Madeline Fretz - Hi, Sproutlets. It's me, Maddie. Today, I have some news - since 2020, this site has been a part of Blogger/Blogspot. All that changes today, as this is my last Blogger post.
Don't despair!
You heard me right, folks! As of today, we'll be on Wordpress (https://sprouttvfans.wordpress.com/). Our new Wordpress website will have almost all of my more-than-400 posts over the past two years, plus, as I've heard, will be easier for sharing and posting. Pretty soon, this URL will redirect to our new Wordpress site.
As always, you can still contribute to Parents and Kids - either (or both) take part in one of our series or write your own, Sprout-related article. I run this blog alone, but would definitely love more writers! In addition, the Parents and Kids Share Together forum (I'm one of their only members right now) will still be up, and I'll still link you to their discussions. I'll also love it if you join me there!
Oh, and one more thing. I was originally going to launch Parents and Kids on Wordpress to commemorate 400 posts, but found it hard to do it. Well, here we are, a few days later and time to welcome our newly-launched Wordpress site to the world!
Special thanks to everyone who helped me make Parents and Kids Share Together a success on Blogger - that includes everyone who engaged in my series, fellow Sprout fans, including those on the Discord fan server, and of course, you, the readers. No, I wasn't kidding when I said you. Without you, there wouldn't be a Sprout blog on the internet - even Let's Grow would have not existed! Thank you!
Well people, it's been two years on this blog. Two years and we're just getting started! I'll admit. Moving to Wordpress and starting writing there is a bizarre feeling - if your site, like mine, started out on Blogger but moved to Wordpress, you've probably had this feeling too. Most blogs are associated as being Blogger sites, but other sites, and that goes to Wordpress, are sometimes called "blogs" as well. Despite the changes, Parents and Kids Share Together will always (forever?) be associated as a Blogger blog. I love Parents and Kids, and I bet you do too. This blog has allowed me to meet new Sprout fans-turned-friends, show off my writing skills, and most importantly, write about my childhood. I thank you all for making the past two years of my life an adventure.
New logo
Click here to pack your bags on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - Dear friends, as of today, we've reached 400 posts. That's right, folks, 400 posts about what made children's television great. Over the past two years, I've established myself as the #1 go-to site for Sprout fans. Okay, people, without further ado, let's take a look at some of the highlights of my 400 posts so far. Enjoy!
I first discovered the blogosphere with Big Bird Bridge, a blog dedicated to the Langhorne theme park Sesame Place created by noted theme park historian Guy Hutchinson. Big Bird Bridge, which hasn't posted since 2020, contained of posts about Sesame Place history - from former attractions to information about the ill-fated Tokyo park. I instantly fell in love with the blog.
A parent and a kid sharing together.
PBS Kids Sprout launched on September 26th, 2005 as a joint venture between PBS, HiT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop, and Comcast. I, along with my sisters, was born in Richmond on September 21st two years later, and was (and still am) the only one in my family with autism. Back then, Sprout and I had nothing in common.
On the computer
The first things I ever watched on TV were Baby Einstein videos, which I'm still a big fan of even at this age and even to this day. I first discovered Sprout when watching Caillou on my parents' bed. Needless to say, I was hooked. I grew up with Sprout, and was both hooked and scared. I even remember some things from watching the channel and going on its website that probably no one else remembers. However, it wasn't until 2015 (or was it 2014?) that I became a superfan, watching videos on YouTube, having fun on SproutOnline.com and Sprout apps, and sending in content. As much as I wanted to make a guest appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show and showcase my submissions, become a host even, I hosted a similar series in my elementary school. When I got older, I gathered more information on the history of Sprout - uploading videos on my then-new YouTube channel Playtime All the Time and editing as Maddiellabie on PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki, founded in May 2019 by NeptuneID13.
I adored Sprout and constantly visited Big Bird Bridge, but there wasn't even a Sprout fan blog on the internet. In 2016, I, under my old account, founded a blog known as Let's Grow and started writing. Back then, there was Let's Grow, a YouTuber named after Sprout's original slogan who uploaded videos of rare Sprout content from Vimeo, Dailymotion, and Facebook, amongst other websites. There hasn't been a new Let's Grow video since 2018. I probably named the blog after him(her?) and wrote posts inspired by his(her?) videos. However, I abandoned the blog as time went by.
Me in 2020.
My family moved from Richmond to Midlothian in 2018, and since then I've spent most of my life ... sad (a Debbie Downer, or so to speak). Since we moved, I've grown an obsession with CBeebies, the BBC's children's brand, and started uploading CBeebies videos on YouTube and even started a CBeebies wiki, now a wiki full of fake information. Many people on the internet have criticized me for many things, and the CBeebies wiki is one of them. I eventually migrated to PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki. Nowadays, I regret starting that wiki. I became obsessed CBeebies because it, as well as other children's programs around the world, was similar in many ways to Sprout, and wrote a whole post about differences and similarities between the two this year.
