Pansy’s Club

Pansy’s Club is Spring’s Signature Live Morning (Formerly Saturdays Only) Block that started broadcasting on June 22, 2007.

The theme song from 2007 to 2010 was “I Love the Saturday Club”, the theme song from 2009 to 2010 was “I Love Pansy’s Club”, the theme song from 2014 to 2015 is “Hello Springlings”, and the current one is “Pansy’s Here, Pansy’s There”.

## Premise

*"Starting September 26, rise and shine each weekday morning from 9am-noon ET with The Saturday Club! The Saturday Club is a place where preschoolers and their parents gather to share, laugh, play, and prepare for the day ahead."*
From the Spring Press Room:

*"Each weekday morning, Pansy's Club greets preschoolers and their families as they rise and shine and prepare for the day ahead. In this live broadcast, hosts Karla, Sam, Danica and Fran alternate weeks and create a warm and welcoming environment where families can gather to share their local weather, birthdays, and even show and tell with Spring®."*
### Goals

From the Spring Press Room:

*"Pansy's Club balances playful, spontaneous fun with interactive learning and creates a welcoming environment for preschoolers and their parents to spend some morning time together. In addition to introducing children to educational concepts through weekly themes, the concepts of calendars, day of the week and weather are reinforced on a daily basis. Through birthday card submissions and other interactive activities, creativity and craft skills are exercised."*
### Interactive Components

*"SpringOnline.com is the forum through which viewers interact with the live broadcast and an integral element of Pansy's Club. Submission of local weather reports, birthday cards, artwork and contest entries takes place through the website. SpringOnline.com also includes age-appropriate interactive games featuring Pansy."*
### Co-Viewing Components

*"Requests for viewer submissions and strong interactive components encourage parents and preschoolers to spend time together during Pansy's Club. The urgency of a live broadcast gets families excited to tune in together to view user-generated birthday cards and crafts and participate in contests and other special activities."*
## History on Spring

### Origins

In Britain, the country where Spring's senior vice president of programming Andrew Beecham was actually from, children's channels had adult presenters fill the gap in between shows by doing preschool-friendly activities and showcasing content submitted by viewers. When Spring launched and Beecham became its SVP of programming, *Birthday Time* and *Last Hours Before Bed* brought the UK channels' presented formats to America. According to Betsy Oliphant, Beecham wanted a live show out of the presented format introduced two years ago on Spring and in the UK, so Spring executives talked about creating a live show where the hosts could showcase viewer-submitted content and have guest appearances from characters. Previously, Spring only went live through a 2007 Mother's Day broadcast hosted by Kevin Yamada that featured bottom-of-the-screen scrolls of mother's day messages.

Team Spring also felt it was important that their then-new live show connected with morning activities and would have the hosts show the day and viewers' weather and represent how children play in their spare time. They played around with names before settling on "The Saturday Club." Since preschoolers are learning to get dressed by themselves, they wanted to create a segment and game that modeled that, which became Dress Pansy. Sandy Wax said that the block was a throwback to classic children's shows with modern sensibility.

### 2000s

#### Premiere

The block, along with *Plonker and Zoop*, was first announced by Spring on June 5th, 2007, with a pilot being released later. Both *Plonker and Zoop* and *The Saturday Club* first appeared on Spring's schedule on June 22nd, 2007 (the channel's 2nd anniversary). At that time, Spring was available in 35 million homes.

### 2010s

*The Saturday Club* was shown regularly on Spring each weekday until 2009, when Musical Mornings with Melody Mouse premiered. Additionally, the set was revamped.

In 2013, Karla announced she was leaving the show, so Spring held a Host Hunt contest. The winners ended up being Elizabeth Daly, who started hosting in 2014, and Adrian Green, who started hosting the recurring segment Dial Adrian. Additionally, Maddie Roberts and Tom Kane started hosting at the end of the year.

#### Revamp

For Spring's 10th anniversary in 2015, certain segments were either removed or renamed, several new segments such as Sit and Sip were introduced, new shows were added to the schedule, and more celebrity guests were tagged. It was around this time that Pansy's Club music videos were posted to Spring's VidTube channel.

A playlist made by Spring of some of the show's classic clips was available, but as of 2022, most of the videos are either unlisted or private. However, most of them are listed as being clips from *Knock Knock House*. According to a Spring fan on Discord, song segments aired on Universal Kids for some time.

As of 2022, fans are constantly searching for old segments through websites like Wayback Machine archives of VidTube videos.

