History Series / JohnnyAndTheSprites

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: In addition to John Tartaglia, a number of the original cast from Theatre/AvenueQ turned up as guest stars on the program. Ann Harada turned up as a real estate developer who wanted to raze Grotto's Grove to make way for a luxury hotel. Jennifer Barnhart was also a regular puppeteer on the program. As mentioned above, Natalie Venetia Belcon played Johnny's friend Gwen.

* TheMovingExperience: "Aloha, Johnny" in which some overheard information leads the sprites to believe that Johnny is moving to Hawaii, when he's actually only going on vacation there to visit his older sister for a week.

The series began as a set of five animated shorts aired every so often Creator/DisneyChannel's Playhouse Disney block. These segments proved so popular that the program was greenlit for a full series. The new series brought a greatly expanded set portraying the Sprites' home of Grotto's Grove, as well as new characters. Three new Sprites were added, Water Sprite Lily, Earth Sprite Root and a wise old Sprite named Sage, puppeteered and voiced by Tartaglia. Additionally, a character named Gwen, portrayed by Natalie Venetia Belcon, was brought on as a friend for Johnny who paid semi-regular visits. The second season of the full series saw a further expansion to the set, as well as a seminal change to the program when Gwen was allowed to finally meet the Sprites for the first time and both she and Johnny gained the ability to visit Grotto's Grove. The presumed final episode of the series was aired on April 19, 2008 and the program disappeared from U.S. airwaves, though both a music album and DVD were released. Repeats of the program began airing on the 24/7 Disney Junior network in 2012. Tartaglia has since moved on to other projects, such as the musicals of ''Theatre/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''.

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: In addition to John Tartaglia, a number of the original cast from Theatre/AvenueQ turned up as guest stars on the program. Ann Harada turned up as a real estate developer who wanted to raze Grotto's Grove to make way for a luxury hotel. Jennifer Barnhart was also a regular puppeteer on the program. As mentioned above Natalie Venetia Belcon played Johnny's friend Gwen.

* Theatre/AvenueQ: In addition to John Tartaglia, a number of the original cast from the play turned up as guest stars on the program. Ann Harada turned up as a real estate developer who wanted to raze Grotto's Grove to make way for a luxury hotel. Jennifer Barnhart was also a regular puppeteer on the program. As mentioned above Natalie Venetia Belcon played Johnny's friend Gwen.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Usually only at the very end of a story, when Johnny will talk to the viewer to reiterate the story's {{Aesop}}

* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: The real-estate developer Yolanda Ivanna Wanna in "The Sprites Save Grotto's Grove" in this. Throughout the story, and especially in the song "Everything Must Go," she shows no respect for Johnny's personal space, poking him, prodding him, petting him and otherwise generally being a jerk, all without realizing it and thinking she's actually there to do ''him'' a favor by tearing down his backyard to build a hotel and shopping mall complex.

* ArgumentOfContradictions: The "You Never Know What You Can Do Until You Try Out Something New" song in "The Sprites' Snow Day" features several of these as Basil tells the other Sprites that their ideas won't work and they insist that they will.

-->'''Johnny''': ''Just think while you're the little one / You can have more than a little fun / Small's the perfect size to do/ So many great big things''

* PieInTheFace: * In "Make Someone Laugh," one of the original shorts, Johnny tries pieing himself in order to get Basil, who's not feeling well, to laugh. It doesn't help.

The series began as a set of five animated shorts aired every so often DisneyChannel's Playhouse Disney block. These segments proved so popular that the program was greenlit for a full series. The new series brought a greatly expanded set portraying the Sprites' home of Grotto's Grove, as well as new characters. Three new Sprites were added, Water Sprite Lily, Earth Sprite Root and a wise old Sprite named Sage, puppeteered and voiced by Tartaglia. Additionally, a character named Gwen, portrayed by Natalie Venetia Belcon, was brought on as a friend for Johnny who paid semi-regular visits. The second season of the full series saw a further expansion to the set, as well as a seminal change to the program when Gwen was allowed to finally meet the Sprites for the first time and both she and Johnny gained the ability to visit Grotto's Grove. The presumed final episode of the series was aired on April 19, 2008 and the program disappeared from U.S. airwaves, though both a music album and DVD were released. Repeats of the program began airing on the 24/7 Disney Junior network in 2012. Tartaglia has since moved on to other projects, such as the musicals of ''Theatre/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''.

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Gwen, who in the first season of the full-version series, is seen in a variety of different jobs because she believes in her aunt's saying that "You never know what you can do until you try out something new." One of these jobs is even helping SantaClaus, riding on his sleigh.

* AwardBaitSong: The songs were all written by composers from Broadway shows, many of them Tony award-winning, but "Brightly Shining" stands out as this. It was going to be part of the stage show ''Magical Holiday'', but that was canceled and rescheduled as a more general non-holiday-themed stage show.

** TeamPet: The Fuzzies.

The series began as a set of five animated shorts aired every so often DisneyChannel's Playhouse Disney block. These segments proved so popular that the program was greenlit for a full series. The new series brought a greatly expanded set portraying the Sprites' home of Grotto's Grove, as well as new characters. Three new Sprites were added, Water Sprite Lily, Earth Sprite Root and a wise old Sprite named Sage, puppeteered and voiced by Tartaglia. Additionally, a character named Gwen, portrayed by Natalie Venetia Belcon, was brought on as a friend for Johnny who paid semi-regular visits. The second season of the full series saw a further expansion to the set, as well as a seminal change to the program when Gwen was allowed to finally meet the Sprites for the first time and both she and Johnny gained the ability to visit Grotto's Grove. The presumed final episode of the series was aired on April 19, 2008 and the program disappeared from U.S. airwaves, though both a music album and DVD were released. Repeats of the program began airing on the 24/7 Disney Junior network in 2012. Tartaglia has since moved on to other projects, such as the musicals of ''Theatre/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and ''{{Shrek}}''.

* ReTool: The second season of the full series featured something of a retool, with the following upgrades: Gwen met the Sprites and became one of their friends (it had always felt a bit odd that they had to hide from her when she was Johnny's friend anyway), the Sprites could pop from place to place in a manner similar to the apparition of ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', and Sage became more active & smart, and stopped [[MyNameIsNotDurwood referring to the other Sprites by incorrect names.]]

''Johnny and the Sprites'' (2007-2008) features the adventures of an ordinary guy (John Tartaglia of ''AvenueQ'' fame) who moved to a house in the woods to work on his music on his own. Much to his surprise, he discovered that these woods were inhabited by Sprites, friendly fairy-like creatures who possess magic, but are largely unfamiliar with the ways of the human world. Normally shy creatures, two of them, a boy named Basil and a girl named Ginger, take a shining to Johnny and they become fast friends, with Johnny teaching them many new things and sharing his music in the process.

* AvenueQ: In addition to John Tartaglia, a number of the original cast from the play turned up as guest stars on the program. Ann Harada turned up as a real estate developer who wanted to raze Grotto's Grove to make way for a luxury hotel. Jennifer Barnhart was also a regular puppeteer on the program. As mentioned above Natalie Venetia Belcon played Johnny's friend Gwen.