Well, Sproutlets, it’s almost December, and December means Christmas, not to mention Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the holidays. Are you getting excited? I know I am!
Anyways, it’s interesting to see Sprout reuse a song from the first generation era, as, like "Jingle All the Way" and a few Let's Go Show songs, they’ve been using "We Love the Holidays" instrumentally in promos and in Barnyard Boogie online games.
Click here to reuse a song from the first generation era on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
From 2012 to 2014, Sprout aired a special version of The Sunny Side Up Show called The Chica Awards, in which viewers would go to Sproutonline.com to vote for categories such as "Best Original Song," "Best Screenplay," "Best Special Guests," and "Best Siblings" and see them on TV on the big day. In 2012, the broadcast was held on December 23rd.
In 2014, Fire HDX sponsored the Chica Awards.
Click here to vote for categories on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
A Sprout fan at Discord found several plates featuring Ricky, Patty, Curtis E. Owl, and Chica at Salvation Army.
He said there were also ones of JB the Juicebox from Sprout's Wiggly Waffle and Star from The Good Night Show, but he couldn’t find those. We also don’t know what year these were made.
Anyways, it’s amazing to know that these existed, as there is a very small amount of Sprout merchandise.
Click here to find several plates at Salvation Army on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
In the mid 00s-early 2010s, the company The Chase (who also made Live Sprout and Save Sprout) put out a series of Sunny Side Up Show, Sprout Sharing Show, and Good Night Show puzzles that I don’t know ended up getting released and available to the public.
And the Good Night Show puzzle was spotted in Sprout executive Laura Kelly's office in this picture. With all these clues, I’m assuming the puzzles were released, just not to the public.
UPDATE: It appears that they were probably released to the public, or maybe just to this kid.
UPDATE (03/11/2022): The Good Night Show puzzle is on eBay!
Click here to go to Laura Kelly's office on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - All children’s shows, except one, end or get cancelled. Sesame Street has been constantly revamping each decade, with new characters, segments, and even the format.
In 2006, Sprout got into the holiday spirit BEFORE Thanksgiving by premiering the direct-to-video special A Sesame Street Christmas Carol, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol starring Oscar the Grouch as Ebenezer Scrooge, on demand. The special was available from November 17th to 23rd, and premiered on the linear channel in December. (source)
The special uses clips from previous Christmas specials - Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Elmo Saves Christmas, and Elmo's World: Happy Holidays, which premiered on Sprout in 2010.
Click here to use clips from previous Christmas specials on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
WHO IS NINA? Nina is the Goodnight Guide and the host of The Good Night Show as of December 18th, 2006. She lives in the Goodnight Garden and later the You and Me Tree with Star, whom she acts maternal to. She also hosts the Sprout Stretches and sign language segments, amongst others. Every night, Nina leads Star and their Sproutlet friends in activities related to tonight's adventure. In order to replicate real life, Star asks Nina for more time to stay up, and the two engage in banter in whether or not Star should get into his hammock. It replicates a fight, but Nina eventually wins, and sacks out on the crescent moon couch in the final link.
Nina also hosted the on-demand bilingual series ¡Hola Sproutitos!, narrated the series Nina's Little Fables, which was basically a US dub version of an international animated children's show, and she and Star starred in both Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon and Preschool Musical on a Stick. In 2015, Sprout premiered Nina's World, an animated show about Nina's childhood. She also sang songs such as "The Welcome Song," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Let's Make Something New," "Clean Up," and "The Goodnight Song."
Nina guest hosted The Sunny Side Up Show several times, both in her usual outfit and regular clothes, and appeared in a concert-themed broadcast of The Let's Go Show. In 2011, Sprout allowed viewers to select four pairs of pajamas for Nina through a poll to promote the new season of The Good Night Show. From what I have heard, in 2009, the Good Night Show section of Sproutonline.com had a video that would play when you pressed a sleeping clock on the main menu. The video was basically just Nina sleeping on the crescent moon couch (source). Starting with the eighth season, Nina would tell Star childhood stories from her "Best Day Ever" book.
