R.I.P. Emilio Delgado, Sesame Street’s Luis

Madeline Fretz - If you’re a Sesame Street fan, chances are, you probably know of Luis, who was on the show from 1971 to 2015, was married to Maria, and worked in the Fix-It Shop. Actor Emilio Delgado, who played Luis, passed away at the tender age of eighty(!!!).

Outside of the Street, Delgado has also appeared in Law and Order and I Will Fight No More Forever, amongst others. His character has also appeared in the likes of 1985's Follow That Bird and 1999's Elmo in Grouchland.

The History of Sesame Workshop and Sprout

 

Madeline Fretz - Sesame Workshop was founded in the 60s as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW). You see, at a dinner party held in the New York apartment of television executive Joan Ganz Cooney, guest Lloyd Morrisett admitted to Cooney that his daughter watched test patterns and jingles while waiting for her favorite shows to come on. Cooney suggested they use those jingles to educate kids, so they spent several years founding the Workshop and working on an educational show called Sesame Street, and the rest is history. The Children's Television Workshop became Sesame Workshop in 2000 to show they offered more than just children's shows.

Aside from "the Street," the Workshop has made other children's shows, mostly for PBS. These include The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One TV, Ghostwriter, Cro, Dragon Tales, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Tiny Planets, Pinky Dinky Doo, Esme and Roy, and Helpsters. None of them lasted as long as Sesame Street. In the 90s, CTW announced plans to launch a children's channel called "New Kid City." New Kid City was to offer their shows other than Sesame Street. Little did they know, executives at Nickelodeon were creating their own channel called "Big Orange," which consisted of the network's educational programming. Eventually, CTW and Nickelodeon decided to join forces, combine their concepts, and form what would become NOGGIN. 

I feel like this blog is slowly becoming a NOGGIN fan blog!

NOGGIN, which launched on February 2nd, 1999, was originally a 24-hour educational network aimed at kids of all ages, with preschool shows in the morning and a retro block for adults at nighttime. As time went by, NOGGIN started producing its own original programming, which included Oobi, Sponk!, and The Phred on Your Head Show. Eventually, the Jim Henson Company sold its interest in the Sesame Street Muppets to the newly reformed Sesame Workshop, which lost the rights to NOGGIN not long after. NOGGIN became Nick Jr. when Nickelodeon rebranded on September 28th, 2009, with the NOGGIN branding being removed on March 1st, 2012, but the name returned in mobile app form in 2015.

When NOGGIN launched, many people saw it as a threat to PBS with its educational programming. Speaking of PBS, in order to compete with NOGGIN, PBS introduced a 24-hour channel known as PBS Kids, which launched on September 6th, 1999 with the new show Dragon Tales. Previously, in 1993, PBS introduced PTV Park and the P-Pals. With the new PBS Kids channel, new mascots were introduced in Dash and Dot. PBS Kids had almost all of PBS' children's programming at the time, except Sesame Street, which aired on NOGGIN in two forms - 123 Sesame Street for 90s episodes and Sesame Street Unpaved for classic episodes. 123 stayed on the network when NOGGIN rebranded, but Unpaved stopped airing since it didn't suit the demographics of either NOGGIN or The N.

The PBS Kids channel was unsuccessful, though it was revived in early 2017. In response, PBS, along with the Workshop, HiT Entertainment (which made and distributed some of its programming), and Comcast, started working on a 24-hour preschool channel. The channel was first announced in October 2004.

In 2005, Comcast announced the channel's name to be PBS Kids Sprout, with Primal Screen designing the familiar logo. PBS Kids Sprout launched on Comcast on Demand in April 2005. If you're a Sprout fan, you know this. If you’re not or a newcomer, I just wanted to let you know.

PBS Kids Sprout on Demand consisted of 55 hours of beloved shows from not only Sesame Workshop, but also PBS and HiT Entertainment, plus a few hours in Spanish. Lesser-known shows were part of a category known as "Children's Favorites," and eventually got their own categories.

After months of preparation, PBS Kids Sprout launched as a channel on September 26th, 2005. Again, something every Sprout fan knows. The new cable channel replaced the 24-hour PBS Kids channel, and some PBS stations even shut down their kids' programming and redirected to Sprout.

