Dragon Tales

Madeline Fretz - I'm deeply sorry if I discussed this show previously. Dragon Tales was an animated series by Sesame Workshop (then known as the Children's Television Workshop) about two kids named Max and Emmy who would wish upon a scale and travel to a magical land inhabited by dragons named Ord, Cassie, Zak and Wheezie, and Quetzal. Max and Emmy were later joined by their Bilingual friend Enrique. The show premiered on September 6th, 1999, when PBS launched the 24-hour PBS Kids channel, and continued to air new episodes until 2005.

Since Sesame Workshop and PBS were two of Sprout's founders, reruns of shows from the companies' archive libraries aired on the channel, including Dragon Tales. One thing diehard Sprout fans know is that, five months prior to the linear channel's launch, PBS Kids Sprout launched as a video-on-demand service on Comcast in April 2005, and Dragons was one of the shows to premiere on demand before on digital cable.

The show aired at 7:30, 4PM, and 6:30 ET when the Sprout channel launched on September 26th. As time went by, it aired on The Let's Go Show and The Good Night Show.

Sprout described the show as:

"This animated fantasy adventure series features Emmy and Max, their bi-lingual neighbor Enrique, and the dragons they befriend in Dragon Land. The children and dragons help each other overcome obstacles and cope with fears through songs and games."

So yeah, the show was like Barney with animated dragons.

The show got a Sprout Diner snack - Dragon Tales Tortilla Treat, a Birthday Show activity - Dragon Tales' Egg-celent Dragon Craft, and two Good Night Show stretches - Zak and Wheezie's Umbrella Stretch (from "Rainy Days") and Max and Emmy's School Stretch (from "School"). The Tortilla Treat became "unthemed"(?) once the show stopped airing.

However, the show stopped airing on PBS on August 31st, 2010, and was subsequently replaced in the PBS Kids Preschool Block (which was very similar to The Good Night Show and The Sunny Side Up Show) by The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!. Once Dragon Tales left PBS, it also left Sprout, and was replaced on The Good Night Show schedule by Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies, which premiered on Sprout a year prior, and reruns of Angelina Ballerina (source). The latter show has previously stopped airing on The Good Night Show. This was a month before The Let's Go Show dissolved.

The Girls of Sprout

A trio with only one female. Image from the Wayback Machine

Madeline Fretz - Even at the tender age of fourteen, I'm a big fan of children's shows. Not just ones from America, but also ones from other countries, even if they're not in English. I don't know why. Maybe this is because I have autism (discovered in maybe 2011), and it is known that autistic kids, even those over the age of four, like little kid shows.

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been obsessed with three preschool entertainment brands - Sesame Street, Baby Einstein, and Sprout. I started out thinking all three were real, but as I got older, became a historian and learned about what went on behind-the-scenes. Now, if you know me, you know that I love Sprout. I grew up watching it, and, if it weren't successful, there's a low chance that there would even be a Sprout fan blog. Now for a story I've told many, many times on this blog - I was scared of The Sunny Side Up Show and Sprout in general as a little girl, but, unheard of the first time, I calmed down and became a historian. 

I'm also a member of the Sprout fan server on Discord as cbeebiesfan (that was also my old DeviantArt username), and probably the only female member on there - a girl in a shining sea of boys.

If you know Sprout, you know that girls were everywhere - both human and puppet. I even wrote a post about the female hosts of The Sunny Side Up Show. I was not alone, I was represented.

I see a lot of myself in my Sprout heroes - sometimes I stay up late like Star, I ask questions from time to time like Banjo, and, as I said, most of them, almost all of them, were girls (well, Star's not a girl, but sounds like one).

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the girls of Sprout. Enjoy!

Melanie and Nina were the hosts of The Good Night Show, and both taught Spanish words, made crafts, told stories, played games, said goodnight to Hush the Fish, and even had the same Sprout stretch poem. The two had the same energy, bond with the camera, and were both pretty playful.

Bean was a blue-haired 12-year old girl who was the main host of Sprout's The Super Sproutlet Show, a programming block based on LazyTown which initially aired from 2PM to 4PM ET. She rode her Bean Pod, interacted with her friends from LazyTown, made recipes with Sproutlets and Grown-Up Sprouts and showed healthy food creations from Sproutlets at home in the SportsCandy Kitchen segments, and introduced shows.

