TV Alert: "Count Tribute" Sesame Street episode in honor of Jerry Nelson airs October 31, 2013

[minor muppetz]

I had watched the segment online and sort-of spoiled some stuff in the regular season 44 talkback thread (I didn't think it was "spoilers" because the segment was online), but there is a number of things I want to mention that I didn't mention there.

I also had wondered if Telly being called "Ed Count" was a reference to this forums Count. Between that and the fact that Jerry did pre-record The Count's voice here, I'd like to see some official behind-the-scenes content for the episode. Normally Jerry Nelson performed the voice live on set as opposed to pre-recording.

Does anybody else feel like Guy Smiley should have presented the award instead of those one-shot characters?

At first I was thinking that Big Bird was the only current main character in this, but then I realized that Snuffy wasn't included, either. Of course Telly was so heavily used in this, and Martin Robinson once said on his blog that they never have another performer stand-in for Snuffy because they (and I can't remember if this is Marty's decision or Sesame Workshop's) don't want to put the physical strain on another performer.

Since this was kind of a Jerry Nelson tribute disguised as a Count tribute, I was hoping we'd see more of Jerry's characters appear, even if they weren't in attendance at the ceremony. I was expecting Herry to be there (or maybe I heard a rumor that he'd be in this), and maybe The Amazing Mumford. It would have been great if we'd seen Biff set up the awards podium, or maybe Sherlock Hemlock and Simon Soundman walk by. So after being disappointed that we didn't see any characters Jerry originated beyond The Count and Two-Headed Monster, I was happy to see that Vine video with his characters.

Alan saying he'll do a Gladys the Cow impression was funny, but I feel they should have had him mention a Jerry Nelson character. Maybe Fred the Wonder Horse or Sam the Robot, even if the kids don't know who they are (does the average kid know who Gladys the Cow is, even though she still appears from time to time?).

I feel like this episode should have been like those season 37 episodes that were like the old format and lacked Elmo's World. Maybe remove all longform segments except for Elmo the Musical and include some existing Jerry Nelson segments, and split the show into multiple segments.

 

[The Count]

Aside from the pre-recorded video with Jerry voicing , the only other segment that might have included also pre-recorded Jerry material was Homelamb. I say that with a word of caution, because the Big Bad Wolf was only heard sparingly and the lambs' voices were a bit thick, but I identified Leslie as Agent Carrie and Joey as another of the sheep, and I kind of thought to have heard Jerry somewhere in there.

Everything else was non-Jerry Nelson fodder.
OK Go's song "Primary Colors".
Cookie's Crummy Pictures: Les Mousserables.
Elmo the Musical: Repair Monster the Musical.
Bubba's S-Emporium, which I liked.
Murray's S Alphabet Rap, 18 apples, and Ovejita the Mysterious's manzana trick inserts.
Abby's Flying Fairy School: Cubby Creature.
WOTD: Hank Azaria as an impostor of and and even with Elmo himself.
Man putting together an 18-puzzle and 18 flowers in the garden.

That's all, hope this helps.

 

[minor muppetz]

I figured that there would be 18 pickles when they said the time limit was 18 seconds. And I managed to count all the pickles in time during the first counting sequence.

If The Count really was there to do the challenge, I wonder if he would have counted the pickles or the 18 seconds (and hey, he'd get the right number either way!).

With that thunder and lightning app The Count apparently had, it's a shame they didn't think to use their phones for the thunder and lightning. It's also too bad they didn't think to have The Count do video chat over the phone (assuming The Count had that feature on his phone and one of the others did as well). It's also too bad that they didn't think to ask Abby if she knew of any ways to teleport The Count there.

The description had been on Muppet Wiki for quite some time, including the ending, but even then I figured that maybe after The Count showed up and decided winning an award wasn't so important that they'd come back and see The Count and give him another chance to do the task. I also figured maybe they'd do a big closing song.

And I wasn't expecting The Count to arrive via his bats.

 

[Drtooth]

Considering they aired it on this episode, there's no doubt that the Mr. Johnson statue in Repair Monster the Musical was a tribute to Jerry. I wonder if that giant statue of Snuffy getting stuck in the Arc de Triumph in Les Mouserables was one too, considering that while Jerry originated the character, he's better known as a Marty character.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Aside from the pre-recorded video with Jerry voicing , the only other segment that might have included also pre-recorded Jerry material was Homelamb. I say that with a word of caution, because the Big Bad Wolf was only heard sparingly and the lambs' voices were a bit thick, but I identified Leslie as Agent Carrie and Joey as another of the sheep, and I kind of thought to have heard Jerry somewhere in there.

Yeah. That's what I mentioned before, but I don't see my old post up there. Either it got deleted for some reason or maybe I just forgot to click 'post,' but anyway, I recognized Jerry's voice as one of the sheep as well. That was pretty neat. Though it would have been nice to see something with a more recognizable Jerry character, like Mumford, Sherlock or Mr. Johnson.

With that thunder and lightning app The Count apparently had, it's a shame they didn't think to use their phones for the thunder and lightning. It's also too bad they didn't think to have The Count do video chat over the phone (assuming The Count had that feature on his phone and one of the others did as well). It's also too bad that they didn't think to ask Abby if she knew of any ways to teleport The Count there.