The year was 2019 and I had launched a Twitter account (@TimePlaytime). As of 2020, the account is no longer up. On Twitter, I copied other people's tweets, mainly from other kids' TV fans. Once again, something many people have criticized me for. One of the things I tweeted about constantly was Sprout, once again obsessing over my childhood channel. The same year, I launched accounts on both Facebook and Instagram and uploaded Sprout videos on Playtime All the Time. I even called NBCUniversal to see if they could get Sprout back. This wasn't the first time I called them.
The first two images I uploaded on this blog.
As 2019 became 2020, I was still obsessed with Sprout and wanted to express my fandom with the brand even more, so I started the blog you are on right now. While Let's Grow was named after Sprout's original slogan (and a YouTube channel I watched and took inspiration from constantly back then), Parents and Kids Share Together was named after an old Sprout tagline "Sprout, the 24-hour preschool channel parents and kids share together." My first post, a carbon(?) copy of Guy Hutchinson's first Big Bird Bridge post (right down to the title), was about why I started my blog - to connect kids' TV nowadays with kids' TV from when I was little.
As time went by, I created a custom crossover series known as Daniel Tiger and the Tweenies and a Sunny Side Up Show series starring my OC known as Kaitlin & Friends, and "abandoned" my blog. It wasn't until July 2020 that I would start writing on Parents and Kids again. My comeback post was a two-part one about the "complete" history of Sprout, mostly about the first and second generations. In December, I adapted the posts into a video on my YouTube channel. Back then, I wrote about the likes of old Sprout shows, old articles about Sprout, the "We Share" campaign, the Sprout Channel Cubby, and The Super Sproutlet Show, amongst other important parts of Sprout's history. In August, I wrote a post about Sprout's timeline which slowly became one of my most popular posts. If you know me, you know that I for some reason am a big fan of children's shows, but despite this, I hate certain children's shows, mostly ones that everyone else hates. One of those shows at the time was The Let's Go Show, and I even wrote a Let's Go Show hate post. Nowadays, I changed my mind about Let's Go and was one of many posts that I deleted. Inspired by the Sesame Place book from 2015, I started working on a Sprout book, which I've "published" this year and am hoping will become a real book (we need to find a publisher!).
In December 2020, I became an admin and started editing constantly on PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki, once again abandoning the blog and only occasionally writing posts. This was around the time I wrote posts about articles from the Sprout Press Room and Sprout for Parents websites. In July 2021, I tried to revive Parents and Kids Share Together with a ToughPigs-inspired series known as "My Week with...," in which I would talk about a Sprout-related topic for a whole week. My first My Week was "My Week with 2010," in which I would focus on Sprout happenings from that year. I rarely do My Weeks nowadays.
My Week was a success, and I started writing on the blog more. One of my posts from around that time was about the history of The Sunny Side Up Show (this wasn't the first time I wrote about the history of Sunny). In August, I started high school, and the day before I wrote about my life as a Sprout fan, which is once again one of my most popular and personal favorite posts. In school, I wrote even more "My Weeks" and introduced a new Muppet Mindset-inspired series known as "Weekly Character Wednesdays," in which I would write about a certain Sprout character and his or her importance every wednesday. It's still going strong! My first weekly wednesday was on Mr. Mailman.
Also in September, my blog and I reached a major milestone - 200 posts. That day, I launched the Parents and Kids Share Together forum, which is still going strong, but I'm one of the only members.
In October, I introduced Sprout-tober, an Instagram challenge in which I would post a picture of or draw one of my Sprout favorites for every day of October - well, almost every day.
In November, I started The Great Sprout Survey, a series in which Sprout fans would talk about their favorite Sprout-related things. As time went by, I introduced a Sunny Side Up Show-inspired series known as When I Was a Sproutlet. Here's how to submit your answers to these series. And don't forget, you can write your own articles too!
Sprout's two longest-running blocks were The Good Night Show and The Sunny Side Up Show. I wanted to express my feelings on these blocks and have fans take a look at which one was better, so I wrote a post comparing the two and seeing which was better. At the end of the post, I explained why I wrote it. This is once again one of my favorite posts.
I grew an obsession with The Muppets (2011) and to a lesser extent the Muppet Show Muppets in general, giving me the idea to write a BIG Sprout fanfiction on the internet. In November, I published the fanfic online, and, on the blog, I wrote a post about the trailer and a post a day before releasing my story. "One Sleep to Go" slowly became one of my most popular posts. I released my fanfic on November 23rd, the tenth anniversary of the Muppet movie. As time went by, I started working on a sequel, and posted an announcement. As I've said here before, while I've always admired creative people, Parents and Kids Share Together isn't usually a place for fanfiction, but, since this was one of my biggest Sprout projects ever, I knew I just had to post about my fanfic. Nowadays, I'm working on making my fic a real movie.
