Parents and Kids Share Together: December 2021

Friday, December 31, 2021

The End of the World

Image from Twitter

Madeline Fretz - Sprout has celebrated the calendar changings several times over the years, and today's the perfect day to revisit these celebrations.

Image from the Wayback Machine

Miles (Milton Barnes) of The Let's Go Show fame guest hosted The Sunny Side Up Show to celebrate 2007 becoming 2008.

Grover (Eric Jacobson) and his superhero alter ego Super Grover from Sesame Street and Play With Me Sesame appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show for a "Super New Year's Party" with hosts Kelly Vrooman and Chica during Time Week. They sang about New Year's Resolutions to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw," in which Grover's resolutions included taking pictures, discovering a new breed of blue apple, tying his shoes, hugging a penguin, and drinking hot chocolate with a dove. Man, Sesame Street Muppets can be funny at times! When he was given the "Super Good Egg Award," Grover gave a speech and thanked all his family members.

In 2009, original host Kevin Yamada left The Sunny Side Up Show to move to Florida. Auditions for a new host were held in September and an actress named Dennisha Pratt won the role. Pratt made her Sunny debut on New Year's Eve 2009, and there she would stay until 2014.

In addition, The Sunny Side Up Show held Countdowns to Noon every New Year's Eve from 2009 to 2014, back when it was called The Snowy Side Up Show during the Winter seasons as of 2010. The video you see above is the one from 2014, and includes mention of Boj, which premiered earlier that year.

The end of 2010 saw the premiere of What's Your News?, which aired on The Sunny Side Up Show usually before and after Sproutlet News Report segments. The series aired until 2013.

Image from YouTube

In the early 2010s, Nina and Star hosted "Cheer in the New Year," a Good Night Show New Year's special which featured guest appearances from Chica and the Sunny Side Up Show hosts, Sean and Noodle, the Wiggles, the Pajanimals, and the Sprout House Band.

In 2013, it was established that Kelly Vrooman was leaving The Sunny Side Up Show. Auditions were held for new hosts in a contest called Host Hunt, and kindie singer Tim Kubart and actress Kaitlin Becker won the roles. Kubart first hosted Sunny on December 30th.

Here’s to 2021 and 2022, and we hope your new year is full of sweet dreams!

Click here to win the role on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Knee-Deep in the Hoopla: 2021 in Review

Madeline Fretz - Ahh, 2021. What a year for Sprout fandom! Last year we had the virus, lockdowns, and LOTS of handwashing, but this year was probably better. This year we showcased new things, looked back at the past, and got tons of new surprises - such as pictures, specials, reboots and revivals, online videos, and new seasons.

One that fits into all three of these categories is probably my biggest Sprout project (for now), my long-anticipated Sprout fanfic, so I knew I had to make a reference to it in this post's title. "We Built This City" by Starship is (SPOILER!) one of the songs in the fanfic. Now, I know most fansites and fan blogs, including this one, don’t usually show fanfic and/or fan art, but I talked about mine here a lot. Basically, the fic is a nostalgic half-road comedy, half-get the band back together plot, half-"putting on a show" plot, and half-telethon, that includes lots of references to old Sprout and its PBS days.

As for the blog, for the first few months I abandoned the blog due to my commitments to the generic "fan stuff" (such as PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki), and only came back occasionally. However, all that changed in July when I started posting here again. I started the "My Week" series, inspired by Muppet fansite and huge PaKST inspiration ToughPigs. In September, I started the "Weekly Character Wednesdays" series, inspired by another Muppet fansite by the name of the Muppet Mindset. And as of November, I’ve been talking about Sprout Christmas specials.

Okay, Sproutlets. Sit back, relax, and together let's take a look back at 2021 and what an amazing year it was.

January:

Happy New Year! - The post that kicked off the new year - containing of a Snowy Side Up Show video and a news article about Cheer in the New Year.
Caillou Leaves PBS Kids - On one of the saddest posts on this blog, it is announced that Sprout's longest-standing program, which is largely hated by most people, has stopped airing on PBS. But don’t worry, it now airs daily on Cartoon Network's Cartoonito block!
The SproutOnline.com song - This post is about a Sprout jingle that played almost daily from 2008 to 2014. If you know the lyrics, great! Dare to sing along! If you don’t, don’t worry, they’re on this post!