It is worth noting that Sprout had TWO Beans, and I may be the only fan who noticed that. Sprout Diner had Bean, who interacted with her Sprout friends on the phone, and her daughter Alfalfa, who delivered the characters' meals on her bike, and hosted the Time to Create segments. Both girls also got their own online games.

Coo the Cuckoo Bird was the singing host of Musical Mornings with Coo, an early morning block which aired on Sprout from 6AM to 9AM ET. Coo sang songs about morning routines such as eating breakfast or getting dressed, and taught important lessons such as brushing your teeth. Other than that, I don't think there's much to her character.

Kelly Vrooman's Patty the Pig was one of the three hosts of The Sprout Sharing Show. Patty introduced shows, talked to Sproutlet viewers during split-screen credits, sang songs, and showed videos and artwork sent in by Sproutlets at home, often accompanied by other characters. Her mom, Sharon, has appeared several times to encourage parent participation.

Now for three (THREE!) characters often mistaken for being males, but are actually females played by males.

Chica was the squeaky poultry co-host of The Sunny Side Up Show. She was a chicken because, as said many times on this blog, Sprout executives wanted the puppet co-host to be a chicken, hence the new block's egg-inspired title, even though Andrew Beecham didn't think preschoolers could connect well with chickens. The Sprout team worked with a designer to make sure Chica was cute enough, and went with the version we all know (source). Chica accompanied original hosts Kelly and Kevin on live broadcasts, and only they could understand her squeaks. She also produced surprise eggs that would crack open to link into segments.

…Hence the egg in the original opening?

The Sunny Side Up Show was very different from the children's shows today. Segments, which aired as links in between such gold-standard shows, were live, unscripted, and, like kids' shows before it such as ZOOM, had viewer-submitted material such as birthday cards and wishes, pictures and videos, messages, and artwork. Chica helped bring unrealism to what felt like a mostly real block - real hosts, content sent in by real kids, and real weekly themes.

Once plush toys of her sold out, Chica got her own show, The Chica Show. The Chica Show, which premiered in 2012 and instantly became a success, focused on the titular character as she, Kelly and her parents ran a costume shop known as the Costume Coop, and solved typical preschool problems by becoming animated and going on imaginative adventures. Contrary to popular belief, the show is not the same as its preceding block. Despite the show being an extended toy commercial (like most Nick Jr. shows nowadays), it did teach some important lessons like perseverance, safety, and healthy habits (the show was originally going to take place in a farmers' market and focus on healthy eating).

Chica inspired Sproutlets and Big Sprouts almost every time she was on, entertained and brought smiles to children everywhere, but, once Sunny Side Up "moved" to a city loft, the hosts started hanging out with their Sproutlet friends from time to time and poor Chica got downplayed.

Banjo from The Let's Go Show. A character whom I said no one cares about a few months ago (🎵 We don't talk about Banjo, no, no. 🎶). Unlike Chica, she didn't get much attention or her own show, but was still important in her own way. Like a typical preschooler, Banjo almost always asked questions, and, hence the name, loved to play her homemade banjo. She was often paired up with the human host, Miles, and the two got along like two peas in a pod.

JB the Juicebox was the co-host (main host?) of Sprout's Wiggly Waffle, which launched in 2009, and introduced segments such as the Fifth Wiggle Game and Juicebox Pick. Now, I know what you're thinking - "isn't JB a boy?" Well, from what we have heard, it's a she. So, yeah.

Anyways, strong female characters were everywhere in Sprout's programming blocks and, as a girl myself, I couldn't be happier to have great friends like these. I'm never alone!

Click here to enjoy being a girl on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

Black History Month

 

  
Madeline Fretz - As many of you probably know, February is Black History Month. Sprout has had its fair share of diverse hosts over the years, but only five of them were black - Leo from The Good Night Show, Miles from The Let's Go Show, Dennisha and Darryl from The Sunny Side Up Show, and TJ from Sprout House. Today, we're taking a look at the impact and social significance of these five.

When Sprout launched, it had programming blocks with live-action hosts to fill the gaps in between shows - a tradition maintained for a long time. Originally, the hosts were Kevin from The Birthday Show and Melanie from The Good Night Show. Kevin read Sproutlets' birthday cards and showed Grown-Up Sprouts how to submit them in, while Melanie made crafts, taught stretches, told stories, and introduced the shows during bedtime hours. 

