Overthinking It: Where are Star's parents?

The original Star from 2006.

Madeline Fretz - There are a lot of children's shows and sing-along videos (usually from the 90s) in which a bunch of human kids sing and dance with a large costumed character (one or more) - Barney comes to mind. As you probably know by now, I was born in '07, but being a children's television historian, I know a lot about these shows and videos thanks to research and YouTube. But wait! - there's one thing about these kids - their parents are rarely shown. The same goes to other, similar shows, such as Disney's Out of the Box (in which real kids make crafts and jump into pictures with hosts Tony and Vivian) and PBS' own ZOOM (in which seven kids play games and make things sent in by viewers). I mean, we see their parents on occasions, but they aren't shown most of the time.

Star from The Good Night Show is no exception. Look - we're Sprout fans, so we know him very well, don't we? He's a kid, he's with Nina all the time, he hasn't mentioned and there's no sign of his parents - weird!

Mr. and Mrs. C, Chica's parents

Chica's mom, Mrs. C, was a frequent visitor on The Sunny Side Up Show, appearing since at least 2009. After Chica plush toys sold like hotcakes, Sprout executives knew they had something special on their hands, so they started making a series about healthy eating that would focus on Chica in a farmers' market instead of the cozy comforts of the Sunshine Barn. Eventually, the show became Chica's Costume Coop, in which Kelly and Chica would go on animated adventures in the titular shop, which would become The Chica Show. Mrs. C was carried over to the new series, which also introduced Mr. C, Chica's dad. The two, played by Jen Barnhart and John Kennedy, respectively, served as great parents to our favorite chicken. They have also made occasional appearances on Sunny.

This is where Star comes in. In 2015, when Sprout turned ten, it introduced an animated Good Night Show prequel called Nina's World, about Nina's childhood adventures. Star, as well as Hush, Lucy, and Nina's abuela (voiced by veteran actress Rita Moreno), was also present. I talked about the show in a post comparing The Good Night Show to The Sunny Side Up Show, in which Sunny was the winner. As silly as it may sound, World would've been a great opportunity to see Star's parents, as The Chica Show introduced us to Mr. and Mrs. C (or "Cluckums" as they call each other). BUT WAIT! Nina was six in this series, but Star and Lucy were probably the same age they were on The Good Night Show, which had an adult Nina, years later. Similarly, Elmo and Big Bird on Sesame Street first knew Gabi and Miles when they were babies, but the latter two grew up, and now they're older than the former two. Weird!

Okay, enough about Mr. and Mrs. C. Let's get back to Nina and Star.

Have we seen Star mentioning his parents? No. One episode from Season 5 (or 3?) was about "Parents" (YouTuber Mommymeow32 uploaded a tape of an entire Sprout broadcast day to her channel, which had footage of the episode). In the episode, Star pretended to have a son called Little Star, and told Nina about the things he did with him. This episode also would've been a great opportunity to introduce us to Star's parents, or at least have him mention them. But no, the writers just went with no.

So where are they? What happened to them?

On the Scottish CBeebies show Me Too!, the character Bobby would often leave her son Kai at Granny Murray's house while she would clean buses at night. My headcanon (sp?): Star's parents would often leave him with Nina (or Melanie, OR Leo) for the night while they would work, similar to Bobby and Kai's routine on Me Too!. Does that work?

Sharon, Patty's mom

Reginald, Ricky's dad

The Sprout Sharing Show had Sharon Pig, Patty's mom, and Reginald Rabbit, Ricky's dad, both played by Forrest Harding. If Star's parents were ever seen, make them like Sharon and Reginald, have them appear occasionally in "blockisodes" (as us fans call them) and in promos, as well as in coloring pages.

So yeah, those are ways I would have it. Hope you enjoyed! You know what, it's pretty late at night as of writing this (almost 9 o'clock), I think I should go to bed now. YAWN! Goodnight, Sproutlets!

Click here to meet your long-lost parents on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Sprout History Lessons

Madeline Fretz - Hi, Sproutlets. Welcome back to Parents and Kids Share Together. Yesterday, we looked at Sprout Might-Have-Beens, so today I’m going to teach you about the most popular misconceptions in Sprout history. Enjoy!

PBS Kids and Sprout are NOT the same thing!

When searching for Sprout content on websites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook, I come across photos and videos in which the titles are "Catherine's on PBS Kids," etc.