Huge comparisons between these two "Goodnight Guides."
WHY DOES THE GOOD NIGHT SHOW NEED NINA? The Good Night Show needs Nina because she represents the parents trying to get kids who want to stay up all night to go to bed (see above), a real-life scenario she re-enacts with Star. Michele Lepe, who previously appeared on Los Teens on Telemundo, auditioned for and won the role in late 2006, when auditions were held for a new host to replace previous Good Night Show host Melanie Martinez, who was axed that year due to a few PSAs she appeared in prior to Sprout. While auditions were still being held, puppetry veteran Noel MacNeal appeared as human guest host Leo.
Click here to appear as a guest host on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - Dear friends, today marks one more day until I release my long-anticipated Sprout fanfiction, appropriately titled Sprout, in the worldwide web. I decided to release it on the 23rd because that’s the tenth anniversary of The Muppets, the film that inspired most of this fanfic. It’s gonna be jam-packed with nostalgia and throwbacks to the days of Sprout, just you wait. I promise. It’s almost like a walk down memory lane!
Like I’ve always said, the story of the fanfic is loosely inspired by the "get the band back together" movies, which I’m the world's biggest fan of. But don’t worry, I’m still working on writing original fanfics, there’s a lot about this fanfic that’s original, and even though the sequel is a loose parody of Almost Famous, I hope it will have many original content. Like The Muppets, the story takes place at a time when Sprout is no longer a viable brand and the characters and hosts have disbanded for years, but it's up to one superfan girl and one idea to reunite the gang for one last show to bring their shows back and save their legacy. What jobs are they working at prior to getting back together? Read the fanfic tomorrow and find out!
A picture I made of the "old gang," most of whom appears in what you’re going to read tomorrow.
This is by far the biggest Sprout project I’ve worked on ever, if not the biggest fanfiction I’ve written (yep, all of them are on FanFiction and to a lesser extent WattPad despite copying from other content I like, but remember what I always say - I’m still working on it). It’s safe to say that my world will be forever changed as of tomorrow.
Sure, (SPOLERS!!!) the Sprout gang sings covers of popular songs during the telethon, but they’re just doing it because I like the songs and knew they would suit the gang perfectly. What are they? Find out tomorrow! The film serves as a gift to everyone who worked at Sprout over the years - Andrew Beecham, Sandy Wax, Diana Kerekes, Betsy Oliphant-Ross, Jennifer Molod, Jenni Glenn, Meredith Halpern-Ranzer, Susan Karden, Frank Ciancio, Jim Multari, Melissa Myers, Shannon Carmody-Vacca, the list goes on and on. I’m sure they’ll love it!
We should also promote a lot of this fic. Tell fellow Sprout fans, tell your parents, tell your teachers, tell your dentist that I’ve written a big new Sprout story.
This fic is for the fans who’ve really wanted the Sprout name back or wanted NBCUniversal to do something with Sprout after all these years. After all, I, the creator and writer of this blog, was the one who came up with this story in the first place. If it weren’t for me, this story would’ve never been.
Sure, the fanfic is called Sprout, but I’m calling it "this fanfic" or "fic" here in order to avoid confusion. This fanfic is a showcase of my journey as a Sprout fan, this fanfic is dedicated to you, the fans, and how the world still loves these shows and characters.
Here we are gang, here we are in the future. I’m no longer my past self. Let’s thank everyone that was along for the journey - Michele Lepe, Stacia Newcomb, Milton Barnes, Ali Eisner, Kelly Vrooman, Kevin Yamada, Sean Roach, Dennisha Pratt, Liz Filios, Forrest Harding, Brendan Gawel, Julianne Buescher, Earl Fisher, Catherine Missal, etc. Thank you! Also to you, I would’ve never written this fanfic without you in mind. Never give up.
