Fireman Sam

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.

Sprout described the show as:

"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 show aired on Musical Mornings with Coo, The Sunny Side Up Show, Sprout's Wiggly Waffle, and The Super Sproutlet Show when they launched.

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.

My Week with 2009: Fire Prevention Week

 

September was Fire Prevention Month, which I missed a mark on, but still mentioned in a post. Sprout celebrated Fire Prevention Month with a week on fire safety on The Sunny Side Up Show all the way back in 2009, which was probably a little while after the network rebrand.

I'm guessing this picture was from that week.

The week was hosted by Kevin Yamada (during his last few Sunny hosting months) and Chica, with special guests firefighter Dayna Hilton and Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog, who I mentioned in the aforementioned Sprout birthday post, and the CGI episodes of Fireman Sam commenced. Previously, only the stop-motion episodes of said show aired on Sprout.

Hilton and Sparkles also hosted fire safety tips sponsored by State Farm (the videos are from 2010, but whatever).

Anyways, for Sprout this was a great start to airing new episodes of Fireman Sam! Though the Sproutlets probably wouldn't notice the animation change… The Sam CGI episodes aired until May 11, 2014, the day The Sprout Sharing Show dissolved and a day before Lily's Driftwood Bay premiered.

My Week with Birthdays: Happy Happy Birthday to … Sprout?!

 PBS Kids Sprout launched on September 26th, 2005. Prior to that, it launched on Comcast on Demand in April. Every September 26th, Sprout has done something new (which I'll focus on later this week). However, it celebrated its FIRST anniversary in 2006 much earlier. Here's what happened…

Sprout Diner premiered on the 18th…

Leo (played by puppeteer Noel MacNeal) was the guest host of The Good Night Show while auditions were still being held…

Firefighter Dayna Hilton, real kids, and Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog shared some fire safety tips leading up to the premiere of Fireman Sam in October…

PBS' Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks premiered with the "Grand Tails Day" marathon hosted by Grandpa Piggley…

…And finally, The Birthday Show (which I talked about yesterday) became a programming block on the 21st. So that meant it was not just Kevin Yamada reading birthday cards, but each (usually birthday-themed) show would be introduced by Mr. Mailman handing a child a birthday present, and Sprout characters like Big Bird or Angelina Mouseling would drop by to say happy birthday.

Well, I hope Sprout had a great birthday. They did lots of things at the time, maybe even more than the 10th anniversary! (Well, that was the day of the rebrand…)

My Week with 2011: He's Awake!

 It's not every day you see Barney and Elmo in the same room.

The red monster and purple dinosaur only appeared together once, and that was in the above commercial, made just for Sprout in 2011 (I don't know if the two were really in the same room or if it were green screen). The commercial also featured appearances by Super WHY!, Fireman Sam, Kelly Vrooman and Chica, Roary the Racing Car, and Caillou, plus The Good Night Show is seen on TV at the end. In the commercial, Barney, Elmo, Super WHY!, and Fireman Sam are in a boy named Brody's room, waiting for him to wake up. When he does, Super WHY! alters his mom and flies by Vrooman and Chica, ruining their craft in the process.

Another similar commercial was made featuring Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Kelly Vrooman, Sean Roach, and Chica, and a clip from The Good Night Show on TV.

In addition, several tie-in online banner ads were made, featuring the same characters from the two commercials.