"Caillou's Cross Word" is an episode from Season 2 of "Caillou". In this episode, Caillou learns the word "stupid" from a skateboarder, not knowing it's an insult.
Plot[]
Caillou and Leo are at the park, playing soccer. They are both wearing baseball caps. Then they see an older boy riding a skateboard. The skateboarder is riding his skateboard and calling some birds stupid. Caillou gets a ride on the skateboard with help from the skateboarder who later goes home.
Caillou and Leo see Clementine and go over to her. Caillou tells her he was riding the skateboard all by himself. Clementine says he didn't and that she saw the skateboarder helping him. Caillou and Leo (who learn the word "stupid" from the skateboard boy --which they saw earlier) insults her. And they call her "stupid". (Leo --after he and Caillou both learned the word "stupid" from the skateboard boy-- says, "Clementine is stupid!". And Caillou --who agrees with Leo-- says to Clementine, "Yeah! You are stupid!".) Clementine gets upset (saying --in between tears-- "No I am not...!") and runs off crying. Caillou and Leo goes back to playing soccer while Clementine hugs her mom in comfort.
Later at home, Caillou is playing with Rosie. When Caillou trips on some blocks and calls them stupid, Rosie learns the word and says it a few times. Caillou's mom hears her and is surprised. She tells Rosie that that's not a very nice word, and then she gets a phone call from Clementine's mom about what happened at the park. Later that night, Caillou's mom talks to Caillou and tells him that Rosie has been saying a word that's not very nice and ask him does he know the word she means, to which he said "Yes Mommy" and the call she just got from Clementine's mom about his afternoon in the park, telling her that Caillou and Leo weren't very nice to Clementine. Caillou says that he and Leo were only playing, but Caillou's mom said that calling someone the word "stupid" is not a very good game to play and said that he hurt Clementine's feelings when he called her "stupid". Caillou decides to call Clementine and apologize to her, and they make up. The next day at the park, Caillou and Clementine see the skateboarder again. Clementine gets a ride on the skateboard with help from the skateboard boy.
Controversy and Ban[]
At the time of the episode's air, the show received backlash from Parents who blamed the episode for teaching their children the insult "stupid" which caused their children to say the insult constantly. The episode also faced criticism for the "unnecessary" amount of the use of the insult, being used in the episode 10 times. With this criticism in mind, PBS (Along with the now defunct PBS Kids Sprout) pulled the episode from airing and would be replaced by other episodes. to many at the time it was considered to be a banned episode. However, it would later be re-broadcast 3 years later in 2003 until 2006.
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the first and only time the word "stupid" is used in Caillou.
- This is the only episode where a hurtful word is used.
- Gilbert and Boris are absent in this episode.
- Caillou's soccer ball makes its first appearance since "Caillou's Big Kick".
- The skateboarder slightly resembles Boris.
- This is the first and only episode Clementine cries.
- This is the second time where a skateboard is seen. The first time was in "Caillou Walks Around the Block" (when Sarah is briefly seen riding one past Caillou). Both episodes were banned.
- This episode was banned from rotation on PBS Kids and Sprout (now Universal Kids) after the original broadcast on the network because the word "stupid" can be hurtful and was used ten times in the episode. However, it was shown during reruns a few times in 2003-2006 and on the VHS release Caillou At His Best.
- Cartoonito replaced this episode with the Season 1 episode "Caillou's Teddy Shirt" to fill in the time slot in the U.S.
- Leo (after Caillou apologized to Clementine) was not at the park the next day.
- He possibly got in trouble and/or was grounded for a week (grounded for a week except school).
- And by extension, if the skateboard boy did teach both him (Leo) and Caillou the word "stupid", the skateboard boy also would have gotten in trouble and grounded for a week. Because he is the one who said the "cross word" first. (That is, by calling the birds at the park stupid.)
- He possibly got in trouble and/or was grounded for a week (grounded for a week except school).
- This episode aired alongside "Caillou's Quarrel", "Caillou's Promise" and "Caillou Makes a New Friend" when it premiered on PBS Kids.
- It was no longer seen in 2006.
Goofs/Errors[]
- At the beginning of the episode, when Caillou and Leo are playing, Leo's sleeves are missing.
- How the skateboard boy knew Clementine's name is unknown, but it may be because he is one of Billy's friends.
- When Mommy is on the phone with Clementine's mom hearing about Caillou and Leo's day in the park, she is smiling throughout the whole conversation, which is really inappropriate since it was about Caillou calling Clementine stupid.
- When Clementine runs off crying, her eyes disappear.
- However, they become visible again when she is seen hugging her mother in comfort.
- And by extension, when she runs off crying (because Caillou and Leo both called her "stupid"), her eyes may not have disappeared. But they may have been visible under her tears.
- However, they become visible again when she is seen hugging her mother in comfort.