Iris, The Happy Professor

Iris, The Happy Professor (also known as Iris and Professor Iris and in French as Iris, le gentil professeur or Professeur Iris) is a Spanish-Canadian-French-produced television show that run for 156 episodes from 1992 to 1994, created by former Belgian-born comic book artist Henri Desclez and revolving around Professor Iris, a purple ibis who teaches a class of three students: Piano, Skeleton, and Plant. The Professor teaches a variety of subjects to his students and always wears a bowtie based on the topic of the lesson in each episode.

Iris, The Happy Professor
Also known as	Professor Iris
Genre	Children's show
Created by	Henri Desclez
Developed by	Henri Desclez Norma Denys
Written by	Henri Desclez
Directed by	Chuck Rubin François Jobin Pierre R. Thériault
Creative director	Henri Desclez
Starring	Pier Paquette Frank Meschkuleit Tim Gosley Rob Mills Michel Lapointe Jani Lauzon
Theme music composer	Stéphane Deschamps
Composers	Stéphane Deschamps Benoit Roberge (1993) Joël Champagne (1993)
Country of origin	Canada Spain (Barcelona) France
Original languages	English French
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	156
Production
Executive producer	Henri Desclez
Producers	Henri Desclez Norma Denys
Production locations	Montreal, Quebec Barcelona, Catalonia
Cinematography	Sébastien Tremblay
Camera setup	Multi-Camera
Running time	14:00
Production companies	Desclez Productions D'Ocon Films Productions
Original release
Network	The Learning Channel Télévision de Radio-Canada Canal J
Release	1992 (1992) – 1994 (1994)

A French-language version was made by Montreal's Cinélume Film et Vidéo (under the supervision of Vincent Davy for the first two seasons, uncredited on the first and credited on the second; then Christine Boivineau for the remaining episodes, with Joey Galimi for song adaptation).

Characters

• Professor Iris: played by Pier Paquette (English); Pierre Auger (French) – A purple ibis and teacher at the unnamed school that serves as the series' setting. He is knowledgeable, optimistic, and the series' protagonist.
• Skeleton: played by Frank Meschkuleit, Rob Mills (English); Jean Galtier (French) – A skeleton of an ibis with bones laid over a red cardigan.
• Piano: played by Tim Gosley (English); Élise Bertrand (French) – A pink piano who loves music.
• Plant: played by Tim Gosley (English); Gilbert Lachance (French) – A whimsical flower in a flowerpot.
• Ms. Principal: played by Frank Meschkuleit, Rob Mills (English); Daniel Picard (French) – A yellow duck who is headmistress of the school. She often walks into the class to complain about the racket when it gets noisy.
• Mr. Plumeau: played by Michel Lapointe (English); Edgar Fruitier (French) – A grey dog who serves as the school's janitor.
• Kiwi: played by Jani Lauzon (English); Lisette Dufour (French) – A green frog who is Ms. Principal's niece.

International broadcasting

Aside from airing in its native Canada,^[1] Iris, The Happy Professor was one of the first six shows featured on TLC's Ready Set Learn! block during its 28 December 1992 debut.^[2] It has also aired in several countries and territories including France, Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Latin America, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Scotland, Brunei and Jordan.^{[citation needed]}