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The Good Night Show

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For the unrelated Philippine talk show also known by this name, see The Good Night Show (Philippine TV series).
The Good Night Show
NetworkPBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids)
LaunchedSeptember 26, 2005; 18 years ago (2005-09-26)
ClosedMarch 31, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-03-31)
Country of originUnited States
Owner
FormatPreschool education series
Running time3 hours
Original language(s)English

The Good Night Show is a former television programming block for preschool children, which aired on the Sprout channel (previously known as PBS Kids Sprout). It was designed to help preschoolers get ready for bedtime.[1] The block featured recurring themes based on preschoolers' nightly routines, such as dreams, brushing teeth, and cleaning up before bed.[2] It starred Michele Lepe as Nina[3] and Stacia Newcomb as the voice of Star.[4] It was Sprout's longest-running programming block, appearing on the channel from September 26, 2005 until March 31, 2017.

One of Sprout's designers, Ward Jenkins, stated that "Sprout is PBS Kids' answer to Noggin."[5] Noggin did not offer preschool shows in the nighttime hours.[6] The Good Night Show allowed Sprout to capitalize on nighttime programming for preschoolers, setting itself apart from its competitor Noggin. The block aired daily from 6:00 pm to 3:00 am ET.[7]

Unlike the other blocks on Sprout, The Good Night Show was repeated twice over the course of each night. Throughout the block, viewers (referred to as "Sproutlets") were encouraged to participate in host-led games, songs, crafts, and lessons in yoga and sign language. Activities generally revolved around a theme, and took place between animated episodes that related to this theme. These themes included issues of interest to preschool-aged children and their parents, such as imaginary friends, teddy bears, shadows, opposites, or babysitters.

Format

Segments

The Good Night Show featured a variety of segments. Some of them were removed in 2012. The episodes usually opened with Nina introducing herself and Star, as well as the theme of the night.

  • "Sprout-o-Scope" - The first segment involved a different form of constellations as Nina and Star looked at the night sky with their telescope, called the "Sprout-o-Scope." This segment sometimes included bedtime birthday remainders from The Sunny Side Up Show.
  • "Lucy, Light the Way" - The second segment featured an animated game titled Lucy, Light the Way!. Lucy, a firefly puppet who introduced the shows that came between the block, lit up different areas as viewers guessed where she was.
  • "Crafts" - The third segment involved a different craft or art project based on the day's theme. The crafts were removed in 2012 and replaced by a new segment called "Sprout a Sandy Story," where Nina would tell a story and draw the pictures in sand.[8]
  • "Moonbeam Wheel" - The fourth segment involved Nina and Star spinning their Moonbeam Wheel and translating a word in Spanish.
  • "Clean Up" - The fifth segment involved cleaning up before bed. Nina and Star sang a musical number called "Clean Up" while cleaning.[8]
  • "Ready for Bed" - The penultimate segment involved brushing teeth and washing our faces. During this segment, Star would go to sleep. Before the segment, a commercial for Aquafresh toothpaste would be shown. The commercial would continue to play until 6:00 am.
  • "Hush, Hush, Little Fish" - The final segment involved Nina encouraging viewers to give their wishes to Hush, a goldfish. After this segment, one of two clips was played: Sprout characters sleeping to the Pajanimals song "La-La-Lullaby," or a repeated Aquafresh commercial. The Pajanimals song was removed in 2016, and the Aquafresh commercial was removed in November 2013. In the newer version (2014-2017) before the Hush the fish segment, Star is unwilling to go to bed and says, "I'm not ready to go to sleep yet." Nina convinces him to "dream about the wonderful adventures that one can have tomorrow." In the end, Star (obedient about "getting some rest") is able to say goodnight and goes to sleep. The "Hush the fish" segment plays after Nina folds Star into bed, and Nina sings the Good Night Song before falling asleep.

From 2009 to 2014, an annual event called the "Snooze-A-Thon" (formerly the "Good Night of Sweet Dreams") was aired from 6:00 pm on Christmas Eve to 6:00 am on Christmas morning. It started off with Nina greeting the viewers and telling everyone that Star is fast asleep. She talked about how it can be hard to fall asleep before holidays and other important days, but went to sleep to help the viewers do the same. Lucy the firefly then appeared and winked, before showing many characters from Sprout's shows and blocks falling asleep. In the 2014 event, which was uploaded to YouTube in July 2015, the main characters from the new shows Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave, as well as the revival of British series Clangers were present, although they were not in the actual event.