Click here to knee deep in the hoopla on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
In 2006, Sprout hosted "Sprout's Thanksgiving Diner Party," a marathon of Thanksgiving-themed episodes of shows like Barney & Friends, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, and Sesame Street that aired on November 23rd. Judging from the title, I’m guessing this was a Sprout Diner marathon, kind of like March Menu in 2008. It was during this marathon that Sprout held a contest where families would come up with Thomas & Friends-themed recipes and the lucky winners would have their recipe on an animated Sprout Diner segment. The winning recipe ended up being the Shaugnessy family's recipe for Thomas' Club Car Sandwich.
"Fifi lives in the magical garden world where Flowertots make every day an adventure as they care for their gardens, invent recipes, dance and sing songs."
A few themed recipes on Sproutonline.com included "Fifi's Fruit Flowertot," "Fifi's Party Punch," and "Fifi's Fruit Spread," which was basically a rehash of the Let's Go Show recipe "Hats Off to Chew."
The show stopped airing on the channel in 2012, although it remained on Sproutonline.com. However, I always remember the show. It was on the HiT "Jump Into Spring" DVD I watched a lot as a preschooler and I had a dream about it once, in which Fifi was sleeping in a bunk bed with a bunch of ducks.
"Olly and Beth are submarines-in-training, stationed at the Special Underwater Research Facility (S.U.R.F.) These subs are always down for an aquatic adventure, especially with some of their friends like Diver Doug and Skid, Brandt, Ranger, Luseal, Suzy, and Shankley."
The show probably premiered as part of Summer Fun Fridays, Sprout's special afternoon block that aired that year. It aired during The Let's Go Show and The Sunny Side Up Show.
The show stopped airing in 2014, but its page remained up on Sproutonline.com for some time.
Madeline Fretz - I’ve finished my upcoming fanfic coming Tuesday (the 23rd) and edited a few bits and bobs. In fact, I think it was so successful that yesterday I started working on a SEQUEL! That’s right, Sproutlets. You’ve heard me right - a sequel, and I started working on it yesterday.
"Always Famous" is a loose parody of "Almost Famous," combining elements of that movie with the Phineas and Ferb episode "Ready for the Bettys." Taking place after the events of the previous story, Miles and Nina are going on a tenth anniversary trip to Los Angeles, but then have to spend the whole week helping Banjo and Star tour with the Wiggles (now including Tsehay), while everyone else sets off on a cross-country road trip to find them to start shooting new material for Apple TV+, as they agreed to revive Sprout.
I haven’t decided on the release date, but I promise it’s coming soon.
Click here to tour with The Wiggles on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
WHO IS BEAN? At twelve years old, Bean is the host of The Super Sproutlet Show. She drives around in her "Bean-pod" (a closet/house with a bike attached to it) searching for "Super Sproutlets" (kids) who are being either active or good to the earth, and helps them make healthy recipes in the "Sports Candy Kitchen" segments. Bean also checks in with Sportacus and Mayor Meanswell from LazyTown.
WHY DOES THE SUPER SPROUTLET SHOW NEED BEAN?The Super Sproutlet Show needs Bean because they need an original character to host, kind of like JB the Juicebox from Sprout's Wiggly Waffle. Bean is adventurous, brave, optimistic, and smart. She's always up for a challenge or adventure whenever there is one. I think that's why they need her.
Madeline Fretz - On the Fourth of July 2008, Sprout premiered a Canadian PBS show called Franny's Feet. The show was about a girl who works with her grandfather in their shoe store. Franny tried on different shoes which would take her to different places.
"Where will my feet take me today?…Franny takes us on a magical adventure every time she tries on a different pair of shoes in her grandfather's repair shop. These shoes transport us to destinations around the globe, where Franny meets new friends and tries to help them solve problems. Franny shows us that one is never too small or too young to be a big help."