Now, PBS was one of the co-founders of Sprout along with Comcast, HiT Entertainment, and Sesame Workshop, the channel was called PBS Kids Sprout when it launched, and was "presented in part with your local PBS station," with Sprout commercials airing on PBS. When Sprout rebranded in 2009, the PBS Kids branding in the channel's logo was rarely featured in idents, promos, and even on SproutOnline.com. 

Comcast acquired NBCUniversal in 2011, Apax Funds and Mattel acquired HiT Entertainment, and Sesame Workshop sold its interest of Sprout to Comcast in 2012. In 2013, NBCUniversal acquired full ownership of Sprout, so that meant the PBS Kids branding was finally dropped from the channel's name, although PBS shows continued to air on Sprout until the third generation rebranding in 2015 (the exceptions being Caillou and The Berenstain Bears). Bears stopped airing on Sprout shortly before the Universal Kids rebranding in 2017, and Caillou stopped airing on Universal Kids in 2019. However, the park seasons of Barney & Friends returned to Universal Kids in 2018 and Bob the Builder: Ready, Steady, Build in 2019.

It is NOT The Good Morning Show!

Sprout's morning show was called The Sunny Side Up Show and later Sunny Side Up, not The Good Morning Show. I bet people call Sunny this because they think either it is a "sequel series" to The Good Night Show or thinking the two blocks are the same thing. A few months ago, I wrote a post on this blog comparing The Sunny Side Up Show and The Good Night Show, and Sunny was the winner. 

NO misnaming!

As a Sprout fan, I've often seen people misspelling Chica's name as "Chicka." UGH! How many times did I have to tell you - her name is "Chica," not "Chicka!" Same goes to other characters, such as Patty being named "Patti" and Banjo being named "Bandit."

They're NOT the same thing!

Everywhere you look, a lot of post-2012 Sunny Side Up Show photos, videos, comments on YouTube videos, and articles on the internet have it known as The Chica Show. Now, I better tell these misnaming people something. There is a difference between Sunny and Chica. The former is a live morning show that launched in 2007 that focuses on a different theme each week through stuff like birthday cards, games, songs, pictures, and artwork, while the latter is an original series that premiered in 2012 that is about Chica helping her parents and Kelly in the Costume Coop. She deals with typical preschool problems in the shop every day, which she solves by going on animated adventures.

So there you have it, Sproutlets! Some of the most popular Sprout Misnomers. If I remember any others, I’ll update the post and write about them here. Buy! Whoops! I meant to say "Bye!" (Ha!)

Click here to say a character's name wrong on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Sprout Fan Confessions

Image from YouTube

Madeline Fretz - Being a Sprout fan, I have thought many things were right that I learned were wrong years later, was scared of several things, and pretended to host my own Sprout-inspired children's shows. Here are some of my confessions. Again, like the previous My Life as a Sprout Fan and Sprout Memories posts, but only about the confessions.

• I used to think Chica was a boy, even though her name is Chica. It wasn't until I watched a Chica Show promo I learned she was actually a girl. Despite this, Chica has been played by guys several times.
• Now for a confession I’ve talked about a lot. I used to be afraid of The Sunny Side Up Show as a "Sproutlet" since they would have guest appearances from Sprout characters. I’m no longer afraid nowadays.
• When I first saw Tim in the "We Try, We Don't Cry" music video on the Sprout Tunes section of the Games and Videos app, I assumed that was Sean despite the hair. You see, Tim Kubart and Sean Roach were two of the four male Sunny Side Up Show hosts along with Kevin Yamada and Darryl Williams. It didn’t take me long to embrace that it was Tim and not just a new Sean.
• When I first saw a picture of Kevin and Chica on the original Sunny Side Up Show set, I assumed it was a UK version of the show even though Kelly and Sean were in the host picture on set. I assumed the host's name was Kevin, as that was the name of the host of the British version of Blue's Clues. It didn’t take me until I watched a Birthday Show video on YouTube to learn that I was right about his name, except that the set was the original. The UK never had their own Sprout, though they did and still do have similar series to Sprout's programming.
• When I first saw the Sunny Side Up Show hosts, I assumed they were "farmers" given that the show took place in the Sunshine Barn in Sprout Farm.
• Now for a confession about one of Sprout's original series, and its first full-length one - I originally thought that Noodle McNoodle, the puppet co-host of Noodle and Doodle, was named Jose. The puppet has eyelashes, so I assume it's a female.
• I always assumed that after 9PM, when The Good Night Show ended its first nightly broadcast, the Snooze-a-Thon would come on. Years later, I was proved wrong. The Snooze-a-Thon, also known as Nina Sleeps, aired annually on Christmas Eve and was otherwise exclusive to on-demand, and The Good Night Show would air in two repeats at 9PM and midnight.
• In 2015-2016, I pretended that The Good Night Show would be hosted by a new character named Min. Before PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki, there was the Sprout wiki. NeptuneID13 founded the former because the latter was a false information wiki, and Min is still mentioned there, as well as a wiki for a fanmade Sprout show. There’s been a reason why Nina's been the Goodnight Guide since 2006, so letting her go would be ridiculous. 😉
• I think I drew Sprout pictures in elementary school. No, I don’t think you can read them, and the drawings are a bit little kid-like.

