"Caillou's Cross Word" is an episode from Season 10 of "Caillou". In this episode, Caillou learns the word "Stupid" from a skateboarding boy, but he doesn’t know it can hurt others' feelings.
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. The skateboard called the birds stupid. Then Caillou and Leo call Clementine 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 go back to playing soccer. That is, while Clementine sobbing hugs her mom in condolence. At first, Clementine's mom does not notice this. That is, until Caillou gets home.
Later at home, Caillou is having fun with Rosie. Caillou is still wearing his baseball cap. When Caillou trips on some blocks and calls them stupid, Rosie learns the word and says it a few times while giggling and laughing. Caillou's mom hears her and is surprised. She tells Rosie that it is not a very nice word. Then, she receives a phone call from Clementine's mom, who informs her 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, who told her that Caillou and Leo weren't very nice to Clementine. Caillou says that he and Leo were only playing. But Caillou's mom explained that calling somebody the word "stupid" is not a very good game to play and said that he hurt Clementine's feelings when he called her "stupid", so Caillou chooses to call Clementine and say sorry 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 is the only episode that the word "stupid" is used 10 times.
- 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 only episode in which 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 except the US And UK 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.
- 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 Clementine's mom calls in and tells Doris (about the crossword incident made by Caillou and Leo), Doris is on the phone with Clementine's mom hearing about Caillou and Leo's day in the park. And she --Doris-- is smiling throughout the whole conversation, which is really inappropriate (since it was about Caillou and Leo both calling Clementine stupid).
- However, this was corrected when she got off the phone and talked to Caillou about it. (That is, when the scene cuts to night.)
- 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.
- 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).
- This part (Leo and the skateboard boy both facing their parents after the skateboard boy taught Caillou and Leo the crossword) is not considered a goof or error. Because both Leo and the skateboard boy did something that was wrong. The two of them facing their parents and being grounded for a week (except for school) would have been possible. (That is, despite not being in the episode or heard. But it is possible that it could have been done offscreen.)
- While Leo would have told his mother that it was not his fault (as the skateboard boy was really the one who taught both him and Caillou the word "stupid"), despite his mother getting that fact, it still would have been no excuse for repeating it after the skateboard boy and hurting Clementine's feelings. So both Leo and the skateboard boy would have gotten in trouble.
- And by extension (to that fact) it is possible that Clementine's mother would have called in and told not only Leo's mom. She (Clementine's mom) also would have called in and told the skateboard boy's parents too.
- While Leo would have told his mother that it was not his fault (as the skateboard boy was really the one who taught both him and Caillou the word "stupid"), despite his mother getting that fact, it still would have been no excuse for repeating it after the skateboard boy and hurting Clementine's feelings. So both Leo and the skateboard boy would have gotten in trouble.
Clementine's eyes disappear.