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| 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.
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| …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!
