Should Ernie be recast?

[SSLFan]

First off, let me just say Steve has done a terrific job with Ernie, especially his performances in recent years. The thing is that we barely see any much of Ernie anymore on the show - and I'm not counting Greatest Adventures. Sure we've gotten some good stuff lately - a street story, a new song, and a new E&B skit, but aside from that Ernie's been pretty much a secondary character as of late. Even Bert has made more appearances.

Now, I know the reason for this is Steve's availability and we all know he's busy at Disney and performing Kermit. And with the Muppets sequel announced we know after filming there will be promotional appearances to follow, so thinking long-term we will barely see any new Ernie material for quite some time.

At this point it just seems like maybe they should recast Ernie with a totally different performer? Steve is barely around it seems - he didn't even record Ernie's voice for the newest Sesame Street Live show, and even Frank Oz - whom we all know is the busiest there is - made time for little things like that when he was with the Muppets. Heck, even him and Jim took at least a week out of the year to work on SS when they were at their busiest.

Again, this isn't a total diss to Steve as I've said before I think he's done a great job with Ernie, it's just that I feel the character shouldn't have to suffer because the perfomer isn't around as much to perform him.

Your thoughts?

 

[D'Snowth]

Ernie and Bert both are among those characters who have really taken a backseat to Elmo in recent years, so it's not really THAT big a deal that either of them have been seen as of late; not to mention, even back in the old days, there were a number of Bert-only scenes and inserts, so that's not anything new under the sun.

As far as Steve's availability is concerned, is Johnny T. not available right now? He had to fill in for Steve as Ernie for Season Two of PWMS... or, maybe Artie perhaps?

 

[Hubert]

I just don't know if there is a suitable full time recast for Ernie to have right now. Sure, as Snowth said, both John Tartaglia and Artie Esposito could do acceptable jobs, but I just don't know if they or anyone else would be ready to take on Ernie as his primary performer.

 

[Oscarfan]

They've made plenty of new bits; they're just aired internationally and not on the main show for no reason. Like the new one that debuted this season; they filmed at least two others on the same day, as they've aired on the new season of Sesamstrasse.

 

[Bridget]

I completely understand what you're trying to say here. I mean, sure it's us who sort of have a miss for Ernie's appearances. But with a new generation of children being born every single day, we have to think: Does it really matter to them? I mean, because Sesame Street is geared towards children, in my personal opinion, I don't necessary think that they miss the beloved character as we do. Because like I stated before, the newer generation hasn't really grown up with Ernie that much. So to them, he's basically one of the secondary characters. But older fans like us, we miss the character on Sesame Street because we are very use to him as our friend, you know. So yes, I mean if Steve had a little more time to perform Ernie on some occasions that would be really nice. But if not, and things change, hiring a new performer wouldn't be that much of a bad idea! And if that doesn't happen, then, well, I suppose it is what it is. I'd miss Ernie a whole lot though!

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Hmmmm. I don't know. I can sort of see both sides. It may be hard to accept a new performer as Ernie. After all, wouldn't that be the same as when Artie performed Kermit on America's Got Talent that time? None of us fans were too happy that Steve wasn't performing him. (No offense to Artie, because I know he shows up on this forum from time to time.) I can remember the rule "One Muppet. One Voice."

On the other hand, we do have to adjust to some cast changes anyway with the loss of Jerry and Kevin, so maybe recasting Ernie may not be a bad idea. I haven't seen enough of PWMS to comment much on John's Ernie, but I guess they could give him a try and I have heard Artie's Ernie voice on his demo reel so it may be interesting to see what he could do with actually performing Ernie.

I guess I'm going to have to think about that one.

 

[D'Snowth]

Y'know... what's the big deal anyway? Back in the day, Kevin was constantly commuting back-and-forth between NYC for SST, and LA for Dinosaurs... why can't Steve do the same?

 

[Oscarfan]

Maybe he doesn't want to.

 

[SSLFan]

Y'know... what's the big deal anyway? Back in the day, Kevin was constantly commuting back-and-forth between NYC for SST, and LA for Dinosaurs... why can't Steve do the same?

I've wondered that too. But I remembered these guys do have their own personal lives as well, and they have to make room for that. So maybe it's only certain months Steve works and ones where he takes vacation time? I don't know. However you're right, I mean even Eric makes time between performing Grover and Piggy. To me that's amazing how busy that guy stays.

 

[Oscarfan]

Well, Eric probably lives in NY somewhere. Steve's in, what, Georgia or something?