## Hosts

### Main

* Pansy (puppeteered by Helen Harding, meowing voice provided by Francesca Waburton) - A Female Tangerine-Colored Kitten who speaks with cat noises, unlike the other puppet characters from programming blocks on Spring who talked (though only speaks in merchandise). She only eats certain foods, as she refuses to eat animals even though She eats dairy due to her sweet personality towards mostly everyone she meets. She appears throughout the programming block and in a spin-off called The Pansy Show. In 2009, she was given her own segment, Pansy's World, in which Springlings explore topics in a crayon-drawn, imaginary version of Pansy's house. At one time in pre-production, the name "Perry" was considered for this character.
* Kenny Yates (2007 - 2010) - One of the original 2 hosts and previously hosted The interstitial show on Spring from 2005 to 2007 that read birthday cards called *Birthday Time*. He left 2010 by the end of Season 2 and got replaced by Fran, but still voiced Rocket on The Spring Sharing Show and Doozle on Tweenzers.
* Karla Cheatham Mosley (2007 - 2013) was the longest running host who hosted from launch to 2013 when she eventually got replaced by Madelyn. She currently plays Mindy on Glendolf's Funhouse.
* Sam Lerner (2008 - 2013) - Sam joined the block in January 2008 so there could be a third host accompanying Pansy. He disappeared in 2013 cause Spring apparently wanted to make a change.
* Danica McKellar (2009 - 2014) joined the show on December 26, 2009 to avoid crammed patternings with the weeks and that they needed a fourth host. She hosted until 2014 and was replaced with Elizabeth.
* Fran Reinhardt (2010 - 2012) joined the show on November 2010 when Kenny left for the city and disappeared in 2012 in order to make way for Isabelle.
* Isabelle McKreckson-Carlin (2012 - 2017) joined the block on June 2012 when Fran left and stayed until 2017.
* Tom Kane (2013 - 2021) joined the show when Sam left.
* Madelyn "Maddie" Roberts (2013 - present) joined the show when Karla left.
* Elizabeth "E.G." Daily (2014 - present) joined the show when Danica left.
* Andre Robinson (2017 - present) was the youngest host when starting introduced 2017 when Isabelle left to present Knock Knock House with Wug the Koala.
* Pierce Riddle (2021 - present)
* Eila Crumlish (2021 - present) - Joined when they needed a fifth host.

### Recurring

* The Mini Mailman (2007-2015) - A Cardboard Mailman who rides a drone that would deliver birthday messages. He was kicked out of the show in 2015 because of the new mailbox introduced to the show.
* Percy (Puppeteered and voiced by Sarah Burgess) is A British Shorthair who is Pansy’s Cousin from London and would occasionally appear sometimes.
* Mr. Stan/StanSongs (2009-present) - Mr. Stan leads "Music Time with StanSongs", which is a 1-minute song, usually performed on guitar, relating to the week's theme. Children join Mr. Stan by singing along and sometimes perform choreography. Mr. Stan is performed by Stanley Rosen, also known as StanSongs, a professional recording artist. He once took over hosting duties in November 2019. He is currently rarely seen on the show due to Mr. Stan currently filming Seasonal Mountain Farm as the actor for Mark.

### Guest Appearances

See *Pansy’s Club/Guest Appearances* *for more information about this heading*

## Shows on the Block

### Current

* Thames the Strange Train
* The Moverlies
* Splitting Climates
* The Pansy Show
* Go Odie Go!
* Mike & Friends Funhouse
* It's A Big Big Region
* Chiro Go Go: Monkey with A Toolbox
* Hudonamu
* The Chrissie and Pals Show

### Former

* Big Box (2007-2015)
* Play With Me Fun School (2007-2016)
* The Zing Show (2007-2010)
* Yo Playtime Playtime! (2008-2015)
* Tweenzers (2008-2011)
* Hurry the Racing Car (2008-2012)
* Bloomgirl Land (2007-2013)
* Giggles & Scribble (2010-2016)
* Baby Prodigy (2010-2014)
* Cupcake & Friends (2010-2012)
* Zap (2010-2017)
* Figimon (2008-2012)
* Pansy's World (2009-2013)
* The Proto Show (2011-2015)
* Corporation Hole (2007-2015)
* The Lenny Show (2016-2019)

## Trivia

* Whenever *The Proto Show* aired on the block, it lasted for one hour, due to segments where the host and Pansy danced to the show's theme song, and due to commercials and *Pansy's Club* segments airing during the show.
* The series had its own digital podcast on iJams, launching in 2009.
* The block seldom aired on timeslots other than 9AM-noon, such as Hooray for Mother's Day or Spring's Mixed-Up April Fun Day (where it aired during Nala & Hoots's usual timeslot during the latter stunt).
* When *Tillytombers* aired after the block, the camera cut to the show right away rather than fading to black as a transition.
* The series reached 1,000 episodes on April 22nd, 2011.
* The reason why it was changed to Pansy’s Club was because of positive feedback from alternate universe parents and it got a huge cult following.
* During March-May 2020 in the Coronavirus pandemic, The show went on by having Pansy be Puppeteered near a green screen (while Francesca recorded her cat noises offscreen) that is supposed to be set like her house, but went back inside the studio on June.
* Both Pansy from this block and Hoots from Nala & Hoots seem to have the most merchandise, compared to the other Spring puppets.
* In the end of every blocksode, the host would always tell the springlings to stay tuned for Play Time with Ace (which always came on immediately after the block ended), Spring Control Room, and Nala & Hoots.
* Leftover birthdays or a short showing the host helping Pansy get ready for bed were shown in a program called *Pansy’s Club: More Show After the Show*.
* From 2009 to 2015, while end credits for Corporation Street (since the credits for the show are a minute and a half) were rolling, Pansy and whoever was hosting today would do a pre-show when the host would tell the springlings what they were gonna do on the show.
	+ When that show was removed from the schedule, it just got replaced with the normal Musical Mornings with Melody Mouse split-screen credits. But they did add a new segment when Melody talked to Pansy and the host on her computer.
	+ When Crayola Bear Waffle came in, the Crayola Bears also interacted with The Pansy’s Club hosts, but did it after the final show and not before it.
* Ever since 2012 because of Spring’s popularity, the Pansy’s Club Hosts alongside Nala and Hoots show up at The Casey’s Thanksgiving Day Parade every year.
	+ From 2017-present (since they just unblocked thanksgiving 2012-2017), How the show would go on is that Gadget from Nala & Hoots would take over and host his own block called Gadget’s Club.

