Brings A Whole New Meaning To Sproutlets Grow! (UPDATED)
ED NOTE: I originally wrote this entry for The BlogFathers, but decided to duplicate it here, considering this joint is in serious need of fresh content. I know that probably breaks all kinds of internet rules, but oh well.
About year ago, the 7 Things meme proliferated through the blogosphere. Among other things, it required a list of your 7 Celebrity Crushes. At the time, Albert was only around 9 or 10 months old, and had not yet been formally introduced to television. And I had not yet introduced myself to the 00’s world of children’s programming.
(I should stop here to note that prior to Albert’s birth, BIYM and I bought into the study linking infant/toddler television viewing to attention problems, and made the choice to wait until he was older before showing him what his daddy lovingly refers to as Sunday’s Mistress (HBO Sunday nights, NFL, Indy-Car… mmm Sundays are so hot!). While we continue to limit his exposure, we have come to our senses enough to occasionally take advantage of Elmo’s magical ability to hypnotize the boy into a limp bodied, drool soaked coma at the click of the remote, ending the kind of tantrum that might have otherwise caused our heads to explode in such glorious fashion that even Michael Ironside would have been proud. But I digress…)
When I posted my 7 Things entry, had I known of Melanie Martinez, the cute as a button host of PBS Sprout’s Good Night Show, I would have very likely substituted her for Suri’s momma. Then, as if my sick, twisted fantasy of a BIYF/Melanie/Star menage a trois wasn’t enough, I discovered that Ms. Melanie dabbled in a little showbiz while she was in college. She made an indie video (adult content – watch CLIP 1, CLIP 2) that has since made it’s way across the blogmos. Needless to say, Ms. Martinez just waddled her way up the charts to #1 with a bullet!
SAD, IRONIC UPDATE:
Just as I was about to click publish, I found THIS! It seems that Melanie recently made PBS aware of her prior work. They apparently decided the video “is inappropriate for her role as a preschool program host and may undermine her character’s credibility with our audience,” and as a result, she was fired!
Considering that this video has been available on the internet for quite a while (my brother tells me he saw it last year), and that it is highly unlikely that the target demo for The Good Night Show is regularly surfing iFilm or YouTube, I think they probably could have found a way to quietly let it slide. I do get the sense after reading their statement that they really wished they could keep Melanie. However, I understand and respect their decision.
I suppose in this world of new media where blogs sprout exponentially, it’s inevitable that people like us won’t be able to keep our collective traps shut. Clearly I couldn’t. After discovering that she’d been fired, I did consider not including the first part of this post. I kind of felt bad for her (and for my attempt at humor), and didn’t want to rub salt in the wound. But ultimately I decided to include it because it helps to make the point of this second part.
Unfortunately good people who have done ‘questionable’ things in their past, and are found out, will more often than not be affected in some way (case in point). Melanie – now a 34-year-old actress and mother to a 3-year-old – took it upon herself to alert PBS to the video. So, I think we can safely surmise that she’d considered the consequences, and for all we know, wishes she hadn’t been in the video in the first place.
Personally, I’m sad to see her go. Albert will be too.
I wrote to PBS complaining that I’d much rather explain the video (which they’ll probably never see anyway) to my daughters than explain that someday they might be fired for something they did years before they worked for a company.
I can tell you that video is older than 1 year. It’s at LEAST 3 years old. I know this, because I check Rock 103’s (my memphis roots!) website for their funny videos weekly. I remember watching that one at my old job.
Kind of sad. And it’s not like it was a porno or anything. She wasn’t even naked! sheesh. I wonder why she brought it up? I guess she feared that if they found out it would be worse. Boy was she wrong!
I am sorry but I have never heard of this girl. But it is sad that she lost her job by informing the company of potentially damaging vidoes.
Bring back Melanie. I, too, was sad to see her go and I know my little one is missing her. It’s not as if these kids are going to know what she is talking about. People do stupid things when they are younger. Hell, I do loans for a living and if people saw my credit when I was 21, I’d never have this job. People change, she’s an actress, I wonder if there is a demand to have her back. Anyone interested in starting a website? Thanks!
I think we should start a website! bringbackmelanie.com or something. Assuming she WANTS to come back. I mean, she might be pretty pissed off. I would be. Here she is, 34 years old, with a 3 year old of her own, doing work that, if not incredibly artistic, is making lots of people very happy, who had the integrity to bring the facts to her own bosses, and is unceremoniously canned. Not just from future endeavors, but they just finished taping this new “season” and there are episodes yet to air.
My daughter wants to say goodnight to hush. How do I explain to a 2 1/2 year old that she was fired? For something that happened long before she was born??
I sent my letter to info@sproutletsgrow.com, and I even sent a paper letter, and one on behalf of my daughter, telling them that it’s nice to forgive people we love when they make a mistake. Isn’t that what all their children’s shows say?
This has really gotten me mad, and I just don’t know what to do. I want to find Melanie and give her a big hug. This sucks.
I agree with EVERYONE on this site I think they need to bring Melanie back star now I could kind of do with out but hey star wasn’t ment to keep me happy. My little ones are 4, 2, and 11 mths. they haven’t watched sprout since Melanie left they just can’t sit through I did however on the spot come up with a whole Melanie moved to a new home so she can’t be on T.V. any more. My little girl asked if we could go get hush so we could take care of him until she gets back she does “hush, hush little fish” everyday but is starting to forget. (she’s only 4) I worte a letter to PBS but haven’t heard anything back. I agree we should start a web site to try to get her back. I mean I didn’t know everyone who works at PBS was so perfect and never made a mimstake in their whole entire life. I mean come on. everytime I think about this it upsets me because of how it upsets my children and I think what is Melanie telling her family and Her child and the people around where she lives it’s got to be harder for her then it is for us.
