Muppet ages on Sesame Street

[mupcollector1]

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/When_I_Grow_Up_(Sesame_Street_Live)
I was just reading this on Muppet Wiki, this Sesame Street Live show where the plot is the characters trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. What I find weird about this is well aren't Ernie, Bert, The Count, Oscar and Cookie Monster adults? Grover is hard to tell.
There's a sketch of his mother is putting him to bed then there's the resistant sketches with Mr. Johnson so Grover clearly has a job (probably to get his Super Grover cape dried clean, who knows lol). The other main characters are kid ages like Big Bird is 6, Elmo is 3, and I've heard Abby is like 2 or something like that. I don't know. Telly I'm guessing developed more into a character who's about 6 years old or a little older and Zoe is about the same as Elmo. The idea of characters who are adult Muppets saying "when I grow up" and not "what would I like to be someday", it's a little awkward. Sure Ernie has a toy chest but I always felt Ernie was a free spirit and most of that stuff was full of mix disguise kits and practicle jokes.

So are there times when characters change ages depending on the situation or plot?

 

[D'Snowth]

Big Bird is 6 (used to be 4 1/2)
Zoe is 3
Elmo is 3 1/2
Grover and Snuffy are 4
Telly and Baby Bear are supposedly 5 (Stephanie D'Abruzzo said Lulu was 4 1/2, and that Telly and Baby Bear were older than her)
Prairie Dawn is 7
Oscar is 46 or something like that, I believe.
Count is 1,832,652

The Muppets' ages, in general, are always hard to determined, because they're technically ageless, but depending on who the character is, they may be written to represent a specific age or age bracket.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Can't tell his age, but Kermit is an old soul.

Way back when, Roosevelt Franklin sang "I used to be 1, now I'm going on 2!"
For a 2-year-old, he's got his act together, baby!

 

[D'Snowth]

Kermit's age is especially hard to determine since his birthday is Leap Year Day.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Grover and Snuffy are 4

Grover's one of those nebulous characters. Sometimes he can be a little kid who needs his Mommie but then other times he has a job as a waiter, lol.

they may be written to represent a specific age or age bracket.

Frankly I don't agree with the logic that characters on a kid's show needs to be the same age as the audience. Many of the shows I watched as a kid were all adult characters. It's the same mistake Phantom Menance made, assuming children would like Star Wars if there was a kid in the lead role (see how great that turned out!).

Kids need characters they can look up to, not just ones they can identify with.

 

[D'Snowth]

Officially, Grover's age is 4.

But I didn't mean to say that certain characters are given ages so kids watching can identify with them (though, that does play a factor), I mean that certain characters are given ages to REPRESENT a certain age bracket... in this case, characters like Elmo and Zoe are given ages like 3, 3 1/2, and such, to represent younger kids who still have a lot to learn, yet are very playful and imaginative, whereas certain characters like Big Bird are given ages like 6 to represent older kids who are just a little wiser and therefore are the kind of kids that the youngens might like to hang out with and look up to. You know, it's kind of like when characters are written in ways that represent a certain kind of people, like take Rob from Get Fuzzy, for example: it's clear he's written to represent the everyman (mediocre job, unsuccessful at romance, having to put up with the craziness of others around him, etc), not necessarily for people to identify with, just to represent those kinds of people.

 

[mupcollector1]

Frankly I don't agree with the logic that characters on a kid's show needs to be the same age as the audience. Many of the shows I watched as a kid were all adult characters. It's the same mistake Phantom Menance made, assuming children would like Star Wars if there was a kid in the lead role (see how great that turned out!).

Kids need characters they can look up to, not just ones they can identify with.

Totally agree, I grew up with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and there's so many great shows and lovable characters which I can still enjoy as an adult. There's something for everyone there but something about mainstream entertainment business has changed dramatically but I won't get too much into that.

