Moon ident

 

Madeline Fretz - This nice ident was one of many Justin Stephenson and Trace Pictures made for Sprout in 2009, and aired during commercial breaks during The Good Night Show. Personally, I remember it was used during Sprout's Snooze-a-Thon (here known as "Nina Sleeps") on-demand. In this ident, a Sproutlet girl is seen walking in the Goodnight Garden and picks up a moon that looks like Kix Cereal and has the Sprout logo on it. 

The soundtrack for this ident was also used in the Sleepover bumper made by Vault Filmworks. The moon logo was also used on nighttime variants of SproutOnline.com until at least 2011. Anyways, this ident is quite beautiful and relaxing if you ask me. I'm deeply sorry if I have already discussed this on this blog.

Cuckoo Clock

 

Madeline Fretz - I felt like this ident was "overlooked," so I decided to write about it.

Anyways, as you probably know, the company Primal Screen made Sprout's launch day idents, and modeled them after classic children's book illustrations (i.e. Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein). A few idents were released onto the company's website after they stopped airing on the Sprout channel.

This one features various types of clocks, such as watches, and both a red cuckoo bird and the Sprout logo pop out of cuckoo clocks. This was probably the genesis for Musical Mornings with Coo.

Primal Screen described the ident as:

"Families enjoy their time together in this ID for Sprout."

The ident was one of a few released on Primal Screen's website, and YouTuber Anthony N. uploaded it to his channel in 2017, shortly before The Good Night Show was moved on-demand and Universal Kids was announced.

Foilage

 

Madeline Fretz - Idents played on Sprout before commercial breaks, after commercial breaks, and before shows. The first generation idents were designed by Primal Screen, and resembled classic children's picture books. After the first generation ended, Primal Screen put several idents on their website, including this one.

Primal Screen describes the ident as: 

"Growth and discovery is the theme of this ID created for the launch of the first 24-hour pre-school channel."

The ident featured Thomas the Tank Engine, and had a girl playing with a butterfly that would become the Sprout logo. The same girl was in the Paintings and Music idents. It played before shows like Thomas and The Birthday Show.

The ident was also used in a commercial for Sprout Smart, a joint venture between Sprout, KidsHealth, and Mott's for Tots, in 2008.

Anyways, this is a nice ident with a beautiful soundtrack. I'm deeply sorry if I already discussed this ident previously on this blog.

My Week with 2009: Trace Pictures

 

Madeline Fretz - With the Sprout rebrand in 2009, there were some network rebrand pitches (including this one), but the company who made the final idents and openings was Trace Pictures. 

Trace's Sprout work includes the Cloud ident, the Tree opening, the Pinwheel opening, the Rain ident, the Bubble ident, and the openings to Sprout's programming blocks as well as ¡Hola Sproutitos!.

Sleepover

Madeline Fretz - Good morning Sproutlets, and welcome to the not first, not second, but THIRD day of Sprout-tober 2021, where we share our favorite Sprout memories. Today I'm here to talk about a "box bumper" that aired on Sprout during the second generation.

(Note: appears at the 0:26 mark)

In this box bumper, two kids play with flashlights and say "goodnight" to the viewers. They continue playing as we see a box with the Sprout logo on it. This noticeably has the music from the Moon ident, which premiered the same year. The ident usually aired during or after The Good Night Show.

This ident also appeared in the Pajanimals on-demand outro.

Bedtime

 

Madeline Fretz - When PBS Kids Sprout launched in 2005, the Georgia-based company Primal Screen was hired to make not only the logo, but the idents for both the channel and Sprout on Demand, which launched six months ahead of the former. One of the idents was the video you see above, originally uploaded on Primal Screen itself's website and then on the YouTube channel Let's Grow (named after Sprout's original slogan) in 2015, which was uploaded as one of a surplus of videos to commemorate Sprout's tenth anniversary, which is sorta like what I'm doing today on this blog.

In the ident, Angelina Ballerina bows and the curtains open. a mom hugs her son in his bed. Outside the boy's window, which appears to be by the beach, a boy and a girl propel their book-like boats, and the Sprout logo sprouts from a ship as the moon rises. Angelina was not featured in the Primal Screen video nor the Let's Grow upload, but on TV broadcasts, like these ones.

Speaking of TV broadcasts, this ident usually played before or after commercial breaks during The Good Night Show and also before Pajanimals music videos (judging by a video I remember seeing years ago). This ident is quite beautiful and relaxing, and a great example of Sprout's early years.

My Week with On Demand: VOD Idents

 Back when Sprout was about to launch, Primal Screen was hired to create the logo and make some idents for the Comcast on-demand service, which launched in April 2005. Here they are now…

This one features Barney the Dinosaur, Ernie from Sesame Street, Max and Ord from Dragon Tales, Po from Teletubbies, the letters in "sprout," and a few sprouts on a mobile. The iconic green sprout makes its way to the Sprout logo. This one was used before Sesame Street judging by the female announcer at the end, but I wonder if it was used before other shows. This was uploaded on YouTube by Sprout fan account Let's Grow on the channel's tenth anniversary (the day of the rebrand and premieres of a few new shows).

This one features blue, pink, and green sprouts hula-hooping, when the green sprout becomes the one in the logo as the other sprouts keep hula-hooping. Also uploaded by Let's Grow.

There are other ones, all uploaded by Primal Screen on their website. That's where Let's Grow got both videos above. They all feature the same production music and most of them feature "PBS Kids Sprout, presented in partnership with your PBS station, Let's Grow!". The idents were likewise removed when the channel idents (also by Primal Screen) came to on-demand in January  2006. (source)

Alphabet

Here is an undated video of a Sprout bumper, regularly used before commercial breaks.

Here, we see letter swings and kids appear in letters, then the green Sprout in the logo slides down a J to the rest of the logo.

It was replaced by the box idents in 2009.

Image from Facebook

Apparently a picture of the Alphabet ident remained up in Sprout studios in Philadelphia as late as 2014.

Roads

Image from YouTube

Here is an old and rare Sprout ident from launch day. Here, cars drive by roads with tunnels, stoplights, and signs, and a boy (the same one in the Birthday Show opening and a few promos) appears near them. This was mostly used before commercial breaks.

In 2009, it was replaced by Sproutorama idents.

Primal Screen: Designer of the Sprout logo

I did a little research on the Sprout logo.

Image from Logopedia

Turns out it was designed by Primal Screen, who also did idents for Cartoon Network, PBS Kids/PBS Kids GO!, and of course, PBS Kids Sprout.

Self-described as: 

A multi-platform design agency, Primal Screen distills a keen knowledge of brand essence and serves it to every screen. Mmmm...tasty.

It's quite/kinda interesting to find out, as it is an outstanding logo!