Sesame Street Season 47 Episode 4702 - The Kindness Kid

[Phillip]

Sesame Street's 47th season officially begins this Saturday on HBO with an all-new episode beginning at 9 am eastern. New episodes will continue to air on Saturday mornings through Saturday September 2. The Season 47 episodes are scheduled to air on PBS stations across the country beginning after the season concludes on HBO. Sesame Street episodes will also be available on-line via HBOGo (requires cable or satellite) or HBONow (requires a monthly subscription). A free 30-day trial of HBONow is also available.

Even though the HBO deal was made before Season 46 debuted, the Season 47 episodes are the first ones to be taped after the HBO deal was agreed upon. Meaning the financial benefits of the HBO deal are being seen in these episodes for the first time.

Season 47 features:

• New "Letter of the Day" and "Number of the Day" songs
  
  
• Twenty-five, five-minute all-new Elmo's World segments with the return of Bill Irwin as Mr. Noodle
  
  
• A new "Kindness Cam" segment with kids responding to the show
  
  
• New celebrity songs and sketches with James Corden, Jason Derulo, Tori Kelly, Anthony Mackie, Sia, Little Big Town and Zachary Levi

After you see the new episodes, post here and let us know your thoughts.

If you've seen Sesame Street Season 47, please like this post.

 

[Phillip]

Episode 4702 - The Kindness Kid
HBO Premiere: Saturday January 7, 2017
PBS Premiere: Tuesday September 19, 2017

The Kindness Kid (Zachary Levi) visits Sesame Street to spread kindness and Grover wants to be a Kindness Kid too, but every time he tries to do something kind, he fails. Chris helps Grover realize that just trying to help someone is actually being kind. Guest: Tori Kelly.

This episode features an all-new street story, Smart Cookies ("The Snickerdoodle") and a new Elmo's World ("Kindness").

If you saw "The Kindness Kid" please like this post and share your thoughts below.

 

[D'Snowth]

Curiously, my cable listing says this is 4701, even though the opening clearly says this is, indeed 4702.

I liked that the street story used Grover as a major focus, in one of his best forms: just wanting to be helpful for others, even if he doesn't do too good a job at it - that's classic Grover. Maybe it's me, but I kept getting a Jim Parsons-esque vibe from Kindness Kid, but his catchphrase, "it's nice to be kind," reminded me of cheesy line from Frank Burns on M*A*S*H: "it's nice to be nice to the nice!" Abby's garden looks like it's slowly encroaching on Big Bird's nest area - I kind of thought the crumbling and dilapidated look of the side wall of 123 was just for the Christmas special, but I guess it's a permanent set change. The chain of reactions in Hooper's was very much in the spirit of old silent comedies where wild, physical humor ran rampant - complete with a pie in the face. At least Grover learned a lesson that trying and meaning well can be just as nice and the kind acts you achieve.

Is Elmo's little post-script going to be a new regular season feature now? I mean if so, not really sure how fitting it is if we're also getting a tag at the end of the show.

As for the new Letter and Number of the Day segments, while I like this season's songs better than last seasons, I feel like the Number of the Day wasn't as well executed as last season: at least last season, Count would stomp out the number of the day; this season, however, Cookie pulls a tray of cookies out of the oven and that's it. I feel like it would be more beneficial to kids to count the individual cookies to find out what the number of the day is. But that's just me.

The first thing I want to point out about the new EW is how it proves my point about the layout of Elmo's apartment making no sense: panning into the apartment from outside, the left side bedroom door leading out to the hallway would actually lead out over the arbor. That being said, the new EW feels less Sesame in vibe, and more like something you'd see from Dora, or another preschool show. I think perhaps the only thing I enjoyed was seeing the Noodles in surroundings filled with detail for a change, but other than that, I felt like the new EW is almost pointless filler, since it spends only just a short amount of time on an educational subject, and goes through it so quickly that it doesn't really invest in it or drive it home. Maybe I'd have to see more to influence my opinion, but until then, I'm not too impressed.

Including a tag with Chris and Grover finishing their cleanup is a nice touch and throwback to older seasons, so I hope this will be a more regular feature.

It should also be noted for those freaking out that the older castmembers are, indeed, listed in the credits this season. Considering Season 47 was already in the works when the announcement was made, I feel like it won't be till Season 48 that we actually see they're no longer on the street.

 

[antsamthompson9]

This episode's street story was pretty good. This is the best Nina has looked so far. Grover was at his best, trying to be helpful but failing. Also it seems like Matt finally learned how to do Big Bird's snoring. Apparently, the cold opens are done by two characters now, which is an improvement from last season. The bit with Elmo after the street story reinforcing the lesson is a good way for kids to pick up on what the moral of the story is. The new Letter and Number of the Day songs are catchier than the previous ones. Try a Little Kindness was a good song. The new Elmo's World is easier to watch than the previous version. I liked Smartie's puns: Old Phones Home and I get a charge out of it. The Happy Dance is much more catchy than the topic song from the original Elmo's World. Closing out the street stories at the end is a nice touch.

 

[Oscarfan]

The street story was very good and funny, helped mainly by the fact it starred Grover. It flowed nice and didn't feel rushed, even though the individual bits were short. And I love that they go back to the street at the end; last season's eps. lacked closure completely.

Not sure how I feel about the "Kindess Cam" thing, but it's short, so whatever.

The new letter/number songs are fine, I guess. Whereas the last ones I really couldn't decide which one I liked more, Cookie's is easily the clear-winner.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

This episode's street story was pretty good. This is the best Nina has looked so far. Grover was at his best, trying to be helpful but failing. Also it seems like Matt finally learned how to do Big Bird's snoring. Apparently, the cold opens are done by two characters now, which is an improvement from last season. The bit with Elmo after the street story reinforcing the lesson is a good way for kids to pick up on what the moral of the story is. The new Letter and Number of the Day songs are catchier than the previous ones. Try a Little Kindness was a good song. The new Elmo's World is easier to watch than the previous version. I liked Smartie's puns: Old Phones Home and I get a charge out of it. The Happy Dance is much more catchy than the topic song from the original Elmo's World. Closing out the street stories at the end is a nice touch.

So Caroll isn't doing Big Bird anymore?

 

[antsamthompson9]

So Caroll isn't doing Big Bird anymore?

He only does the voice. The reason I pointed Matt out was because in the bit with Tracee Ellis Ross, Caroll did Big Bird's voice and Matt did the snoring and it didn't sound like the way BB always snores. But here it sounded pretty good.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

He only does the voice. The reason I pointed Matt out was because in the bit with Tracee Ellis Ross, Caroll did Big Bird's voice and Matt did the snoring and it didn't sound like the way BB always snores. But here it sounded pretty good.

Oh. I see. Thank you.

 

[OscarandTelly]

I really do like the fact they're having a wrap up at the end of each episode. If we can't have the sponsors announced at the end this is the next best thing as far as I'm concerned.

 

[D'Snowth]

I still feel like it'd work better if we had just one or the other, rather than both an Elmo post-script and a closing tag - it just seems having both is a tad redundant.