Canadian pubcaster TVOKids has partnered with Blue Ant Studios to produce a new take on the Japanese series Old Enough!.

Like many others in the kids industry, staffers at TVO and Blue Ant saw an opportunity to reach kids and families when Netflix picked up the long-running Japanese series Old Enough!. The original unscripted series follows young children running errands entirely on their own (but unknowingly being filmed and supervised by a safety crew).

TVOKids and Blue Ant Studios are in the early stages of post-production on an eight x 30-minute Canadian version of the live-action series. The project has been in the works for about 18 months, and since the early days, conversations have focused on translating a show that’s been popular for more than 30 years in Japan, to one that would appeal to Canadian kids and parents.

Earlier this week, the companies unveiled the unscripted format for their take on Old Enough!, which will similarly document kids completing tasks like going to a store and purchasing grocery items. To refit the show for TVOKids, the kids in the Canadian version will be four- and five-year-olds, compared to the Japanese version, which sometimes included kids as young as three. This means the kids can also take on slightly more complex errands.

The show is also going for a more educational and empowering tone in its narration, and will include segments where the caregivers talk about their parenting styles and thoughts on kids’ independence.

For TVOKids’ commissioning editor Kirsten Hurd, it was critical that the new version include segments where parents open up about their approaches and how much autonomy they give their kids. It’s an important addition because Japan has more self-reliant children and trust in the community than North Americans, says Hurd.

In TVO’s backyard of Ontario, Canada, most parents don’t let their kids roam outside on their own. Having parents from diverse cultures across the country discuss their thoughts on kids running errands can expose adults to different ways of thinking about what kids can do, adds Hurd.

To keep the show light, comedy icon Colin Mochrie (Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Are You Smarter Than A Canadian 5th Grader) will narrate the series, offering commentary on what the kids are up to as they run their errands. But more than just offering a known talent, Mochrie’s tone in TVO’s version will be more encouraging and explorative than the Japanese version, which occasionally pokes fun at the young helpers.

The show will still be humorous, but the comedy will come more from the ways kids talk to themselves and the things they get distracted by, such as playgrounds and birds, says Hurd. Mochrie will also tap into his own funny experiences as a parent, adds Blue Ant Studios’ co-president Matt Hornburg.

With its focus on empowering kids, the series is a strong indicator of the kind of content that newly merged Blue Ant Studios wants to make, says Hornburg. The goal is to replicate the success the company’s had with unscripted series about kids discovering the world and learning what they can achieve, such as sports-based hit All-Round Champion, he adds.

For TVO, the popularity of the original also makes the pubcaster bullish that it could drive digital viewership and draw in a wide co-viewing audience of kids and parents who aren’t watching TVO shows yet, says Hurd.

“Kids can do incredible things when we let them; we need to see kids be independent,” says Hurd. “We hope [Old Enough!] appeals to a broader audience than some shows we have, [and that it] bridges the viewers of TVOKids to TVO and pulls in the digital audience.”