Sprout also inspired me to pretend to host TV over the years, and here are the instances where I did.

• Back in 2015, I was so obsessed with both Sprout and The Wiggles, that one time I "started" my own Sprout sequel channel called Sprout 2. You see, in the UK, Nickelodeon has a channel called Nick Jr. 2, which they often rebranded several times. One of the videos you see above is me hosting a promo for the pretend channel and singing "Sprout Around the Clock," the song The Wiggles sang in 2009 to promote Sprout's Wiggly Waffle.
• As you found out in my Sprout Memories post, I made a Sunny Side Up Show audition video after watching Host Hunt audition videos from 2013. The first video is the one I’m talking about, and yes, it is a bit out of context.
• Also in Sprout Memories, I mentioned hosting a Sunny Side Up Show-like morning show with a toy robot co-host.
• In 2020, I returned to my Sprout fan roots by creating and hosting a Good Night Show fan series called The Good Night Show & Maddie, starring me and an OC of mine named Kaitlin McKreckson. McKreckson also appears in my Sprout fanfic, but only in silent cameos. I abandoned the concept shortly after I turned thirteen. This was inspired by the fact that Blue's Clues fans were hosting their own fanmade series on YouTube. Nowadays, many people are inspired by me and host their own Good Night Show series (such as Alison Clarke and James Fletcher).

So there you have it, some of my Sprout fan confessions. If I remember any others, I'll update this post. 

Click here to be played by guys several times on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Behind the Squeak

 

https://vimeo.com/131980450

Madeline Fretz - Yesterday I was on the Vimeo website searching for Sprout videos, when I came across this nice little Chica Show promotional video - Behind the Squeak, and uploaded it to my channel. The video is about how Chica became famous and got her own show.

Before Chica was born, her parents were in musicals together, making them the first traveling chicken duo. Once Chica was hatched from her egg, she started to dance. Chica's presence spread like wildfire, and she had to be on TV. She made her debut on The Sunny Side Up Show, where she first met her close friend Kelly. News articles about Chica were published every minute and lots of celebrities (Barney, Oscar the Grouch, Richard Blais, Mario Lopez, Dan Zanes…) wanted to meet her. Apparently Chica became so popular, that Andrew Beecham gave her her own show. She liked dressing up, and her parents ran a costume shop, so it was clear that the new show would take place there. Mr. and Mrs. C needed an extra set of hands, and found them in Kelly, who reenacted her face when she learned they hired her. You’ll find a lot of rare footage and pictures in the video.

This is a nice little video and a great backstory on the world's most famous puppet. Besides, this makes me hungry for the Sprout history video I wrote about on this very website months ago. If only I could find it…

UPDATE: It appears NBCUniversal blocked the video in the US, so I posted the link to the original video instead. Enjoy!

Click here to meet your close friend on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Ian Rogers

Madeline Fretz - A few days ago, I found these pics of the 2013 SproutOnline.com on this website, and there are a few prototypes I discovered.

The thumbnail of the "Chica the Cowchicken" video is of Mr. and Mrs. C in this picture, "Monster Cookies" was not a recipe on the website as far as I remember, "Fifi's Strawberry Heart Pancakes" is a Thomas-branded recipe, when that has nothing to do with Thomas or trains (I don’t know if I should add that to the wiki).

The picture next to the Sunny Side Up Show schedule is actually of The Chica Show, you can see a picture of Chica with Big Bird from 2007, you can also see a picture of Dennisha and Chica with two kids, and almost all the rest of the videos have the same title and description ("Chica the Cowchicken,") but with different images.

