Sesame Street Season 45 Episode 4501 - School for Chickens

[muppetlover123]

Just watched the new number of the day segment with The Count and I have to admit I like it. Probably just because it has The Count!

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

So now we have different threads for each ep. That's a good idea. It's less confusing that way. Sometimes I catch spoilers for episodes I haven't seen. I wasn't aware until now that the half-hour eps were basically repeats of episodes that already aired. I thought they'd air two new episodes a day. Still that's a good idea and a good way to catch anything you may have missed.

Just watched the new number of the day segment with The Count and I have to admit I like it. Probably just because it has The Count!

Yeah. Nice to see that he's back doing the 'Number of the Day.' That beats the old predictable routines with Murray and Ovejita. Same thing with 'The Letter of the Day." Having most of the main characters on the show singing in back up is a good way to give all the Muppets some air time.

I still wish they'd go back to the old format when they did the sponsors, you know how they used to do it with a continuation of the street scene with characters who are there or someone saying the sponsors in voice over. You know what I mean? Maybe some day.

I did notice another change in the format. That they did Super Grover 2.0 before the "Letter of the Day" segment. Makes me wonder if AFFS will be in every episode now. I also liked that they used a new one. It's always good to see Horatio.

Overall, this season shows a lot of promise and Ryan and Matt are pretty much spot on with Elmo and the Count respectively. I still wish they'd do something big for the 45th anniversary. We'll see what happens there.

 

[Drtooth]

I really like the fact that they did away with the Murray/kid intro tune-ins, the show flows much better this way. But by the same token I'm not impressed in the least with their dance/clap/stomping Letter and Number of the Day intros. Cookie's Letter Games and the Count's Organ were much better than this.
Will wait till at least Friday to see if they show a better handling of the main between-show segments like Super Grover 2.0 and Cookie's Crummy Pictures.

I thought the Count Organ thing got repetitive after a while, and liked when they replaced it with him doing things like watching TV and singing to the Countess in a restaurant. But yeah, I have to admit, I liked the Organ better than the dance break and I really liked the Cookie Monster bits over the letters one as well.

I kinda liked the Murray interacting with people bit in the letter and number intros. The dance stuff is cute, but will no doubt get tiresome after a while. A short while at that.

 

[SpinneyBigBird1]

I'm glad they are gradually replacing the Murray tune-ins. The new letter and number intros are a great way to show the extended cast of Muppets beyond just Murray.

As for the street story, I don't understand why they started this season (which is an anniversary season, if they didn't remember) with such common street story with only two characters, Elmo and Chris. They have the "Friendship Day" episode lined up for later in the season, as well as the episode with Ernie's dancing video that feature much more of the cast. I don't understand why they couldn't have "faked" an anniversary special by airing one of those as the premiere. There are far too many episodes that only feature one Muppet and one human, so I was a little upset that the 45th anniversary premiere was just one of those.

I love Taran Killam. I love him on SNL and I have met him and he is a wonderfully nice guy, so I am happy he is on the show. I almost wish he had more to do, like a character voice or something. He seemed pretty reserved here. Like anyone could have played this part exactly the same way he did. It was missing the Taran spin. The street story was... fine, but as I said not fitting to be a season premiere and certainly not fitting to be an anniversary premiere.

Also, the show stops dead in its tracks whenever Abby's Flying Fairy School comes on. I don't know why they are pushing that so hard when they have not made a new one in quite some time. It's time to put that one to rest.

The raise your hand song was nice. It seems like they are using the cast of Muppets more often in inserts which is good, because so few of them outside of Elmo and Abby get the screen time they deserve. I just wish the street stories were as diverse. The little girl, Segi, is seemingly becoming a regular character now.

 

[The Count]

@Drtooth Yes, that's what I meant... The whole range of organ, TV watching, singing with Countess, sketches with kids, etc. This hand-clapping/stomping dance bit just doesn't do it for me. Would much prefer it if someone had remembered they did a segment called Count TV for the iphone aps and overseas markets, then brought that in as a hyped new segment for the new season. Use it for the single digits this season... Then produce new bits for the double digits for the next season? Sometimes being a fan and following your favorite shows can be a fickle endeavor.

*Looks forward to newness from today's episode, but mostly Numeric Con on Thursday.

