Freddy (weather)

Freddy moaning "Ooooh" because he cannot take a photo of birds on a stormy day
3D Freddy starting March 31, 2009

Freddy (Chinese: 天氣先生, Mr. Weather) is a Hong Kong animated weatherman on TVB's weather forecasts, for both its English (TVB Pearl) and Chinese (TVB Jade, High Definition Jade and iNews) channels. The animated series covers 20 different weather conditions, complete with sound effects.

Other markets

Freddy (also known as "Freddy Forecast" or "Freddy the Forecaster") has been shown in 19 U.S. TV & cable markets, such as KNOE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana; KTVO TV in Kirksville, Missouri; WJBF in Augusta, Georgia and many other stations. The series also ran in Perth, Australia for many years.

In Shenzhen, Shenzhen TV news program Noon 30 minutes (正午30分) also uses Freddy and the background is Shenzhen famous building. Guangdong TV Zhujiang Channel and Guangzhou TV uses cow Freddy, the background is garden and cottage, and these stations' Freddy sponsored by Yantang Milk (燕塘牛奶).

Appearance

Freddy wears a yellow suit and has a pink face; his design has not changed over the years except in 1993 when he became computer animated.

Freddy may have changed little over the years, but the skyline behind him 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, in keeping with the HDTV trend, Freddy was upgraded to his third incarnation.

Freddy and the weather

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

At the same time, there are various sound effects including falling rain, thunder, blowing wind, footsteps, and Freddy's whistling and reactive cries such as "oooh", "aaah" and "awww".

Dispute

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.

References

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