Giggle and Hoot


Giggle and Hoot is an Australian children's television "wrap-around" program that airs on the ABC Kids channel. It began airing in 2009 and depicts the adventures of Jimmy Giggle and his best friend, Hoot the Owl. It also aired on ABC from 2009 to 2011. In later seasons, they are joined by a second owl called [|Hootabelle] along with other friends and their toys.

Characters

Jimmy Giggle

In the program, Jimmy Giggle is shown to enjoy mending objects and a talent for creating new things out of everyday items; for instance, he used a bath to make a bed, and the walls of his house were sewn and buttoned together. He also has a magic button that he relies on which never works. A dinosaur named Giggleosaurus is Jimmy Giggle's favourite toy. He plays several musical instruments, including the ukulele, double bass, baritone saxophone, piano, and guitar.

Hoot the Owl

Hoot the Owl is Jimmy Giggle's best friend. Although owls are traditionally nocturnal, the show depicts him favouring the daytime, which he finds "very exciting". This means that he is prone to falling asleep. Hoot lives in a chest of drawers that he fashioned into his own personal apartment. Hoot plays the harmonica and triangle. He also uses a cloudier to make clouds appear.
Hoot's interests include "owl" snacks, the colour blue, "owl" naps, hootball and his favourite toy Mini-Hoot. He and Jimmy Giggle enjoy playing, singing, and spending time together. They also play dress-up and have been, for example, seen dressed up as astronauts and pirates.

Hoot's Night Watch

At the end of each episode, a sequence called the "Night Watch" plays when Hoot is "flying" across the land of Giggle and Hoot to "ensure everyone is tucked up in bed." Hootabelle helps him by lighting up the stars with her "Star Twinkler" so he can see his way in the "Nighty Night" sky. Hoot and Hootabelle often meet up after The Night Watch to fly and play everywhere in the land of Giggle and Hoot.

Hootabelle

Later seasons include a purple female owl named Hootabelle. She was created as a companion and close friend for Hoot. In the series, she lives in a "Purple Button Tree" and has a toy cat called Gigglepaws, who intimidates Hoot as he is terrified of cats. Hootabelle assures him that Gigglepaws is a "friendly" cat). She also has a toy butterfly called Giggle Wings who likes flying around the Giggle and Hoot house. Hootabelle uses her "Star Twinkler" to make the night sky's stars light up and her "Bookifier" to make random books appear from her library. She often visits the Giggle and Hoot house for an "Owl Pal Play Date".
She enjoys the colour purple, books, butterflies, owl snacks, worm-flavoured milkshakes, and singing.

Giggleosaurus, Mini-Hoot, and Gigglepaws

Jimmy Giggle, Hoot and Hootabelle each have a favourite toy. Giggleosaurus the dinosaur is Jimmy Giggle's favourite; Mini-Hoot belongs to Hoot, and Hootabelle has a toy cat called Gigglepaws.
Giggleosaurus, Mini-Hoot and Gigglepaws are treated and spoken to as real characters by Jimmy Giggle and the owls and are often used while playing. They are brought to life in animated form through various songs in the show, such as "Go Giggleosaurus," "On A Mini-Adventure," and "Hoot! Hoot! It's A Lovely Day."

Additional characters

Additional puppet characters that have appeared on the show include:

The Day Time Block

The Day Time Block is between 7–9 am and 1:45–2:40 pm, and there are a number of music video clips shown in this time, including:
When Jimmy Giggle, Hoot and Hootabelle press a button on the side of their vegetable box it "magically" transforms into "The Gigglearium" — a musical theatre where three vegetables — Tommy Tomato, Bessie Broccoli and Cosmo Carrot — come to life and sing songs. Songs are composed by Sean Peter in collaboration with the ABC.
Currently, the vegetables sing seven songs:
Within Giggle and Hoot is a daily segment called "The Giggle Gallery". The segment celebrates art that was created and sent to the ABC from preschoolers around Australia. The pictures are hung as though they are in an art gallery. Jimmy Giggle and Hoot go through and talk about the 'wonderful things' that make up each artwork. In this section, Hoot is not able to restrain himself when there is blue in the compilation as it is his favorite color.

The Goodnight Hour

The Goodnight Hour is about winding down in the evening and helps preschoolers maintain a bedtime routine. The Goodnight Hour screens 5:15–7:25 pm from Monday to Saturday and 6–7:25 pm Sunday and has a number of songs, including:
The show is produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at the Ultimo Sydney studios for ABC Comedy. It was announced along with the launch of ABC Me. The show is aimed at 2–6 year children and premiered in early 2010. The production team is as follows:
In December 2019, Libbie Doherty, head of the ABC Children's network, announced that Giggle and Hoot would end its run in early 2020.

Cast

Hoot Hoot Go! is a spin-off show of Giggle and Hoot which stars Hoot, Hootabelle, Pirate Hootbeard and Giggle Fangs. Supporting them are new characters Hootly, a best friend of Hoot and Hootabelle, and Hootaluna and Gigglebot, who live on the moon. The series contains 26 5-minute episodes.

Awards