The show premiered as part of Summer Fun Fridays, a special afternoon block that aired that year. After that, it aired daily on The Let's Go Show and The Sprout Sharing Show.
The show stopped airing on the channel in August 2013, along with Monkey See Monkey Do. Both Franny and Monkey stayed on Sproutonline.com for a while.
The same year, Kelly Vrooman caught the show airing on Sprout on LeAnn Rimes' TV in a magazine.
"Roary the Racing Car follows the adventures of a young racing car who lives at the Silver Hatch racetrack. These stories explore Roary's relationships with his racing car friends and Big Chris, the karaoke loving mechanic."
I wanted Apple TV+ to revive Sprout so bad after hearing that it's reviving Yo Gabba Gabba!, so I recently came up with a fanfic where Muno, my mom, and I, Sprout's biggest fan, reunite the Sprout team for one last show to get Apple TV+ to bring Sprout back. Now, I know what you’re thinking, this idea may sound a little like the likes of The Muppets and The Country Bears. That’s because I have difficulty writing original stories, but I’m still working on it. Besides, there’s a lot about this fic that’s original.
Coming November 23rd, the tenth anniversary of The Muppets, the movie that inspired most of the fic.
Click here to be inspired on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Back in 2008, Sprout launched in Tampa, Florida on Bright House Networks (now Spectrum) as Channel 121, and two commercials, the videos you see above, were made to promote.
According to Sprout's Jenni Glenn, Sprout previously launched on Time Warner Cable in California and Texas under an affiliation agreement with Time Warner Cable that also extends to Bright House Networks.
Madeline Fretz - Sprout sure has had a lot of programming blocks over the years, and the two longest-running were The Sunny Side Up Show and The Good Night Show. They were also the only blocks airing during the third generation. I love them both, but you may be wondering which one is better? Read this post and find out.
THE PREMISE
OK, Sproutlets. Let's start with the premises of each block. These premises are very similar to one another, and even focus on the same themes.
On The Good Night Show, Nina and Star focus on a different educational theme each night through songs, stories, crafts, games, stretches, talking with real kids, Spanish, and sign language (wow - a lot of S words!). On The Sunny Side Up Show, on the other hand, Chica and the adult hosts (the lineup changed mostly every year) focused on a different theme each week through themed viewer-submitted content, songs, stories, crafts and recipes, and games, occasionally with guest appearances from Sprout characters or, as of 2014, celebrities.
The premise of The Good Night Show makes sense, but is too similar to other hosted kids shows. The hosts, sometimes assisted by puppets, talk about a different theme through various fun segments. The Good Night Show is unique since it made Sprout stand out in a crowd of children's channels that signed off by 6PM - it was used to help parents get their kids ready for bed. The Sunny Side Up Show was also unique since it was live - something no kids channel has done before, which brings it to a bit more realism than The Good Night Show. Advantage: The Sunny Side Up Show.
A good kids show can't be a good kids show without hosts or live-action human characters, which is what I'm talking about next.
HOSTS
The Sunny Side Up Show had ten hosts, a different one each week and some of them replaced over the years. The Good Night Show only had three, and were always the sole host. Michele Lepe's Nina was the longest-running host, and was always there since 2006, All of them did great.
The Sunny hosts were mostly actors on stage and screen, and have gone on to other children's shows after hosting. There were originally two hosts, then three, then four, then back to three, and finally back to two. The Good Night Show only had one host every episode. One host is fine, but ten hosts is enough. I know SSU had one host each week, but if your show is pre-recorded and has one host it can be handled better. Advantage: The Good Night Show.
Sprout's programming blocks were basically links in between gold-standard shows, so let's talk about them now.
