I think the firing of Melanie is ridiculous. Who does the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine? George Carlin?? You better fire him too! Bring back Melanie!
Freedom of expression is a pillar of our western way of life! We have fought fascism to defend this freedom. To deprive people of this is to desecrate the graves of the brave people who fought for our freedom.
hey,tell these pc tv jerks not to be such hypocrites, most of these fat a..ed tv execs are banging hookers on the weekends.there is very little skill to being a tv exec, they bring only their right wing phony agenda. f.them,
my kids loved melanie. i love melanie.
She is an actress who has done previous roles. Who cares? I would think that the audiences would not overlap.If a parent is showing that to their preschooler, then seeing Melanie on Sprout is not their biggest problem. My kids ask why Melanie is not on anymore, and I don't have a real answer for that. Hopefully, she will be back soon.
It's appalling that Melanie was fired over something so trivial. I haven't seen the video, but my sister described it to me, and it sounds really funny. It was also meant for adults. My five year old has no idea that such a video even exists, and it is MY responsibility to see that it stays that way. Melanie was adorable on The Good Night Show. Why should she lose her job over some obscure video she did years ago? I never would have even known about the video if she hadn't been fired. Bring her back! PBS has taken this way too far!
Lets see, they air Thomas the Tank Engine, when one of the Narrators was George Carlin the foul mouthed comic who's famous comedy bit is the 12 words you cant say on tv.. also i am sure that Alec Baldwin and Ringo Starr led lives that were free of sin.. It was a spoof and until they fired her, few people knew about it. Bring her back!!
Punishment was not only excessive but unwarrented. Didn't they follow up on her resume? I hope she sues or unlawful termination or some other bullshit allegation and gets millions.
Your decision to fire Melanie is absolutely ridiculous! My three year old daughter Allison doesn't know anything about video spoofs done 4 years before she was born! All she knows is that Melanie isn't there anymore and there is no response which can comfort her! Knee-jerk reactions almost always come back to bite you in the rear! Your loss is Noggin's gain! Give grace and grace will be given! God forbid there would be any of your skeletons that falls out of your closet!
I support this petition. As it might be a tad inappropriate, the injust truly lies in the perception of the video. PBS views it as highly inappropriate, most of us with a sense of humour found it funny...
Their "target audience" doesn't care about the videos. All I know is my daughter misses "The Lady!" She could really care less about the cartoons, but LOVES "The Lady!" We miss Melanie.
Bring back Melanie! Both of my kids love her, and it's not as though I'mabout to show them the benign, semi-funny old joke video. If PBS is touting the guest appearances of George Carlin or Robin Williams on Sesame Street, then surely they can let Melanie back on the air.
Anyone want to start a new service & have Melanie host?
Although she drove me insane, my son loved Melanie (and Star). The video in question, which I was finally able to view online, was ridiculous and I can not believe PBS Srout would take such drastic actions over something so trivial. Give me (and Melanie) a break! Do toddlers around the country a break and bring Melanie back.
Melanie was a great host that my 3 year old son loves. I'm disappointed that PBS would punish her now for something comical she did 7 years ago. Bring her back now!
because now that you have established such a judgmental guideline, I look forward to reading the results of background checks I would guess PBS KIDS Sprout has initiated on all of its executives and employees to ensure that none of them have done anything that would be similarly embarrassing.
Setting rules and then aenforcing them consistently is important for children. Failing to follow a guideline such as this would have a negative impact the network's credibility.
Melanie was the best thing for childrens tv. After watching childrens tv for 3 years while my little girl went through barney, the wiggles, etc, u can only act so much, her heart was in this job, from what I have read it still is, if she is not reinstated, they are only hurting themselves. I can see there ratings for the goodnight show at an all time high on the day of her reinstatement. Hope to see you again Melanie!
Melanie was part of my childs life. The night show is not the same without her. I do not agree with the wrongful decision the network has made toward such a thoughtful and sweet character.
because Melanie's firing is one more example of PBS caving in to the right wing and religious conservatives. My three year old daughter cannot be harmed by a seven year old mildly off color joke she can't understand. Bring back Mealanie or, at least, as others have suggested, be consistent and dump George Carlin because of his 3- year ofd "dirty words" routine.
PBS execs are cowards. If she was currently active in similar activities - then I would agree. However, it's silly to hurt so many because they are fearful of such silly skeletons.
It's Pee Wee all over again.
Bring Back Mel!
because I am an Early Childhood educator, and through my experience in this have seen how happy characters like this make children, and that they actually do learn from everything they see, Miss Melanie was a positive CHARACTER to learn from, and the children aren't going to know the past of the actress who plays the character, so give the children back something positive.
As far as I'm concerned, Miss Melanie WAS just a character, not the embodyment of Sprouts. My 4-year-old doesn't have to know about her other gigs, any more than she has to know what George Carlin and Alec Baldwin (who narrate Thomas) are famous for. Bring Melanie back.
even though my 2 1/2 year old really was about tired of Sprout anyway. She now asks for "'different" after dinner, and Noggin is right there. Maybe Melanie can play this to her advantage, and my daughter can go to NYC to see her friend on stage someday.