I went to high school with Melanie. She’s a very nice person. What I’m going to say is not directed at her past decisions, okay? However…
Firstly, TV is a very changable medium. Shows come and go, formats change, etc. Will your children be initially upset? Okay, yes but it’s not like they are going to be in a counselor’s office 20 years from now saying, “I was okay until they fired Melanie.”
Secondly, why would you try to explain to your child why she got fired? My gosh, it’s not like you have to tell your toddler every detail. Simply say, “they changed the show. I wish they hadn’t. Mommy can’t fix it, but I wish I could.”
Plus this is like the PERFECT lesson for sometime in your child’s future. Melanie is a professional stage actress and those two 30-second videos ruined a really wonderful opportunity for her. What you do today can haunt you in the future. We’ve all done things that caught up to us. I do not at all condemn Melanie for something done 7 years ago, but I can certainly understand PBS not wanting to be associated with it.
Last comment: Melanie is beautiful and talented. My feeling is that she will face the publicity from this (she was linked on DRUDGE! I know someone who was on DRUDGE!) and be able to move on to something even more fabulous. I’m sorry for your kids, I really am. But they’ll get over it and you don’t have to tell them all the gritty details.
I’m very disappointed in PBS’s decision and I think it sends the completely wrong message. If PBS executives are going to fire Ms. Martinez on these grounds, then in all honestly they should go through the entire roster of shows, examine every actor’s past roles, and then terminate any actor who has played questionable roles or else not replay the program if terminating the actor isn’t possible. I imagine they would then have quite a time filling their timeslots.
Save Melanie!
I don’t care about her previous video, which I have viewed. My daughter loves her.
So she mentioned the phrase “anal sex” twice in a past life. BIG DEAL.. She wasn’t in a porn film or anything.
How about Alec Baldwin narrating Thomas? No one at PBS thinks he has done anything as worse than Mel?
Save Melanie!!
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SAVEMEL/petition.html
I heard the shocking news on the Howard Stern show and I do agree this entire incident is asinine. Although her previous video from years ago was of course of poor judgment, exactly what example is PBS setting here? PBS Kids Sprout is all about learning to grow, right? Individuals grow up, make mistakes, and typically learn from those mistakes. Is the new message we want to send to our little “Sprout lets” going to be; that they cannot make one error, have poor judgment, etc.? Kids Sprout is a very nice show and my toddler watches it consistently.
I explained to him that Melanie has found another job and she and Star will no longer be on the Good Night Show. The expression on my sons face was of confusion along with a “but why mommy” to follow along. The continuous explaining conducted by my husband and I are mindless reminders and repeats and can simply be resolved by us (the parents) providing him with other interactive duties or by simply tuning into Nick Jr. or some thing. The parents should have full control of handling this issue accurately with their toddlers (not that the toddlers would even know any thing about it unless the conversing was brought up by their own parents) In addition, to the beliefs that parents do have control on raising their kids, I would like to go back to PBS.
For the PBS Executives, just how easy was it to wipe your hands clean of this issue? To have an employee who serviced your corporation with nothing but excellence and dedication up until this one rocky path – then discarded as if she was a rag due to unforeseen issues that may arise with tight, over protected, let me hold your hands forever parents. Do you fear the complaints would have been be so overwhelming that it could not be found in the Corporate?s nature to fight against and stand along side – retaliating back to the media that the incident was prior to Melanie becoming a part of the PBS establishment and to fight and demonstrate what a good employee she is/was. Ohhh wait…that is too much involvement for someone that is disposable huh?
I believe this matter could have been handled more sufficiently in attempt to satisfy consumers, media, etc. It is all in the way the matter is approached and how one delivers their reaction/response. Yes, ultimately, there would be some controversy ? but hey, this is a competitive industry and controversy is just repetitive.
Melanie, we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
PBS – shame on you for handling it this way.
PBS at one time was a cornucopia of creativity and fostered independent thinking. Not sure what is going on these days and who they feel they must answer to, but their decision to fire Melanie for telling the truth about her adult past (oh my, you mean she actually had a life before she had kids? Noooo!) is something that I think Kermit the Frog would agree was not nice.
They have to be kidding. My only recourse is to stop allowing my 5 year old to watch the PBS shows. I think I will also boycott any products advertised on them. While I’m at it, I might as well change my cable provider from Comcast (one of the sponsors or whatever they call them) to…Oh, wait, they have a monopoly. Maybe we’ll get a satellite dish. Maybe these actions will seem punitive, but then again, so does the actions of those “powers that be”. Just dismissing the feeling of a small child when they “lose” someone they have spent time with every night is wrong. No, they may not end up on the therapist’s couch in twenty years, but small children are people too. At least when Blue’s Clues changed hosts a few years back, the children were prepared, with Steve going off to college. They were given a chance to say goodbye. If that video has been out there for years, what difference would have a few weeks
more made. Although I’m not sure if I were Melanie that I would be willing to tape shows about my leaving if I didn’t want to go. Their child experts really dropped the ball on this one. I never heard Melanie cuss or be inappropriate ever on this show, and that is the only one that matters to my child.