I thought of that too. Maybe they felt if anything like that happened it might have gotten in the way of the message that they were sending.

I also had wondered if Telly being called "Ed Count" was a reference to this forums Count. Between that and the fact that Jerry did pre-record The Count's voice here, I'd like to see some official behind-the-scenes content for the episode. Normally Jerry Nelson performed the voice live on set as opposed to pre-recording.

Yeah. Like I mentioned before I think Jerry and the rest of the cast must have known in advance about the fact that he'd be leaving us soon. I've heard of a similar thing happening before Will Lee/Mr. Hooper dying with the ad-lib of Carrol Spinney saying as Big Bird, "I love you, Mr. Looper."

At first I was thinking that Big Bird was the only current main character in this, but then I realized that Snuffy wasn't included, either. Of course Telly was so heavily used in this, and Martin Robinson once said on his blog that they never have another performer stand-in for Snuffy because they (and I can't remember if this is Marty's decision or Sesame Workshop's) don't want to put the physical strain on another performer.

But Snuffy and Telly have been seen together, most recently in the hurricane episodes, so it could probably be done.

Considering they aired it on this episode, there's no doubt that the Mr. Johnson statue in Repair Monster the Musical was a tribute to Jerry. I wonder if that giant statue of Snuffy getting stuck in the Arc de Triumph in Les Mouserables was one too, considering that while Jerry originated the character, he's better known as a Marty character.

I missed seeing the statue, but you could be right on that.

Alan saying he'll do a Gladys the Cow impression was funny, but I feel they should have had him mention a Jerry Nelson character. Maybe Fred the Wonder Horse or Sam the Robot, even if the kids don't know who they are (does the average kid know who Gladys the Cow is, even though she still appears from time to time?).

Of course Alan wasn't there when Fred or Sam were seen on the street so he probably wouldn't have known who they were, but still, that's a good thought.

 

[minor muppetz]

It seems like the ceremony was pretty small. The Count was just supposed to do one final task and then get his award? I know the story had to fit under 15 minutes, but I would have expected speeches from a few characters at least (well, Telly does end up giving a speech in an attempt to convince the judges), maybe also a big song.

When I heard of this episode, I thought there should be a Count spotlight video featuring this street story, now I am a little unsure (maybe as a bonus feature).

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Yeah. That's the trouble with the new format. It would have been nice to go back to the old format at least for this ep, so that could have been done.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Well, yesterday's episode was just awesome! The street story was just stupendous! It was great to see all of the major characters (both human and Muppet) in a street scene together! Extra kudos to bringing Prairie Dawn back, and even giving her a line! I enjoyed every minute of the whole scene. It's too bad that Big Bird, Snuffy, Susan, and Armando were the only ones missing. The Word of the Day segment was quite good; I can't help but thinking of how interesting it would have been to see Hank impersonating other characters, but he did a very nice job of pretending to be Grover, Cookie Monster, and Elmo. Cookie's Crumby Pictures was very entertaining! I especially loved hearing Cookie Monster say "Ooh La La!" It was also great to see that statue of Snuffy in there. Homelamb was very fun to watch, and by far one of my favorite parodies, especially when Agent Carrie develops a crush on the wolf!

Now, regarding the picture of Eric performing Herry that we all assumed would be part of the episode, I now have a feeling that it has a connection with Episode 4424 where Rocco gets married. Does anyone else think so?

I got my old cable back, so I'm able to watch SS in widescreen again! Anyway, the street story was fantastic! All the lines about the Count making people happy and being a loved figure was great. I'm assuming the Count's dialogue was taken from an existing sketch. I'm sure Jerry couldn't record this ahead of time because, they wrote it after he passed, right? Also, Prairie Dawn said her first line since 2008! The WOTD bit was good. It showed that Ryan can be funny as Elmo. "Elmo didn't know Cookie Monster had a big vocabulary." The new Murray tune-in was cool. I like how Murray looked as an apple. The new CPP was very funny! My favorite part was the Own My Own parody. The Homeland parody was very funny. Was Kevin the black lamb? Anyway, this was the perfect way to pay tribute to Jerry!

I'm surprised that you didn't say anything about the new (not to mention unannounced) Elmo: The Musical!

 

[antsamthompson9]

I'm surprised that you didn't say anything about the new (not to mention unannounced) Elmo: The Musical!

Thanks for reminding me. I'll watch that and say what I thought of it in a little bit. Here's my thoughts on Repair Monster. I loved that Velvet got to say the title this time. I loved Tyler and Leslie's performances as the CGI tools. The Mr. Johnson statue was a great tribute to Jerry. Matt and Stephanie did great jobs with the It's in Half song. Kevin and Tyler did an awesome job with the Make it Whole Again song. I like Halfini's look. I like that Velvet pointed out the plot device. What can I say? I loved everything about it!

 

[Drtooth]

The new ETM was hardly new. It aired on the previous episode. But as the previous episode was made up of rerun material, I'm guessing not too many cared to tune in to see it.