Freddy is an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

weatherman. The short animated series covers 20 different weather conditions, complete with sound effects. It is currently shown in Hong Kong on the

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and ...

television channel during the weather report. Freddy's purpose is to show the next day's predicted weather.

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

Other markets

Freddy (also known as "Freddy Forecast" or "Freddy the Forecaster") has been shown in 19 television markets in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, such as

KNOE-TV KNOE-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Monroe, Louisiana, United States, serving the Monroe, Louisiana– El Dorado, Arkansas market as an affiliate of CBS and ABC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power dual CW ...

Monroe, Louisiana Monroe (historically french: Poste-du-Ouachita) is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and parish seat of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolita ...

;

KTVO KTVO (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Kirksville, Missouri, United States, serving the Ottumwa, Iowa–Kirksville, Missouri market as an affiliate of ABC and CBS. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios ...

TV in

Kirksville, Missouri Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University. ...

;

WJBF WJBF (channel 6) is a television station in Augusta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located in Television Park, near the Augusta Mall in Augusta, and its transmitter is loca ...

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

and many other stations. The series also ran in Perth, Australia for many years. In

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, China,

Shenzhen Television Shenzhen Media Group () is a media company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. It owns twelve TV channels and four radio stations which broadcast Chinese music, report news and Chinese talk shows. Channels and stations Television ch ...

's news bulletin at noon uses a similar character and features Shenzhen's skyline in the background.

Hong Kong (TVB)

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, where Freddy is known as () in Cantonese and Mandarin, the character is utilised on TVB's

weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th centu ...

s, for both its English (

TVB Pearl TVB Pearl is a terrestrial television channel in Hong Kong owned by Television Broadcasts Limited. Established on 19 November 1967, it shares headquarters with TVB's other properties at TVB City at 77 Chun Choi Street in Tseung Kwan O Industr ...

) and Chinese (

TVB Jade TVB Jade (), or simply Jade, is a Hong Kong Cantonese-language free-to-air television channel owned and operated by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) as its flagship service, alongside its sister network, the English-language TVB Pearl. Bro ...

) channels. In 1993, he became

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...

. The

skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City 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 Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental i ...

. 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.

References

* ''Toon Town: the city's homegrown comics'', ''

HK Magazine ''HK Magazine'' was a free English-language alternative weekly published by HK Magazine Media Group in Hong Kong. Launched in 1991, it offered coverage of local affairs, social issues as well as entertainment listings. The 1000th issue was publish ...

'' No. 585. Retrieved 29 July 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Freddy (Weather) TVB Television mascots Cartoon mascots Male characters in television Fictional Hong Kong people