I made my fanfic for one reason - I wanted Apple TV+ to revive Sprout and even started a petition, and, in order to do so, I wanted to get the old Sprout gang back together for a telethon to convince them to do so, which is what we do in the fanfic soon-to-be movie. On December 25th, a former Sprout employee whom I'm friends with on Facebook sent me the most amazing thing ever, which took my Sprout fandom to the next level. It seems like some of them really want Sprout back too. A day after, we took a vacation to New York for a few days, and I wrote about my experiences in one of my many, if not very few, non-Sprout posts.
And there you have it, Sprout fans and readers of this blog, that was the (almost) complete history of Parents and Kids. I hope you enjoyed this post, and keep reading! Without you, I would have never started this blog.
Oh, and besides, thanks for 400 Sprouterrific posts! Here's to 400 more!
Click here to blow out 400 candles on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Aside from Sprout (of course), Yo Gabba Gabba! is one of my other main obsessions. Picture from 2020, the year I started this blog.
Madeline Fretz - Dear friends, two years ago today, I created a blog. Not just any old blog, one where you could share your pictures, videos, stories, memories, and whatnot of PBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids), the only 24-hour preschool channel that parents and kids share together for shows, activities, and adventure. I used the blog as a tool to link the children's television from when I was little to the children's television nowadays. Fast-forward to two years later. More than 300 posts. I've been spending almost every day of my life writing about a channel I was once scared of as a little girl, but am a superfan of nowadays.
As you found out in my Top Ten Moments post, a huge inspiration in starting my blog was the Sesame Place blog Big Bird Bridge, founded by theme park historian Guy Hutchinson. Sesame Place is a theme park in Langhorne, Pennsylvania based on Sesame Street. At first, I stole, copied and pasted from Big Bird Bridge (my first post was even a rip-off of Hutchinson's first post), as well as other websites, but rarely do so nowadays. In fact, some of my posts were direct rip-offs, I deleted them from my blog, with some exceptions. Even though Groundbreaking is a copy of the first Big Bird Bridge post, it's too special, that I don't want to delete it, and "Caillou Leaves PBS Kids," while a rip-off of a Dora the Explorer update from a Nick Jr. petition, is also too memorable to delete. Enough said. Sure, as a Muppet fan, I take inspiration from ToughPigs and The Muppet Mindset with series like "My Week" and "Weekly Character Wednesdays," but write them in my own words.
As I said earlier, there are more than 300 posts on this blog, and I have a few favorites I like to read over and over again (the likes of My Life as a Sprout Fan (obviously), CBeebies and Sprout, and even Overthinking It: Where are Star's parents? come to mind, amongst others). In one memorable blog post I've written this year, I discussed possibilities for Sprout's future. I feel like NBCUniversal doesn't do anything with the Sprout name nowadays, so I wrote about what they could do with the name in the future. These ideas may not happen, but, as I always say, "never say never." Oh, and one more thing. Remember when I said I was said there should be a Sprout movie? Well, as I said in both my end of Arthur post and Top Ten Moments post, I contacted NBCUniversal and several people who worked at Sprout, so it could happen for real. If it does happen, I hope it's more Follow That Bird/Dora and the Lost City of Gold and less The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland/Barney's Great Adventure - have it be more of a family film and less of a kiddie film, have it be like The Muppets (2011) and throw in some references to the past for longtime fans. Another thing: if it does happen, as I said in previous posts, make the plot identical to my Sprout fic - have it be about the Sprout gang going around in essence "getting the band back together," a plot of many, many movies. Now, we don't allow or promote fanfic at Parents and Kids Share Together (as with other fansites), but still, I write about my fanfic to keep people in the know.
Being a Sprout fan, if not the world's biggest, I've experienced some of the best things in my life, such as that one holiday video message (thanks a lot, Steven), writing my fanfic and finishing my coloring book to critical acclaim(?), getting likes from my Sprout heroes on Instagram and my long-gone Twitter, them following me on Insty, and becoming friends with them on Facebook. I'm quite a lucky girl!
Lastly, I'd like to thank some people who made this blog a huge success. Special thanks to…
Steven Binnig. Without him, the Sprout gang wouldn't know I exist.
Everyone on the Sprout Discord server (I'm known on there as cbeebiesfan) - especially P09 Tech Guru Guy, Boomer (who thinks he's a bigger Sprout fan than me), Rolex, JaysonCarney, approximateostrich, and Peanut. They're all nice people who share and uncover their Sprout secrets and memories, and I'm lucky to have known them. Thanks a lot!
PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki for containing everything you need to know about Sprout. I'm quite happy I'm an admin on there now, inheriting the site from founder NeptuneID13 and eventually making the most edits on there. I also run the wiki's social media pages.
Alison Clarke and James Fletcher, for taking inspiration from me and following me throughout almost my whole Sprout fan career.
Jack (Rare Noggin Stuff) for uncovering rare Sprout stuff I wrote about here
Julie Engel (ajskippytoes) for being as big a Sprout fan as I am, sharing her Sprout memories, and I even got to inherit her "Sprout-vent Calendar" on Instagram.
Lillian Alexia, amongst other fans, for participating in my recurring series The Great Sprout Survey and When I Was a Sproutlet.
Matthew Hiltner (Jumpman256) and Agent0042 for inspiring me to find the Sprout History Video (I haven't found it yet, but I'm going to one day)
The cast of Sprout, my heroes, my idols. Kevin Yamada, Melanie Martinez, Stacia Newcomb, Noel MacNeal, Michele Lepe, Milton Barnes, Ali Eisner, Kelly Vrooman, Forrest Harding, Sean Roach, Brendan Gawel, Dennisha Pratt, Liz Filios, Catherine Missal, Carly Ciarrocchi, Darryl Williams, Tim Kubart, Kaitlin Becker, Emily Borromeo, Chris Palmieri, Donnell Smith, the list goes on and on. You people are amazing! Keep it up and keep reading this blog!
Oh, and one more, you! You're the reason why I started this blog - for fans to share their Sprout memories and rare stuff. Thanks again for all your help.
Click here to read this post and weep on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - I started Parents and Kids Share Together in 2020, and, with 352 posts and counting, it's still going strong. This blog is mainly a way to share photos, videos, stories, and memories of Sprout, and I have posted countless Sprout-related news, commentaries, and silly things, amongst others. Lemme tell ya, it's not easy being a Sprout fan with a blog - sometimes I run out of ideas, and sometimes I come up with new ways to talk about my childhood.
Image from 2020
Now, If you know me, you know that I'm largely hated by fellow children's television fans - I draw characters with stick arms and legs, I add false information to wikis, I constantly repeat my hatred for things, some of which have garnered critical acclaim, I pretend to hate things I'm secretly a fan of, and, most importantly, I rip things off, even from things I hate. Don't worry, I'm working on mostly all of those things now. In fact, when this blog started, I copied from other people. A lot of carbon copies if they were, that some of them I DELETED from this blog. Without further ado, here are some Parents and Kids Share Together posts you'll never read!
Has Sprout Been Gentrified?
In 2019, Tad Suiter wrote a post on both Current.org and his own blog about Sesame Street's history and, sadly, how "gentrified" the titular location was, compared the street to where he lives, and talked about how he shows classic seasons to his daughter. I liked the article so much, and seemed to miss the Sprout name so much, that I wrote an essay in middle school that was basically Suiter's article except more Sprout. I eventually adapted the essay as a post on this blog. In the post, I mentioned the fact that I watched Sprout as a little girl, talked about Sprout's history, and suggested that PBS, HiT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop, and Comcast, Sprout's four founders, come back together and form a new children's channel, but it wouldn't be the same one [as Sprout].
Children's shows and the trouble they've gotten into
Kids' shows over the years - they have gotten into quite serious trouble, haven't they? At the start of last year, I wrote about such controversies surrounding our beloved shows - these included not only the pictures you see above, but also things like Barney's hatred in the 90s, the banned episode of Peppa Pig, and Faith Evans' 2014 appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show. Something worth noting: I compared Caillou's constant whining to the likes of Mr. Rogers taking about death and Big Bird from Sesame Street learning that Mr. Hooper had died, and in the Nostalgia Critic's 2019 review of 1998's Barney's Great Adventure, he compared the fact that Barney is always happy, refuses to deal with negative emotions or believe they exist, to moments like the ones I listed above. Now, once I realized I was copying the tail end of my post from the Critic, I deleted the post, never for it to be seen again, although I did talk about Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street's serious issue talk in a recent post on this blog.
Noddy's Apple Car Delight in Welsh
On the worldwide web, there is a Welsh CBeebies website with branding from the 2002 website, and shows such as Bob the Builder and Tweenies. Now, upon first encountering the Welsh CBeebies, I pretended Sprout had a Welsh website as well, and posted a Welsh version of the Noddy's Apple Car delight recipe, which was basically the recipe from SproutOnline.com translated into Welsh. I realized this was fake, as was some of my other stuff, and deleted the post.
Sprout's Original Series
At the tail end of 2020, I wrote a post on this blog about original series that have aired on Sprout (Sprout Diner, The Many Adventures of Mr. Mailman, Noodle and Doodle, The Chica Show etc), and gave clever descriptions of each show. I said on the post that to see what a certain series (maybe Mr. Mailman?) was about, "go see for yourself!" Nowadays, I think that's dumb, so I deleted the post.