Now, on most kids' shows, there is less of a mix of races, and the cast members are usually white, while Sprout showed a lot more diversity - Kevin was Asian, while Melanie was Latinx. Sprout was a diverse place to be, but it was still for kids.

Eventually, Sprout executives discovered Melanie was in two PSAs in the early 2000s on a website known as technicalvirgin.com, and fired her. The Good Night Show went on hiatus while auditions were held for a new, permanent host. Until the new host was introduced, veteran puppeteer Noel MacNeal appeared as human host Leo, who was introduced in September 2006. Leo planted seeds, sang songs, told stories, and introduced shows. Most importantly, he introduced Sproutlets to Lucy the Firefly, who came out of his pocket. A few years prior, Leo's actor did the same thing he did on The Good Night Show - as a character who lived in a house that was blue, and he loved to cha-cha-cha. Somewhere on the internet, there still exists a forum about Leo's tenure, and a promo introducing new host Nina (Michele Lepe) aired in the meantime (source).

Sprout described Leo as:

"Noel MacNeal, an Emmy-nominated, 20-year veteran of children’s television, joins The Good Night Show as Leo, the series’ special guest host.Helping parents wind down their kids after a busy day, Leo plays games, sing songs and creates bedtime stories with Star, the lovable and lively star-shaped puppet. New to The Good Night Show is Lucy, an enchanting puppet firefly, who helps introduce episodes of Sprout favorites such as Dragon Tales™,  Angelina Ballerina™ and Bob The Builder™. Leo will be the special guest host while Sprout continues its multi-city search for the new host of The Good Night Show, which will tape its third season later this fall."

On May 7th, 2007, day one of Las Vegas' NCTA, Sprout announced it was launching a new afternoon programming block called The Let's Go Show, which launched on June 25th that year. The Let's Go Show was hosted by Miles (Milton Barnes), who hung out with Banjo the Dog, drove Carla the Car, sang songs, and played the trumpet. Miles also wore a purple watch called the Sprout Spotter, which served as the basis for the show's opening. Similarly, Bean from The Super Sproutlet Show also had a "Sprout Spotter," but hers had the green flower in the Sprout logo on it. Miles and Banjo were part of the plot of Sprout's Preschool Musical on a Stick in 2008.

PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki describes Miles as:

"Miles taught viewers to explore and be curious, and drove Carla the Car. As Banjo's teacher, Miles came by almost every day to explore and learn through songs and recipes with her. Miles often had a "Sprout Spotter," which sort of resembled a watch."

In 2009, around the time the second generation era launched, Sprout held auditions for a new Sunny Side Up Show host. One of many who auditioned was actress Dennisha Pratt, who told the date and weather with Chica. Pratt eventually won the role, and made her live debut on December 31st, 2009, replacing launch day host Kevin, who had left for "the big city." Dennisha's, along with Kelly's, audition video was posted on Sprout's official Facebook page to promote the Host Hunt contest in 2013. Eventually, YouTuber Let's Grow (who inspired the name of my old Sprout blog) found the videos and uploaded them to his(her?) YouTube channel. Dennisha was one of the many weekly hosts of The Sunny Side Up Show, and appeared until 2014, when she moved away with her family, and was subsequently replaced by new host Emily. I previously wrote about Dennisha on a post about the female hosts of The Sunny Side Up Show.

Darryl Williams, a former airman from Columbus, put up a Host Hunt audition video in 2013. In the middle of the night, Darryl got a mysterious phone call that happened to be from Sprout, and literally freaked out when he learned he was one of the finalists, waking up his son in the process. Darryl made his Sunny Side Up Show debut on Veterans Day, and his segment "Dial Darryl" debuted on January 3rd. In addition, he guest hosted The Sunny Side Up Show for Father's Day 2014 and appeared on the Sprout float of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2013.

Played by actor Donnell Smith, TJ was a journalist who visited Carly and Snug in the Sprout House, Sunny Side Up's pre-recorded replacement, from time to time. TJ liked eating pancakes, taking pictures, and hosted segments such as "Kid of the Week."