March:

Sizzle - Wow! I guess I was right when I said I only came back to post occasionally prior to July. Anyways, this post chronicles a Sprout sizzle from 2012 that features a Colbie Caillat song.

April:

On-Demand! - Back in April, my family, my Mom's friend Lisa from Las Vegas (who appears in the fic), and I went on an amazing cross-country adventure around Las Vegas, Arizona, and Utah to see the canyons (and not just the Grand one). You totally should’ve been there! Anyways, probably the only Sprout-related thing I did during that trip (aside from editing a few pages on the wiki) was watch a 2005 on-demand promo, that when I got back, I did a post about the history of Sprout's video-on-demand service. Enjoy!
Sprout Diner - It was the 2000s and childhood obesity was all the rage. Sprout was all about living healthy lifestyles from the beginning, so one of their planned interstitial series was Sprout Diner, which was about eating healthy. This post chronicles the history of this short-lived, two-season webseries.
Dora on Sprout? - As of April, I discovered lyrics to Let's Go Show songs on the Wayback Machine and put them on the wiki. Not long after, I discovered composer Tim Burns' SoundCloud account which had many of those songs, and uploaded them to my YouTube channel. One of them was "My Favorite Color is a Rainbow." I was skimming Vimeo a lot back then (and still nowadays), and one of the Sprout-related videos I managed to find on there had an instrumental of said song. Dora the Explorer, a Nick Jr. show, was in that video among actual Sprout shows. Huh?

May:

Got Great Pics? - I managed to find several rare Sprout pictures on the likes of people's Facebook accounts and the Wayback Machine (including one Flickr photo), and put them on here on this post, my only blog post of May. I also put most of the photos on the above video set to Sprout production music. Sometimes I wonder if that piece of production music was an instrumental of a Let's Go Show song, but it definitely wasn't a Preschool Musical instrumental. Hmm…

June:

Wiggly Waffle - In June, I started an Unofficial Sprout Podcast, and this is the topic of my only episode so far. As I was preparing for the premiere, I wrote this post on the blog to prepare myself for what I was supposed to say. The post chronicles the history of The Wiggles' Sprout morning show, which ran during the Sam era.

July:

This picture we used for our family holiday cards this year.

Me just being silly
Cape Charles - Ahh, this was the month I returned to posting regularly on this blog. So far, this is my only non-Sprout-related post here. Every Fourth of July as of 2017, my family goes to Cape Charles in Virginia, and this is a collection of photos from this year’s vacation.
My Week with 2010 - The start of the My Week series.
Clips from Wiggly Waffle launch day FOUND! - This year, someone found clips from the August 24th, 2009 broadcast of Wiggly Waffle and uploaded it to their YouTube channel. I uploaded it to mine too since it was a temporary upload, but deleted it when said person found the full clip of their previous video.
My Week with Kindness Counts

August (AKA my first month of high school):

On the set of The Sunny Side Up Show - This post chronicles the history of and behind-the-scenes information about The Sunny Side Up Show.
The Original Sunshine Barn - This is a post about the original Sunny Side Up Show set. Back in 2016, I ran another Sprout fan blog called Let's Grow, after the original slogan, and THAT ONE had a similar post.
My Week with SproutOnline.com
My Week with The Sunny Side Up Show
Why It's Called That - Ever wonder why my blog is called Parents and Kids Share Together? Read this post and find out!
My Week with 2011
My Life as a Sprout Fan - The day before I started high school, I written what may be my favorite post on this blog. Here, I talk about my life as and experiences of being the world's biggest Sprout fan, with some pictures of me through the years that you don’t get to see anywhere else. Not only that, but I’m also the world's biggest fan of people who are fans of Sprout and children's entertainment in general like you.
Beware of Anti-Piracy Screens - I written this on the first day of school. This post tells you not to touch, watch, or encounter fake Sprout anti-piracy videos on YouTube.
SSU Pics from 2011 YouTube - Title explains it all! Sunny Side Up Show pictures from a 2011 Wayback Machine archive.
My Week with On-Demand

September:

