User Reviews

Melanie's character and mannerisms made transitions between shows gentle and friendly, and even when we are on the road my two toddlers feel right at home if Melanie and the Good Night Show are available on the TV. The introduction of Star was a rude interruption. No matter what the eventual final decision on Melanie (my kids and I hope she's brought back; I saw the video she was booted for - for heaven's sake it doesn't even look like her any more, and Jim Carey's said far worse and he's played on Sesame Street big time), please don't bring back Star, or at least *fix* the horrid thing.... the voice and physical puppet are both awful.

Ah, yes, "The Good Night Show" I remembered this.

Anyhoo, "The Good Night Show" is definitely one of the more better children's shows in terms of its educational value, sense of fun and memorable theme songs. Unlike many other educational children's television shows, "The Good Night Show" is bearable for older people (That is, parents and older siblings) to watch with youngsters. Granted that "Good Night Show" could be just another hyperactive, over-the-top and God awful children's show (That is, "Playschool"), "the Good Night Show" is clean, shiny, safe, suburban fun and it isn't migraine inducing.

So, to conclude, "The Good Night Show" is a great, clean and fun show that I'd highly recommend for parents to let their youngsters watch.

This show is way better than Dora, Barney, and Caillou combined. Star is a cute character. I remember the changes made to the show and I watched a new episode one night when both my parents went to education night at my school. I saw 64 Zoo Lane for the first time.

I don't remember Melanie and/or Leo because I wasn't born yet. I read about Melanie being fired however. I remember watching Sprout in 2017 and this show wasn't there.

Again, the shows are calming.

We have old episodes on DVR, plus bought the discs and watched it on Sprout. I don't have a kid but my dog loves this show. Maybe it calms her down or whatever, but it's as effective as puppy pot to her. She'll doze easily to the sounds, and tends to grr when it's turned off.

I tend not to watch it myself or turn my head away when it's on because this show will put me right to sleep. Which I guess is the point! It's hypnotically wonderful; dulcet and soothing. If you have kids, I'm sure this would be an immediate success. If you're an adult and have insomnia, this is better than an Ambien and a hot bath.

I watched this sometimes when I was little, after baths and before bed, on my parents' bed. I also watched it at a friend's house in early/mid 2015. It was fun to watch as a little kid,, and still is today. In fact, I think it might appeal to you more as you get older.

Nina and Star talk about parents, penguins, dress up, anything a little kid likes. Throughout their adventures, they make crafts, play games, and tell stories, and have a whole lot of fun along the way while Star winds down for bed himself. This show teaches me things sometimes - for example, in the episode about dinosaurs, Nina explains that the word "dinosaur" is a combination of the Greek words for "lizard" and "terrible" and the biggest one was the size of three buses. In the episode about Feelings, she explains that "hangry" means hungry and angry at the same time. And in the one about Penguins, she teaches Star a lot of things about the arctic birds, and if I told you about them, we'd be here all day.

Bottom line - This show is needed now more than ever, especially since kids throw fits when they can't get their way - thus, they need a wholesome, calming children's show, and if you don't like "Bluey," this is the way.

On one Sunday afternoon when I was 7 years old, I couldn't find anything to watch, so I kept changing channels until I found one channel I didn't know existed: Sprout. Sesame Street was on that channel, and I watched it until it was over. I wanted to see what other shows Sprout played, and I did. Clearly, I've never heard of any of their original shows before, but I've previously seen or heard of most of the shows they played at the time that didn't originate from it (Sesame Street, Barney, The Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, Kipper, etc.). I eventually started watching all of the shows they played back then. Shortly after that, Sprout became my new favorite channel, and I started to watch a little bit (or a lot) of it every day. If you're wondering, yes, I still watched other channels too. It stayed my favorite channel until I was 9 years old, but I still watched it sometimes until it shut down in 2017 and got replaced by Universal Kids. This was (and still is) my favorite Sprout block! I would watch it every night during my "Sprout phase," but I'd still watch it some nights after I somewhat grew out of Sprout. I don't mind Universal Kids, but I sure do miss Sprout, and it was like no other channel I've ever seen. I'm a child at heart with autism. Also, I'm aware that the show/block has a spin-off/prequel series called "Nina's World," and I haven't seen it, but I'll check it out at some point if I can find it anywhere.

The concept of a bedtime show is interesting! There were blankets as floors, stars on the trees instead of leaves, a moon shaped couch, a talking star named Star, and more. Nina was always in her pajamas, and she had a pet firefly named Lucy. The Goodnight Show was a laidback show/block and not at all loud or obnoxious, which is appropriate for a bedtime show because one is supposed to settle down and be quiet at that time of night. It was all about Nina helping her audience and her sidekick Star wind down after a busy day. Nina and Star would do fun and sometimes relaxing activities to occupy their time before bed, like making arts and crafts, playing games, singing songs, doing yoga, and watching cartoons. They would also do some typical pre-bedtime activities, like cleaning up their house and brushing their teeth. The show/block was made to help kids who wanted to stay up past their bedtime establish a bedtime routine and make bedtime not so hard. Amen to that! Too bad the kids who were not yet born when Sprout was a thing are missing out because plenty of today's kids likely have similar bedtime problems. I have insomnia, and The Goodnight Show airing today would be useful. Sprout was the first 24-hour preschool channel, and most preschool channels would usually sign off for the night by 6pm before it came along. How about that! I recently heard some parents have criticized the show/block for keeping kids awake and not helping them fall asleep. The president of Sprout has clarified that it was supposed to be a tool to help develop a bedtime routine, not to lull kids to sleep. Coincidentally, Nina introduced me to the word "lull" and taught me its meaning. In that same episode, she also said lullabies are called that because they're supposed to lull kids to sleep.