While most of its continuity announcers were white, like most kids' shows, Sprout was still a place for black children to see people who looked just like them. They understood them. The black people on TV served as role models, and showed kids that they were not alone. Of course, Sprout's original programming were not the first kids' shows, or Sprout shows in general, to feature black cast members - Sesame Street had Gordon, Susan, David, Olivia, Miles, Mr. Handford, Lillian, Savion, Angela, Jamal, Kayla, and Chris, alongside other cast members, while Barney & Friends had characters like Derek, Tosha, Ashley and Alissa, Kim, and Keesha. These characters also resembled, understood, and served as role models to black kids. Isn't that the most amazing thing?

Everyone was welcome on Sprout, and that matters.

Click here to see yourself on TV on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!

My Week with Split-Screen Credits: First Generation

 

Madeline Fretz - These squeezebacks were used during the first generation of Sprout, from the channel's launch in 2005 to late 2009. 

The above pictures were used during show credits. The credits played on a screen with buttons on a tree with the Sprout logo and what looks like a lollipop to me. The words "next" and "later on" on a blue circle and a picture of the show up next or later on were on the adjacent tree. A male (later female) announcer would tell you about what shows we'd see later on during the day. This squeezeback was also used during The Good Night Show.

Image from YouTube

This picture is from a YouTube video I previously blogged about. The show credits play on a screen above the Sprout logo on a triangle and two cars, while we see the words "next" and "later on" and a picture of the show up next or later on on a stoplight right by them. It is unknown when this was used or what it was for - maybe for The Let's Go Show when or before it launched. 😉

Panwapa

 

Madeline Fretz - Panwapa was a miniseries created by Sesame Workshop and starring the Muppets (not the ones from Sesame Street - although they were recycled from Sesame Muppets and played by Sesame Muppeteers). The characters included Azibo the Monster (Kevin Clash), Tungar the Tiger (voiced by Nigel Plaskitt), Athena the Owl, Koko the Penguin (Leslie Carrara-Rudolph), Baabra Sheep (Carmen Oshbar) and her two kids, and Bill the Bug (Joey Mazzarino). 

The show aired on Sprout as part of Summer Fun Fridays in 2008, and it is unknown if the show aired again after that, although its page remained up on SproutOnline.com. The show aired during The Let's Go Show.

Sprout describes the series as:

"Meet new friends from the creators of Sesame Street in partnership with the Merrill Lynch Foundation. Join Azibo the Monster on his adventures exploring Panwapa Island, discovering new customs and meeting new friends."

My Week with Promos: First Generation

Madeline Fretz - These kind of promos debuted and aired during the first generation, probably sometime in 2007. They promoted shows by giving viewers descriptions and when they aired through clips.

The Good Night Show promos featured a nighttime backdrop, maybe the Goodnight Garden or the Hills of Sprout. Lucy the Firefly would summon the represented show's title and then appear at the end of the promos along with the Season 4 logo, the show's title, and time it aired. This practice was also used in blockisode promos. These promos usually featured Production Music #1, while the blockisode promos featured the music that played while Nina recited her Sprout Stretch poem.

If we look at The Let's Go Show, that block's first generation promo branding is pretty rare. All we have of it is a promo for Dive Olly Dive that plays at the end of Any Del's recording of Sesame Street Episode 3914 on YouTube and a first generation tape someone uploaded to YouTube which I wrote about. The Olly promo shows Miles and Banjo driving Carla the Car, who summons the show's title. The end of the promos features the Let's Go Show logo, the show's title, and time it aired. 

This promo branding, which was also from said tape, is either for Sprout Mornings or Musical Mornings with Coo, which debuted in 2007. The end of the promos features the show's title, the time it aired, the Sprout logo in a cereal bowl and sunflowers.

The Sunny Side Up Show's promo branding started with a rooster by the Sunshine Barn crowing, and an egg summoning the show's title. At the end of the promos, we would see the first generation Sunny Side Up Show logo, the show's title, time it aired, a cow mooing, and a chicken who would cluck eggs that would slide down a slide. These promos often used Production Music #4, though the Fifi and the Flowertots and Roary the Racing Car promos used Production Music #1.

The Sprout Sharing Show's promo branding had human hands placing the represented show's title on screen and ended with Patty holding up the Sharing Show logo (in the Zoboomafoo promo, she held up the Sprout logo), the show's title, the time it aired, and a tree with a camera and a xylophone.