Sure, Sesame Workshop was one of Sprout's four founders, but only three of its programs aired on the new channel when it launched, and all three aired on PBS. The company's flagship show, Sesame Street, aired on the channel for its first ten years, and, as one of Sprout's most popular shows, received tons of promotions and countless airtimes, Dragon Tales, which launched when the original PBS Kids channel did, aired on Sprout from 2005 to 2010 on The Let's Go Show and The Good Night Show, and also received tons of promotions in the early years, and the lesser known Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, based on a 90s novel by author Amy Tan, aired on Sprout from 2005 to 2009 during The Good Night Show. All three series also received their own Sprout Diner snacks, Birthday Show activities, and Good Night Show stretches.

But that’s not all! Sprout also aired other Sesame Workshop programs over the years. And they all had to do with the Sesame Street characters!

NOGGIN rebranded as a preschool channel with a nighttime adult block called The N (now TeenNick) on April 1st, 2002. The new NOGGIN, which ran from 6AM to 6PM ET, introducing new preschool-like interstitial segments, a new animated host/mascot in Feetface (later Moose and Zee), and a new Sesame Street spin-off known as Play with Me Sesame. Play with Me stopped airing on NOGGIN in September 2007, shortly before the channel was to split with The N on December 30th, and moved to Sprout. The show aired during The Sunny Side Up Show and later Sprout's Wiggly Waffle. The Play with Me Art Show segments were replaced by new framing segments consisting of the Sunny Side Up Show hosts showing Sproutlets' artwork. I discussed the show's run on Sprout in a previous post on this blog.

Panwapa was a Sesame Workshop miniseries that featured new puppet characters under the names of Azibo Monster, Tungar the Tiger, Baabra Sheep, Koko the Penguin, Athena the Owl, and Bill the Bug, and they were all played by Sesame Street Muppet performers. I remember seeing the characters at the end of a Sesame Street coloring book I had as a toddler. The show debuted on Sprout in 2008, aired on The Let's Go Show, and was one of the shows on the Summer Fun Fridays block. Despite the show's removal in 2009, its page remained up on SproutOnline.com.

The Furchester Hotel was a British co-production of Sesame Street, premiering on CBeebies in 2014. The series is about Elmo and Cookie Monster working in an English hotel run by the former's aunt, uncle, and cousin. The show premiered on Sprout on September 26th, 2016 (its eleventh anniversary) as part of Back to New, the same day several second generation shows stopped airing. To promote its arrival, Elmo and Cookie Monster made an appearance on Sunny Side Up. The show continued to air on Universal Kids until 2019. Wow, what an impressive run!

And those were all the shows that aired on the linear channel.

Several Workshop shows were also on Sprout on Demand. Sesame English, a co-production of Sesame Street aimed at ESL, was a part of Time Warner Cable exclusive ¡Hola Sproutitos!, and the Spanish Sesame Street co-production Plaza Sésamo, which premiered in the 70s, was part of the Spanish programming on Sprout on Demand.

Second generation

Third generation

It was around the 2010s that Sprout began to lose its memory and change. In 2011, Comcast acquired NBCUniversal, which itself acquired all things Comcast as time went by, including Sprout, causing operations of the channel to move to New York's 30 Rockefeller Center from Philadelphia's Comcast Center in 2014, the UK's Apax Funds and America's Mattel (owners of Barbie and Hot Wheels) acquired HiT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop sold its interest in Sprout to Comcast, and PBS lost the rights to Sprout, causing the "PBS Kids" branding to be removed from the channel's name in November 2013. 

Despite Sesame Workshop losing the rights to Sprout as it did with NOGGIN, both Sesame Street and Play with Me Sesame continued to air on Sprout. The former aired during the third generation when it launched, but stopped airing in November 2015, as HBO signed a deal with Sesame Workshop to air the next five seasons of Sesame Street earlier that year. However, Play with Me Sesame continued to air until at least 2016.

Click here to get your own category on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Goodnight Girls and Boys

 

Image from 2020.