Five CGI Caillou Specials in the Works - W!ldBrain Entertainment announced the return of Caillou through upcoming specials, and I wrote about them here.
My Week with The Sprout Sharing Show
Ten Years of LazyTown on Sprout - I wrote a post for LazyTown's tenth anniversary on Sprout. This makes me wish I wrote a You and Me Tree and Poppy Cat tenth anniversary post on November 7th too!
All About The Let's Go Show - This post chronicles the history of The Let's Go Show.
Universal Kids' Anniversary - In this post, I look back on the launch of Universal Kids four years later.
The Good Night Show Split-Screen Credits - After someone found rare Good Night Show split-screen credits after Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat and uploaded it to YouTube, I wrote a post about The Good Night Show squeezebacks throughout the years.
My Week with Sprout Apps
America's Kids Remember - A twentieth anniversary look back on the events of 9/11.
My Week with Branding
The Chica Show - A post about the history of Sprout's highest-rated original series.
Sheinelle Jones
Rubbadubbers - A post about the HiT Entertainment show on its twelfth "Sproutiversary" that I written on my own fourteenth birthday.
R.I.P Willie Garson - Remembering a television legend and his guest appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show.
My Week with Birthdays
Sprout's Sixteenth Anniversary - Similar to how the Let's Grow YouTube channel and I uploaded a series of Sprout videos on the brand's tenth and fifteenth anniversaries respectively, I written a series of posts about Sprout’s history on this blog to celebrate the brand's sweet sixteenth.
Sprout-tober - Also this year, I came up with a Sprout Instagram challenge I did throughout October.
R.I.P Sesame Street's Mike Renzi - Remembering the former Sesame Street music director.

October:

Everything Reminds Me of Sprout - In this otherwise odd post, I write about how I see Sprout everywhere in my life.
My Week with Promotions and Initiatives
Dan Zanes - This post is about a children's singer and his Sprout contributions.
Sleepover - This post is about a Sprout "box bumper" which ran during the second generation.
William Shatner - The Star Trek star narrated Sprout's Clangers and did many things on the channel to promote
Getting Dressed - A post about a jingle that probably aired on Sprout that taught kids about how to get dressed.
Sunny Side Update - A post about the changes that came to The Sunny Side Up Show regarding Sprout's tenth anniversary rebranding.
My Week with 2009
Sprout Farms Ketchup - While surfing through people's Instagrams, I found a picture of a Sunny Side Up Show prop I just had to write about!
Launch Day? - I found about yet another Instagram picture I think is from Sprout's 2005 inception and wrote about it here.
200 Posts! - After marking a milestone for the blog, I knew I just had to write about it. Beware for the names of lots of people and characters I thanked!
The Sprout Art of Khalil - A PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki admin uploaded fan art which I noticed a few things wrong with and wrote about them here.
My Week with Sprout Music
My Week with The Good Night Show
My Week with Halloween
Happy Halloween, Sproutlets!
Why Sesame Street is More Vital Than Ever - I took a Wall Street Journal post about Sesame Street and put it here for all to see, and pointed out a few facts and spoilers in the article.

November:

No One Cares About Banjo - A post about why Banjo the Dog of The Let's Go Show fame is underrated.
The History of Star - A post about the character development and puppet designs of Star from The Good Night Show.
Which is Better?: Sprout's Signature Blocks - I decided to compare Sprout's two longest-running blocks and see which one was better. Note that I asked people to tell me which was better in the comments, yet this blog rarely gets comments.
Upcoming fanfic trailer - Shortly before I released the fic on November 23rd this year, I released a trailer on the Fanfiction website and wrote about it here.
Fanfic sequel in the works - Always Famous is coming to a fanfic site near you!
My Week with 2008
Sprout's Thanksgiving Diner Party - A post about a Sprout Diner stunt and contest from 2006.
One Sleep to Go! - One of the most popular posts on this blog is about the fanfic the day before it was released, and contains a few spoilers.
A Sesame Street Christmas Carol - A post about Sesame Street's take on a Charles Dickens classic, which premiered on Sprout on Demand in 2006.
Sprout Puzzles - Something that appears in the fanfic and also something I really wanted for Christmas this year.
Sprout plates - A fan found these nifty Sprout collectibles and posted these on Discord, and I wrote about them here.
The Chica Awards - This post chronicles a Sunny Side Up Show Christmas tradition from 2012 to 2014.
The Chica Show characters sing a song from Preschool Musical - I found something amazing on a YouTube video and wrote about it. Enjoy!

