The Third Generation

 

Madeline Fretz - If you're a Sprout fan, chances are, you know that the channel launched on September 26th, 2005, five months after launching on Comcast on Demand. Ten years later, the channel rebranded with many changes.

Many PBS and HiT Entertainment shows from launch day were dropped in favor of new shows. It was around the time that Sprout would focus more on original programming.

Nina's World, a Sprout Original series, made its debut on September 26th, 2015, Sprout's tenth anniversary, alongside Maya the Bee and Sydney Sailboat. Other shows included Floogals, Terrific Trucks, Doozers, YaYa and Zouk, Noddy: Toyland Detective, The Furchester Hotel, Dot., Space Racers, The Jungle Bunch, The Land Before Time, The Ollie and Moon Show, Ranger Rob, Topsy and Tim, Masha and the Bear, Kody Kapow, School of Roars, and Sprout House. Olivia, Charlie and Lola, and Ollie! The Boy Who Became What He Ate premiered on Universal Kids' Sprout block in 2017.

The Sunny Side Up Show became Sunny Side Up and changed settings from the Sunshine Barn to a snazzy city loft with plenty of touch screens. The last show in the Barn was the 18th, and there was a "road trip" arc until the 26th. Rita Moreno, who voiced Abuela on Nina's World guest starred that day, and other celebrity guests have included Jordan Smith, Jennifer Nettles and Alvyia Alyn Lind, Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, Margot Lee Shetterly, Luke Wilson, Justin Timberlake and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jack Black and Kate Hudson, and Bobby Monyihan. Star power, huh?

Shortly before the launch of the third generation, Alyssa Milano became Sprout's new "mom-bassador" and the face of Kindness Counts, and appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show. The channel's new slogan was to be "free to grow," and sleek, minimalist idents and bumpers featured real kids and minimalist crafts.

It was during the third generation that Deirdre Brennan, who became Sprout's general manager in early 2017, announced plans to launch Universal Kids, which took over Sprout's channel space in 2017.

The Third generation was a time of ups and downs for Sprout - mostly ups. Like it or hate it, it's definetly(sp?) something important in Sprout's history. Peace!

Pajanimals

Madeline Fretz - Pajanimals was a series from the Jim Henson Company. The show started out as interstitials made by Henson and 4KIDS in 2008, and consisted of four puppet characters singing nighttime-related songs. In 2011, Henson and Sixteen South made a full, half-hour series based on the show. Here, the characters would go on imaginary adventures at bedtime to solve a problem.

A Sprout original series (and one of their first few), the show premiered on the network in November, and aired during The Good Night Show, Sprout's signature nighttime block. "La La Lullaby" aired every night before the final link.

Sprout described the show as:

"Meet The Pajanimals - CowBella, Apollo, Sweetpea Sue, and Squacky - four friends who snuggle together every night to sing sweet night time songs to their preschool friends at home."

The characters appeared with Nina in a PSA for The Great Sprout Tuck-In in 2008.

The half-hour series premiered on November 7th, 2011 during the sixth season of The Good Night Show, and "La La Lullaby" now aired after the final link every night, instantly becoming a one-hit wonder. The characters have also appeared on The Sunny Side Up Show several times - Squacky appeared in 2011, Sweetpea Sue for Valentine's Day 2013, and Granny Pearl for Grandparents' Day 2012.

The show survived the third generation rebranding, making it one of the only shows to air during all three Sprout generations, but stopped airing sometime in 2016. The show may no longer air, but it lives on in our memories.

Super Wings

Image from the Wayback Machine

Madeline Fretz - Super Wings is a South Korean-Chinese-American animated television series about anthropomorphic airplanes delivering things to kids around the world. Think of it as PAW Patrol meets Jay Jay the Jet Plane meets Go Jetters.

The show premiered on Sprout on March 14th, 2015, a month after Ruff-Ruff, Tweet, and Dave, and aired at 1:30pm ET, and continued to air throughout the third generation and on Universal Kids.