The Chica Show Spot the Differences is labeled as a Driver Dan's Story Train game, and Moon Rock Catch is labeled as a Good Night Show game (The Let's Go Show dissolved in 2010, yet its Sproutonline.com page, games, and recipes remained up on the website, and a few recipes eventually got rethemed).

And lastly, let us look at the first image on the website. Not only can we see the aforementioned Sesame Street "Monster Cookies" recipe, but we can also see Bert's Banana Pops, a rethemed version of Zoboomafoo Banana Pops from Sprout Diner. 

So there you have it. You can notice a few prototypes in the images, some of which I previously pointed out, and there are also a few features which made it to or were already on the actual website.

Click here to look at the first image on the website on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

The Chica Show characters sing a song from Preschool Musical

 

Well, Sproutlets, it’s almost December, and December means Christmas, not to mention Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the holidays. Are you getting excited? I know I am!

Here is a 2014 Christmas promo that featured Kelly, Chica, Bunji, and Stitches from The Chica Show singing "We Love the Holidays" from Sprout's Preschool Musical on a Stick. The song was originally sung by Nina and Star from The Good Night Show.

Anyways, it’s interesting to see Sprout reuse a song from the first generation era, as, like "Jingle All the Way" and a few Let's Go Show songs, they’ve been using "We Love the Holidays" instrumentally in promos and in Barnyard Boogie online games. 

Click here to reuse a song from the first generation era on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Weekly Character Wednesdays: Chica

 CHICA

Hi, Sproutlets. Today I launched the Parents and Kids Share Together forum on Delphi, where you can talk about Sprout and other stuff. Anyways, welcome to Weekly Character Wednesdays.

PERFORMED BY:

• Forrest Harding (squeaks)
• Ed Pokropski
• Jenn Santee
• Brendan Gawell
• Jackie Payton
• Kimberly Diaz
• Scott McClennen

FIRST APPEARANCE:

The Sunny Side Up Show, 2007

MOST RECENT APPEARANCE:

Universal Kids spots, 2019

BEST KNOWN ROLE:

Four and a half year old co-host of The Sunny Side Up Show. Non-talkative squeaker.

WHO IS CHICA?

Chica the Chicken is the Sunny Side Up Show's on-air sidekick. She first appeared when the block launched in Fall 2007, and got her own show, none other than The Chica Show, in 2012. Chica squeaks like a squeaky toy instead of using actual dialog. Why? This is because her performer is an associate producer.

Chica has not only appeared on Sunny and her show, but she also had dolls and backpacks on Sprout and CafePress' Shop Sprout website. In 2008, a Sprout anniversary special focused on Chica celebrating her birthday.

With the Sunny Side Up refresh in 2015, Chica started to play a backseat to the hosts, and started having less screentime, being replaced by the hosts' Sproutlet friends, but she was still pretty popular. She strangely does not appear in the above picture. When Sunny Side Up got replaced by Sprout House/Snug's House in 2017, she still appeared in segments, and appeared in a few spots on Universal Kids once her show returned to the airwaves for a brief period.

Before The Sunny Side Up Show began, senior vice president Andrew Beecham wanted the puppet co-host to be an animal, and Sprout executives (including Betsy Oliphant) contemplated a chicken since the block's title was a reference to sunny side up eggs, even though Beecham didn't think the Sproutlets at home could connect well with chickens.

WHY DOES SPROUT NEED CHICA?

As the hosts' sidekick, Chica represents her preschool viewers. She knows what they see and what they know.

Click here to squeak about it on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

My Week with The Sunny Side Up Show: When a Celebrity Comes to Visit

 

Images from 2015

Madeline Fretz - Back in the early days, The Sunny Side Up Show often had guest appearances from Sprout characters. According to this Sprout for Parents article, when Team Sprout came up with the theme for each week, they brainstormed the guest ideas they would like to have. They tried to book a guest as far in advance as possible, usually a few months before their actual appearance, because their schedules tended to fill up very quickly.

Let's start with the Sesame Street appearances. Sesame Street had the most guest appearances on the block.

