Ants in Your Pants
Ants in Your Pants is a Canadian children's music video television program made and aired by Treehouse TV that ran from November 1, 1997 to 2004. The series was created and produced by Kathilee Porter.
| Ants in Your Pants | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Children's television series Music video |
| Created by | Kathilee Porter |
| Developed by | Treehouse TV |
| Written by | Kathilee Porter, Bryan Levy Young, Kim Sparks, Rachel Bartels |
| Creative director(s) | Kathilee Porter |
| Presented by | Shelley Hamilton Corey Michaels Douglas John |
| Voices of | Marty Stelnick Jason Hopley Ben Deustch Colin Penman |
| Theme music composer | Douglas John |
| Opening theme | "Ants in Your Pants Theme Song" |
| Ending theme | "Ants in Your Pants Theme Song (Instrumental)" |
| Composer(s) | Douglas John |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 107 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Susan Ross |
| Producer(s) | Kathilee Porter |
| Production location(s) | Toronto, Ontario |
| Cinematography | Shawn Kelly, Andrew Baxter |
| Editor(s) | Marc Dupont |
| Running time | 27 minutes |
| Production company(s) | YTV Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | Treehouse TV |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | November 1, 1997 – June 15, 2004 (reruns until June 2008) |
Plot
The show's intro consists mostly of CGI animations with the "Ants In Your Pants" theme, written by children's music artist Douglas John, whose music videos also appear on the show.
The host, a puppet monkey in corduroy overalls, named Lickety Split, then takes over. He lives in a tree with his mother (who is not seen, only heard or mentioned). He usually explains what he has been doing lately. A music video is shown. Usually, there are three music videos, separated by Lickety segments. After the last music video is played, an image of scattered leaves is shown before the next Lickety segment.
In the second segment, the Pesky Ants, named Janesaw, Woodchip and Dusty, are introduced. They frequently cause trouble for Lickety, but can also be helpful and kind on rare occasions.
In the third season, "Kidding Around" and "Stretch and Wiggle" are presented. "Kidding Around" features a CGI video camera showing kids doing fun activities or singing songs. "Stretch and Wiggle" (hosted by Shelley Hamilton and Corey Michaels, and sometimes Douglas John) shows exercises. The last segment before the end of the show is titled "Lickety's Tree Fort" and features a guest star. Guest stars include Bob McGrath, Al Simmons, Jack Grunsky, Jackie Richardson, Ken Whiteley, and Carmen Campagne.
Cast
- Marty Stelnick as Lickety Split
- Jason Hopley, Ben Deustch, Colin Penman as Janesaw, Woodchip, and Dusty
Soundtrack
| Ants In Your Pants - Volume 1 | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 1998 |
| Genre | Children's music |
| Label | ZepLenz |
| Producer | Douglas John |
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ants In Your Pants" | Douglas John | 2:51 |
| 2. | "Ug A Bug" | Douglas John | 2:27 |
| 3. | "Ooey-Gooey" | Dutch Robinson | 2:58 |
| 4. | "The Wiggle" | Douglas John | 2:08 |
| 5. | "Barnyard Symphony" | The Barnyard Orchestra | 2:06 |
| 6. | "Inky Dinky Spider" | Leigh Powell | 2:38 |
| 7. | "Let's Talk Turkey" | Douglas John | 2:17 |
| 8. | "Baa Lu" | The Barnyard Chorus | 3:35 |
| 9. | "A Ram Sam Sam" | Dutch Robinson | 2:29 |
| 10. | "Do Your Socks Get Soggy?" | Douglas John & MacHeel | 3:31 |
| 11. | "Woogie-Boogie" | Jude Johnson | 2:39 |
| 12. | "If I Were Not A Little Kid" | Martha Johnson | 3:36 |
| 13. | "Tomato Hat" | Justin Hines | 2:45 |
Popularity
Ants in Your Pants was an entirely new concept in children's television. Although many children's programs (both then and now) were very musically based, this was the first known to feature music videos. As a result, the show became popular with Canadian children and was widely praised by adults. Its soundtrack was a Juno nominee in 2000 for Best Children's Album. A number of music videos from the program began appearing on YouTube in 2007, with the highest-viewed including "Tomato Hat" by a young Justin Hines and "Do Your Socks Get Soggy" by Douglas John,[1] which each had more than 100,000 views as of January 2017. Other highly viewed videos include the Joe Scruggs songs "This Little Piggy",[2] and "Bahamas Pajamas".[3]
References
- Do Your Socks Get Soggy?. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
- This Little Piggy. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
- Bahamas Pajamas. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2017-02-06. Retrieved 2017-01-25.