Sprout described the show as:

"Meet Jett, the adorable jet plane who is very fast and loves to travel around the world, delivering packages to children who need Jett's help! On every delivery, Jett meets new friends living in different countries and learns the diversity of new cultures."

My Week with 2016: YaYa and Zouk

 

Madeline Fretz - YaYa and Zouk is a French animated series from Animations ToonDraw.

The show premiered on Sprout on February 20th, 2016, and the channel didn't do much to promote. It just popped out of nowhere! The show was probably unsuccessful, but continued to air on Universal Kids until May 20th, 2019.

My Week with 2016: Space Racers

 

Madeline Fretz - Space Racers is a show that, beginning as a webseries called Space Race in 2011, premiered on PBS stations in 2014, with the first season being produced by Maryland Public Television.

The show premiered on Sprout on October 31st, 2016, Halloween, a few years after most PBS shows quit airing on the channel and PBS Kids was removed from the channel's name in 2013. 

To promote the show's launch, Carly and Chica from Sunny Side Up sang this pretty catchy Marc Cantone song called "Space Facts."

According to the show's PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki page, the show continues to air on Universal Kids. However, I don't know about this…

My Week with 2016: Dot.

 

Madeline Fretz - Dot. is an animated series about technology created by Industrial Brothers and the Jim Henson Company based on a book by Randi Zuckerberg, whose brother Mark is known for founding Facebook. In Canada, the series has also aired on CBC as part of its CBC Kids block.

Image from Brown Girl Gumbo

The show premiered on Sprout on October 22nd, 2016, and to promote, Sprout held a launch party at The Black Tap and Randi Zuckerberg appeared on Sunny Side Up, probably the only time they had a series creator on the show, already a celebrity cult at the time.

With Sprout's closure in 2017, the show continued to air on the then-new Universal Kids channel, which had a Sprout-branded preschool block when it launched. The show is one of the only Sprout shows to still air on Universal Kids, and its page is still up on the channel's website.

My Week with 2016: Terrific Trucks

 

Madeline Fretz - Terrific Trucks was a Sprout original series about five real trucks named Tork, Dug, Blinker, Sparky, and Stotz learning lessons about teamwork, problem solving, and friendship.

Image from Africa's Blog

The show premiered on Sprout on July 9th, 2016, and to promote, Sprout held a launch party in which Kristofer Updike explained how the show was created and what went on behind-the-scenes - the show took three years to be created, the trucks were all real, while their eyes were CGI, and the show's set in Toronto was the size of four football fields. Pretty amazing if you ask me!

I guess Updike was right when he said the show took three years to be created. Image from Vimeo (this sizzle reel also includes early versions of both Nina’s World and Floogals).

The show aired on Universal Kids once Sprout closed in 2017, and continued to air on the networks until July 7th, 2016, almost three years after it first aired on Sprout.

My Week with 2016: Floogals

 

Madeline Fretz - Floogals was a British-American children's show from Jellyfish Pictures and Zodiak Kkds about three tiny aliens discovering the human world.

One of Sprout's original series, the show premiered on the channel on January 23rd, 2016. The show continued to air on Universal Kids even after Sprout closed.

The show stopped airing on Universal Kids in 2020, although its page is still up on the channel's website.

My Week with 2014: Lily's Driftwood Bay

 

Madeline Fretz - Lily's Driftwood Bay was an Irish mixed-media show from Sixteen South Productions, who also brought us Pajanimals.

Sprout described the show as:

"Lily is 5 years old and lives with her Dad in a little hut on the beach. Across the way is Driftwood Bay - the island that Lily can see from her window, and it is here that the characters that she has created from her imagination come to life. Every day the sea washes up a new treasure which sparks Lily's imagination about what might be happening on Driftwood Bay. And so, accompanied by her best friend Gull, the clever seagull, an adventure begins as they go across the way to Lily's Driftwood Bay."

