Philadelphia, PA - September 24, 2007 - PBS KIDS Sprout
(SproutOnline.com), the first and only 24-hour preschool
destination available on TV, on demand and online for kids ages 2-5
and their parents and caregivers, will launch two new original
morning blocks, in addition to a new season of its hit program The
Good Night Show, on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 in celebration of
the network's second birthday.
"Sprout is the only 24-hour preschool channel that follows the
day of a preschooler from breakfast to bedtime by combining
trusted, gold-standard favorites like Barney & Friends™, Sesame
Street® and Teletubbies™ with new and original programs to match a
child's morning, noon and night," said Sprout's senior vice
president of programming Andrew Beecham. "Whether viewers
tune in during the morning to catch one of our new original morning
blocks, discover music and science in the afternoon with The Let's
Go Show or wind down for bed each night with The Good Night Show,
Sprout is always there to match the daily schedule that parents
share with their preschoolers."
New original morning blocks include:
• Musical Mornings -- airing every weekday morning from
6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. ET, this energetic block is designed to get
kids up and moving for the day ahead. Hosted by Coo, an
animated cuckoo bird that lives in the Sprout clock, Musical
Mornings features preschool-friendly music videos and interstitials
including sounds of the morning, getting ready, healthy habits and
weather. Produced by The Jim Henson Company using its
proprietary Henson Digital Performance Studio (HDPS), Coo marks the
television debut of the first digital puppet using this
groundbreaking real-time performed animation technology.
Musical Mornings with Coo will star long-time Henson puppeteer
Julianne Buescher and feature songs written and produced by Mike
Himelstein.
The new short-form series Bounce, hosted by Elizabeth Balzano, a
board certified music therapist from New York, also debuts within
Musical Mornings. Designed to encourage children to connect
with their emotions, thoughts and words through music, Bounce takes
place in Elizabeth's music classroom and is integrated with live
action sequences of the children who attend the classes in their
every day world. Ballou, Elizabeth's bouncy, 3-D animated
friend, helps facilitate the audience's interaction.
• The Sunny Side Up Show - airing every week day morning from
9 a.m. - noon ET, this innovative program is television's only live
show for preschoolers. The Sunny Side Up Show helps
preschoolers prepare for the day ahead with its warm, welcoming and
fun environment where children and their parents and caregivers can
gather to share birthdays, greeting, contests, show & tell and
interact live with the hosts (via email submissions through
SproutOnline.com).
Hosted by Kevin Yamada, who most recently served as host for
Sprout's The Birthday Show, and Philadelphia-based actress Kelly
Vrooman, The Sunny Side Up Show takes place inside a whimsical barn
in the hills of Sprout with staging such a toaster-shaped monitor
displaying viewer-submitted artwork and photos, and a crate-desk
for the show's two hosts who will rotate weekly. Each day,
the host is joined on-air by Chica, a witty, playful chicken puppet
who communicates with kazoo-like sounds only understandable by the
hosts. Chica will also supply surprise eggs that can be
cracked open for clues, games and even a joke-of-the-day.
Each week, The Sunny Up Side Show will explore a new theme
ranging from colors, numbers and letters to manners, gardening and
pets. Themes will also reflect holidays including Halloween,
Thanksgiving and Mother's Day. Special guests will stop by to
visit on a regular basis, so on any given day, viewers could get a
special treat from a Sesame Street® character like Big Bird, or
Nina from Sprout's The Good Night Show.
Also premiering within The Sunny Side Up Show will be Play With
Me Sesame®, which invites children on a special, interactive
playdate with Sesame Street® favorites Bert, Ernie, Grover and
Prairie Dawn who encourage kids to play games, dance and complete
learning-based activities. A live link featuring either Kevin
or Kelly from The Sunny Side Up Show sharing viewer-submitted arts
and crafts from parents of preschoolers who upload photos of their
children's creations on SproutOnline.com, will air between two
back-to-back segments of Play With Me Sesame.
Each episode of Play With Me Sesame aids in the development of
creative expression and helps to prepare children for school with
themes including social and emotional skills such as listening,
sharing, taking turns and cooperation. Other curricular goals
target recognition of similarities and differences in size, shape,
color, sounds and seasons.
Also debuting on September 26, is the new season of Sprout's hit
nighttime block The Good Night Show with host Nina and her puppet
sidekick Star. Airing every night from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. ET,
The Good Night Show is designed as a tool to help parents wind down
their kids after a busy day. In addition to all the regular,
popular features on this show, including crafts and games, the new
season will feature a nightly animated guessing game titled "Lucy,
Light The Way!"; preschoolers in their nighttime pajamas joining
Nina on the set for Sprout stretches; Nina and Star improvising
stories using the crafts they've made; and preschoolers
demonstrating sign language, including children from a local,
Philadelphia-based American Sign Language school.
For more information on Sprout and any of its programs, go to
SproutOnline.com.
About Sprout
PBS KIDS SproutSM, the first and only 24-hour preschool
destination available on TV, on demand and online for kids ages 2-5
and their parents and caregivers, was created as a partnership
among Comcast Corporation, HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame
Workshop. Since debuting its video on demand (VOD) service in
April 2005, PBS KIDS Sprout has become the #1 On Demand service for
younger children, generating over 250 million orders. The
24-hour digital channel, which launched in September 2005 along
with the website (SproutOnline.com), is the only channel that
follows the day of child from breakfast to bedtime with its
distinctive programming. Currently, Sprout is available in 34
million unique households.
The network's program lineup of gold-standard, curriculum-based
children's shows includes: Sesame Street®, Bob the Builder™,
Barney & Friends™, Thomas & Friends™, Angelina Ballerina™,
Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat™, Caillou®, The Berenstain
Bears™, Jay Jay the Jet Plane®, Teletubbies™, Dragon Tales™,
Pingu™, Make Way For Noddy™, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley
Winks™ and more.
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CONTACT:
Jenni Glenn
PBS KIDS Sprout
215-667-2703
jenni_glenn@sproutonline.com