Madeline Fretz - While Parents and Kids Share Together is mainly a Sprout fan blog, I do write some non-Sprout posts on here (examples being Maddie Takes Manhattan and The Last of Arthur), but still, there's a bit of Sprout in those posts. Today on this blog, I'm going to talk about a few things that aren't Sprout, but are very, very similar.

You see, in non-US countries like Australia, they have short little segments featuring mascots or well-known characters going to sleep to encourage kids to do the same. Let's take a look at what I call "Goodnight Boys and Girls" (or "Goodnight Girls and Boys" if you prefer). Enjoy!

Oh, before I start, I just wanted to let you know that I'm from America, and being a children's television aficionado, I know about children's shows outside my own little world. Here we go!

"Goodnight Boys and Girls" traces its origins back to 1959 with this little spot from TVW Channel 7 in Perth. This segment has a kangaroo putting its joey to sleep while a version of Brahms' Lullaby plays in the background. Stylistically, even though the background music is nice, this segment is pretty creepy, given the art and animation. At one part, the mother kangaroo smiles creepily at the camera. Noticeably, the announcer in this spot says "some of the programs which are to follow are possibly not suitable for young children," which would be said in many more Channel 7 goodnight spots years later until at least the 90s.

Sometimes I wonder if the kangaroos in this spot are the same as the ones in the Channel 7 Sydney sign-off. I mean, those channels are probably the same, both being in Australia and so on. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans, please note that the first video, of 7's final analog TV sign off in 2013, has "Temptation Sensation," the theme song to Always Sunny.

As time went by, Channel 7 introduced a new mascot by the name of Percy Penguin. When color TV was introduced, 7 executives thought Percy was better suited for black-and-white TV, so they decided to create a new, colorful companion to him. To promote the new mascot, Percy and his friends held a contest searching for the largest cat in Australia. After the winner was shown, Percy admitted he had the largest cat, and, ta-da! The new mascot, Fat Cat popped out of a box. Fat Cat, now featured in 7 Telethons, co-hosted his own daytime children's show, Fat Cat & Friends, and was also featured at the end of children's programming in "Goodnight Boys and Girls" segments, which still air to this day. In the above video, original Fat Cat host Sandy Baker talks about his Goodnight programs.

Other networks in Australia started having their own children's mascots. NBN had Big Dog, Miss Kim's co-host on their version of Romper Room…

GWN7 had Doopa Dog…

Prime had the Prime Possum, the co-host of The Saturday Club…

…Channel 10 had Kenny Kidna of the Kangaroo Creek Gang. Kenny was different from the other mascots - he was an animated character, and he sang a catchy song about going to bed.

…GKN had Bakana Bilby (Sprout fans, remind you of anyone you know?)…

…and Imparja has Yamba the Honey Ant.

Humphrey B. Bear, co-host of the children's show Here's Humphrey, was featured in his own "Goodnight Boys and Girls" segments airing across Australia as of 2013.

Now, it’s not just Aussie that has Goodnight programming. Lemme go through the Goodnight mascots from other countries.

TVNZ in New Zealand wanted something akin to Australia's kangaroo sign-off, so in 1975, the Goodnight Kiwi premiered. The Kiwi, with his cat, Jess, would go to bed at the end of a long day of transmission, signing off the channel for the night. Goodnight Kiwi had an instrumental of the New Zealandic lullaby "Hine e Hine." Goodnight Kiwi was extremely popular, and continued to air on TV well into 1994.

Spanish-speaking countries also have their own kids' goodnights.

TVE has La Familia Telerin with Vamos a La Cama, which premiered in 1965. Vamos a la Cama was a catchy song sung by six kids as they would go to bed. La Familia Telerin would become the animated series Cleo and Cuquin.

Cuba has La Calabacita Cubana (Zucchini in Spanish). Premiering in 1977, Calabacita was a ragdoll who would use his magic and put kids to sleep. There have been many versions of Calabacita over the years, but the most beautiful versions, in my opinion, would have to be the third and fifth videos, especially the fifth, which is sung by a little girl as she goes to bed.

Spanish-speaking countries also have something called Horario de Proteccíon (Child's Protection Hour). Being an American, as I said, I know nothing outside what happens in the fifty nifty United States, so I believe this Child's Protection thing had to do with getting kids to stop watching TV and go to sleep. Without further ado, let’s take a look at Child's Protection Hour.

