Madeline Fretz -Pajanimals was a series from the Jim Henson Company. The show started out as interstitials made by Henson and 4KIDS in 2008, and consisted of four puppet characters singing nighttime-related songs. In 2011, Henson and Sixteen South made a full, half-hour series based on the show. Here, the characters would go on imaginary adventures at bedtime to solve a problem.
A Sprout original series (and one of their first few), the show premiered on the network in November, and aired during The Good Night Show, Sprout's signature nighttime block. "La La Lullaby" aired every night before the final link.
"Meet The Pajanimals - CowBella, Apollo, Sweetpea Sue, and Squacky - four friends who snuggle together every night to sing sweet night time songs to their preschool friends at home."
The half-hour series premiered on November 7th, 2011 during the sixth season of The Good Night Show, and "La La Lullaby" now aired after the final link every night, instantly becoming a one-hit wonder. The characters have also appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show several times - Squacky appeared in 2011, Sweetpea Sue for Valentine's Day 2013, and Granny Pearl for Grandparents' Day 2012.
The show survived the third generation rebranding, making it one of the only shows to air during all three Sprout generations, but stopped airing sometime in 2016. The show may no longer air, but it lives on in our memories.
Madeline Fretz -Kipper was a British show based on the book series by Mick Inkpen. The show focused on the titular orange dog and his adventures with his friends - Tiger and Pig and Arnold. The show was made by HiT Entertainment, one of Sprout's founders. HiT aired select preschool programs from its archive library on Sprout when it launched, including Kipper. When PBS Kids Sprout on Demand launched in April 2005, Kipper was part of the "Children's Favorites" category.
Sprout described the show as:
"Optimistic and Curious, Kipper is the quintessential child with an active imagination. With his unforgettable charm, Kipper captivates and delights children the world over. The touching and imaginative adventures are based on the best-selling books by Mick Inkpen."
The show aired at 8:15, 8:45, 9:15, and 11:45 ET when Sprout launched, and was usually the final show to air during The Good Night Show.
Nina and her Sproutlet friends did "Arnold's Clean-Up Stretch," based on a character from the show, in the Good Night Show Season 4 episode "Bedtime Routines."
The show stopped airing on Sprout on July 26th, 2015, a few months before the third generation rebranding, along with several other shows.
Madeline Fretz -Zoboomafoo was a live-action PBS show starring the Kratt brothers, Chris and Martin (also of Kratts' Creatures and Wild Kratts) and a lemur named Zoboomafoo (AKA Zoboo) (played by real-live lemur Jovian and Canadian puppeteer Gord Robertson). The show taught about animals and what they do.
Since PBS was one of Sprout's founders, preschool shows from its archive library aired on the channel when it launched, including reruns of Zoboomafoo. The show was on Sprout on Demand when it launched on Comcast in April 2005, and made it to the 24-hour channel, which launched on September 26th.
"This television series introduces youngsters to the wonderful world of animals. With Zoboo and the Kratt Brothers, children explore common and exotic animals and their habitats. The show encourages children to be confident, inquisitive, caring, and helpful to people and animals."
Like most Sprout shows at the time, the show got its own Sprout Diner snack, Zoboomafoo Banana Pops, and a Birthday Show activity, Zoboomafoo Bingo.
The show aired at 12:30 ET when Sprout launched, and later aired at 4PM ET when The Sprout Sharing Show launched.
However, the show stopped airing on Sprout on July 7th, 2011, though its page was still up on SproutOnline.com
UPDATE (3/24/2022): According to Sprout Dylan (hi, Sprout Dylan!), the show stopped airing on February 13th, 2012, a day before the premiere of The Super Sproutlet Show.
Madeline Fretz - Do you have a refrigerator in your home? You probably do. If you don't have one or don't know what one is, refrigerators (or "fridges") are special places to keep food and drinks.
SproutOnline.com had its first website refresh on August 9th, 2007, with Sprout for Parents launching on the 22nd. One of the new features on this new version of the website was "My Refrigerator" (which probably launched earlier, or even a year prior, judging by "Sprout's Spring Surprise" in the above picture). My Refrigerator was a place to keep your submitted pictures, favorite games, receive suggestions, keep in touch with other families, and get alerted about whatever Sprout was doing next, amongst other stuff.
You know how the front of the refrigerator turns into your family scrapbook? Well, this personal page is the same idea. It’s the private, password protected scrapbook just for you and your Sproutlet, with a private picture gallery, spam-free Sprout Mail, links to your favorite games, and tons more.
Membership is completely free, and signing up only takes a few minutes. So what are you waiting for? Join the fun today!
The same year, Sprout held a contest in which Grown-Up Sprouts were encouraged to send in pictures of pictures and artwork on their own refrigerators, and a lucky winner would receive a Chester Creek Technologies Computer. (source)
A few years later (2009 probably), My Refrigerator was renamed My Sprout, and was probably removed in 2011 with the site refresh.