The End of the World

 

Image from Twitter

Image from Twitter

Madeline Fretz - Sprout has celebrated the calendar changings several times over the years, and today's the perfect day to revisit these celebrations.

Image from the Wayback Machine

Miles (Milton Barnes) of The Let's Go Show fame guest hosted The Sunny Side Up Show to celebrate 2007 becoming 2008.

Grover (Eric Jacobson) and his superhero alter ego Super Grover from Sesame Street and Play With Me Sesame appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show for a "Super New Year's Party" with hosts Kelly Vrooman and Chica during Time Week. They sang about New Year's Resolutions to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw," in which Grover's resolutions included taking pictures, discovering a new breed of blue apple, tying his shoes, hugging a penguin, and drinking hot chocolate with a dove. Man, Sesame Street Muppets can be funny at times! When he was given the "Super Good Egg Award," Grover gave a speech and thanked all his family members.

In 2009, original host Kevin Yamada left The Sunny Side Up Show to move to Florida. Auditions for a new host were held in September and an actress named Dennisha Pratt won the role. Pratt made her Sunny debut on New Year's Eve 2009, and there she would stay until 2014.

In addition, The Sunny Side Up Show held Countdowns to Noon every New Year's Eve from 2009 to 2014, back when it was called The Snowy Side Up Show during the Winter seasons as of 2010. The video you see above is the one from 2014, and includes mention of Boj, which premiered earlier that year.

The end of 2010 saw the premiere of What's Your News?, which aired on The Sunny Side Up Show usually before and after Sproutlet News Report segments. The series aired until 2013.

Image from YouTube

In the early 2010s, Nina and Star hosted "Cheer in the New Year," a Good Night Show New Year's special which featured guest appearances from Chica and the Sunny Side Up Show hosts, Sean and Noodle, the Wiggles, the Pajanimals, and the Sprout House Band.

In 2013, it was established that Kelly Vrooman was leaving The Sunny Side Up Show. Auditions were held for new hosts in a contest called Host Hunt, and kindie singer Tim Kubart and actress Kaitlin Becker won the roles. Kubart first hosted Sunny on December 30th.

Here’s to 2021 and 2022, and we hope your new year is full of sweet dreams!

Click here to win the role 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!

Interesting…

 

Image from Barker Designs

Madeline Fretz - I love working at PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki. It may be my favorite job since … I don’t think I’ve had any jobs before (LOL!). Sometimes when I find a new image, upload it to the wiki, and don’t know where it should belong, I place it on a talk page of a topic it’s related to (i.e. I placed a planets printable on SproutOnline.com's talk page). But this week I found this one mysterious picture.

This is a cute little room (or hallway?) made by Barker Designs and posted by them on their website. As you can see, it has second generation branding featuring the Sprout logo on a leaf and the moon, images of Caillou, Pajanimals, Zou, and The Good Night Show, as well as several images of the old Let's Go Show Underwater Adventure Game on Sproutonline.com.

I wonder. Was this for a hotel, Sprout studios, etc? Better ask or contact anyone who works (or worked) at Barker Designs.

Weekly Character Wednesdays: Miles

 

MILES

PERFORMED BY:

Milton Barnes

APPEARED IN:

The Let's Go Show

BEST KNOWN ROLE:

Adventurer, Banjo’s teacher

WHO IS MILES? Miles is the host of The Let's Go Show. He drives Carla the Car, sings songs, and uses his Sprout Spotter on his and Banjo’s daily musical journeys. He also appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show for New Year's 2008 and sang "If My Friend Were Here" in Sprout's Preschool Musical on a Stick. Some of the other songs he sings include "Do the You" and "Bottom of the Sea."

WHY DOES THE LET'S GO SHOW NEED MILES? Miles is the Nina equivalent for weekend mornings and formerly afternoons. Nina was the main host of The Good Night Show and served as Star's teacher, while Miles was the same to Banjo. Also, he was black, and Sprout only had five black hosts (him, Leo (Noel MacNeal), TJ (Donnell Smith), Dennisha Pratt, and Darryl Williams). He is a great role model for black kids, and stands out in a crowd of live-action children's shows whose hosts are either white or puppets.

Click here to appear on The Sunny Side Up Show on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!