December:

Rare Good Night Show Behind the Scenes Pictures - I found some Good Night Show rarities from 2006 and posted about them. In this post, I tackle a behind the scenes mystery. What is it? Read the post and find out!
Interesting… - While skimming through photos online, I found one from circa 2014 I just don’t know what it was for.
Ian Rogers - I found a few SproutOnline.com prototypes on someone's website and wrote about them here.
Caillou's Holiday Movie - This blog chronicles a Christmas special that has aired on Sprout since 2007.
Fifteen Years of Nina - I put out a series of Good Night Show YouTube videos to commemorate Nina's fifteenth anniversary.
Behind the Squeak - A post about a Chica Show promotional video.
Elmo's World: Happy Holidays! - A post about a Sesame Street Christmas special that aired on Sprout several times.
The Time I Called Sprout - A post about an experience I had as a Sprout fan.
Shout for Sprout.com - Did they mean SproutOnline.com?
Barney's Christmas Star - A post about a Barney & Friends Christmas special that also aired on Sprout several times.
The Let's Snow Show - The time Kevin Yamada and Melanie Martinez hosted a Sprout Christmas special together from inside a giant snowglobe.
The Time I Hosted The Sunny Side Up Show - Back when I was still in elementary school, I hosted our daily morning show and pointed out its similarities to The Sunny Side Up Show.
Merry Christmas Sproutlets - We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Guess what? - It was Christmas 2021 and I received a personalized Christmas video from the old gang, courtesy of a former employee.
Sprout at the Movies - A look at a special section of the Sprout for Parents website.
Maddie Takes Manhattan - A review of my third trip to New York City (December 26th-29th), what happened, and where we went.
Sprout and Sesame Street - After noticing lots of similarities between the Sprout gang and the Sesame Street gang, I decided to make a post comparing them.
The End of the World - A look at Sprout's history with New Year celebrations.
Knee-Deep in the Hoopla: 2021 in Review - And voila! This is the post you're reading right now!

Thanks to everyone who read this blog over the past twelve months. Here’s to hoping 2022 is just as good!

Click here to party like it's 2022 on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Sprout and Sesame Street

Madeline Fretz - Sesame Street aired on Sprout for the first ten years, and lately I’ve been noticing some similarities between the SST gang and the Sprout gang. Here’s what I’ve noticed.

Image from PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki (guess who created the page…)

Elmo: Cute, lovable, hangs out with both kids and celebrities a lot, and was popular enough to spawn his own shows. Even though Elmo doesn't speak through squeak, he's Chica.

Ernie: Fun-loving, always wants to do fun things compared to what Bert tells him to. He's Star.

Big Bird: Is often curious, asks questions from time to time, and was designed to represent the viewers at home. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew how to play stringed instruments like banjos. He’s Banjo.

Prairie Dawn: The positive emcee of many plays and pageants. If someone else were doing her job, that person would be considered a rude or abrupt dismissal. Although Prairie isn't played by a human cast member, she's Patty.

Hoots: The owl of the gang who knows how to play a cool instrument. He's Curtis.

Grover: Has too many jobs. He was a mailman for the Mail-It Shop in the 2000s, so I’m going to have to go with Mr. Mailman.

Dorothy: Hush. Need I say more?

The Zoemobile: Zoe's car Luis built for her she always drove around in. Reminds me a bit of Carla the Car.

Maria and Luis: Speak Spanish words and teach their friends life lessons when needed. Nina.

Chris: Young black man with an energetic attitude and is always up for an adventure if there is one. Debuted in 2007. He's Miles.

Click here to teach your friends life lessons when needed on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Maddie Takes Manhattan

Madeline Fretz - I knew what would happen once I saw this puzzle on Christmas Day. I've been to the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps, New York City twice prior (once for Spring Break 2018, once at the start of 2020), but now I would be going again. On my first trip, we took a train, on our second, we took a bus, but this time we'd be going on an airplane. I have previously been on planes to Orlando in 2013, Key Largo in 2016, and Las Vegas in April, but this would be the first time I’d fly to NYC. Santa gave my sisters and I headphones, suitcases, and jackets since we would be flying there anyways.