Image from Muppet Wiki

Image from Nolan Hong

Image from Jeremy Wintroub

• Big Bird (Matt Vogel, who currently plays him to this day) was the first guest. He appeared in the pilot from September 2007 and in a few promo pictures.
• Prairie Dawn (Fran Brill, who played her until 2014) appeared for Valentine's Day 2008 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. Viewers could get to call her live.
• Oscar the Grouch (Caroll Spinney, who played him until 2018) appeared for Earth Day 2008 with Sean Roach and Chica. The character returned for Oscar Weekend 2014 where he and Chica gave Dennisha Pratt a manicure, and again in 2015 with Kaitlin Becker and Chica (he was performed by Eric Jacobson, who currently plays him to this day, here). The latter was the last time a Sesame Muppet appeared on the block, as the show stopped airing later that year.
• Super Grover (Eric Jacobson, who currently plays him to this day) appeared for New Year's Eve 2008 and Day 2009 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. They sang a song to the tune of "Turkey and the Straw" about New Year’s resolutions - Grover's included discovering a new breed of blue apple, tying his shoes, dancing with a penguin, and eating hot chocolate with a dove. He thanked his family when he was given the "Super" Good Egg Award.
• Elmo (Kevin Clash, who played him until 2012) appeared on December 15, 2009 with Sean Roach and Chica, where he answered viewers' phone calls, read birthday cards, played in a color game show and sang songs such as "Blue Kazoo Blues" and "Kwanzaa Candles." The character returned on November 30, 2010 for Food and Cooking Week with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, and again on Christmas Eve that year. He once again returned on December 13, 2011 with Liz Filios and Chica, where a dreidel hit his puppeteer. The character returned in 2016 with Cookie Monster to promote their new show The Furchester Hotel.
• Abby Cadabby (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) appeared on January 4, 2012 for Weather Week with Liz Filios and Chica.

Now for Barney.

• The big purple dinosaur himself appeared for Thanksgiving 2007 with The Good Night Show's Nina (Michele Lepe) and Chica, and later that day he hosted a marathon of his show where he presented hand turkeys from Sprout characters. The character returned for Valentine's Day in 2009 with Sean Roach and Chica, Dinosaurs Week in August 2010 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, Valentine's Day 2011 with Roach and Chica, and Thanksgiving 2011 with Liz Filios and Chica.
• Riff (Michaela Dietz (who also voiced Amethyst from Steven Universe)) appeared for Friends Week on March 31, 2011 with Liz Filios and Chica to promote Season 10 episodes of the show coming to Sprout.

The Wiggles also appeared, but I'm not counting them since they're performers with a children's show and direct-to-videos, not a fictional world.

Now for LazyTown.

• Sportacus (Magnus Scheving, the creator of the show) appeared for Good Sports Week on July 27th, 2012 with Sean Roach and Chica.
• Stephanie (Chloe Lang) appeared in 2012 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. They sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and made a healthy pizza.

Zack from Zerby Derby appeared in 2014 with Tim Kubart and Chica, and again in 2015 with Carly Ciarrocchi and Chica.

Noodle from Noodle and Doodle appeared to promote the show in 2010 with Sean Roach (who hosted the show) and Chica, again the same year with Liz Filios and Chica. She was also present at a pajama party with Filios and Chica the same year. 

Mr. and Mrs. C from The Chica Show appeared several times - once together to promote the show in 2012 with Sean Roach and Chica. Mr. C often appeared for Father’s Day, and Mrs. C made appearances before The Chica Show even began, albeit with a yellow necklace.

Now for Pajanimals.

• Squacky appeared for Fall Week 2011 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, and again in 2012 with Dennisha Pratt and Chica.
• Sweetpea Sue appeared for Valentine's Day 2013 and helped Sean Roach and Chica make Valentine's Day cards.
• Granny Pearl appeared for Grandparents' Day 2012.

Now for the blocks.

• Nina (Michele Lepe) from The Good Night Show has guest hosted several times, probably a lot more before they hired Sean Roach (who I’m friends with on Facebook). A few instances were Thanksgiving 2007 with Barney (see above), New Adventures Week on September 21st, 2009 (to promote her fifth season), and for Scrambled April Fun Day 2011, where she and Star played a Sink and Float Game with Kelly Vrooman and Chica. Star himself also appeared multiple times - once for Space Week 2010 with Kelly Vrooman and Chica, and at a pajama party the same year with Liz Filios and Chica.
• The characters from The Sprout Sharing Show appeared in 2008 and again in 2010 with Dennisha Pratt and Chica. Patty appeared alongside Elmo in 2010, and at a pajama party with Liz Filios and Chica. Curtis E. Owl and Otis appeared in 2012 for Chica's birthday party.
• Miles (Milton Barnes) from The Let's Go Show appeared for New Year's Eve 2007 and Day 2008.
• Bean from The Super Sproutlet Show appeared for Valentine's Day 2012 with Liz Filios and Chica, which was also the day the block premiered (SURPRISE!)
• Meeka and M'Goats from Sprout Control Room appeared in 2014 to promote the premiere of Astroblast!.