SHOWS AIRED
The Sunny Side Up Show had shows that offered a learning opportunity to viewers, while The Good Night Show had calm-natured, mostly story-like shows. OK, so the show episodes aired had nothing to do with the linking footage's themes, except for on occasions. The Good Night Show's shows had wholesome theme songs (Dragon Tales, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Jakers!, and Angelina Ballerina), and the characters introduced the shows with their voice actors reprising their roles. The Sunny Side Up Show, on the other hand, did occasionally have guest appearances from Sprout characters and said "happy birthday" if they were on a Sproutlet's birthday card, but they never introduced the shows. Advantage: The Good Night Show
Now that we've talked about the hosts, let's talk about the characters.
CHARACTERS
Let's start with The Good Night Show. Here we had Hush, Helping Hand, Star, Lucy, and that's it. If you don't know Helping Hand, he has his own PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki page. As you can tell, he was pretty short-lived. The Sunny Side Up Show, on the other hand, had Chica, Mr. Mailman, Molly the Sheep, Chica's mom, Cousin Rico, Chica's nana, and everyone else was an animated farm animal. Now, with the exception of Mr. Mailman, everyone on Sunny was either a chicken or an animated farm animal. But hey, Mr. Mailman was on The Birthday Show and The Many Adventures of Mr. Mailman prior to SSU, so you can't go wrong with him. Advantage: The Sunny Side Up Show.
Now let’s talk about the themes talked about.
THEMES
Episodic or weekly themes are what make children’s shows unique. The Sunny Side Up Show focused on a different theme each week, while The Good Night Show focused on a different theme each broadcast, with both reusing the same themes as time went by. The latter (daily themes) works, but the former (weekly themes) is underused. They should use it more on children's shows. Advantage: The Sunny Side Up Show.
Both also showed content submitted by viewers via the web, so now let's take a look at em.
VIEWER-SUBMITTED CONTENT
The Sunny Side Up Show was chockful of viewer-submitted content - from birthday wishes to online games, while The Good Night Show only had pictures of viewers’ crafts and drawings, introduced by Lucy. The crafts and drawings were dropped in 2011. Advantage: The Good Night Show.
Both also got animated sequel series, so let's take a look at them.
SEQUEL SERIES
The Chica Show, which premiered in 2012, was about Chica, her parents, and Kelly running a costume shop and becoming animated once the shop closes, and Mario Lopez voiced the character Stitches. Nina’s World, which premiered in 2015, was about Nina's life as a kid, and Rita Moreno voiced Abuela.
Nina's World premiered during Sprout's 10th anniversary, and Moreno appeared on Sunny Side Up that day to promote. The Chica Show, on the other hand, popped up out of nowhere. Nina was entirely animated, while Chica combined live-action and animation. Plus, Chica was from the second generation, which and the first generation everyone likes better than the third. It’s a classic! Advantage: The Sunny Side Up Show.
Now let's talk about the openings and closings.
OPENINGS AND CLOSINGS
The Good Night Show's first opening, from the first four seasons, was beautiful - both in terms of music and animation. The opening from Seasons 5 - 7 was almost the same - sun going down, birds in a nest, and clock on a tree yawning, but with many new features. Plus, the theme song was exactly the same as the Welcome Song and Goodnight Song, which is reluctant, since Nina sang the exact same song in the first link. If we look at The Sunny Side Up Show, the 2007 - 2009 opening and the 2009 - 2013 opening had the same theme song, but everything was different except for clips of the hosts and the sun in the egg. A version of this opening was used in the nightly "Today's Birthdays" segments, except with birthday cupcakes and presents, blankets on the ground, and it was nighttime. With the new hosts at the end of 2013, the opening was completely changed with a new theme song and no more "Sproutlet-constructed" branding.
The closings were a bit short, but I’m also talking about them anyways. The Good Night Show's original closing from the first four seasons played out like a regular first generation ident, the Season 5 closing was one with the boy's mom closing their box and turning off the light, and the Seasons 6-8 one played in the final link, after Nina sang the Goodnight Song. Lucy winked at the Sproutlets and flew away, the mom once again closed the box and turned off the light. We don’t have The Sunny Side Up Show's original closing, but I guess it was probably the same as the "don't go away" and "welcome back" bumpers. The 2009 - 2013 closing was the girl's father closing their box as the kids play outside, and the 2013 - 2015 closing was the Sunshine Barn window closing the final link, and we see the logo below.