I just got home, and I’m sharing some pictures from this trip just for you, I know this is a Sprout blog, but don’t worry, there’s a bit of Sprout in this post. I promise.

We stayed in the Lotte New York Palace, which is where Season One of the show Gossip Girl was filmed. Here’s the amazing view from our room!

Holding up the world!

This is Radio City Music Hall. Barney LIVE! in New York City filmed here in 1994 and Elmopalooza, the Sesame Street 30th anniversary special, in 1999.

At an iconic train station I don’t know the name of.

Me with the huge ornaments by Radio City.

Pizza!

Me with a milkshake at Max Brenner.

This is me with my mom with a light show.

My sisters and I saw the Statue of Liberty on a ferry to Staten Island.

This is me with a sign at the largest store ever(?) and the home of the thanksgiving day parade - Macy's. I had to go to the bathroom, so we went there, and even rode the world's oldest escalator.

Us with the pretty views of city lights at Roosevelt Island, where took a tram both to and from.

…and finally this is me with 30 Rockefeller Center, where they filmed The Sunny Side Up Show as of 2014.

Other things my family did on the trip were the following: Dad and my sisters saw The Music Man on Broadway (on my first trip, we saw Wicked, on our second, we saw Frozen) while Mom and I went to the M&Ms Store, Dad and my sister Abbie went to trapeze school while Mom, Ella, and I went to Strand and Max Brenner's, and we went ice skating, though I didn’t want to, and I had hot chocolate.

Overall, great trip, even though New York is not my kinda place. Ya know, too cold, too many people, a lot of walking…

Weekly Character Wednesdays: JB

JB Juicebox

APPEARED IN:

Sprout's Wiggly Waffle

BEST-KNOWN ROLE:

Host of various Wiggly Waffle segments

WHO IS JB? JB Juicebox is the co-host of Sprout's Wiggly Waffle. She hosted various segments on the block such as Juicebox Picks (a music video segment) and Fifth Wiggle.

WHY DOES WIGGLY WAFFLE NEED JB? Wiggly Waffle needs JB so they can have a co-host to the Wiggles, much like Star was to Nina or Chica was to her on-air Sunny Side Up Show companions, even though she rarely appeared with the band outside of promos and promo pictures. They also need her to host viewer-submitted segments.

Click here to host viewer-submitted segments on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Sprout at the Movies

In 2011, there was a special section on Sprout for Parents called Sprout at the Movies. The section promoted then-new movies coming out with themed crafts and recipes.

The picture shows Winnie the Pooh (2011), a movie which may be my first trip to the movies. If not, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. I don’t know if Disney gave Sprout for Parents permission to promote the film, since it was theirs after all.

Image from YouTube

Other movies promoted were Hop!, The Lorax, and The Wiggles' Big Big Show in the Round. The latter is probably the only Sprout at the Movies movie to be based on a Sprout show, while the other two were both released by Illumination Entertainment.

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Guess what?

Madeline Fretz - This is Steven, one of my Facebook friends and a former Sprout worker. I became friends with him when he commented on one of my posts on a Sprout fan group on Facebook. This Christmas I got the Goodnight Stories DVD and it was established I was going to New York City tomorrow. But you know what my biggest present was this year?

I’m talking about THIS! Steven sent it to my Mom, she sent it to me, and I uploaded it to my YouTube channel. It has some of the old gang (Kelly Vrooman, Sean Roach, Kevin Yamada, Carly Ciarrocchi, Michele Lepe, Forrest Harding, and Stacia Newcomb) wishing me a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Plus, Forrest showed me what they used for Chica's squeaks and made a reference to "Nothing Better," Kelly sang a Christmas version of the Birthday Song, Stacia did a Star impression, and Carly showed a painting of her and Chica. OMG! These guys know my name, and even know I’m the world's biggest fan! I’m lucky! All my friends will be jealous!

Thanks a lot, Steven. Merry Christmas to all!

Click here to show a painting of you and an old friend on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Merry Christmas Sproutlets!

Here’s what I got in my stocking this morning.

Madeline Fretz - This is it, Sproutlets and Grown-up Sprouts! It’s Christmas Morning! So, I requested a lot of rare Sprout stuff on my Christmas list, yet all I got was this. Lastly, I at Parents and Kids Share Together wish you a happy 2022 and beyond!