Sesame Street Season 45 Episode 4526 - Everyday Magic

[Phillip]

Episode 4526 - Everyday Magic
Monday June 8, 2015

Telly and Abby are looking for magic on Sesame Street using their majoggles – holding their hands up like goggles so they can focus on the magic. They see Leela and Gordon using what they think is magic, but they each turn out to be using tools. They become upset until they see Luis using a tool that’s really cool – a magnet!

Subject: STEM, Self-Regulation
Brought to you by: M & 14
Word on the Street: Explore – To search around and look closely to find out more about something.

If you've seen "Everyday Magic" please like this post and share your thoughts below.

 

[Oscarfan]

Ya know. I almost wish they do drop Cookie's Crumby Pictures next season so we don't have to wait so long for one episode just so the parody will be more relevant.

 

[Drtooth]

Blame PBS for that. I'm sure if they still had other parody segments, PBS would bully them into shoving an episode at a later date as well. They did the same to Arthur, witholding a single episode of which should have aired in September because it was a Downton Abbey parody. PBS is really desperate with their kid's shows, and in the end that hurts the shows, not them.

 

[Drtooth]

Is it just me or was the street story like 5 minutes long? And uneventful? And kinda boring except for the bit with the crazy cat lady? And how the heck was it a parody of Pippin? Like, they used one song parody that they kept singing through the whole episode? That's not a parody of a musical, that's a parody of a specific song.

I don't know how they did it, but they made an episode with Telly dull. Something I never thought I'd say. I mean, it was nice to see Grodon and Luis, but it really felt that they said "no no no. 7 minutes is enough for a street story," and just rushed to a conclusion. The "tools are magic" concept could have worked much better, but somehow they made a weak, rushed episode. Way to run a season. Open with a weak episode, close with a weak episode.

But I LOVE that they did something interesting with the word of the day bit. Rather than giving them an empty space and doing the "this is what the word means, let's show examples" they had a small story. It's what they should be doing with the segment which was getting stale and being carried by the celebrity guests and Muppet performances. CGI the heck out of the backgrounds if they have to, but that segment desperately needs overhauling.

Jurassic Cookie was pretty good, though not what I expected. Something tells me if they just cut out some of the self regulation stuff, this segment can be used as evidence they can keep the concept going with different lessons. Here, letters. Somehow, it seems like it could very well have been a Grover short.

But the real surprise was the Grover and Elmo segment. I loved Grover annoying the heck out of Elmo, and getting a reaction out of him. Elmo really seems to have become more emotive since the recasting. I really think that the Grover/Elmo pairing is brutally underused. They have that great clueless older brother, surprisingly more competent younger brother chemistry that really should have been seen a lot more. Just like a couple skits and the sequel to Monster at the end of the book. Grover has been recast since the last decade. There's no excuse for the lack of Elmo/Grover skits.

 

[Oscarfan]

Is it just me or was the street story like 5 minutes long? And uneventful? And kinda boring except for the bit with the crazy cat lady? And how the heck was it a parody of Pippin? Like, they used one song parody that they kept singing through the whole episode? That's not a parody of a musical, that's a parody of a specific song.

I don't know how they did it, but they made an episode with Telly dull. Something I never thought I'd say. I mean, it was nice to see Grodon and Luis, but it really felt that they said "no no no. 7 minutes is enough for a street story," and just rushed to a conclusion. The "tools are magic" concept could have worked much better, but somehow they made a weak, rushed episode. Way to run a season. Open with a weak episode, close with a weak episode.

But I LOVE that they did something interesting with the word of the day bit. Rather than giving them an empty space and doing the "this is what the word means, let's show examples" they had a small story. It's what they should be doing with the segment which was getting stale and being carried by the celebrity guests and Muppet performances. CGI the heck out of the backgrounds if they have to, but that segment desperately needs overhauling.

Jurassic Cookie was pretty good, though not what I expected. Something tells me if they just cut out some of the self regulation stuff, this segment can be used as evidence they can keep the concept going with different lessons. Here, letters. Somehow, it seems like it could very well have been a Grover short.

But the real surprise was the Grover and Elmo segment. I loved Grover annoying the heck out of Elmo, and getting a reaction out of him. Elmo really seems to have become more emotive since the recasting. I really think that the Grover/Elmo pairing is brutally underused. They have that great clueless older brother, surprisingly more competent younger brother chemistry that really should have been seen a lot more. Just like a couple skits and the sequel to Monster at the end of the book. Grover has been recast since the last decade. There's no excuse for the lack of Elmo/Grover skits.

I was following the press kit on the whole Pippin thing. I didn't expect the song to be that stayed away from the original. It almost sounded nothing like "Magic to Do."