There were also Child's Protection ads featuring well-known characters we got here in the US.

Canal 9 had a "Horario de Proteccíon" ad featuring The Simpsons, the five yellow-skinned stars of America's longest-running animated adult series. This ad features the Simpson family watching the news, which announces Horario de Proteccion, making Bart scream. Later on, Homer sings Maggie to sleep, but keeps her awake.

America TV had a Horario de Proteccíon ad featuring America's Sesame Street Muppets (I posted about this ad on the ToughPigs forum). This segment had Big Bird putting Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, and Elmo (actually puppet plush of the characters) to bed, and a nice song featuring hearts, stars, and Sesame Street toys.

Not a "Goodnight Boys and Girls" or "Horario de Proteccíon," but still pretty similar. Denmark's children's channel DR Ramasjang ends its day by showing looping footage of its mascots and hosts sleeping from 8PM to 6AM in order to convince kids to do the same. As shown in one of the videos (the one I uploaded on my own channel), the footage begins with one of the hosts or puppets going to bed. Pretty neat idea if you ask me!

Okay, now it's time to compare these goodnights to what we got here in America. 

Here in America, we got Sprout, which is what this blog is dedicated to. Sprout was a 24-hour channel, but it did have some kids' goodnight programming, such as The Good Night Show, which aired from 6PM to 9PM ET, with two repeats throughout the rest of the night until 3AM, and mainly featured calm-natured shows designed to get kids ready to go to sleep. On Sprout on Demand, they would have Nina Sleeps, otherwise known as Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon, which was like what Ramasjang does in many ways. Some people may say Sprout ripped off Ramasjang, but Ramasjang launched in 2009, while the Snooze-a-Thon (or A Good Night of Sweet Dreams) premiered in 2007 during Sprout's Hooray for the Holidays. I knew I was right when I said mostly all of my non-Sprout posts had a bit of Sprout in ‘em.

So there you have it. Kids' goodnights from around the world! Please note that this post is akin to something I posted on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum.

And, oh, while we're at it, goodnight boys and girls.

Click here to scream while watching the news on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Sesame Street: Should It End?

Madeline Fretz - With the ends of Muppet Babies and Arthur this month, it's both amazing and surprising to know that a certain Muppet/Henson-related PBS series has outlived both shows … Sesame Street. The show has premiered on November 10th, 1969 and is still going strong, running for 52 seasons and counting.

Now, I don't want to start up a fight about this, but with several animated series ending recently, should Sesame Street end? A recent thread on the ToughPigs forum has inspired me to write this post. From what I've read on Muppet Central and Facebook, many people (some of whom have been with the series since the beginning), it is too iconic to end, should keep going for new generations to enjoy. Bill Cosby, the host of the 20 and Still Counting special from 1989, once spoke of why Sesame should keep going: "There's always something new to learn and someone new to teach it to."

However, I have mixed feelings about today's show. Let's focus on the "bad things" first. The show has never gone bad, in my opinion, but recently they spend too much time on the same characters over and over again and have gotten too "babyish" - doing things like releasing Cocomelon-esque videos on their YouTube channel (they used to release classic segments, but sporadically do nowadays), repetitive season curriculums, forgettable plots. I know they do these things to make little kids happy, but these changes are not for us fans. We all know that. On the bright side, I'm always excited to see what the new plots are (babyish or not) and whom the guest stars will be (even if they're ones I don't know).

So should the show end? I can't decide. The show has been on for more than fifty years, coming up with new, exciting ways to educate and entertain. Meanwhile, many fans have complained about how "dumbed down" the show has gotten nowadays and over the years. Unheard of the first time, although many fans are on the disagreeing sign, will Sesame Street come to an end anytime soon?

It's up to the producers and nice people at Sesame Workshop.

If the show does end (which will probably never happen), they should go out with a bang and have a big series finale, starting with a big marathon of almost every episode (ala Arthur). If not, something similar. That way, the cast, puppeteers, and crew can move on to other things. Plus, like Arthur, there can always be new content like online videos starring the Muppets.

