Canada’s public broadcaster is looking to help kids celebrate their pets and has commissioned new Lopii Productions docu-style series Bestest Day Ever With My Best Friend!.

CBC Kids plans to add the 20 x seven-minute live-actioner to its 2023 programming lineup. Aimed at preschoolers, Bestest Day revolves around young pet owners giving their critters a special day, complete with presents and a party. In each episode, a host and expert guests will support the kids as they do DIY crafts and put together extravagant pet parties. The series is set to go into production in January.

“There was a lot of negativity during COVID, and a show where kids give back to their pets provides some positivity,” says Rennata Lopez, Lopii’s co-founder.

With its greenlight in hand, the studio is now on the hunt for international broadcasters and a distributor, and Lopii is heading to its first MIPCOM market in France next week to shop the series around.

It received funding for Bestest Day from the Canadian Media Fund’s Pilot Program for Racialized Communities, which supports shows from underrepresented creators. It was the only kids series selected from its round of applications.

Lopii is putting out a casting call for a host who loves animals, and will start casting kids in the coming months. The series will feature cats and dogs, as well as less common pets like snails and snakes.

Swin Chang, CBC Kids’ executive in charge of production and development, says Bestest Day attracted her attention with its co-viewing appeal, national reach and focus on pets.

“It’s highly entertaining and heartwarming, and preschoolers and their parents/caregivers can watch and enjoy it together,” says Chang. “Its central concept is easily relatable for a very young audience, where family life is central to their understanding of their world.”

Bestest Day is part of CBC Kids’ new strategy to focus on live-action shows for preschoolers in order to get content to air more quickly (compared to animation), and to fill a gap in diverse content for the youngest demo, says Chang.

This is Lopii’s sixth original series. Canadian broadcasters TVOKids and Knowledge Kids ordered its docu-style series Dream It To Be It in May. This live-actioner features kids getting to experience their dream jobs by asking experts questions and doing hands-on challenges. And in July 2021, WildBrain Television greenlit preschool series The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy (26 x 11 minutes), in which a pair of drag performers read popular stories and teach kids about kindness and inclusivity.