The show premiered on Sprout on May 12th, 2014, a day after Fireman Sam and The Sprout Sharing Show were taken off the schedule. It aired during The Good Night Show and The Sunny Side Up Show.

The show survived both the third generation rebranding in 2015 and the Universal Kids rebranding in 2017, but was one of many shows, also including Astroblast!, Clangers, Zou, Zerby Derby, and Stella and Sam, to get pulled from Universal Kids' lineup in 2018.

My Week with 2014: Boj

Madeline Fretz - Boj was a Britsh-Irish show that followed the adventures of a bilby (an animal from Australia who looks like a mouse) and his friends.

The show was one of many picked up by Sprout in 2013, but didn't premiere until October 11th, 2014. The show aired during The Sunny Side Up Show.

The show survived the third generation rebranding, but was one of many shows, also including LazyTown, Earth to Luna, and Tree Fu Tom, to stop airing a year later, during the Back to New campaign. However, a fan remembers these shows airing well into 2017.

My Week with 2014: Earth to Luna

 

Madeline Fretz - Earth to Luna is a Portuguese cartoon from PinGuim Studios that came to Sprout in 2014.

Sprout described the show as:

"“Earth to Luna!” is a new pre-school series about science and the exciting process of scientific inquiry that naturally leads to scientific knowledge."

The show was announced to air in March, but premiered on the channel on August 16th, with episodes being released on-demand prior. The show aired during The Sunny Side Up Show.

The show survived the third generation rebranding, but was one of several shows to stop airing a year later, along with LazyTown, Poppy Cat, and Tree Fu Tom (a fan remembers those shows airing well into 2017). This was a day before the Back to New campaign and the premiere of The Furchester Hotel.

My Week with 2014: Zerby Derby

 

Madeline Fretz - Zerby Derby was a show about pint-sized cars, including Zack, Lily, Rec, and Axle, living and playing in and exploring a life-sized forest. The show premiered on Sprout on March 1st, 2014.

Zack also made a handful of appearances on The Sunny Side Up Show. In the video above, Tim sings about him to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus."

The show survived the third generation rebranding, but was one of many remaining Sprout shows that stopped airing on Universal Kids in early 2018.

My Week with 2014: Astroblast!

 

Madeline Fretz - Based on the books by Bob Kolar, Astroblast! was an animated series by the company Soup2Nuts about animals running a smoothie shack in outer space. From what I have heard, the show has gained a large cult-like following, and, along with LazyTown, I think it is one of the Sprout shows with a very large fanbase. 

Sprout describes the show as:

"See that twinkling little speck in the night sky – three stars and two light years to the right of Al- pha Centauri? That’s no meteor... it’s the Astroblast Space Station! The Astroblast Space Station is like an intergalactic clubhouse... where everyone is welcome! Visitors flock from planets near and far. Why? Because it’s the perfect place to gather with old friends while making new ones!"

The show aired during The Good Night Show and The Super Sproutlet Show, and also on Saturday Mornings on NBC Kids.

The show premiered on Sprout in summer 2014, and the channel did a lot to promote, which is what they always did with new original series. SproutOnline.com had a space-themed background and released previews of the show, Sprout hosted a launch event at New York's Sugar Factory (source) and a Space Camp Tour across America, the characters would interrupt various shows at points, Sprout aired a few new space-themed idents, The Sunny Side Up Show dedicated an entire week to the show, and Nina and Star would host an Astroblast!-themed live broadcast of The Good Night Show that took place on the set of The Sunny Side Up Show (I written about the broadcast on my old blog).

The show survived the third generation rebranding in 2015, but stopped airing on Sprout in 2016 due to Soup2Nuts' discontinuation. However, it did return to Universal Kids at some point, but again stopped airing in 2018 along with a few other remaining Sprout shows.

Sunny Side Update

 

When Sprout rebranded for its tenth anniversary on September 26th, 2015, it not only introduced Nina's World, but The Sunny Side Up Show became Sunny Side Up as it moved from the Sunshine Barn to a city apartment set. I talked about this in two previous posts on this blog.