On the plus side, we'd have 55(?) solid years of fun and learning (HBO Max has picked up five seasons, up to 55, in 2019). On the downside, I think Sesame is the only Sprout show still running (the original Thomas & Friends recently ended), so cancelling "the street" may leave no Sprout shows still making new episodes.

Here's the silly thing - since I didn't like how babyish the show became, I started an online petition to cancel the show. As previously mentioned in this post, many people said that the show shouldn't get cancelled, so I abandoned the petition. 

So, in the meantime, let me ask a question that has been asked a million times before. Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Click here to share your thoughts on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Uncovering a Sprout launch party photo

Big Bird, Barney the Dinosaur, walkarounds of Bob and Angelina Mouseling, and Sesame Street star Roscoe Orman (Gordon) at the Sprout launch party in 2005.

Madeline Fretz - I launched this blog almost two years ago. I was twelve, now I'm fourteen. My first post explained why I started this important project, accompanied by pictures of Sprout's launch party, held in San Fransisco's Yerba Buena Gardens in 2005. The launch party, which had both Sprout characters and key people of the channel's founding companies in attendance, was mainly to promote the launch of Comcast's Sprout on Demand service. You see, the Sprout brand was introduced on Comcast on Demand, launching in April 2005, while the 24-hour channel launched five months later on September 26th (we all know that). According to president Sandy Wax, launching Sprout on VOD (video on demand) was a good way to get the word out and get the brand out. Even after all these years, the pictures can still be found on Flickr under the account of Steve Rhodes. Check 'em out!

Well, I found a picture of the launch party today while surfing world wide web that isn't on Flickr. Lo and behold!

Image from Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

Now, I know you may be wondering, how did I find this rare picture? Well, as always, it wasn't easy. If you know me, you know that I'm a big fan of Sprout, as well as the world of children's television in general. To see my history with Sprout, click here (you've probably already seen this post though). I'm serious about Sprout. Not only do I run this blog, but I also run the YouTube fan channel Playtime All the Time and edit as admin Maddiellabie on the PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki (it was founded by user NeptuneID13, but I started editing regularly on the wiki in late 2020, after leaving my stupid CBeebies wiki. I wish THAT never existed!). As a Sprout historian as well as a fan, I'm always on the lookout for rare pictures, videos, and articles I bet no one has seen before.

Today, I was searching for a picture of the original, pre-September 2005 Sproutletsgrow.com (it existed even before the linear channel launched), using the keywords "Sprout comcast 2005" (some of the images came from my Sprout fansites, such as this one), and came across the picture you see above. It was on Yerba Buena Gardens' website.

The picture has Roscoe Orman (the fourth actor to play Gordon on Sesame Street, after Matt Robinson, Hal Miller, and Garrett Saunders) and walkarounds of Bob from Bob the Builder, Angelina Mouseling from the original Angelina Ballerina, and Elmo from Sesame Street. Note that the Elmo walkaround isn't in the picture at the top of this post, but still, it(he?) was there. 

This picture probably wasn't at the Yerba Buena Gardens launch party.

It is also worth noting that there may have been another Sprout launch party. How can you tell? Well, I doubt that the first generation branding with Big Bird and Thomas and the Teletubbies in the colored circles was used at the first one, and Melanie, the original Goodnight Guide from The Good Night Show, whom I'm assuming was hired after Sprout on Demand launched, was there, so yeah, it was probably to promote the launch of the 24-hour channel in September. I recall seeing an ad for a launch party like this (was in the one in the picture?) on the internet maybe a year ago, and that that ad had the trumpets from the Music ident.

UPDATE (3/18/2022): Here it is!

I'm so glad I found another rare Sprout picture today, and even more spectacular, one of the event that started it all. Parents and Kids Share Together is all about sharing pictures, videos, stories, and memories about Sprout, and I knew here would be the best place to put it!