And there you have it. For reasons I listed above, you'll never get to read these three posts, but you know what I always say - I always come up with new and exciting ways to celebrate the works of my childhood here at Parents and Kids Share Together. Thanks for reading.
Click here to translate something on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - Parents and Kids Share Together is turning two at the end of this month, so I thought I'd do several posts on this blog commemorating the occasion. Now, I know we don't turn two until the 28th, but, like Sprout's first anniversary, the celebration starts much early. This post will be the first of a series of anniversary articles. Alright, Sprout fans, sit back, relax, and enjoy as I count down the top ten moments of Parents and Kids Share Together!
Please note that I tried doing a "Top Ten Songs" series on this blog, starting with songs from The Sunny Side Up Show, but abandoned it after that one post, probably because I'm not a pro at doing top ten (or similar) lists. I'm going to try my best with this post.
Before I started this blog and became an admin on PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki, I was an American CBeebies fan with a fake wiki. Given that CBeebies and Sprout have aired the same shows and are very similar to one another, I wrote a post comparing the two brands to commemorate the former's 20th anniversary in the UK, and noticed how different they are. Differences aside, at the end of the day, CBeebies and Sprout have completed their mission - to do good things for kids. Isn't that the most important thing?
Sprout has had seven programming blocks over the years, and the two longest-running (as well as the only two blocks that aired during the third generation) were The Good Night Show and The Sunny Side Up Show. Now, you may be wondering which one is better. For those of you who wonder too, read this post and find out. In the post, I compare the two blocks' hosts, characters, openings and closings, shows aired, themes, and, of course, premises. Which one is better, and which one do you like better? Read ahead!
My post about my life as a Sprout fan (more on that later) was so popular, that I made two "sequel" posts on this blog, but this time about Sprout fan memories and confessions. The confessions one, this is the second of these posts, and is about how I was scared of The Sunny Side Up Show, how I confused two male hosts, and how Sprout inspired me to host inspired children's shows at a young age, amongst other things. You may have shared my thoughts in this post with me.
Being a lifelong Sprout fan, I remember several things from watching the channel and surfing the internet a few years ago, and wrote about my memories in a post. In fact, some of my memories are super rare, that I, for one, have been begging to find them. Some of my memories may sound familiar, and some may seem, obviously, pretty rare and obscure. If you have any of the things I mentioned in the post, please DM or email me. Thank you.
Now, you know me as a big Sprout fan and all-around aficionado, but do you know the true story? This post, which I wrote the day before I started high school and constantly updated, is about my history as a Sprout fan - from my childhood Sunny Side Up Show-phobia to a historian with a fan blog. This is probably your story too. You'll love it, I swear!
As you probably know, the people at NBCUniversal have not acknowledged the Sprout name at all since 2018, and us fans (especially myself) have been waiting and begging for something new. Just this month, I wrote about possible ways for a new, official Sprout project in the future - could it be a reunion, app (looking at you, Noggin!), movie, new show? I wrote a similar post on the same blog earlier, but this time about possibilities to celebrate 15 years of The Sunny Side Up Show. Come on, NBCUni, do you even read this blog? Or anyone I know who used to work at Sprout for that matter? Well, I contacted NBCUniversal in several ways as well as Sprout people about possibly making a Sprout movie with the same plot as my fanfic (more on that later in this post, I promise), so we may be getting a live-action theatrical film sometime in the future. I know some of my ideas will never happen, but, as I always say, "never say never." What do you hope will happen with the Sprout name in the future?
If you know me, you know that, before Parents and Kids Share Together, I started another Sprout fan blog called Let's Grow, after an old fan YouTuber. I started this blog in February 2020, and named it after an obscure slogan that debuted way back in 2007. You wanna know what it is? And why the blog goes by that name? Read the post and find out!
I've always wanted to publish a book about Sprout's history, something I've been working on since 2020 (AKA the year I started this blog). Until the day the book finally gets published (which will probably happen by the time I'm an adult), my Sprout fanfic, appropriately(inappropriately?) titled, you guessed it, Sprout, is my biggest Sprout project yet (well, I did make a Sprout coloring book, does that count as the biggest?). You see, my favorite movie is Jason Segel's The Muppets (2011), which is about The Muppets getting back together to save their old studio from being demolished by an evil oil baron, and I've always wanted both to make a Sprout version of the story and Apple TV+ to bring back the Sprout brand (and you probably know why), so I tweaked Segel's script and wrote about how myself, Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba!, and my mom reunited the Sprout gang for a telethon to, instead of saving their old studio from an evil oil baron, bring back their shows on Apple TV+. As crazy as it may seem, I did it, and published the fic online on November 23rd for all to see, Sprout fan or not. The day before it was published, I wrote about my new story on the blog. Parents and Kids Share Together is not a place for fanfiction, never has, but still, I wanted to grab fans' attention.