### Behind the Scenes

* When Karla interacted with Penny from The Spring Sharing Show (A character she voiced) in December 2010, there was a lot of editing done live so people wouldn’t know Karla voices Penny.
* When the first non-Saturday broadcast came around, they also moved to a bigger set so room Doesn’t get crammed in case of guests.

## Bands and their Songs

From 2007 to 2009, each day's segments included a short dance as well as a song. This portion of the show was abandoned when Mr. Stan joined.

### The Mighty Weaklings

* My Birthday is Today!
* May I Help You?
* Picture This
* Fun When it Rains
* Rhyme Out
* Sarah's Garden (Originally aired in the Spring Share the Earth Day special for one minute and thirty seconds and was called "Grow a Garden". Now it is only one minute.)
* This is Our World (Originally aired in the Spring Share the Earth Day special for one minute and thirty seconds, but now it is only one minute.)
* Can You Hear It?
* Anything You Wanna Be

### AudraRox

* Little Sister
* Uh Oh!
* Parts of the Body
* A Place To Call Home
* Hands Up
* The Beat in Your Heart
* Jump Up High
* Sharing is its Name-O

## Segments

### Current

1. Birthdays (2007-present)
2. Dress Pansy (2009-present)
3. Pansy's Story Factory (2009-present)
4. Spring Field Trip (2009-present)
5. DIT (2010-present)
6. Exciting Springling Day (2010-present)
7. Adventures with Pansy (2010-present)
8. Pansy's Dance Party (2012-present) (Rarely airing as of 2019)
9. Coach Pansy (2015-present)
10. Pansy’s Pick (2014-present)
11. Pansy's Secret Treasure (2010-present) (Rarely airing as of 2019)

### Former

1. Good Kitten Awards (2007-2015)
2. Pansy's Game of the Day (2007-2010)

## Production

Once a year, hosts, associate producers and Pansy puppeteers and other people united to discuss weekly themes, starting with holidays, seasons, and preschool events. Afterwards, the crew looked at different topics of preschoolers' interests, set up a calendar, and assigned a team to develop each week's content. The team also went to schools for probably every six weeks to observe

The host and associate producer worked on a three-week cycle, with the first week serving as a prep week. After watching the following week's episodes, the crew decided on how to tie them into the week's theme, thought about the shows in the theme's context, and tried to pull out ideas preschoolers could pick up on. On Tuesday, the host and associate producer pitched their ideas to producers and an educational consultant enhanced segments to include additional learning opportunities. Afterwards, crew members listened to ideas to make sure that they were educational and age-appropriate, then spent the rest of the week tweaking ideas and putting everything together. On the second week, hosts were live on air from 9AM to noon, rehearsing their first link at around 8:40. While the first show of the day aired, Pansy and the hosts prepared and rehearsed, on-air for about forty minutes over the course of three consecutive hours. During the third week, the associate producer helped produce the show in the control room.

### Cultural impact

#### Celebrities

The cast and crew of *Pansy's Club* originally rehearsed and recorded material in a Haddon Heights studio, eventually moving to the 24th floor of the Omnitrans Center. In 2014, celebrity guest stars started appearing on *Pansy's Club*, thus encouraging parents to watch along with their kids.

Additionally, parodies of pop culture and famous artists were utilized.

## Merchandising

A plush toy of Pansy was available as early as the Spring birthday sweepstakes in 2010.

In 2013, Spring and ShopNow launched Shop Spring, a website in which people could shop for Spring show-related merchandise. Plush toys, backpacks, and shirts, amongst other items, utilizing Pansy were sold on the Shop Spring website.

The cast hosted Grow On, a series of two videos released by HiT Entertainment. Karla and Pansy hosted Helping Others, which was about helping others, while Sam and the latter hosted Playing It Safe, a video about being safe.

Hosts have made live appearances at the likes of the Omnitrans Center, Idlewild and Soak Zone, the Please Touch Museum, and Corporation Place. In 2012, Spring characters and hosts started appearing on a themed float in the Casey's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which had a replica of Pansy's House.