Madeline Fretz - I'm deeply sorry if I discussed this show previously. Dragon Tales was an animated series by Sesame Workshop (then known as the Children's Television Workshop) about two kids named Max and Emmy who would wish upon a scale and travel to a magical land inhabited by dragons named Ord, Cassie, Zak and Wheezie, and Quetzal. Max and Emmy were later joined by their Bilingual friend Enrique. The show premiered on September 6th, 1999, when PBS launched the 24-hour PBS Kids channel, and continued to air new episodes until 2005.
Since Sesame Workshop and PBS were two of Sprout's founders, reruns of shows from the companies' archive libraries aired on the channel, including Dragon Tales. One thing diehard Sprout fans know is that, five months prior to the linear channel's launch, PBS Kids Sprout launched as a video-on-demand service on Comcast in April 2005, and Dragons was one of the shows to premiere on demand before on digital cable.
The show aired at 7:30, 4PM, and 6:30 ET when the Sprout channel launched on September 26th. As time went by, it aired on The Let's Go Show and The Good Night Show.
"This animated fantasy adventure series features Emmy and Max, their bi-lingual neighbor Enrique, and the dragons they befriend in Dragon Land. The children and dragons help each other overcome obstacles and cope with fears through songs and games."
So yeah, the show was like Barney with animated dragons.
The show got a Sprout Diner snack - Dragon Tales Tortilla Treat, a Birthday Show activity - Dragon Tales' Egg-celent Dragon Craft, and two Good Night Show stretches - Zak and Wheezie's Umbrella Stretch (from "Rainy Days") and Max and Emmy's School Stretch (from "School"). The Tortilla Treat became "unthemed"(?) once the show stopped airing.
However, the show stopped airing on PBS on August 31st, 2010, and was subsequently replaced in the PBS Kids Preschool Block (which was very similar to The Good Night Show and The Sunny Side Up Show) by The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!. Once Dragon Tales left PBS, it also left Sprout, and was replaced on The Good Night Show schedule by Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies, which premiered on Sprout a year prior, and reruns of Angelina Ballerina (source). The latter show has previously stopped airing on The Good Night Show. This was a month before The Let's Go Show dissolved.
Madeline Fretz -Fireman Sam was a Welsh show about a firefighter who lived in a town called Pontypandy, and would teach its young residents safety lessons. Since the show was produced and distributed by HiT Entertainment, a company which also served as one of Sprout's founders, it aired on the channel for some time.
"Fireman Sam and the Pontypandy Fire Brigade never seem to have a quiet day -- their services are always needed. Whether stuck on a high cliff-face or caught in a cave, the children of Pontypandy know help is close at hand -- thanks to the brave and resourceful Fireman Sam."
One of HiT Entertainment's finest, the show premiered on PBS Kids Sprout on Demand when it launched on Comcast on Demand in April 2005 (proof?), and was one of the shows advertised on the Sproutletsgrow.com TV schedule page. However, the show didn't premiere on the actual linear channel until a year later.
When Sprout was celebrating its first anniversary in 2006, it was announced that the channel would air stop-motion episodes of Fireman Sam and, to promote, release fire safety shorts starring real-life firefighter Dayna Hilton and her dalmatian Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog. Fireman Sam's Safety Special aired in October.
The show got its own Sprout Diner snack, Fireman Sam's Sloppy Fire Truck.
The CGI episodes premiered in September 2009, shortly after the second generation rebrand. It was Fire Prevention Week, and Firefighter Dayna made an appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show.
The show stopped airing on Sprout on May 11th, 2014, the same day The Sprout Sharing Show dissolved (new segments haven't aired in years) and a day before Lily's Driftwood Bay made its Sprout debut.
(PBS was one of the four companies that launched Sprout in 2005. Sprout, which aired some of PBS' children's programming, replaced the unsuccessful 24-hour PBS Kids channel on September 26th)
Madeline Fretz - One thing I like to do on this blog is write about old news articles about Sprout. One interesting little article is one published on April 6th, 2008, coming from TVWeek, the same website that brought us the "Saluting Sprout's Launch" article from 2005.
"Limited Ads Help Sprout to Grow," as I said, is quite interesting. One thing noticeable about the article is that the writer says "Not to be confused with PBS." People get Sprout confused with PBS or PBS Kids, so I'm glad she(he?) both wrote it and gave a brief overview of Sprout in general, to introduce newcomers to the Sprout brand. Now, for those of you who get Sprout confused with PBS, just remember that the channel was a joint venture between PBS, HiT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop, and Comcast (most of those companies no longer own the brand), and aired PBS shows until it turned ten in 2015.