I've been a Sprout fan for as long as I can remember. In fact, I can't remember a time when the brand hasn't been a part of my life. As the world's biggest fan, I'm quite lucky. I have several Sprout people liking my tweets on my old Twitter account (which is no longer up), following me on Instagram, and becoming friends with me on Facebook. Speaking of Facebook, I have started and am a member of several Sprout fan groups. One of those fan groups is "I Love Universal Kids Sprout," started in 2008, and many Sprout employees are members. You see, one day, I wrote on that group about a Sunny Side Up Show dream I had - Emily and Chica were linking into The Good Night Show at 6PM after The Sprout Sharing Show ended. The dream was like a Sprout time continuum - Emily joined The Sunny Side Up Show in June 2014, and The Sharing Show dissolved a month earlier. Steven "Toaster Steve" Binnig, someone who worked on Sprout and The Sunny Side Up Show, saw my post and commented on it, complimenting me for knowing a lot about Sprout, and I quickly became friends with him, as well as a few other former Sprout employees, such as Brianne O'Neill, Tara Murphy, and Nafeeza Hassan. It was 2021. That Christmas, the Fretz family received suitcases and headphones and learned we were going to NYC on an airplane. Also on Christmas Day, Mom received an email from Steven that had a video on Drive - just for me. The video contained the old gang, all names I already knew at the time, wishing me merry Christmas, even knowing my name and that I was their biggest fan. It was amazing. It took my Sprout fandom to the next level. Before the video, I wanted to go on a cross-country trip to get everyone back together so bad, and, well, Steven and I did it - and we didn't need to drive cross country. It was all we could talk about for days end. I sang about the video in an original song of mine about Sprout, "Childhood."
Before we move on to our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions (WatchMojo, eat your heart out!):
Ha! I'm sure you knew this was coming at one time or another. Why? Well, I founded the Parents and Kids Share Together blog on February 28th, 2020, a day I'll never forget, and this was the very first post I published. The post explains why I started this blog - in reality, I adored Guy Hutchinson's Big Bird Bridge, a fan blog dedicated to Sesame Place in Langhorne, but given Sprout's quite small fanbase, I found myself unable to find any Sprout fan blogs or fansites in general on the worldwide web, so I decided to do the next best thing and start my own fan blog, and the rest is history. Please note that this post is a direct (carbon?) copy of the first post on Big Bird Bridge, as, at the time, I mainly copied from other people's sites and blogs. Nowadays, I rarely do that. Wow, I'm being original! Anyways, the very first pictures on this blog were from the Sprout launch party in 2005, as I felt those pictures would be an appropriate way to kick off the blog. Just this month, I found a rare photo of the launch party not on Flickr and posted about it here.
Anyways, that's my personal top ten moments on this blog. I hope you enjoyed! What are your favorite moments?
Click here to look back on two years of posts on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Hi, Sproutlets! It's me, Maddie! I'm here to give you the opportunity to write for Parents and Kids Share Together. The show can't go on without YOU! What separates PAKST from other fan blogs is that we have recurring series our readers contribute to, and below are guidelines and examples. Feel free to submit your answers to our series OR write a new post of your own.
RULES:
STAY ON TOPIC! Parents and Kids Share Together is mainly a Sprout fan blog. All posts should be related to Sprout shows, blocks, or just Sprout in general. Thanks!
EMAIL TO THE RIGHT ACCOUNT! Submit all articles to energeticjustinmaddiellabie@gmail.com for approval on articles.
If there are specific pictures you would like to include with your post, please submit those at the same time you submit your piece.
The Great Sprout Survey:
In this series, we talk about our favorite Sprout-related things and whatnot. (WARNING: When choosing your answers, PLEASE don't say "I can't decide" or "I like them all")
What's your favorite Sprout show and why?
What's your favorite Sprout programming block and why?
Name your three favorite Sprout characters and why
If you could tell the Sprout people one thing, what would it be?
What is your favorite Sprout memory?
If you had a picture taken with a Sprout character, who would it be and why?
Favorite piece of Sprout merchandise you own? (Feel free to post a picture)
Madeline Fretz - Well, Sproutlets, guess what? We've reached 300 posts on this blog! Woo-hoo! That's right - 300 posts chockful of Sprout history. This blog also turns two in February this year, so that's another reason to celebrate.
Our blog has the likes of fan art, Weekly Character Wednesdays, My Week, posts about Sprout shows and idents, rare stuff, and news. When I first started this blog, I copied from other blogs and websites, one of the many things people criticized me for, but rarely do that nowadays.