There's a lot I both do and don't understand. We all know the touch screen is there because kids love touch screens and the setting change and birthday song update were nice touches, but I have a few other questions. Where do the stairs on set lead to? Why did they have to change the name? Why were most of the segments dropped (i.e. Sproutlet Stories)?

I also have a question about THIS picture of the hosts with the logo. WHERE IS CHICA? Seriously, SSU is NOTHING without her! Anyways, that's enough ranting. (phew!)

My Week with 2011: Get Lazy!

 

One of the only TV shows made in Iceland, LazyTown is a show based on a play and a few books about exercise and nutrition. The show has garnered a large adult fanbase and spawned many memes. The show came to the US in 2004 on Nick Jr., but Nickelodeon lost the rights to the show in 2010. Where did it move to a year later?

Sprout! It moved to Sprout on September 5th, 2011, and aired during their afternoon Daytime block (the block before The Sprout Sharing Show) and on Sprout's Wiggly Waffle.

The next Valentine's Day, Sprout would give LazyTown what it gave The Wiggles three years ago - a programming block. The Super Sproutlet Show launched on February 14th, 2012 and aired from 2PM to 4PM ET (it moved to 6AM the next year). Sportacus and Mayor Meanswell would appear in the new block alongside a new character called Bean (Catherine Missal).

Sportacus also appeared in "Let's Move" PSAs with Chica and former FLOTUS Michelle Obama, in the "Family Challenge" app, and on The Sunny Side Up Show on July 27, 2012. Stephanie also appeared the same year.

The characters also appeared on Sprout and Produce for Kids signs in grocery stores and made public appearances in grocery stores to promote the two's partnership. 

Unlike Nickelodeon, Sprout showed all of Seasons 1 and 2. The show proved popular that Seasons 3 and 4 premiered on Sprout in 2013. The show also aired during NBC's Saturday morning Sprout block, NBC Kids.

The show left Sprout on September 26th, 2016 during the "Back to New" campaign, along with Poppy Cat, Tree Fu Tom, Earth to Luna, and Boj.

My Week with 2011: The Purr-Fect Show

 

The year is 2011. The Good Night Show is preparing for its sixth season - there's the You and Me Tree, Nina's new pajamas, Sandy Stories, Star Talks to Kids, and the "Clean Up Song." Sprout also adds two new shows for the season - the half-hour Pajanimals series and Poppy Cat, which is the show we're talking about.

Based on a series of children's books by Lara Jones, Poppy premiered on Sprout on November 7th, 2011, the day of the new Good Night Show season. The show also aired on The Sunny Side Up Show and on NBC Kids, NBC's Saturday Morning block of Sprout shows.

The show left Sprout on September 26, 2016 during the "Back to New" campaign, along with LazyTown, Boj, Earth to Luna, and Tree Fu Tom.

On the set of The Sunny Side Up Show

Madeline Fretz - The Sunny Side Up Show has had more than 50,000 viewer submissions and more than a thousand live blockisodes since its launch in 2007. HiT Entertainment even gave it two compilation video DVDs in 2010 - Safety First and Lend a Helping Hand.

It was created because Sprout's senior Vice President of programming, Andrew Beecham, knew he wanted a live show, so Sprout executives pitched one of their own in which the hosts could talk about a different theme each week while reading viewer-submitted content and having special guests from Sprout. They played around with potential names before coming up with one referencing eggs - The Sunny Side Up Show! Since the block's title was a reference to eggs, Sprout's Betsy Oliphant Ross wanted the animal puppet co-host to be a chicken, although Beecham didn’t think preschoolers could connect well with chickens. They chose the name Chica for the new character, and played around with a few potential designs for the puppet before settling on the one we know by Victoria Ellis. Preschoolers at the time were learning to get dressed, so Sprout executives wanted a segment with an online game and later app to model that, which then became "Dress Chica." (source) One of the reasons Chica squeaked instead of talking was because her puppeteer was also an associate producer. (source)

