# The Elephant Show
**The Elephant Show** was a Canadian children's television series starring the folk trio [Sharon, Lois & Bram](https://www.edgepedia.org/sharon-lois-and-bram), the musician Eric Nagler, and an elephant puppet, produced in Toronto and first aired on October 8, 1984[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow). The full title, *Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show*, reflects its origin in the trio's music career: the program mixed live concert footage with filmed segments, and each half-hour episode was built around songs performed by the hosts and a weekly guest[2](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html). It ran until 1988 and produced 65 episodes across five seasons[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 8, 1984, with the episode "Schoolyard"[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow) |
| Run | 1984 to 1988; 65 episodes in five seasons[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow) • [6](https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/bitstreams/155d08c3-09db-4663-b525-d926a6b83be5/download) |
| Principal performers | Sharon, Lois and Bram, with Eric Nagler and the elephant puppet Elephant[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow) |
| Format | Half-hour of music, animation and live action, with a special guest each episode[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html) |
| US debut | Nickelodeon, March 1988; a Cambium Productions show[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html) |
| US reach | 40 million American homes after signing with Nickelodeon in 1989[4](https://cjtm.icaap.org/content/21/v21art4.html) |
| Award | 1988 Parent's Choice Award for best children's television show[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html) |
| Music | Two albums of songs from the show were released[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086800/faq/) |
## Premise and format
Each episode placed Elephant, Sharon, Lois, Bram, and Eric Nagler in a single everyday setting: the first season ran from a schoolyard through a farm, a picnic, an amusement park at Toronto's Centreville, the Metro Toronto Zoo, and a summer camp, one theme per week[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow). Every episode ended with a concert sequence, and each featured a visiting performer; season-one guests included the singer-songwriters Bob Schneider and Ann Mortifee, championship fiddler Scott Woods, the Canadian Children's Dance Theatre, the National Tap Dance Company, and the children's performer Fred Penner[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow).
The **musical core** was the trio's repertoire. A 1988 review of the home-video release "In The Schoolyard" described Bram leading children in the Scottish ballad "Three Crows", guest Bob Schneider singing about raindrops, Eric Nagler playing the Jews-harp on the "Bell Cow Song", and a closing concert takeoff on "Eensy, Weensy Spider" in which the spider grows to a "Big Fat Spider" and shrinks again[7](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/childrens/sharon-lois-brams-elephant-show-in-the-schoolyard/). The same review noted the frame device of Elephant punching subjects up on a computer, with a song following each subject[7](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/childrens/sharon-lois-brams-elephant-show-in-the-schoolyard/).
Later seasons broadened the settings. Season two included a Kensington Market visit that offered Elephant food other than his usual peanuts, a pioneer-village episode about life in the 1860s, and a soapbox derby[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow). Season three staged fairy tales as plays, with Elephant starring in "CinderElephant" and a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the [Snow White](https://www.edgepedia.org/snow-white) legend; season four added a hospital visit to the Tonsil Ward of the Hospital for Sick Kids and an episode built around Murray McLauchlan's Juno Award-winning "The Farmer's Song"[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow).
## Performers and guests
Sharon, Lois and Bram were established children's entertainers with many albums before the series began; by the time of the US broadcast they had been performing together for nine years[2](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html). The Museum of Toronto describes their on-screen manner as approachable rather than scripted: the Los Angeles Times wrote that they were "like two favorite aunts and an uncle, always ready for games and laughter"[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html).
The guest list gave the show a cross-section of Canadian performing talent. Museum of Toronto records that the series was shot all over Toronto and featured [Canadians](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadians) who would gain international fame later, including [Andrea Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrea-martin), The Nylons, Murray McLauchlan, and Louis Del Grande[2](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/). Season listings add the pop group The Nylons in a "Treasure Island" episode, the jazz band The Shuffle Demons, the folk duo Kate and Anna McGarrigle, figure skater Toller Cranston, and the actor [Maury Chaykin](https://www.edgepedia.org/maury-chaykin) in a fireman's rescue of an Elephant stuck up a tree[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow).
## Broadcast and reception
The series first reached a national Canadian audience through CBC, TVOntario, YTV and other educational channels[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086800/faq/). Its American debut came in March 1988 on [Nickelodeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/nickelodeon), airing Monday through Friday at 11 a.m., and by then the show had been a hit on Canadian television for four years[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html). A 1988 Los Angeles Times review called the program a "winning formula" for young viewers, alongside earlier Canadian children's successes such as the singer Raffi[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html).
**Nickelodeon's role** was central to its American success. A study of Canadian children's media records that Nickelodeon, lacking a budget for original programming, turned to shows like *Sharon, Lois, & Bram's Elephant Show* and *[Today's Special](https://www.edgepedia.org/todays-special)* (1981–1987), which formed the backbone of the station's programming schedule[6](https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/bitstreams/155d08c3-09db-4663-b525-d926a6b83be5/download). The Museum of Toronto likewise attributes the show's "enormous American viewership" to its broadcast on the dedicated kids cable service Nickelodeon[2](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/). By 1989, after signing with Nickelodeon, the show reached 40 million American homes, and the trio's concerts across North America sold out within hours, often before tickets went on sale[4](https://cjtm.icaap.org/content/21/v21art4.html).
The show was recognized on both sides of the border: it received the 1988 Parent's Choice Award for best children's television show[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html), and Bullfrog Films' home-video editions carried its own award citations and were recommended for school and larger public libraries[7](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/childrens/sharon-lois-brams-elephant-show-in-the-schoolyard/).
## Place in Canadian children's television
The series belongs to the 1980s wave of Toronto-produced children's programming, alongside *Today's Special*, which also found a large American audience on Nickelodeon[2](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/). In the wider history of Canadian children's folk music, the folk-music scholar Sheldon Posen counts Sharon, Lois and Bram among the performers who, from the mid-1970s, built a children's performing industry in Canada that was exported to the United States on a large scale, with the Elephant Show's Nickelodeon contract as a marker of that reach[4](https://cjtm.icaap.org/content/21/v21art4.html).
The show's emotional content was part of its design: the program mixed live concert footage with segments that helped children address fear, anxiety, jealousy, and other challenging emotions[2](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/).
Two soundtrack albums of songs from the show were released, and the series was later issued on home video, though it has not been released on original DVD[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086800/faq/). After the series ended, Sharon, Lois and Bram continued in children's television with the later program [Skinnamarink](https://www.edgepedia.org/skidamarink) TV[1](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow).
## References
1. [THE ELEPHANT SHOW, Sharon, Lois & Bram official site](https://www.sharonloisandbram.com/elephantshow)
2. [The 1980s, Mr. Dressup to Degrassi, Museum of Toronto](https://museumoftoronto.com/digital-content/mr-dressup-to-degrassi_1980s/)
3. [TV Review: Canadian Invasion Continues With 'Elephant Show' on Nickelodeon, Los Angeles Times, March 25, 1988](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-25-ca-246-story.html)
4. [Sheldon Posen (1993). The Beginnings of the Children's (Folk) Music Industry in Canada: An Overview. Canadian Journal for Traditional Music.](https://cjtm.icaap.org/content/21/v21art4.html)
5. [Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show FAQ, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086800/faq/)
6. [Natalie Coulter (2016). "Missed Opportunity": The Oversight of Canadian Children's Media. Canadian Journal of Communication 41.](https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/bitstreams/155d08c3-09db-4663-b525-d926a6b83be5/download)
7. [Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show: In The Schoolyard, Videolibrarian review, November 1, 1988](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/childrens/sharon-lois-brams-elephant-show-in-the-schoolyard/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Scripted television series overview*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license