That Elmo/Grover bit was wonderful, though. The whole "seflie" gag will certainly date it, but I liked it.

And how neat was that Gingerbread Cookie-saurus? That's the kind of thing you'd expect them to just do with CGI, but a puppet was so much better.

 

[Drtooth]

I was following the press kit on the whole Pippin thing. I didn't expect the song to be that stayed away from the original. It almost sounded nothing like "Magic to Do."

To be honest, I don't really have a huge handle on that musical other than the basic gist of the storyline and like one or two songs. Neither of which were attempted. I expected Telly to break down into a "Gotta Find my Corner of the Sky" parody after being disappointed by seeing mundane activity. But nothing. Other than that, the episode was pretty mishandled, you got to admit. There's a nice tie in of "science is magic and magic is science" that could have lead to something more interesting than this. I'll admit Abby gushing over sticky tape like it's the most amazing thing in the universe and then giving a blank stare at Telly gushing over magnetism like it was real magic was kinda funny. Still, it would have been nice if they at least elaborated on how the tools worked. it felt like... yeah yeah yeah... let's just get this episode over with...yeah tape. And it's not like there was anything majorly long to make room for. Maybe that thing about sea exploration.

A number of episodes this season suffer from being too short. This and the Trash Thrift shop thing. Somehow it feels like those episodes didn't even get past a second draft.

 

[Oscarfan]

I only know of "Magic to Do," and that's because we had to do it for a school chorus thing many ages and moons ago.

I'm not sure what the chalk up the street story lengths to. Many have been really short. I want to say it's because they had the 30-minute version in mind, but from what I read, they decided on that after the season was shot. And I can't say it was to allow for those letter/number intros or Murray bits (which are longer than they have been, by like 30 seconds or so), because those were also taped way later than the street stories. And apparently, parents aren't keen on the 30 minute versions being released online, which SW claimed was better for streaming purposes.

 

[antsamthompson9]

This street story was pretty good. The song was pretty catchy. I liked seeing the Two-Headed Monster and Fran doing an AM one last time. The WOTD was pretty good. I liked that it combined the Golden Cabbage of Snufertiti and the Golden Triangle of Destiny into one. The new MHALL tune-ins were pretty good. I liked Ovejita trying to talk to the rams. The new CCP was very good. Stephanie and Ryan did a good job playing the kids. And Peter did a good job playing the cookie dinosaur. The new bit with Elmo and Grover was wonderfully funny. I loved Elmo getting annoyed with Grover and Grover taking selfies. I love when Muppets keep up with the times.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not sure what the chalk up the street story lengths to. Many have been really short. I want to say it's because they had the 30-minute version in mind, but from what I read, they decided on that after the season was shot. And I can't say it was to allow for those letter/number intros or Murray bits (which are longer than they have been, by like 30 seconds or so), because those were also taped way later than the street stories.

Like I was saying somewhere else, if they're looking to fill time that would be left by getting rid of the Abby cartoons, some of it should really go to the street stories. Other than that, it feels like this episode was rushed out. They had a pretty decent concept about everyday tools, I admit. But it really feels like they missed the opportunity to say how these things work and tying in "magic" and engineering (which makes the episode feel like it was a hold over from a season or two ago). It's weird. It has the feeling of being rushed out to fill an episode quota yet seems like it was a leftover script outline that would have been an episode had the previous seasons not had to rely on reruns due to their budget. But you must admit, it's a shame that they end with such a weak episode. PBS probably had influence on that with the Jurassic Cookie tie in. Just overall weird this season started out weak and ended weak when there were much stronger episodes to open and go out on. But on the plus side, not a rerun in the bunch.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Is it just me or was the street story like 5 minutes long? And uneventful? And kinda boring except for the bit with the crazy cat lady? And how the heck was it a parody of Pippin? Like, they used one song parody that they kept singing through the whole episode? That's not a parody of a musical, that's a parody of a specific song.

I agree. The plot did seem kind of rushed.

Telly: (to Abby) You're the only magic I know around here.

What, has he forgotten about Mumford already?

But the real surprise was the Grover and Elmo segment. I loved Grover annoying the heck out of Elmo, and getting a reaction out of him. Elmo really seems to have become more emotive since the recasting. I really think that the Grover/Elmo pairing is brutally underused. They have that great clueless older brother, surprisingly more competent younger brother chemistry that really should have been seen a lot more. Just like a couple skits and the sequel to Monster at the end of the book. Grover has been recast since the last decade. There's no excuse for the lack of Elmo/Grover skits.

Yeah for a while I thought it was just Fat Blue (or Kermit back when he was on the show), but he does really know how to push people's buttons with his incompetence.