 

[Drtooth]

As for the street story, I don't understand why they started this season (which is an anniversary season, if they didn't remember) with such common street story with only two characters, Elmo and Chris. They have the "Friendship Day" episode lined up for later in the season, as well as the episode with Ernie's dancing video that feature much more of the cast. I don't understand why they couldn't have "faked" an anniversary special by airing one of those as the premiere. There are far too many episodes that only feature one Muppet and one human, so I was a little upset that the 45th anniversary premiere was just one of those.

Like a vain person on their 31st birthday, Sesame Street somehow is reluctant in celebrating their 45th. We haven't even seen so much as a T-shirt design contest let alone an in series acknowledgement. It was a very bland, ordinary episode to open any season, actually. They didn't even bother to put out any fresh TV show parodies. Other than the new Grover and Raise your Hand bit, there was nothing that remarkable about this one.

I love Taran Killam. I love him on SNL and I have met him and he is a wonderfully nice guy, so I am happy he is on the show. I almost wish he had more to do, like a character voice or something. He seemed pretty reserved here. Like anyone could have played this part exactly the same way he did. It was missing the Taran spin.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought so. He seemed to enjoy being there, sure, but he didn't have too much fun with his role. He played it too safe.

Also, the show stops dead in its tracks whenever Abby's Flying Fairy School comes on. I don't know why they are pushing that so hard when they have not made a new one in quite some time. It's time to put that one to rest.

Abby segments were expensive to produce, and I can see why SW wants to use the heck out of them to get their money's worth. I just don't see why they have to be so cheap and keep these on the show after it stopped production 2 seasons ago. Even EW managed to leave a season after no more episodes were produced. It seems they're desperate for 10 minutes of show to fill when there's so much better to put in its spot. I'll say what I've said since the short premiered, there was no way that it should have been a daily recurring segment. Considering how many times each segment was rerun, I'd say they got their money and then some for this segment. Time to move on.

Oh, and putting it near the end of the episode instead of the beginning somehow makes it even worse.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Alright, my thoughts on this episode. First off, I strongly agree that this episode was definitely not a good way to start off the 45th anniversary season- but as we all know SW doesn't seem to care that this season is supposed to be the anniversary. Secondly, I am incredibly perturbed that they still use the intro from Season 40. Considering that they dropped the horrid Zoe puppet after Season 40, you'd think they'd make a new opening theme, right?

Shifting gears...the street story was pretty entertaining (even though it wasn't the best choice for a premier). I can't believe I didn't notice until then that Buck Awe's name was supposed to be a pun for the sound a chicken makes! Whenever Elmo sang a song from his preschool class, I kept thinking to myself "I wish the songs we sang in my preschool class were that catchy!" The Word of the Day bit was pure awesomeness, as was the Raise your Hand song! I was really psyched to see less of Murray- but that doesn't change my attitude about Murray Has a Little Lamb, especially since they showed re-airing in this episode. Speaking of re-airings, who else besides me let out a huge groan and did a face-palm when we got treated to Abby's Flying Fairy School? (After seeing one segment for the first time, I could never bear to sit through a repeat.) I of course enjoyed the new Super Grover 2.0- very amusing! Did anyone notice that on a couple of the pennants (or whatever those big red things are called) there was an illustration of Little Bird (at least it looked like Little Bird)? The "Letter of the Day" song was quite catchy- I could listen to it all day! I didn't get to hear much of the "Number of the Day" song, due to my stupid antenna acting up, but it did sound pretty catchy! I had to stop watching the show in the middle of Birdwalk Empire, not only because my antenna was continuing to be uncooperative, but also because I had to be on my way to school. But based on what I saw on Muppet Wiki, it doesn't look worth watching anyway.

Otherwise, I agree that this episode was not bad.

 

[Drtooth]

Speaking of re-airings, who else besides me let out a huge groan and did a face-palm when we got treated to Abby's Flying Fairy School? (After seeing one segment for the first time, I could never bear to sit through a repeat.)

What was particularly annoying, they used a first season rerun for it too. The most over reran of the Abby shorts. And all because they turned into chickens for a second as it sort of fit in with the story.

It's all about saving money, I know. But the half hour version is starting to look very good.

 

[DTF]

It's been decades since I saw him, but there was a Muppet in one song that looked like Roosevelt Franklin - was it? Of course, it could have just looked like him because of the haircut, and with me being legally blind, it's hard to say for sure.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

What was particularly annoying, they used a first season rerun for it too. The most over reran of the Abby shorts. And all because they turned into chickens for a second as it sort of fit in with the story.

It's all about saving money, I know. But the half hour version is starting to look very good.

Too true.