TV Week article December 5th 2005

Let's take a closer look at this article.

Sprout back then had two presenters - Kevin Yamada and Melanie Martinez, who both presented The Birthday Show and The Good Night Show respectively.

Sprout has also aired educational interstitial segments, made by SVP of programming Andrew Beecham and Sesame Workshop's Susan Karden and Meredith Halperin.

Sprout's morning schedule was active shows, its afternoon schedule was learning shows, and its evening schedule was bedtime shows.

Blast from the Past!

SproutOnline.com

Madeline Fretz - You know how this blog is about archiving Sprout? Well, here is an overview of the channel's website, which now redirects to universalkids.com (Sprout became part of Universal Kids in 2017, and there have been redirects there since early 2018). 

Image from YouTube

Originally, the Sprout website was called sproutletsgrow.com. This was a website where you could play games, check TV schedules, read recipes, and submit birthday cards.

This was a promo when the website was called sproutletsgrow.com. It redirected to Sproutonline.com as of December 2006.

In 2007, a few days before Sprout introduced Musical Mornings and The Sunny Side Up Show, the website got a refresh

Image from http://www.sparklesthefiresafetydog.com/games.html

There were now art galleries sent in by viewers, and you could now watch videos of your favorite Sprout friends. A new page for adult co-viewers was also launched, called "Sprout for Parents", and you could put your favorite things in "My Refrigerator."

Image from http://www.educational-freeware.com/online/sprout-online.aspx

When the Second Generation Sprout launched on September 21st, 2009, the website got a refresh aswell.

Image from Archive.li

In early 2012, the website got another refresh. The main site was a network of islands home to various Sprout characters like Chica, Elmo, Caillou, Barney, and Olly.

In 2013, the website got yet another refresh. This time, Birthday Cards from The Sunny Side Up Show were shown on the site itself.

When the 3rd generation Sprout came along, the website got a refresh. This version of the website was unique because your child would get a page just for them on their birthday. The "Back to top" page was a then-new sprout character jumping on a trampoline.

The website became renamed Universal Kids Preschool in January 2018. However, since late 2018 the website redirected to the main UniKids website and all the preschool shows moved there aswell.

The Good Night Show

Madeline Fretz - When you ask people what they remember about Sprout, the answer is usually "The lady and the star"

Image from Web Archive

Image from PBS Kids Sprout TV wiki

Image from YouTube

These fans are obviously referring to The Good Night Show, an evening block with calm-natured programming designed for viewers ready to go to sleep. It aired from 6PM to 9PM ET, with two repeats throughout the rest of the night at 9PM and midnight.

The block was created because after 6PM, most kids channels signed off for the night and blocks for teenagers and adults would air instead. Sprout saw this as a great opportunity to air content for preschoolers at the time when there isn't any on other channels, and parents said their kids want to stay up past their bedtimes, and WHAM! The Good Night Show was born. (source)

The original Good Night Show, which launched amongst Sprout on September 26th, 2005, was hosted by Melanie Martinez with her fish, Hush, who was meant to introduce shows like Pingu and Big Sister, Little Brother, and Helping Hand, who appeared in Goodnight Tale segments. Martinez did crafts, stretches, told stories, and introduced shows. Star was introduced when the short-lived second season premiered a year later in July.

It turned out Melanie was in a PSA from the early 2000s.

In 2006, the producers of The Good Night Show saw this when Melanie told them about it. This led to her being fired and the block being on hiatus until they could find a new host.

When the block came back in September that year, Noel MacNeal (from Bear in the Big Blue House and Between the Lions) guest hosted as "Leo" while they were still holding auditions. He introduced "Lucy", a new firefly character.

In December, Michele Lepe auditioned and won the role of Nina, the permanent host. Nina was introduced on December 18th, around the time Sproutletsgrow.com became SproutOnline.com.

In the fourth season, which premiered on September 26th, 2007, Nina's Sproutlet friends joined in with stretches and sign language, and Lucy started in a new segment called "Lucy Light the Way."

The fifth season started on September 21st, 2009, the day of Sprout's rebrand, and to promote, Nina appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show for New Adventures Week. The HiT Entertainment show Rubbadubbers made its Sprout debut on that night.

In 2011, the block entered the You & Me Tree, and introduced "Sandy Stories," Star started talking to kids, Nina got new pajamas, and a new Clean Up song. New shows was also introduced, Poppy Cat and the half-hour version of Jim Henson's Pajanimals, which debuted as musical interstitials on Sprout in 2008.

Season 7 premiered on August 27th, 2012, and introduced 64 Zoo Lane, Olive the Ostrich, and Wibbly Pig. Neither show was on Sprout very long.

In 2015, the block got a spin-off called "Nina's World" about Nina's life as a kid. Prior to the show's usual airing, Nina told stories about her childhood in the present day. The eighth season started on July 27th, 2015.

In 2017, the block was done away with. This was probably because of Universal Kids underway.

On Christmas Eve from 2007 to 2015, the block hosted a "Snooze-A-Thon" (formally "A Good Night of Sweet Dreams") with featured characters sleeping in order to convince kids to go to sleep.

Parts of the show I found on YouTube were "The Nurdle Durdle" (sponsored by Aquafresh) and "La La Lullaby" both which aired after the block ended at 9:00.

Today Universal Kids has no bedtime programming blocks, but the memories of Nina and Star (and Melanie, Hush, Lucy, and Leo) calming you with their calm, consistent personalities will never fade.