Settings

  • The You and Me Tree was the block's setting from 2011 to 2017. It was a treehouse made from recycled objects and craft materials.[8]
  • The Goodnight Garden was the block's previous setting from 2005 to 2011. It was a garden of trees with star-shaped leaves, and it had patterned blankets on the ground.

Characters

Final hosts

For most of the block's run, it was hosted by Nina (Michele Lepe) alongside Star, Lucy, and Hush. Nina's uncle, Tio Javier, was introduced in the final season as a recurring co-host.

  • Nina (played by Michele Lepe)[9] was the longest-running host of the block. She was known as "The Goodnight Guide" and owned the You and Me Tree. She was of Hispanic heritage and often taught Spanish phrases to Star and the viewers. She liked to tell stories and fables, which were sometimes shown on-screen through animations and sand artwork. Nina guest-hosted one of Sprout's other blocks, The Sunny Side Up Show, in 2011 and 2014. She appears as an animated character in the spin-off Nina's World.[3]
  • Star (voiced by Stacia Newcomb)[4] was a yellow star-shaped puppet who served as the co-host and the child character. He often asked questions about the evening's theme, commented to Nina about the segments (such as the Good Night Game), and encouraged viewers to follow him as he acted out bedtime routines such as brushing his teeth or reading a bedtime story. On some occasions, Star did not want to go to sleep at bedtime and needed some coaxing from Nina.
  • Lucy was a blue-and-purple firefly. From seasons 3-7, Lucy introduced the shows that came between the block. She was also featured in games, such as "Lucy Light the Way"; in the game, viewers were shown parts of a picture (as though they were illuminated by a firefly's light) and then guessed what the picture represented. She was originally depicted as a glowing finger puppet, but she later became a CGI character.
  • Hush was Melanie's pet, a live-action goldfish who lived in a bowl decorated with star-shaped ornaments. In Melanie's episodes, he was a main character and blew bubbles to announce the shows that came between the block. In Leo and Nina's episodes, Hush's role was reduced, and he only appeared at the end of each show.
  • Tio Javier[10] (played by Esai Morales)[11] was Nina's uncle. He was a musician who liked to play the guitar and write his own songs. He debuted as a recurring character in 2015 and co-hosted multiple episodes of the final season.[11] He returned in Nina's World as an animated character, voiced by Edwin Perez.

Past hosts

  • Melanie (played by Melanie Martinez) was an energetic and artistic babysitter[12] who lived with her pet goldfish, Hush. She liked to talk with Hush and draw pictures of him. She was very outgoing and often sang upbeat dance songs, such as "The Craft Song.", appeared in a winter-themed block called The Let's Snow Show in December 2005.[13] & Hosted the first two seasons from Sept 2005-July 2006. in the short-lived second season of the show that only aired in July 2006 a new character called Star was introduced, who played alongside Melanie as the show's co-host in various activities & dialogue in each episode.
  • Leo (played by Noel MacNeal) was a calm and level-headed gardener who looked after the Goodnight Garden. He often taught the viewers about different flowers and how to plant seeds or fruit pits. He also took care of a firefly named Lucy, who liked to sleep in a pocket on Leo's vest. When Lucy started to glow, Leo took her out of his pocket and let her fly around the garden. Leo hosted special episodes in 2006 and continued to appear as a recurring character in the third season alongside Nina.[14] Leo's actor, Noel MacNeal, was selected for his puppeteering roles on Bear in the Big Blue House and Oobi.[6]
  • The Helping Hand (puppeteered by Noel MacNeal) was a silent human hand who appeared during the "Goodnight Tale" segments, holding up finger puppets and paper cut-outs.