The article also introduces readers to Sprout's blocks - The Sunny Side Up Show, The Good Night Show, and The Let's Go Show, and mentioned that SeaWorld was to sponsor a sea animal-themed block. I wrote about the potential block alongside other unfinished Sprout material on a previous post, and suggested that the block would become The Sprout Sharing Show. We're not sure, but hey, those are suggestions.
The article also mentions that some of Sprout's sponsors included the likes of Kimberly Clark (Huggies sponsored Sprout since the very beginning), Geico, Sony Home Video and Honda (which collaborated with Sprout to make holiday bumpers during the first generation). Also in the article, Sprout's then-president Sandy Wax said she refused for Sprout to air commercials for sugary cereal and other junk. After all, ads and sponsors are what this article is all about.
This 2014 sizzle reel mentions that Sprout had over 1.6 billion VOD views.
Around the time this article was published, Sprout was available in 37 million homes via Comcast Digital Cable/Xfinity (Channel 128) and DirecTV (Channel 295), and Sprout on Demand, which launched five months ahead of the 24-hour channel in April 2005, has had about 380 million orders. Wow, impressive! Sprout was a pretty small channel back in the 2000s but was still pretty big when it came to viewers and customers.
"All preschool all the time" was featured on the SproutOnline.com homepage, along with a list of Sprout's blocks and their airtimes.
While both Disney and Nickelodeon offered their own preschool blocks, Sprout was the first network that aired preschool programming all day. That's why they referred to themselves as "All Preschool, all the time," a slogan they've had since launch in 2005. "Preschool TV around the clock" was just a one-time thing to promote the channel when it launched. In the article, Wax pointed out that Sprout got positive feedback from adult viewers (referred to as "Big Sprouts" or "Grown-up Sprouts") even after two years of business.
The article also mentioned both of Sprout's blocks that launched during the channel's second anniversary - The Sunny Side Up Show and Musical Mornings with Coo, and mentioned that Musical Mornings utilized music videos from Sprout shows and live-action segments of kids getting ready for the day, while Chica on Sunny cracked open surprise eggs that were used to link into segments. Nowadays, there are strange kiddie videos on YouTube that use surprise eggs alongside other things, such as unboxing, toys of kids' show characters, and real kids (*cough* Diana *cough* Ryan *cough* *cough*).
The article ends with a pretty neat statement: "And if and when children wake up in the middle of the night, Sprout is there for them, and their parents." And I choose to end this post with that saying too.
Click here to watch TV in the middle of the night on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - In 2007, Sprout celebrated Valentine's Day. Not with cards and chocolates, but with Mr. Mailman. You see, Sprout was celebrating the Season 2 premiere of its first original series The Many Adventures of Mr. Mailman, which premiered in July last year. From 6AM to 6PM on Valentine's Day (February 14th), Mr. Mailman would deliver both on-air wishes from characters like Barney, Elmo, Caillou, The Hoobs, and the Teletubbies and virtual cards from Sproutlets and their Big Sprouts. (source)
The following year, The Sunny Side Up Show celebrated Valentine's Day by inviting Sesame Street's Prairie Dawn to join the fun. It was around this time that viewers could get a chance to call Kelly and Chica LIVE! from 9AM to noon.
"Join Kelly, Chica and special guest Prairie Dawn from 9am-noon and again at 3-6pm ET for Sprout's Special Valentine's Day Delivery Celebration LIVE during The Sunny Side Up Show. Call Kelly, Chica & Prairie Dawn LIVE today from 3-6pm at (877) 91-CHICA - your call may be on Sprout! And don't forget to send us your preschooler's Valentine message for the one they love -- it may be on TV! Click below to submit your message:"
Click here to send in Valentine's messages to the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz -Panwapa was a miniseries created by Sesame Workshop and starring the Muppets (not the ones from Sesame Street - although they were recycled from Sesame Muppets and played by Sesame Muppeteers). The characters included Azibo the Monster (Kevin Clash), Tungar the Tiger (voiced by Nigel Plaskitt), Athena the Owl, Koko the Penguin (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph), Baabra Sheep (Carmen Oshbar) and her two kids, and Bill the Bug (Joey Mazzarino).
The show aired on Sprout as part of Summer Fun Fridays in 2008, and it is unknown if the show aired again after that, although its page remained up on SproutOnline.com. The show aired during The Let's Go Show.
"Meet new friends from the creators of Sesame Street in partnership with the Merrill Lynch Foundation. Join Azibo the Monster on his adventures exploring Panwapa Island, discovering new customs and meeting new friends."
Madeline Fretz - These kind of promos debuted and aired during the first generation, probably sometime in 2007. They promoted shows by giving viewers descriptions and when they aired through clips.
The Good Night Show promos featured a nighttime backdrop, maybe the Goodnight Garden or the Hills of Sprout. Lucy the Firefly would summon the represented show's title and then appear at the end of the promos along with the Season 4 logo, the show's title, and time it aired. This practice was also used in blockisode promos. These promos usually featured Production Music #1, while the blockisode promos featured the music that played while Nina recited her Sprout Stretch poem.
