In the July 26, 2006 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Melanie Martinez played Melanie the Babysitter for two seasons of The Good Night Show, PBS KIDS Sprout's first programming block. The second season, which contained 26 episodes, was taped in a "two-week marathon session" in April and May 2006 and premiered that year on July 10th.[1] Shortly after, Martinez told the show's crew members that, prior to landing the role as show host, she was in two PSAs on the website technicalvirgin.com in school - I Have a Future and Boys Can Wait, which were removed by the time PBS KIDS Sprout launched, so she was fired, with The Good Night Show website on Sproutletsgrow.com being replaced by a notice regarding the situation and music videos replacing The Good Night Show until September 11th, when A Very Special Good Night with "special guest host" Leo premiered during Sprout's first anniversary festivities, which also included PBS KIDS Sprout's Big Birthday Surprise, Grand Tails' Day with the Sprout premiere of Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, and the premiere of the first season of Sprout Diner. This was while auditions were being held for a new host for a reboot with a then-26-episode first season. Eventually, Michele Lepe was selected, and her character Nina debuted in the reboot, which premiered on December 18th.
Despite all of this, many Sproutlets were upset at having one of their favorite TV show hosts gone and angered grown-up sprouts and big sprouts went online, starting petitions, emails, and letters for PBS, which held only one position - chief operating officer Wayne Godwin[2] - on the board of Sprout, to reconsider.
- Bring Back Mel was a blog on Blogger featuring articles about the news and encouraging readers to email PBS KIDS Sprout and other companies to bring Martinez back.
- Beth M. Parker of Comcast started a petition to bring back Martinez on the now-defunct site petitiononline.com.
- Lisa Solomon started a petition with 9,801 supporters to bring Martinez back on petitionspot.com.
- 250 emails were sent by other people to PBS, with only one supporting the Sprout decision, and 1,7000 were shot to PBS stations, with only about six supporting Martinez's dismissal.
Further reading
- When Michele Lepe was revealed as the new host, it was discovered that she was to appear as an undercover cop in the then-upcoming short film Jamaica Motel and people online complained about it, with one comparing the situation to the Martinez one. However, Jenni Glenn responded and said that, prior to Jamaica Motel, Sprout was impressed with her résumé.[3]
- Martinez's firing was mentioned in books such as The End of America: Letter to Warning by a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf, Real-World Media Ethics: Inside the Broadcast and Entertainment Industries by Phillippe Perebinossoff, and Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for post-Bush America by Eric Alterman.
- Martinez's firing was mentioned 17 years later by MsMojo in their 2023 video "Top 10 Kids' Show Scandals That Got Actors FIRED."
- For more Sprout controversies, see here.
Sources
- ↑ Hill, Miriam, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11, 2006, page D07 (July 11, 2006), Retrieved February 20, 2025
- ↑ Getler, Michael, More About Melanie (August 3, 2006), Retrieved December 15, 2024
- ↑ Schoenberg, Nara, Chicago Tribune, December 29, 2006, page 5-1 (December 29, 2006), Retrieved February 20, 2025