Click here to find a rare picture on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Sprout and Negative Emotions

Madeline Fretz - Shows like Sesame Street (which aired on Sprout from 2005 to 2015, as Sesame Workshop and PBS were two of the channel's founders) and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (which never aired on Sprout) are famous for talking about negative emotions and serious issues like death, divorce, cancer, violence and shootings etc. Throughout its twelve year history, I doubt Sprout has talked about these topics, but I sure wish they did. You see, on most kids' shows, the characters shy away from negative emotions and are always happy (Barney & Friends and Play School come to mind). The Nostalgia Critic pointed this out in his review of 1998's Barney's Great Adventure.

Now, today I'm going to fantasize about The Sunny Side Up Show, The Good Night Show etc dealing with negative emotions and serious issues. Parents and Kids usually isn't a place for fanfiction, but enjoy anyways. (Please note that the SSU death bit takes place around 2010/2011, as I remember seeing those hosts (Kelly, Sean, Dennisha, and Liz) the most) Read it and weep!

CHICA (squeaking): I wanna talk to Eleanor. Where is she?

LIZ: Uhh, Chica, Eleanor died. She's dead.

(Chica doesn't seem to notice)

CHICA (squeaking): Oh, okay. Maybe I'll see her another time.

KELLY: Chica, when people die, their bodies stop working. They can't breathe or talk. Eleanor's dead.

(Suddenly, Chica starts to feel sad)

SEAN: You have any questions? You can always ask us anything.

CHICA (squeaking): Uhh, how will I get to see her ever again?

DENNISHA: Chica, we still have our memories of her.

CHICA (squeaking): Yeah, we can always remember her, but I'm still a little sad.

SEAN: We all feel sad, Chica.

CHICA (squeaking): Well, it won't be the same.

KELLY: You're right, Chica. It won't be the same without her, but you know what? We're all very lucky that we got to see and know her when she was still with us. (smiles)

CHICA (squeaking): You know what, I'm really gonna miss Eleanor.

SEAN: We all will, Chica.

(Everyone engages in a group hug and comforts Chica)

So there you go. Can you imagine them dealing with tough topics like these? I believe Sprout didn't talk about these topics as they would be too difficult to grasp for their target audience. 

Click here to miss Eleanor on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

When I Was a Sproutlet: Madeline "Maddie" Fretz

In 2014, SproutOnline.com had a Sunny Side Up Show "Host Corner" that had videos of and information about the show's hosts. The Host Corner had a series of articles called "When I Was a Sproutlet," in which the hosts would talk about their lives when they were little. As of today, I'm thinking of starting a similar series here on Parents and Kids Share Together. This new series works the same way as The Great Sprout Survey: the questions are at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UfoQDuYAqvh5nbSkDkLSvUKMiSNq5bJULBmFKuEw_Po/, write your answers to those questions on a seperate document and email them to me at @energeticjustinmaddiellabie@gmail.com, and I may post them here on the blog. Anyways, let's start with my own answers. Enjoy!

Answers from Madeline "Maddie" Fretz:

My first pets were

My family didn't have any pets back then and we still don't today.

I loved to eat

Lots of stuff, especially healthy stuff.

My nickname was

I don't remember. Maybe "Mads" (which my mom calls me even to this day). 

My favorite Sesame character was

Elmo, Ernie, and Cookie Monster, especially the latter. We carried those dolls of the three characters EVERYWHERE and watched Sesame DVDs nonstop. Ahh, those were the days!

My grandparents used to

I remember going to my grandparents' old house. A few years later (circa 2012?), they moved away and currently live in Williamsburg.

My favorite thing to wear was

When I was in preschool, I LOVED to wear a cute pink dress with polka dots.

I refused to go anywhere without

My white blanket, Baby Einstein, which I still have to this day. My Mom's friend Lisa made it for me, and I named it after a series of videos I watched as a little girl and am still a big fan of today.

I wanted to be a

My sisters and I would always play dress up, but I didn't know what I wanted to be. Maybe a Disney princess?

My most memorable birthday was

Over the years, my sisters and I would have themed birthday parties - Sesame Street (2nd), Dora the Explorer (3rd), Minnie Mouse (4th), Fun Bus (5th and 6th), Frozen (7th). Nowadays, I get Yo Gabba Gabba! and CBeebies presents since I'm a big fan of both brands.

When I was older, I got great grades in

Similarily, I won an award(?) for my science fair project in second grade, which used M&Ms and Gobstoppers. Does that count?

