1985 seemed to be Sesame Street's peak

[minor muppetz]

Big Bird's line about "I feel like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend" was perfect.

What was that supposed to mean? Was he saying that if the adults saw Snuffy, then Snuffy was replaced?

 

[CensoredAlso]

Personally, I think that all this time, Snuffy had been his special best friend. Something only he knew about. It was the way his life had always been and it wasn't all bad, despite not being believed. But now that part of his life was ending. It would never be the way it was before. Also he'd have to share Snuffy with the others now. And even though he was happy to finally be believed, it's always hard to say goodbye to familiar things we've known.

 

[PinballStewie]

The '80s were cool too for SS!!

Well, I grew up with the show in the late 80's/early 90's. I gotta say, though, that 1992 is probably when SS REALLY went downhill for me. The '70s skits, of course, were great, but there was some AWESOME stuff in the '80s like the rock music parodies and the Sally Cruikshank skits (most notably "Above It All", and my personal fave of hers, "Beginning, Middle, and End") I also was quite fascinated with some of the late '80s counting skits like the African mask numbers, creature numbers, and the ones where they rapped, and in retrospect, I now appreciate the bellhop skits and the rubber stamp numbers more than I used to. Perhaps I was fascinated by these because of the art and the music (still am) because they didn't seem to serve any other purpose aside from the ones I just mentioned (and counting ) The bellhop ones are a bit better than the other counting series's from the late '80s to me now since they involve more comedy and "suspense".

1992, though, is when things went down (for me). First off, there may have been "kid" Muppets like Telly before that, but he was kewl with me since he at least had a more engaging personality than, say, Rosita, Baby Bear, Zoe, and (later on down the line) Elmo. Elmo got annoying for me once other "kid" Muppets with bland personalities were added, but he wasn't too bad back when he was the only Muppet with "PKS" (permanent kid syndrome).

Also, the interstitials got lamer. As far as those go, they went downhill once things like the twirling letters, letters made with scissors and tools, and the ones where kids would finger-paint certain numbers (like 17 and 19). When were those (respectively) made? The "quirky" (TRULY quirky) skits, were few and far between at this point though they did exist The ones that come to mind in this category would be the one about the ducklings and the number 14 and "16 Blues". I'm guessing these were made somewhere between 1989 and '91 though I'm not completely sure. When were those made? (And were they made by the same animator? They look similar.)

Well, folks, that's my analysis of the rise and fall of Sesame Street. TTYL!

 

[SSLFan]

I'm not sure if anyone else will agree, but it seems like 1985 was the first year when Sesame Street went through its first period where the show started to loose its magic. Now I was only 4 years old in 1985 and it is almost as far back as I can remember watching the show, but looking back at all the episodes and seasons, I'm sure for a lot of people who grew up with the show in the 70's would agree that the show started to loose its edge in 85 just a little bit, and it only went downhill from there. I'll give some examples

Snuffy is finally seen by all the Sesame Street humans and is no longer known as Big Bird's imaginary friend. Therefore the magic of the Big Bird Snuffy relationship dies down a little bit, because they no longer have that sacred friendship, and Snuffy is seen having special moments with other people. Besides Big Bird. Since Snuffy looses his status as the "imaginary friend" he is just another Large Muppet on Sesame Street.

Northen Calloway (David) starts to pack on some pounds and shaves off his sideburns. This gives David a whole different image, and seems to change his charachter a bit too. He's no longer that young, slim, energetic kid we once knew who worked in Mr. Hooper's Store. He's now more serious, and to the point. Also it's at this point when his health starts declining, and there is a noticable change in his voice, due to the fact Northen had cancer.

David and Maria's relationship starts to die down slowly, while Maria's friendship with Luis slowly turns to love, a few years later. While Maria and David are still occasionally seen holding hands or standing real close to each other during songs, there was some courtship with Maria and Luis starting as early as this 17th Season, in an episode where they have their first date and go to the movies, and Slimey follows them there. It wasn't until 2 years later when it became relevant, and everyone on SS knew they were officially in LOVE.

Elmo is officially introduced this season. He was seen occasionally the year before (voiced by Richard Hunt) But now he has the personality that's here to stay and is an official part of the SS family, and 22 years later, I do mean official. LOL Slowly the charachter would gain more and more popularity and by the early 90's many storylines focused on him, by the mid 90's the majority of storylines would focus on him, and the late 90's........ Youv'e got it, Elmo's World.

Olivia's role on the show becomes "Recycled" when the actress Alaina Reed leaves the show to star on 227. She is still in the Friday closing credits as a regular cast member, but most of the stuff you see with her is old rerun clips that are inserted into current episodes. Either that or rerun episodes from 2 years ago with an advanced number.

So in a way, you could say 85 was the first watering down of Sesame Street. And probably the first time classic fans started to loose interest.

Dude, if you think 85' was the cut off period for the show, you must be . Well, excuse me for that but, it seems 85' were still considered "Classic" years for the show. My genaration (the 90's) always seem to be Sesame Street's peak ( I really hate when people that ) . But anyways, if you think the cut off was in the 80's, then there really is reason to watch the show. In my oppion, it seems the 80's were good, they did do alot of traveling episodes from what I hear.

 

[Crazy31088]

I'm a child of the late 80's and 90's shows, but I do believe that the best shows were made from 1985-89.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I can agree with you from the stand point that those were the last years that Jim and Joe contributed to the show before their passing. Other then that it's up for debut for me.

 

[jeffkjoe]

I'll go a step further.

I think once the show hit the 80's is when it hit its peak.

The minute they introduced Telly Monster, it all went downhilll.

 

[SSLFan]

What's wrong with Telly? Just asking.