Black History Month

 

  
Madeline Fretz - As many of you probably know, February is Black History Month. Sprout has had its fair share of diverse hosts over the years, but only five of them were black - Leo from The Good Night Show, Miles from The Let's Go Show, Dennisha and Darryl from The Sunny Side Up Show, and TJ from Sprout House. Today, we're taking a look at the impact and social significance of these five.

When Sprout launched, it had programming blocks with live-action hosts to fill the gaps in between shows - a tradition maintained for a long time. Originally, the hosts were Kevin from The Birthday Show and Melanie from The Good Night Show. Kevin read Sproutlets' birthday cards and showed Grown-Up Sprouts how to submit them in, while Melanie made crafts, taught stretches, told stories, and introduced the shows during bedtime hours. 

Now, on most kids' shows, there is less of a mix of races, and the cast members are usually white, while Sprout showed a lot more diversity - Kevin was Asian, while Melanie was Latinx. Sprout was a diverse place to be, but it was still for kids.

Eventually, Sprout executives discovered Melanie was in two PSAs in the early 2000s on a website known as technicalvirgin.com, and fired her. The Good Night Show went on hiatus while auditions were held for a new, permanent host. Until the new host was introduced, veteran puppeteer Noel MacNeal appeared as human host Leo, who was introduced in September 2006. Leo planted seeds, sang songs, told stories, and introduced shows. Most importantly, he introduced Sproutlets to Lucy the Firefly, who came out of his pocket. A few years prior, Leo's actor did the same thing he did on The Good Night Show - as a character who lived in a house that was blue, and he loved to cha-cha-cha. Somewhere on the internet, there still exists a forum about Leo's tenure, and a promo introducing new host Nina (Michele Lepe) aired in the meantime (source).

Sprout described Leo as:

"Noel MacNeal, an Emmy-nominated, 20-year veteran of children’s television, joins The Good Night Show as Leo, the series’ special guest host.Helping parents wind down their kids after a busy day, Leo plays games, sing songs and creates bedtime stories with Star, the lovable and lively star-shaped puppet. New to The Good Night Show is Lucy, an enchanting puppet firefly, who helps introduce episodes of Sprout favorites such as Dragon Tales™,  Angelina Ballerina™ and Bob The Builder™. Leo will be the special guest host while Sprout continues its multi-city search for the new host of The Good Night Show, which will tape its third season later this fall."

On May 7th, 2007, day one of Las Vegas' NCTA, Sprout announced it was launching a new afternoon programming block called The Let's Go Show, which launched on June 25th that year. The Let's Go Show was hosted by Miles (Milton Barnes), who hung out with Banjo the Dog, drove Carla the Car, sang songs, and played the trumpet. Miles also wore a purple watch called the Sprout Spotter, which served as the basis for the show's opening. Similarly, Bean from The Super Sproutlet Show also had a "Sprout Spotter," but hers had the green flower in the Sprout logo on it. Miles and Banjo were part of the plot of Sprout's Preschool Musical on a Stick in 2008.

PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki describes Miles as:

"Miles taught viewers to explore and be curious, and drove Carla the Car. As Banjo's teacher, Miles came by almost every day to explore and learn through songs and recipes with her. Miles often had a "Sprout Spotter," which sort of resembled a watch."

In 2009, around the time the second generation era launched, Sprout held auditions for a new Sunny Side Up Show host. One of many who auditioned was actress Dennisha Pratt, who told the date and weather with Chica. Pratt eventually won the role, and made her live debut on December 31st, 2009, replacing launch day host Kevin, who had left for "the big city." Dennisha's, along with Kelly's, audition video was posted on Sprout's official Facebook page to promote the Host Hunt contest in 2013. Eventually, YouTuber Let's Grow (who inspired the name of my old Sprout blog) found the videos and uploaded them to his(her?) YouTube channel. Dennisha was one of the many weekly hosts of The Sunny Side Up Show, and appeared until 2014, when she moved away with her family, and was subsequently replaced by new host Emily. I previously wrote about Dennisha on a post about the female hosts of The Sunny Side Up Show.

Darryl Williams, a former airman from Columbus, put up a Host Hunt audition video in 2013. In the middle of the night, Darryl got a mysterious phone call that happened to be from Sprout, and literally freaked out when he learned he was one of the finalists, waking up his son in the process. Darryl made his Sunny Side Up Show debut on Veterans Day, and his segment "Dial Darryl" debuted on January 3rd. In addition, he guest hosted The Sunny Side Up Show for Father's Day 2014 and appeared on the Sprout float of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2013.

Played by actor Donnell Smith, TJ was a journalist who visited Carly and Snug in the Sprout House, Sunny Side Up's pre-recorded replacement, from time to time. TJ liked eating pancakes, taking pictures, and hosted segments such as "Kid of the Week."

While most of its continuity announcers were white, like most kids' shows, Sprout was still a place for black children to see people who looked just like them. They understood them. The black people on TV served as role models, and showed kids that they were not alone. Of course, Sprout's original programming were not the first kids' shows, or Sprout shows in general, to feature black cast members - Sesame Street had Gordon, Susan, David, Olivia, Miles, Mr. Handford, Lillian, Savion, Angela, Jamal, Kayla, and Chris, alongside other cast members, while Barney & Friends had characters like Derek, Tosha, Ashley and Alissa, Kim, and Keesha. These characters also resembled, understood, and served as role models to black kids. Isn't that the most amazing thing?

Everyone was welcome on Sprout, and that matters.

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