Pop and Tiny Pop

[IdentFan101]

I originally did this one TV Forum which you can find here (https://tvforum.uk/tvhome/pop-presentati...mmes-41061) but this time I wanted to only discuss the presentation and programmes from the channel's earlier years (2003 onwards) and Tiny Pop as well (2004 onwards).

Here is some footage for nostalgia:

Pop (from 2nd January 2004):
https://youtu.be/dMaU8E0TypI

Tiny Pop (from 25th December 2005):
https://youtu.be/4cDLq-hZgLo

Here is some Tiny Pop idents from 2004 to 2007:
https://youtu.be/qh_CaM_mvlY

[Blubatt]

The early days were certainly interesting. Tricky being brought out of mothballs, renamed Rory, along with his undiagnosed Foreign Accent Syndrome certainly made Pop stand out, though not for the best reasons. When I was younger, I hated Pop. I thought it was very cheap, and the programming was really naff, mostly because it was a lot of repeats of older stuff back then. Pop nowadays seems to have shaken that image off, and is a lot better than I used to give it credit for. Pop Max (Kix, and I will always call it Kix) started getting good when they bought the rights to show Batman of the Future (the edgy, in a good way, sequel to the WB Animation classic BTAS). But those early days were...not good.

[Rory]

You might be interested in this old forum thread from when the channel launched in 2003, then as Toons and Tunes: https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion...g-today/p1

[VMPhil]

I'm not sure this thread has much longevity, but I do have a little knowledge of this channel, as for various reasons it was one of the only channels we could watch through the Sky digibox while on holiday in Spain in the mid-to-late 2000s. I think various channels had moved satellites and the dish was never readjusted, so we only had this channel and Channel 5 (presumably there were some others that were still available, but I don't remember).

When it launched as Toons 'n' Tunes (which had no logo) it mostly played quite cheesy, out-of-date music videos like S Club, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Fast Food Rockers etc. The song title graphic used a really horrible font and overlaid the video entirely.

As you can imagine, we didn't tend to watch much TV while on holiday there…

[Kunst]

This channel has much potential, being one of the few commercial operations catering children in the UK, but like something like Discovery's k2 and Frisbee here in Italy, they're obsessed by repeats..

[IdentFan101]

You might be interested in this old forum thread from when the channel launched in 2003, then as Toons and Tunes: https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion...g-today/p1

I did read that before I think that what inspired me to do this post.

[ToasterMan]

I loved Tiny Top as a kid, I remember the music videos they used to play on the weekends (The Smurfs song "I've Got a Little Puppy" and "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul come to mind) and, before Sony owned the channel, they released a spin-off CD and DVD release under their music division called Play Time, which I got from Woolies back in August 2005.


Timothy Goes to School was the show I remember most, since they repeated the 26 episodes constantly until 2018 or something, though that was because it was based on a Rosemary Walls book series, like Max and Ruby on Nick. Jr, which I loved as well.

Pop I don't remember as fondly, the main selling points for me were the Mario and Sonic DiC cartoons, (back before they gained their infamous meme reputation), and Dennis the Menace (USA), though I remember KiX, (not to be confused with an American breakfast cereal), airing the edited TV versions of Dragon Ball Z Kai back in early 2013.

[JAS84]

Sony didn't take over Pop's owner CSC until 2014, and thus didn't own Tiny Pop when Play Time was released. If the record was by Sony, that's just a coincidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSC_Media_Group

[James2001]

as Sony owned the channel,

Sony didn't own the channel back then. Or until quite recently.

I'm old enough to remember the Sonic and Mario cartoons when they were on Channel 4... Though they didn't show the Sonic Says segments which were what made the memes to begin with.

[RegularCapital]

Pop has come a long way since launched (I also remember when it was called Toons and Tunes when it launched), the channel(s) have significantly improved over time presentation wise and Sony has been factor in that. The channel gets criticism for airing cheap kids shows that no-one wants or the other channels have passed up (sometimes it pays off for them, Boomerang passed on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Tiny Pop picked up the rights, Disney Channel no longer exists and now Pop is the only place on linear TV where you can watch Miraculous), the channel costs nothing to receive so I can't really see the problem. The fact that the channel(s) were FTA from the beginning has been a strategy that has worked well for them, eventually gaining slots on Freeview and now we're at a time when pay-TV is declining.