Parents and Kids Share Together isn't just a blog, it's a treasure trove of Sprout content - from the most ubiquitious to rare gems, a place to share Sprout pictures, stories, and memories. Paul Rudd recalls what Jennifer Aniston said after filming the last episode of FRIENDS - "Well, we've done it. What a ride!" Who's not to say the same thing about this blog?
I'd like to thank everyone who has read and contributed to this blog, and to everyone who made Sprout great over the past seventeen years. And to all of you Sproutlets, I couldn't have started this blog without you in mind! Thank you.
Click here to copy from other blogs and websites on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
Madeline Fretz - This post is kind of like My Life as a Sprout Fan, except only with some of my favorite Sprout memories, even some that were in the post. Last month, I hosted a series on my Instagram account (@Playtimeallthetimecbeebiesfan) called Sprout-vent Calendar, in which I would share some Sprout memories on the twenty-four days leading up to Christmas, and some of those memories are posted here. Anyways, enjoy!
If you read My Life as a Sprout Fan, you know that I went on SproutOnline.com on the computers in preschool (it was the 2011 website). I remember going on the Sunny Side Up Show website that had Kelly and Chica in the Sunshine Barn on the Flash(?) menu. This menu was also used in the Games and Videos app. Judging from a picture I remember seeing years ago (on Pinterest maybe?), there was also a variant of this menu that had Sean. I also recall seeing some Sunny videos and clips on the website and on-demand (and maybe on the channel?) as well, and here are several.
Dennisha and Chica's Mom (who would later appear on The Chica Show and be given more of a character) singing "Five Little Chicas," a cute little variant on "Five Little Ducks." We don't have any footage or pictures of this segment yet, but we do have one of Kelly's version.
Kelly (or was it another host?) and Chica played with a Sprout character spinning wheel and pretended to do the Baby Bop Hop, dive like Olly, and climb up a beanstalk like Super WHY!.
Sean and Chica singing "If You're Kind and You Know It" with Baby Chick. I remember watching this with my dad and using a Barney plush as Baby Chick. The song has also been sung by Kaitlin twice, Tim and Ruth B, and in a Sprout music video.
Barney the Dinosaur was on The Sunny Side Up Show in August 2010 for Dinosaurs Week, and answered viewers' phone calls with Kelly and Chica. I remember seeing a video of the appearance years ago at my house (well, my old one. We moved away in 2018) and Kelly mentioned a girl named "Sarah."
Liz and Chica playing with real-life baby chicks.
From 2007 to maybe 2011, the hosts also did "All This Week" videos where they would explain what they would be talking about all week on the show. I remember seeing one of them(?) on the computer in preschool in which Chica and "First Mate" Sean were pirates, presumably for Pirates Week.
I don't remember Liz that much prior to becoming a Sprout historian, but I remember seeing her and Chica once at the end of a Wiggly Waffle broadcast. You see, at the end of each Wiggly Waffle, the Wiggles would talk to Chica and the hosts about what they're doing today in the barn.
I remember seeing a TV promo for Elmo's appearance on The Sunny Side Up Show (2011 maybe?). Man, 2011 was the world's biggest year!
I also remember seeing a promo for Noodle and Doodle that had Noodle in the Sunshine Barn with Sean and Chica.
According to My Life as a Sprout Fan, I owned most of the mobile apps Sprout made (under Children's Network LLC). One of my favorites was Games and Videos, which had a Sprout Tunes section based on both the TV segments of the same name and the "Music Maker" online game. The section featured songs from Sprout shows and blocks, including The Sunny Side Up Show.
Some of the Sunny songs that I remember were on "Tunes" were the following: "Jim Along Josie and "All Around the Kitchen" (Carly and Chica with Dan Zanes and Sonia de los Santos, "We Try, We Don't Cry" (Tim and Chica), "Numbers in the Ocean" (Carly and Chica), and "Where is Chica?" (Kaitlin and Chica with Rico). "We Try, We Don't Cry" was a song about trying new things, and opened with Tim telling Chica that they're going to play with Kaitlin next week.
There was one segment in which a girl named Yori Honablue showed Tim and Chica a story she made using paper.
I remember seeing a promo for Emily's debut on the 2013-2015 website.
Speaking of the 2013-2015 website, they had a Sunny Side Up Show section called The Host Corner which had videos and articles about the hosts. There were several articles in which hosts Dennisha, Carly, Darryl, Tim, Kaitlin, and Emily talked about their lives as kids ("When I was a Sproutlet").
I remember seeing a video on SproutOnline.com in either 2015 or 2016 (the latter is probably more likely) in which Emily and Chica encouraged Sproutlets to send in birthday wishes for Baby Chick. The video was released prior to Sprout's anniversary on September 26th, so I believe that was the reason why it was made.
