whether on the website or in the show.
"The idea behind the show is to watch the show, go online and play with Emily, and then with your parent or caregiver or teacher, have some additional activities which you can get on Emily's website, and then go out into the world and do something, go out into the world and explore, go out into the world and try new things. And then come back next week and watch the show again."
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