Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 44

[SpinneyBigBird1]

I kind of wish they'd put less emphasis on using Leslie. I know she's readily available for, like, everything and she really cares about what she does and has a great singing voice, but I'd be lying if I said some of the other females (Steph, Carmen, Jen) weren't stronger performers and manipulators.

I don't want to sound mean or judgmental or anything, but it's something that bugs me from time to time.

I totally get what your saying. Leslie is a fantastic performer and an incredibly sweet person, but I think the other women puppeteers should have equal time in the spotlight too, especially if they don't have major characters that have a lot of street stories.

Plus,Leslie has such a distinct voice and that means she only has a few character voices in her repertoire for Anything Muppets, leading to many of them sounding similar. Jen Barnhart, Pam Arciero, Carmen Osbahr and Stephanie D'Abruzzo (among others) all have a good amount of voices too. Combining them all could introduce an influx of characters.

 

[minor muppetz]

So there's a new segment where Grover teaches "force", and ends up needing help from a few monsters.... This would have been a great opportunity to use Herry. Then again, if Herry helped, they probably wouldn't have continued struggling.

And on the plus side, Frazzle made a return appearance, performed by Joey Mazzarino.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

So there's a new segment where Grover teaches "force", and ends up needing help from a few monsters.... This would have been a great opportunity to use Herry. Then again, if Herry helped, they probably wouldn't have continued struggling.

And on the plus side, Frazzle made a return appearance, performed by Joey Mazzarino.

There's also a new segment where Oscar messes with Cookie Monster by hanging an H cookie from a rope, high out of his reach, and the only way to get it is with H words. Somehow Oscarfan managed to find the skit. I checked the Video Player and it's not on there, unlike the Grover teaching about "force" skit. Oscarfan: if you're reading this: how did you manage to acquire the Cookie Monster/Oscar segment?

 

[Oscarfan]

There's also a new segment where Oscar messes with Cookie Monster by hanging an H cookie from a rope, high out of his reach, and the only way to get it is with H words. Somehow Oscarfan managed to find the skit. I checked the Video Player and it's not on there, unlike the Grover teaching about "force" skit. Oscarfan: if you're reading this: how did you manage to acquire the Cookie Monster/Oscar segment?

It's on PBS Kids.org; they upload all the new material from the episodes, unlike SS.org.

 

[Drtooth]

I totally get what your saying. Leslie is a fantastic performer and an incredibly sweet person, but I think the other women puppeteers should have equal time in the spotlight too, especially if they don't have major characters that have a lot of street stories.

Nothing illustrates these points like today's episode. Leslie played both Judy and Abby. I'd say this is pretty hard evidence they only employ a certain number of performers based on who's available on those days of shooting.

But other than that, I just don't know what to make of this one. It really seems like this episode was pitched at 3 Am when the writers were tired and wanted to go home. Was the Beauty and the Beast tie in necessary? It seemed like they could have written this episode as a kid who wanted a weird pet and it would have worked just as well. It wasn't quite as mind numbingly boring as the last episode at least.

Did Usher request Bert to do the word of the day? If so, he has impeccable taste. I'm glad they're expanding these beyond Elmo, Abby, or sometimes Murray. Plus, we finally got some new Bert footage on the show. That's always great.

That and the two classic style Muppet bits (that didn't need to rely on parodies or celebrities, mind you) were the real highlights of the episode. How many times do we actually see Oscar and Cookie Monster interact? Seems like that's a pairing we don't see nearly enough. And it's great to see Frazzle back as a backgroundish character Proving that it needn't be an anniversary season to bring back older characters to fill out a sketch.

 

[antsamthompson9]

Today's street story was pretty good. I find it interesting that Leslie did double duty as Judy. I could tell because she sounded like Ginger from Johnny and the Sprites. The WOTD bit was good, because it was the first one with Bert. The new MHALL tune-ins were very good. I laughed when Murray was covered with the bandage. The bit with Oscar and Cookie Monster was very good. I liked that it hearkened back to the Letter of the Day segments. Also, I liked that the horses sang C is for Cookie. The bit with Grover showing force was very good. I loved that we finally got Frazzle back! One minor complaint: I noticed that they stretched the Twiddlebug sketch out to widescreen. I don't think they should have done that.

 

[Oscarfan]

To be frank, the lobster song was the most pitiful of all the songs in the episode.

But that Grover bit was great; was a pleasure seeing Frazzle back!

 

[Drtooth]

To be frank, the lobster song was the most pitiful of all the songs in the episode.

I found the whole thing lacking in effort, honestly. The only thing I can use to explain it are those lame episodes of the original TMNT from the 3rd season where they just recycled the "Shredder and Krang find an alien technology" plot with similar annoying alien characters... you know, to fill a syndication number episode quota? It seems all over that this was an episode written to fill the 20 episodes a season. Even the puppeteers seem bored. They didn't even shove enough Australian stereotypes/cliches into the Kangaroo. My favorite part? Elmo was just there and offered nothing interesting. I could go on about how Abby's just the "poof stuff up character" here, but Elmo was here for brand recognition and little else.

I still fail to see why this needed to be "Judy and the Beast" instead of just "girl wants a pet." There was no tie in to Beauty and the Beast other than a tired"that's the other story" joke. They completely blew potential to parody any version of the story or to do anything remotely interesting with the concept. And the word "unique" was painfully forced in there. A story girl with a pet horse/pony? Cliche yes, unique no. I know this is a show for 3-5 year olds, but passing off a weak storyline like this is beneath them.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Last week, someone uploaded Episode 3359 to YouTube. It would still be on there if it wasn't for Sesame Workshop having beef with people who upload full episodes! (But at least you can still see the guide on Muppet Wiki.) Why am I mentioning this? Well to those of you were lucky enough to see it, you may remember that there was an insert on there where Luis, Maria, Carlo, and Rosita explain to Oscar in song that they have both English and Spanish words in them. Considering that Season 44 is focusing a lot on Latino culture, this would have been a great opportunity to remake this particular song with Mando in the place of Carlo.

Also, a little while ago, I just stumbled across this article on Google about Sesame Street having a new project to help kids eat healthier, with a minor mention of our "favorite" rumor. If any of you feel like I'm overreacting about the rumor, I apologize, but we all know that he's called Cookie Monster for a reason, and it just ticks me off that whoever published this article doesn't get Sesame Workshop's message! (Does anyone else feel the same way?) On another note: if this article has already been posted somewhere on this Forum, I apologize for sounding repetitive.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/sesame-street-healthy-makeover-article-1.1589641

 

[Drtooth]

HEY! Super Healthy Monsters is finally coming to the US.

The skits look funny enough when they were dubbed. Much better than the hamfisted attempts they tried several years back. I applaud the effort and all, but it still doesn't get to the cultural roots of the problem, nor the systems in place that keep poorer families completely reliant on fast food and even cheaper frozen dinners for nourishment. Not to mention that very young kids who Sesame Street appeals to aren't the problem, so much as it's older kids.