I watched The Sunny Side Up Show one day in 2015. Carly and Chica were hosting and I remember seeing Bob the Builder that day, shortly before Sprout got rid of the series and other remaining PBS and HiT Entertainment content. I remember that day Carly and Chica sang a song called "We're a Couple of Cowgirls" before linking into Ruff-Ruff. Tweet, and Dave. I don’t know what the theme was for that week, but I believe they were dressed as superheroes and cowgirls, so it could be Dress Up Week.
Okay, now for something I've said many times on this blog and my Instagram in the past, but I remember sending in content such as Sproutlet Stories games and even birthday cards and wishes to The Sunny Side Up Show via SproutOnline.com and the Send to Sprout app. They told me to watch Sunny every day to see my submissions on TV. I never did, and I was only 7-9 years old when I submitted content, so I don’t know if they got on.
Host Hunt was a contest held in 2013 to search for new Sunny Side Up Show hosts. I watched the videos a lot even after 2013 ended, and I made my own audition video in 2016(?) with a ladybug pillow pet as my "Chica" and I mentioned ZOOM, which wasn't a Sprout show. I have the video uploaded on my YouTube channel, and I will talk about it on here later.
And lastly for one of my own inspired memories. At the start of 2017, I pretended to host my own Sunny Side Up-inspired morning show also taking place in a city apartment with a toy robot co-host.
The Good Night Show:
Image from Facebook
I remember watching the Sunny Side Up Show "Today's Birthdays" segments during the block, and remember that one time Nina hosted the segment. I couldn't get enough that I demanded more once Thomas & Friends and the other shows came on.
I remember watching the one and only broadcast of 2011's live A Sweet Goodnight Treat. I remember the Kipper ghost episode aired that night, and that Chica was dressed as a ghost.
I first discovered Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon one night after watching Barney & Friends, which I had already watched that day. Mom turned it on-demand and I found it a bit weird, but am mesmerized nowadays.
I remember watching The Good Night Show at a friend's house in 2015. You see, I was a big Wiggles fan at the time, and requested we watch The Wiggles Show (or was it Lights Camera Action?) on demand, but after a while I wanted to watch the Sprout channel, and The Chica Show was on. I remember the split-screen credits telling me The Good Night Show was next, a Sprout Control Room segment followed, and then the Good Night broadcast. I don't know what the "adventure" (what Nina and Star were talking about) was that night. I remember seeing The Berenstain Bears, Today's Birthdays, and Ruff-Ruff, Tweet, and Dave that night, and turned off the TV after the second Today's Birthdays airing (Carly and Chica were hosting that night). You see, I was afraid the Snooze-a-Thon would come on at 9PM after The Good Night Show ended, but after I became a Sprout historian I was proved wrong. I have also written about this experience on my answers to the Great Sprout Survey.
SproutOnline.com:
I remember seeing a version of "If You're Kind and You Know It" on the website, and I remember it had Olive the Ostrich.
I remember that Barney the Dinosaur was one of the characters on the 2011 website, and he said "Hi, Sproutlets! It's me, Barney!"
I remember that at the bottom the 2015 website, a character on a trampoline (usually one from a new show) would take you back up to the top.
Other:
Remember the Sprout Diner Time to Create digital podcasts on iTunes? I sure hope you do. I remember watching them long after Sprout Diner was discontinued, and that one episode had a Sprout Sharing Show promo and maybe Sprout is Always Here for You.
Back in 2015, I created and hosted a new sequel channel called Sprout 2, and sang Sprout Around the Clock.
Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies was a PBS show that aired on Sprout during The Sprout Sharing Show, The Let's Go Show, and The Good Night Show from 2009 to 2012. I remember said show had a character named Barney, and that the "Barney" variant of the Rain opening played before Mirabelle once.
I remember seeing a video of a Sprout Please commercial on some website, but it wasn't YouTube, and I remember it had Cookie Monster from Sesame Street saying "Sprout Please" slowly.
I remember seeing a video of Pajanimals on (again) a non-YouTube website, and it opened with the 2005 Bedtime ident and a female announcer's voice.
I believe watching Sprout on Demand is how I first discovered Sprout. Two of the shows I remember seeing on there were Caillou and Sesame Street. Both shows ended with a promo about the show on Sprout's three ventures (On Demand, on TV, and online). The promos also aired on the channel after the shows were over (i.e, Barney & Friends, Bob the Builder, OG Angelina Ballerina). The Caillou one we have, but the Sesame one we don't. All we have is a promo for the latter show's Spanish co-production Plaza Sesamo, which aired on Sprout on Demand.
There was a promo for Christmas/Winter happenings on Sprout, including Cheer in the New Year, which I mentioned here. It was basically this promo except with Cheer in the New Year.
I remember the Live Sprout and Sprout Viewer Circle promos, and thinking they were the same thing. They may be how I was first exposed to Sprout's blocks.
And there you have it! Some Sprout memories of mine.
Click here to be mesmerized nowadays on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!