The Goodnight Show has inspired me and had an impact on me, which makes it even more nostalgic and life changing in my opinion. Like I said, Nina and Star have shown how to make all kinds of arts and crafts in various episodes, which is a plus because 1) That has helped promote creativity and imagination, and 2) This is one of the only shows I know of that shows how to make arts and crafts, which I've been big into for all my life. The two leads made a paper flower in one episode and a pet rock in another episode. I once made a pet rock and a paper flower just like theirs shortly after I watched those episodes for the first time, and I gave my flower to my mother as a Mother's Day present because Nina and Star were making their flower(s) for the same occasion. I think I still have my pet rock. I once saw a Sprout commercial where the narrator said they wanted kids to make new "Sproutoramas" (Sprout-themed dioramas that would appear before and after commercial breaks) and send a picture of it to them on the Sprout website (I think that's how they were supposed to get them), and that gave me the idea to make my own Goodnight Show Sproutorama with Nina and Star on the couch, and I think I included Lucy and Hush the fish too. I asked my mother to take a picture of me holding my Sproutorama, and she did. I was hoping it would appear on TV, but it was unfortunately never sent to Sprout because I didn't know how to import pictures onto a computer back then (but I do now). However, on my last day of first grade, shortly after the picture was taken, my mother asked me to give copies of it to my teachers, with thank you notes attached to them. I did, and my teachers gave me positive comments on the notes and Sproutorama. I think I might still have the picture, but I no longer have the Sproutorama. I also asked my grandma to make a Star pillow and give it to me as a present for my 8th birthday. She honored my request, and I got to admit she did a very good job at making the pillow! It was my favorite birthday present I received that year, and I still have that pillow. Our 2 main characters also taught me sign language and Spanish. Ironically, I don't remember any of the sign language I learned from them, but "Espanol (Spanish)" and "Feliz Cumpleanos (Happy birthday)" are just a couple of the Spanish words they taught me. Michele Lepe (Nina's actress) has confirmed in an interview that she grew up in Spain, and I'm guessing that is where she learned all those Spanish words.

Nina was a great host! She was so nice, gentle, warm, and welcoming. She would smile regularly and give her audience tips on how to settle down after getting too crazy and develop a bedtime routine, as I mentioned earlier. Michele Lepe has confirmed in her interview (the same one I mentioned a little bit ago) that she wasn't supposed to be a mother figure or a babysitter to her audience, more like a "friend." Star wasn't easy to get to lie down and sleep, but she handled that in a kind and patient manner and would always win the fight. If we could all be more like Nina, the world would be a better place to live in.

The show/block gives me slight Bear in the Big Blue House vibes. How? They're both quiet, laidback, and not so loud or obnoxious shows that give bedtime related advice to those who have issues at that time of night (I think BITBBH only does that in a couple episodes), and in the segment "Nina's Little Fables," Nina would tell Aesop's fables and act them out using shadow puppets, similar to how Shadow's stories and songs are acted out using shadow puppets on BITBBH. Nina's Little Fables and Shadow's stories and songs have very similar looking animation and art styles. Coincidentally, a few years back, I read on The Goodnight Show's Wikipedia page that a guy named Leo (played by Noel MacNeal, who is also the voice and puppeteer of Bear) was a temporary host of The Goodnight Show right after Melanie, the original host, got fired, until Nina came along. I had no idea that Nina wasn't the only host it has ever had.

Like I said, this was one of Sprout's blocks, and none of their blocks were ordinary blocks. They were all more like shows the channel would play for a few hours (they technically were actual shows), and the shows that would play during their blocks were like shows within shows. That's part of the reason why I loved Sprout and what made it unlike any other channel. Right before the shows in between this came on, Lucy would always fly into the sky, and she would light the way, which led to a portal showing up. One of the characters from the show that was about to play would be in that portal. They would greet the main duo and introduce the show, and then the show would start. For example, right before Thomas and Friends would play, Thomas would appear in the portal and say, "Hi Nina and Star! It's me, Thomas! Hop on board for adventure with me and my friends. All aboard!" The main duo would say hi back to him, and finally his show would start. The people who voiced the aforementioned characters in their shows returned as their respective characters. How awesome is that?

I highly recommend The Goodnight Show, especially for those who have a hard time settling down at night, can't think of a bedtime routine, have insomnia, or all of the above. If you're looking for a show to help settle down your rambunctious kid(s) at night, don't show them Dora the Explorer or season 1 of Caillou at that time. Show them this, Bear in the Big Blue House, or both instead. I'm not forcing you to not watch the former two shows or to watch the latter two shows, but the former two are unlikely to help settle your kid(s) down because they're loud and obnoxious and will likely inspire them to act the same, but I can't say the same about the latter two. Also, this is a better show to learn Spanish from than Dora and a great show to watch if you're looking for a different show that teaches Spanish. I know The Goodnight Show doesn't air anymore and is unfortunately hard to come across these days, but don't worry. It has had a DVD release or two, and I think some of the episodes are on YouTube. I saw a Goodnight Show DVD somewhere not too long ago, but I don't remember where at. If I ever find it again, I'm going to get it for myself.