Originally, hosts and crew rehearsed in a studio in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. The only time Sprout has gone live prior to The Sunny Side Up Show was a Hooray for Mother's Day broadcast hosted by The Birthday Show's Kevin Yamada. At the time, Yamada was excited about reading viewers' birthday cards live. (source)

Each show aired from 9AM to 12PM (noon) ET sharp. At the start of each show, the host and Chica greeted the viewers, checked the date and weather, and introduced the weekly theme, while linking into the first show (usually Fireman Sam or Roary the Racing Car). The host led Chica and the viewers through a variety of activities relating to that theme throughout the week. For example, the video up above's theme was "Dress Up." During split-screen credits, the host would read a message from the viewers ("Tell Chica") based on the theme. During the final link, the host would read more messages and then tell viewers to stay tuned for The Sprout Sharing Show and The Good Night Show which were coming on later that day. They said goodbye to the viewers and linked into the show that was coming on at noon (usually Caillou), while a website promo directly followed.

Sprout rebranded in 2015 for its tenth anniversary, and with it came a new city apartment set which replaced the Sunshine Barn and had touch screens, since the viewers were using them a lot nowadays. A few new segments and shows were introduced at the time, and the block itself was renamed Sunny Side Up. The last show in the Sunshine Barn was September 18th.

The live formatting eventually became hard work for the crew, so they decided to do two things - STOP airing the block live during its last few broadcasts (until August 11th, 2017, a month before Universal Kids was introduced), and then replace it with a pre-recorded interstitial series called Sprout House (later Snug's House), which premiered on August 14th. Sprout House had more camera angles and shots from hand-helds. It was hosted by Sunny Side Up's Carly Ciarrocchi, a new dog puppet named Snug (Chris Palmeri), and a human character named TJ (Donnell Smith). Together, the three made crafts and recipes, played games, sang songs, hosted "Birthday Parade" segments, and interacted with celebrity guests and children’s bands who visited. As for Chica, it would be foolish to downplay her, so she was still occasionally featured in segments such as "Chica at School."

My Week with 2010: Another Dress Up Day

 Nowadays, kids watch Peppa Pig and speak in British accents. Apparently, Sprout aired British programming too, and I wonder if kids did the same back then. This show had a lot of those:

Chloe's Closet is a children's show about a Welsh girl named (SURPRISE!) Chloe and her friends going on dress-up adventures in her closet. 

The show first aired on Sprout on July 12, 2010 during The Sprout Sharing Show (at 5:30PM) and The Sunny Side Up Show (at 11:30AM). It also found a timeslot on Wiggly Waffle at 8:30AM. The show last aired in December 2016.

My Week with 2010: Let's Cook and Craft!

 

Madeline Fretz - Hi, my name is Maddie, and welcome to a week where we're covering 2010, a great year! This was not an ordinary year for Sprout, as the channel let go of The Let's Go Show to have LIVE weekend broadcasts of The Sunny Side Up Show. What did it do to promote?

When Sprout launched, its original series were all interstitials - The Many Adventures of Mr. Mailman, Sprout Diner, and Jim Henson's Pajanimals (the latter would get its own half-hour series in 2011). Sprout executives decided to try something different, something they have never done before… a full-length, half-hour series!

What was the half-hour series called? Noodle and Doodle. The series taught viewers how to make crafts and recipes that also got their own pages on Sproutonline.com - in fact, the show also got its own website on Sproutonline.com. The new show aired on weekends on The Sunny Side Up Show.

The series was hosted by actor Sean Roach, who joined The Sunny Side Up Show in early 2008. Roach was joined by a new female puppet character named Noodle McNoodle, played by an unknown actor. The duo was joined by real kids who would help out with the lessons.

The show also had its own animated segment called Doggity's Diner, which was basically Sprout Diner with dogs. That also got a page on Sproutonline.com.

The show proved very popular and continued to air daily on Sprout until Summer 2017.