I've read the Nickelodeon pitch Submission guidelines once either for pitching to the network or their Nicktoons Film Festival they used to have when they looked for new talent. They want either kid characters or characters who are kid at heart. Though personally I'd pick the kid at heart characters because it's so inspiring to look up too and even for adults. I can certainly say that I'm a strong supporter of adults to have that inner child within them. Even going onto 25, I still feel like a kid. But just seeing adults older then me in a coffee shop or just grocery shoping and it's so sad rarely seeing a friendly face. I've used wifi in a fast food donut like shop and there's adults who to me seem so boring, not full of energy, complaining about politics and their lives, it's depressing to see that. I'm always in my mind "UGH! I don't want to be like that!". And I'd love to see some shows that inspire adults to have an inner child no matter what anyone says and that's sort of what I do in my art work personally. It's like what Jim said from time to time on how Television is such an influence in our culture and networks need to be more careful on what they are putting out there. Totally agree.

But back to adult characters in kids shows. I was watching some Doug episodes on my DVR and just remembering just how likable Mr. Dink was. Doug's next door neighbor who's nothing but nice to Doug and is like a second father to him. He's always there with some gadget or electronic that would help even his smallest problem. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. But it's like characters like that and even on Sesame Street the nice adult characters like Bob, Maria, Luis. As an adult, there's times where I just wish that every neighborhood was like Sesame Street. Where adults are so friendly to each other. I just don't get why that's so rare. I know that there's nice people and people who are child at heart in real life but I wish there was more people like that and I feel media can be a strong influence for good. It's kind of like what Jim said in the 80s, television can be an influence for good.

 

[mupcollector1]

But I guess my concern on it is technically Ernie and Bert in this case. Ernie is that kind of character who's a child at heart adult and Bert is the kind of boring adult who's always telling Ernie to knock it off. But there's times where Ernie pesters Bert into a song or game and as soon as Bert gets into it, Ernie gets bored and abandons the whole thing all together. "ERNIE, YOUR ALWAYS DOING THIS TO ME!" lol I think that was a line from Follow That Bird.

But anyway, isn't the idea of Ernie & Bert saying if I grow up, I'm... But they are grown up. There's this rare Ernie and Bert spot on Sesame where the footage can't be found by fans but there's a scene where Ernie and Bert argue over a cookie and Ernie says I'm going to move out and become a cowboy. I think that's more mature way to right it. There's an 80s song where Bert sings "I wish someone could come an play with me). Adult can play and be playful of course, again I support that sort of thing. But it's so out of Bert's character. Perhaps "I wish someone could come and Visit me" or "Be with me" something like that.

I get the point is to reach out to children to understand but Sesame Street unlike most kids shows always had a way for characters to talk to the audience regardless of age which I always found really special. Kermit can be lecturing something and not be patronizing in anyway. It's like teaching an adult who doesn't know the subject matter. And I've always found that very special with Sesame. But just to put it nicely, I found this and thought that it was slightly awkward.

 

[fuzzygobo]

I know how you feel about being around other adults who act so... OLD!!! Unfortunately it happens to a lot of us-you grow up, get married, have kids, and the pressures of raising a family and dealing with the way the world is today can take its toll on people. There are people I know younger than you who have turned into "Old Farts" already, and that's too bad.

If you hold on to that childlike innocence and sense of wonder that Sesame Street has promoted in spades, you'll never have to worry about growing old.

You're going on 25? I'll be 45 in April, and I still don't feel a day over 18. I've been married 12 years and carry a lot of adult responsibilities, but I'm still a kid at heart, too.
Growing up with Sesame Street had a lot to do with that.

If someone my age can say that, there's hope for the rest of you, too.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Totally agree, I grew up with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and there's so many great shows and lovable characters which I can still enjoy as an adult. There's something for everyone there but something about mainstream entertainment business has changed dramatically but I won't get too much into that.

I think it is partially this trend toward adults thinking they need to "protect" children from being "confused." They think it's about making kids happy but it's really pandering and insulting to them. Then they complain when their kids have no interest in anything outside their own little bubble. They shake their heads and say "Oh kids today just don't respect quality art." I'm sorry, if that's true it's because you did not instill that respect when you had the chance, lol. I have zero sympathy for parents like that.

adults who to me seem so boring, not full of energy, complaining about politics and their lives, it's depressing to see that. I'm always in my mind "UGH! I don't want to be like that!"

Well there's just naturally more stress, most emotionally and physically, as you get older. Like you want to be able to eat what you want but your doctor tells you not to and that makes you depressed. But then eating what you want also makes you depressed because you feel all bloated afterward, lol.