Controversy

  • Sometime during July 2006, Shortly after Season 2 premired a couple of Technical Virgin PSA's "I Have a Future (July 2000) and Boys Can Wait (February 2001)" That Melanie Martinez starred in before working at Sprout resurfaced online, when the actor discovered this she disclosed the information to her bosses and was swiftly fired by PBS/Sprout for "inappropriate dialogue" later that same month.[15]

Episodes

  • Reversed
  • Time & Clocks
  • Exercise
  • Food
  • Holidays
  • Dreams
  • Life Underwater
  • Sunrise & Sunset
  • The Dark
  • Moon & Stars
  • Bath & Bubble Time
  • Imaginary Friends
  • Pets
  • Fairies
  • Night Noises
  • School
  • Nocturnal Animals
  • Babysitters
  • Farm
  • Riddles & Rhymes
  • Penguins
  • Construction
  • Halloween
  • Dance
  • Dinosaurs
  • Bedtime Routines
  • Snuggly Favorites
  • Rainy Days
  • Grandparents
  • Bodies
  • Where We live
  • Seasons
  • Lullabies
  • Bugs & Insects
  • Where We Sleep
  • Dress Up
  • Trains
  • Cats & Dogs
  • Sharing
  • Sports & Games
  • Homes
  • Spanish
  • Love
  • Siblings
  • Healthy Sproutlets
  • Let's Get Silly
  • Red, White & Blue
  • Gardens
  • Birthdays
  • Shadows
  • Gift Giving
  • Wonder
  • Our Earth
  • Thankfulness
  • Letters
  • Jobs
  • Growing
  • Moon
  • First Steps
  • Family
  • Parents
  • Babies
  • Friendship
  • Colors
  • Reading & Storytelling
  • Shapes
  • Numbers
  • Hats
  • Safety
  • Imagination & Make-Believe
  • Travel
  • Around The World
  • Animals
  • Feelings
  • Art
  • Nature
  • Creativity
  • Camping
  • Heroes
  • Sports
  • Five Senses
  • Fish
  • Beach
  • Circus
  • Desert
  • Transportation
  • Trees
  • Space
  • Weather
  • Poems
  • Helping Out
  • People Who Work At Night
  • Theatre
  • Putting On A Show
  • Reptiles
  • Pirates
  • Musical
  • Birds
  • Safari
  • Mother's Day
  • Emotion
  • Parks
  • Magic
  • Zoo
  • Herithage
  • English
  • Caregivers
  • Jungle and Zoo

Programming

References

  1. ^ Bellafante, Ginia (October 1, 2010). "Trying to Echo Childhood's Rhythms". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Cadler, Kate (April 1, 2008). "Nighty Night! – Kidcasters Shaping Evening Schedules To Reflect Preschool Bedtime Rituals". Kidscreen.
  3. ^ a b Goldman Getzler, Wendy (January 20, 2014). "Sprout Greenlights Good Night Show Spinoff". Kidscreen.
  4. ^ a b Robbins, Caryn (August 21, 2013). "Baze and His Silly Friends Offer Free 'School Days' Download". BroadwayWorld.
  5. ^ Jenkins, Ward (June 2007). "Ava Thursday: Ava on Sprout!". Ward-o-Matic, Primal Screen. Sprout is PBS Kids' answer to Noggin. When it was launched in 2005, it was the first 24 hour preschool network.
  6. ^ a b "The Good Night Show". Families.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. You may know Noel MacNeal better as the voices of Bear from 'Bear in the Big Blue House' and Kako, the best friend of the title character on 'Oobi.' {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; December 16, 2021 suggested (help)
  7. ^ TV Schedule | PBS KIDS Sprout
  8. ^ a b c d "Poppy Cat to Debut Exclusively on Sprout in U.S. During New Season of The Good Night Show". Sprout Press Room. October 24, 2011. Archived from the original on October 28, 2011.
  9. ^ "MICHELE LEPE :: actor".
  10. ^ "Esai Morales Joins Cast of Sprout Original Series THE GOOD NIGHT SHOW".
  11. ^ a b @michelelepe (July 26, 2015). "He joined us on a few episodes of #TheGoodNightShow @sproutchannel as Nina's uncle (Tio Javier)" – via Instagram.
  12. ^ Mulvihill, Geoff (May 10, 2006). "Kids program offers TV to fall asleep by". The Los Angeles Times.
  13. ^ "Sprout Sets Holiday Block". NextTV. 16 December 2005. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022.
  14. ^ "PBS KIDS Sprout Launches Third Season of The Good Night Show". Sprout Press Room. December 18, 2006. Archived from the original on October 19, 2011. Nina...along with her Sprout friends...Leo, the gardener
  15. ^ Jensen, Elizabeth (2006-08-05). "PBS Firing of Host of 'The Good Night Show' Draws Protests". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  16. ^ a b c d "Sprout Original: The Good Night Show". Sprout Press Room. 2009. Archived from the original on October 27, 2011.
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