Animated characters also appeared, but rarely. From what I have heard, Super WHY! appeared in 2011 to promote his show with Liz Filios and Chica, and the titular characters from Ruff-Ruff, Tweet, and Dave appeared to promote their show in 2015 with Emily Borromeo and Chica.

The Good Night Show study

The Good Night Show was a hit with Sproutlets from 2005 until 2017, but recently, I found an 11-year old study saying claiming that the block was detrimental to a child's sleep patterns by running for 3 hours with two repeats and not helping to lull kids to sleep.

NEW YORK — Some experts say a three-hour bedtime TV show for preschoolers does more to keep kids awake than ease them into sleep.

Harvard University psychologist Susan Linn, who runs the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, asked the PBS Kids Sprout network to get rid of "The Good Night Show," which mixes cartoons and skits with a puppet about getting ready for bed.

Linn said the show seems more designed to keep kids in front of the TV than spend time with their parents.

But PBS Kids Sprout chief Sandy Wax says she lives in the "real world" where families watch television, and is trying to do her best to put on programs that help parents.

"The Good Night Show" has aired from 6 to 9 p.m. since the 2005 start of PBS Kids Sprout, a digital network aimed at children aged 2 to 5 and available in fewer than half of the nation's TV homes. The show features Nina, an actress who portrays a parentlike figure, and a star-shaped puppet named Star.

They appear in between cartoons such as "Caillou," "Thomas & Friends" and "Angelina Ballerina," discussing themes like responsibility. The show was created with the help of pediatric psychologists and is designed for parents to watch with their children as the young ones are getting ready for bed, Wax said.

Linn, who wrote to Wax this week along with the Center for Screen-Time Awareness, questions whether there should be a TV network for preschoolers in the first place. She doesn't object to the cartoons on "The Good Night Show," just how they are marketed.

"Don't pretend that the reason you have programming is to help children go to sleep," she said.

On one show in February, Star pleads at 7:12 p.m. for more time to stay up. "We can stay up a little longer, because coming up our Sproutlet friends have something to share with us," Nina replies, telling viewers, "don't go away."

Fifty minutes later, it's still not time for Star to go to bed.

When the show was over, an ad runs encouraging children to visit the network's Web site.

"We want the viewer to know that the show is going to continue on," Wax said. "But it's the parent's decision of when to go to bed."

Jodi Mindell, a psychologist and expert on sleep issues at St. Joseph's University, said that studies show TV viewing at bedtime is detrimental to children. TV is stimulating and engaging, precisely at a time you want children to disengage, she said.

One-third of parents with children aged 6 and lower said their children have televisions in their bedrooms, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Ninety percent of children aged 4 to 6 either spend time on the computer or watch television or videos each day, the group said.

Bedtime, in particular, is an important time for parents to spend with their children, Mindell said. "It's very sad to replace quality parent-child time with television," she said.

If the television has to be on, "The Good Night Show" beats cartoons with Ninja warriors, she said.

Wax said the program is designed to promote that time together, for parents to watch while cuddling with their kids on the couch. It's tough enough to be a parent, "let's not take away things that are being helpful," she said.

"We're not about this ideology of what should and shouldn't happen in the home," she said. "We're living in the real world."

Linn said she was concerned that the involvement of PBS would trick parents into thinking "The Good Night Show" was better for their children than it is. PBS Kids Sprout, however, is a for-profit network with partners that include Comcast, PBS, HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop, Wax said

Susan Linn, who runs the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood wrote to the then-president Sandy Wax about the block, which was keeping its viewers awake.

This was from March 2009, but the block kept going as late as March 31, 2017.

Wax said she lived in the "real world," where families watched television together and reassured Sprout would put on more programs to appeal to both parents and kids.

In one blockisode, Star pleaded to stay up, but Nina encouraged him to watch more shows.

To me, this block doesn't encourage staying up late. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood should watch The Chica Show episode "Tweet Dreams, Chica." In that episode, Chica stays up late but doesn't have much energy the next morning. And I don't want that to happen to Sproutlets.