The History of The Sunny Side Up Show/Sunny Side Up

The logo, 2007-2009

The logo, 2009-2015

Madeline Fretz - The Sunny Side Up Show was a morning block which featured Chica, a chicken puppet, and a live adult host. It aired live from 2007 until 2017.

When Sprout launched in 2005, it featured a block called The Birthday Show, where presenter Kevin Yamada read birthday cards from viewers and shared party recipes.

In 2007, SVP of programming Andrew Beecham knew he wanted a live show, so Sprout producers, including Betsy Oliphant-Ross, talked about creating one that focused on different themes and encouraged viewers to submit content. They played around with names before finally settling on The Sunny Side Up Show.

And on September 26th that year (according to sources like this), The Sunny Side Up Show launched, presented by Chica, Yamada, Sean Roach, and Kelly Vrooman in the "Sunshine Barn", with a special preview airing earlier, guest starring Big Bird from Sesame Street, here played by Muppets Most Wanted's Matt Vogel.

Each week had a theme, including "Fall", "Animals", "Construction", and "Opposites". The weeks followed a similar format - including games, songs, stories, birthday wishes, and material sent in by viewers (similar to the PBS series ZOOM, which never aired on Sprout).

Shows included such gold-standard programs including Barney & Friends, Thomas & Friends, Play with Me Sesame, Chloe's Closet, Dive Olly Dive!, and Fireman Sam.

One popular segment was the online Barnyard Boogie Dance game, where a viewer would dance with a host and the host would try to copy the moves. In 2013, it was replaced by a new segment called "Sproutlet Stories," where Chica and a host would act out a story.

Another segment was "Dress Chica," where the presenter would dress Chica up in various costumes related to what the viewers chose. 

In 2012, the block got its own spin-off series called The Chica Show. 2 original seasons featuring Kelly, Chica's parents, and the popular chicken were produced. Also, Kelly, Chica, and original characters Stitches (Mario Lopez (who guest starred on Sunny)) and Bunji (John Taylor) got a toon transformation. Despite the series continuing until December 2014, both Chica and Vrooman would still be on The Sunny Side Up Show. Vrooman left Sprout on December 22, 2013 after a Kindest Kid special.

Yet another segment was "Good Egg Awards" (formerly "Farm Talk"), where the presenter would congratulate a viewer for doing something good.

The hosts also read birthday cards and wishes sent in via SproutOnline.com and delivered to them by Mr. Mailman. The birthday segments, which also aired during The Good Night Show as "Today's Birthdays," featured an original birthday song you can view above.

The Sunny Side Up Show was an instant success, and had more than 120 viewer submissions. Wow, what a success!

The show has had many hosts over the years, including:

• Kevin Yamada, 2007-2009/2010
• Kelly Vrooman, 2007-2013, 2014
• Sean Roach, 2007-2013
• Dennisha Pratt, 2009/2010-2014, 2015
• Liz Filios, 2010-2012, 2013
• Carly Ciarrocchi, 2012-2017
• Darryl Williams, 2013/2014
• Tim Kubart, 2013-2017
• Kaitlin Becker, 2013/2014-2017
• Emily Borromeo, 2014-2017

To figure out how long they were on, go here.

All these hosts worked well together, and I love them all I have no favorite! One thing I've always wondered is why there were only four male hosts, and everyone else was a female? Well, here's what the newer, wooden female hosts can learn from their predescessors(sp?).

In 2015, during the third generation rebrand, the block moved from the Sunshine Barn to a city loft with touch screens and name-shortened to "Sunny Side Up." Most of the segments were removed, except "Sprout Today," "Kindness Counts," and the Birthday Wishes. To me, SSU didn't feel enjoyable to watch during that time.

 In 2017, the crew thought the live formatting was too much, so they decided to replace the block with "Sprout House" (later "Snug's House"), which featured a dog puppet named Snug and former Sunny host Carly Ciarrocchi. Chica made occasional appearances on Sprout House in segments such as "Chica at School."