The logo for Toons 'n Tunes: https://web.archive.org/web/200308110853...v/t11.html
Satellite Record: https://web.archive.org/web/200306011453...kyuk.shtml

Toons 'n Tunes was renamed as POP on 26th June 2003, just a little under a month after launch.

Pop's current branding and presentation is actually pretty nice, Superestudio, the design agency that developed the rebrand actually has a lot of info about it on their website: https://www.superestudio.tv/case-studies/pop/

[ToasterMan]

I remember when Pop had it's first rebrand in late 2006, the original soundtrack for the ident had to be changed because it sounded too similar to "Yakety Sax" from The Benny Hill Show:
https://youtu.be/1hbvKJXuQYc

[IdentFan101]

I loved Tiny Top as a kid, I remember the music videos they used to play on the weekends (The Smurfs song "I've Got a Little Puppy" and "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul come to mind) and, before Sony owned the channel, they released a spin-off CD and DVD release under their music division called Play Time, which I got from Woolies back in August 2005.


Timothy Goes to School was the show I remember most, since they repeated the 26 episodes constantly until 2018 or something, though that was because it was based on a Rosemary Walls book series, like Max and Ruby on Nick. Jr, which I loved as well.

POP I don't remember as fondly, the main selling point for me was the Mario and Sonic DiC cartoons, back before they gained their infamous meme reputation, but I remember KiX, (not to be confused with an American breakfast cereal), airing the edited TV versions of Dragon Ball Z Kai back in early 2013.

I remember Tiny Pop a bit more than Pop like you. The shows I watched the most were Timothy Goes to School, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Strawberry Shortcake (2003), The Berenstain Bears, Cosy Corner, Rainbow Fish, Madeline, My Little Pony 'n' Friends, Elliot Moose, Rupert, Babar, Franklin and Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse.

The only show I watched on Pop were Snorks, the Mario and Sonic cartoons, Old Tom, Super Duper Sumos and the USA version of Dennis the Menace.

[IdentFan101]

I remember when Pop had it's first rebrand in late 2006, the original soundtrack for the ident had to be changed because it sounded too similar to "Yakety Sax" from The Benny Hill Show:
https://youtu.be/1hbvKJXuQYc

Which can be found here at 3:20 (apologies for the sound and picture qualities): https://youtu.be/EeTbk7rD9Xc

[ToasterMan]

I remember Tiny Pop a bit more than Pop like you. The shows I watched the most were Timothy Goes to School, Strawberry Shortcake (2003), The Berenstain Bears, Cosy Corner, Rainbow Fish, Madeline, My Little Pony 'n' Friends, Elliot Moose, Rupert, Babar, Franklin and Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse.

Yes I also remember Tractor Tom and Rupert, (both of which also aired on CITV at the time), Corduroy, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Babar, Elliot Moose, Marvin, Rainbow Fish, Franklin, The Berenstain Bears, Madeline, My Little Pony (1986) Cushion Kids, The Wheels on the Bus, P.B. Bear and Friends, (I have quite the fondness for pre-school shows, if you can tell).

Tiny Pop used to air a lot of the Nelvana shows from the 90's and early 2000's, Canadian pre-school shows I feel have a similar charm to our output.

[IdentFan101]

I remember Tiny Pop a bit more than Pop like you. The shows I watched the most were Timothy Goes to School, Strawberry Shortcake (2003), The Berenstain Bears, Cosy Corner, Rainbow Fish, Madeline, My Little Pony 'n' Friends, Elliot Moose, Rupert, Babar, Franklin and Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse.

Yes I also remember Tractor Tom and Rupert, (both of which also aired on CITV at the time), Corduroy, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, Babar, Elliot Moose, Marvin, Rainbow Fish, Franklin, The Berenstain Bears, Madeline, My Little Pony (1986) Cushion Kids, The Wheels on the Bus, P.B. Bear and Friends, (I have quite the fondness for pre-school shows, if you can tell).

Tiny Pop used to air a lot of the Nelvana shows from the 90's and early 2000's, Canadian pre-school shows I feel have a similar charm to our output.

I remember Cushion Kids. The music videos I remember were the 4 Smurfs videos, Can We Fix It? and Mambo No. 5 by Bob the Builder, Teletubbies Say "Eh-Oh!" by Teletubbies and Spirit in the Sky by Gareth Gates feat. The Kumars.