If we look at The Let's Go Show, that block's first generation promo branding is pretty rare. All we have of it is a promo for Dive Olly Dive that plays at the end of Any Del's recording of Sesame Street Episode 3914 on YouTube and a first generation tape someone uploaded to YouTube which I wrote about. The Olly promo shows Miles and Banjo driving Carla the Car, who summons the show's title. The end of the promos features the Let's Go Show logo, the show's title, and time it aired.
This promo branding, which was also from said tape, is either for Sprout Mornings or Musical Mornings with Coo, which debuted in 2007. The end of the promos features the show's title, the time it aired, the Sprout logo in a cereal bowl and sunflowers.
The Sunny Side Up Show's promo branding started with a rooster by the Sunshine Barn crowing, and an egg summoning the show's title. At the end of the promos, we would see the first generation Sunny Side Up Show logo, the show's title, time it aired, a cow mooing, and a chicken who would cluck eggs that would slide down a slide. These promos often used Production Music #4, though the Fifi and the Flowertots and Roary the Racing Car promos used Production Music #1.
The Sprout Sharing Show's promo branding had human hands placing the represented show's title on screen and ended with Patty holding up the Sharing Show logo (in the Zoboomafoo promo, she held up the Sprout logo), the show's title, the time it aired, and a tree with a camera and a xylophone.
Madeline Fretz - Mr. Mailman was a character created by Sprout who debuted on The Birthday Show in 2005. Mr. Mailman originally delivered birthday cards to host Kevin, a trait he later did on The Sunny Side Up Show, which launched in 2007.
In a December 2005 article, it was announced that Sprout executives were developing four interstitial series about geography, healthy eating, music, and creative storytelling (source). The geography series would later become The Many Adventures of Mr. Mailman.
Many Adventures would follow Mr. Mailman as he would deliver letters, packages etc to his Sproutlet friends' relatives and other people like their teachers. The show premiered in July 2006, making it Sprout's first original series. The channel wouldn't make a full-length one until 2010.
The show also had an online presence on Sproutletsgrow.com (later SproutOnline.com). Here, you could download a personalized passport and cutout of Mr. Mailman, join Mr. Mailman's Travel Club, and play games such as dressing Mr. Mailman for the weather.
The show also got a Sprout Diner recipe, Mr. Mailman's Pita Pocket.
Based on the books by Stan and Jan Berenstain, The Berenstain Bears is a Canadian cartoon series about a family of bears that learn morals or safety-related lessons. The series was produced by Nelvana and aired on PBS.
The series was one of many PBS shows that aired on Sprout when the channel launched on September 26th, 2005, and aired every night during The Good Night Show.
Sprout also aired a marathon of episodes once original book author Stan Berenstain died, and a Father's Day marathon in 2006 called "Papa Bear's Day Celebration."
The show also got a Sprout Diner recipe called Berenstain Bears' Breakfast Oatmeal.
Along with Caillou, the series was one of two PBS shows that survived the third generation rebrand. However, it stopped airing in 2017, shortly before the launch of Universal Kids.
"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 - 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."
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.
From 2008 to 2011, Sprout aired a special Halloween broadcast of The Good Night Show called A Sweet Goodnight Treat, in which Nina and Star would play dress up games and show viewers' Halloween costumes in addition to doing activities they normally do. From what I have heard, the set was painted orange for these broadcasts.
In 2011, the special was live, so it had to take place on The Sunny Side Up Show set due to the one from The Good Night Show either being non-existent or impractical for live airings. Chica tagged along. In fact, I remember watching the one and only broadcast of this special in 2011.
This post I was looking forward to since I am a big fan of sleeping and bedtime. In 2008, Sprout teamed up with Genevieve Pitturo's The Pajama Program, which was founded in 2001, to launch The Great Sprout Tuck-In, an initiative for donating new books and pajamas to children who don't have them. The initiative was convinced by Lauren Monks. (source)
Two PSAs were made for the initiative. One with Nina from The Good Night Show helping the Pajanimals get ready for bed and talking about the Tuck-In.
…and the other featuring Nina reading to Star. This one incorporates clips from Sprout shows and blocks - as well as the purple television.
The initiative had its own section of Sproutonline.com. Coloring pages made to promote the Tuck-In included "Pin the Polka Dots on Chica's Pajamas" and "Make Your Own Pajamas." According to here, it appears Pitturo was on The Sunny Side Up Show once.
In 2010, Liz Filios and Chica of The Sunny Side Up Show held a pajama party on their block to promote the initiative and invited puppet characters from other Sprout shows and blocks. Similarly, Nina hosted pajama drive parties to promote the Tuck In as well.
