Saturday, September 26, 2020

Childhood Memories

 One of the many jingles Sprout has used over the years was "Childhood Memories," which was also included in many CBeebies promos. The version aforementionally linked was included in the "Sprout Please" promo.

The song had many different variations: which included this (included in the "Better Together" and "Hi" promos, both uploaded on YouTube by Bethany Edwards) and this (included in the We Share promo)

15 years ago today...

 

A 24-hour children's channel was launched by PBS, Sesame Workshop, HiT Entertainment, and Comcast. That's right, PBS Kids Sprout is now 15 years old! And yet, it doesn't seem that old...


I made a playlist of clips I uploaded to celebrate. What do you folks plan to do in favor of the channel now known as Universal Kids?

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

PBS shows that aired on Sprout

Sprout was created as a joint venture between PBS, Sesame Workshop, HiT Entertainment, and Comcast in 2005. Originally, the channel had the PBS Kids branding in its name until 2013 when NBCUniversal acquired it.

This meant that, at launch and until its 10th anniversary, Sprout aired programs originally broadcast on PBS' PBS Kids block. The channel replaced the PBS Kids channel in 2005, and as a result, many stations even shut down their Kids brandings and redirected to the then-new Sprout channel (the PBS Kids channel relaunched in 2017, the same year Sprout became Universal Kids). As of 2015, Caillou and The Berenstain Bears were the only two PBS shows still airing, but it is unknown why. As of March 2019, both shows have left Universal Kids.

Here is a complete list of shows that aired on Sprout as well as PBS Kids (* = owned by HiT Entertainment or Sesame Workshop):

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Saving Sprout

 

In 2012, it was announced DirectTV might be shutting down Sprout, disrupting preschoolers’ daily routines. Tears and tantrums were the common theme.

Cargo Collective, who also produced the super rare Live Sprout commercial, helped with the campaign’s ads. 

After so many demands from parents to keep the channel, DirectTV reversed their decision. Unfortunately, a similar process happened in 2017 when Sprout became Universal Kids.