My favorite color was

Orange, and still to this day. We used to have this book about colors using pictures of my sisters and I and our favorite things. I wonder if we still have it...

Sprout Memories

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!

The Sunny Side Up Show:

Image from the Wayback Machine

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.
• Wasn't Chica's Mom also in a Hooray for Mother's Day Sweepstakes promo?
• 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!

R.I.P Sesame Street's Stephen Lawrence

 

It was established that former Sesame Street composer Stephen Lawrence died on New Year's Eve. Like Mike Renzi, you may not know his name but you might know his songs, and here are several examples.

Anyways, Lawrence is gone, but not forgotten. His music will also stay alive. Rest in pace, Mr. Lawrence. At least you’re reunited with the likes of Mike Renzi, Joe Raposo, and Jeff Moss now, and you’re making great Sesame Street music together.

Click here to remember Stephen Lawrence on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Hopes for a Sprouterrific 2022!

 

Madeline Fretz - Well, it's 2022, Sproutlets! As a Sprout fan, I have lots of hopes for this year, and here they are!

Apple TV+ acquiring Sprout library and ordering new original series

I know I've been saying this for months now after the Yo Gabba Gabba! announcement. It’s unlikely it will ever happen, but I say never say never. This will give us a chance to see old and rare Sprout content we've never seen before, plus see new original content with some of the old gang back. Plus with that holiday message video, it feels like some of them really want the Sprout name back. NBCUniversal, Apple TV+, make that happen! Support the petition!

Sprout Reunion

A few Sprout people important to Sprout's history were in Steven's holiday message video this year, but weren’t together. This year I would love to see them reunited for a video chat or even a special or other content. Pratt, Filios, Gawel, Barnes, and Eisner weren’t in the video, so this would be a great chance to see them again. Everyone! 🎵 Together again, gee it’s good to be together again, I just can’t imagine that you’ve ever been gone, it’s not starting over, it’s just going on… 🎶

No one from Sprout dead

A lot of people I’m familiar with or have known for years died in 2021, so I hope no one from Sprout dies or passes away in 2022. It’s unlikely that will ever happen, since some of them are probably still young.

A start to filming the Sesame Street movie

The new Sesame Street movie with Anne Hathaway and Chance the Rapper is supposed to start filming this month, so I hope it happens. From what we have heard, this is going to be a movie about the Muppets getting lost in New York - a mix between Follow That Bird and the Muppet movies (the ones with Kermit's side of the family). This would give us a great chance to see behind-the-scenes pictures and more information about the movie. Sesame Workshop, make it happen!

A start to filming the Barney movie

Speaking of new Sprout show movies, it was announced in 2019 that Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out was making a movie starring the iconic purple dinosaur. I hope this movie is more Dora and the Lost City of Gold and less Barney's Great Adventure, Elmo in Grouchland, and Thomas and the Magic Railroad - a movie for people who grew up watching the show with references to the original show. If it happens, I’ll definitely go see it and will probably like it more than the original show. I wonder what this movie is going to be about and when it’s going to be shot…

Fanfiction

The Sprout team sleeping in hammocks after cleaning the theater.

As you probably know, I'm writing a sequel to my Sprout fanfic. While the latter was about getting the Sprout characters and hosts back together again since I wanted Apple TV+ to bring back Sprout, the former is about Nina and Star and Miles and Banjo touring with The Wiggles during Nina and Miles' anniversary trip to Los Angeles, and everyone else setting off to find them and bring them back home. I think I'll probably add adjustments and fix mistakes to my first fic. YouTube's Marcus Blackwell suggested I add a lullaby to the scene where everyone's sleeping in hammocks and rafters above the stage in the Dominion Energy Center, and Nina and I have a nighttime chat. Well, the scene does include the Goodnight Song and the Hush the Fish poem. 🙄

Another great year for Parents and Kids Share Together!

Most people hated 2020, and 2021 was a fairly decent year, especially for Parents and Kids Share Together. I hope 2022 is just as great for PAKST as the past two years were. Peace out (or should I say Peace Sprout?)!

Click here to have a great 2022 on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!