I’m raring to see the original closing to The Sunny Side Up Show, and The Good Night Show's openings and closings are unique, so I don’t know who wins this battle. Advantage: a tie.
Okay, that about does it, now it’s time to tally up the scores.
SSU: 4
GNS: 3
And the winner is…
The Sunny Side Up Show
Sorry, Good Night Show fans, but The Sunny Side Up Show has more likable aspects than The Good Night Show. It's funnier, more creative, and has held up much better in my opinion. Plus, it had celebrity guests, lots of surprises, and gave us a great new character in Chica. Now, I’m not saying I don’t like The Good Night Show, and while Sunny is still the winner, I still love them both.
Why did I decide to do this? Thomperfan (Noah), the world's biggest Sesame Street fan, compared the two Sesame Street movies, so I thought I’d do the same with Sprout's two long-running programming blocks, since they also have a lot in common. Anyways, I want to know which you like better - Sunny or Good Night. Let me know in the comments below! Bye!
Click here to close a box on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Star has been a part of The Good Night Show ever since 2006. Let’s take a look at how he’s evolved over the years.
The character first appeared in the second season, which premiered in July 2006, shortly before the Melanie Martinez PSA scandal the same month. In the first season, a character called Helping Hand appeared with Martinez in the Goodnight Tale segments, so it is unknown what happened to him when Star arrived. We all know Star would beg Nina for more time to stay up, and The Good Night Show was designed to help parents get kids ready for bed, so I wonder if he was added for that reason.
When Leo (Noel MacNeal's guest host) and Lucy were introduced the same year, Star stuck around and appeared with them. It it also unknown what happened to Star in between July (the month of the aforementioned scandal) and September (when Leo was introduced), as Hush the Fish showed viewers’ crafts and drawings in between shows during that time.
This is probably what happened; him appearing in split-screen credits. The above video is probably from Leo's tenure though.
When Nina (Michele Lepe) was introduced at the near end of 2006, Star stuck around, and this was the start of a beautiful friendship. Star would do everything with her - from crafts and craft stories to Goodnight Games, and constantly ask her to stay up a little longer. He had a pet rock named Wilbur and a couple of fish, including one named Samuel Fishington Eugene Oceanic. Star also sang the "Ready for Bed" song, which was about brushing your teeth and washing your face before bed.
In 2007's fourth season, Star's puppet was given an update, and became less creepy.
In his previous two seasons, Star slept on the chair or couch in the final link.
Not anymore! Starting with Season 4, Star would now sleep in a hammock, getting a nice cozy sleeping space all to himself. With this, Nina got a whole couch to herself.
…and he does again in a scene from my upcoming Sprout fanfic.
The puppet was once again updated for 2009's fifth season, and resembled the one from the fourth season. In the episode themed around "Parents," Star revealed he had a toy star called Little Star, and pretended to be his father. Other than that, nothing much changed for the character.
The puppet was given another update for 2011's sixth season, and was given eyelids. Needless to say, this puppet looked a bit creepy.
Starting with this season, Star would now host the "Talking to Sproutlets" segments, in which he would talk with his Sproutlet friends about the episode's topic. Who could blame Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street)? Puppets talking to kids was all HIS idea - as that happened on Sesame Street several times in the classic years.
Star also appeared in animated form in Nina's World, an animated prequel to The Good Night Show which premiered in 2015. Now, in The Good Night Show, Star is portrayed as a child (he was revealed to be four years old in one episode), and Nina is an adult, and in Nina's World, he is also portrayed as a child, and Nina is a kid. Geez! Nina aged but Star didn’t. Boy, how time flies?
Click here to talk to kids on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum.
