Freddy (weather)

Freddy, officially Freddy Forecaster, is an animated weatherman shown in TV weather reports. Freddy depicts twenty different weather conditions, complete with sound effects, and appears on various networks such as the TVB channel in Hong Kong. Freddy was created by Fairman Productions in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which syndicates the program.

Appearance

Freddy wears a yellow suit and has a pink face; his design has not generally changed over the years.

Freddy and the weather

Freddy's actions gives a short forecast of the day's weather:

For sunny conditions, a flower sprouts, he picks it and walks.
For rain, a rain cloud drifts in and he opens his umbrella.
For heavy rain, the rain fills the screen.
For lightning, he gets struck by lightning and runs away.
For strong winds, he is blown away.
For fog, he holds up a lantern for light.
For extreme heat, he melts.
For cold, he turns to ice.

The animations feature various sound effects, such as falling rain, thunder, blowing wind, footsteps, and Freddy's whistling and reactive cries such as "oooh", "aaah" and "awww".

Other markets

Freddy has been shown in 19 television markets in the United States, such as KTVO TV in Kirksville, Missouri, WJBF in Augusta, Georgia and many other stations. The series also ran in Perth, Australia for many years. In 1982, a program director at KNOE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana said that Freddy was "the best thing we’ve ever done" for weather reports because it had successfully gotten more kids to watch, and that the station planned to "keep Freddy around until he’s a great-grandfather."
In Shenzhen, China, Shenzhen Television's news bulletin at noon uses a similar character and features Shenzhen's skyline in the background.

Hong Kong (TVB)

In Hong Kong, where Freddy is known as in Cantonese and Mandarin, the character is utilised on TVB's weather forecasts, for both its English and Chinese channels. In 1993, he became computer-animated.
The skyline behind him on TVB's broadcasts is regularly updated to keep abreast of the ever-changing skyline of Hong Kong. It appears as if he is walking on the water surface of Victoria Harbour. As of January 2008, Freddy was upgraded to his third incarnation.
During the 1980s weather reports, in case of fine weather Freddy would pick flowers, which was criticised as an example of destroying public property. After receiving complaints, TVB changed this in the 1990s to him walking and whistling merrily.