Sonia Manzano will not be on Sesame Street after Season 45

[dwayne1115]

I'm sure that's true to a point, but Bob has gone on record in both newspaper interviews and in I Am Big Bird to state that he now views Sesame Street more like a hobby than he does a job because he is not called in for more than an episode or two per season. So, it seems at least he is available to work more than they are calling him in for. Plus, the likes of Gina and Gordon are obviously available to work because they are there on the set, except they are extras in the background.

This is sad, and the fact they are not even giving Maria a decent storyline send off or anything. I'm sure everyone on here can recall how much respect they had for Sesame with the way they dealt with Will Lee's passing. There could be a great lesson in this for kids, because losing a friend due to moving, or going to school, or even death is very hard to deal with. So to see ether Elmo or even Oscar deal with somehow losing Maria, just like with Big Bird and Mr. Hooper could teach a younger generation about how to feel when someone we love leaves us.

 

[Drtooth]

Here's the thing. If they did give Maria a send off, Luis is still on the show and got a new lease as a character via the bike repair shop. Think of that message, even if unintentional. He's wearing a fedora now. Try and tell me it wouldn't imply he'd be the depressing yet sleazy guy trying to get younger woman to replace his wife. I'd tend to think that Maria would be given the illusion of being "still there" but not actually appearing. If both characters were said to move away I'd agree. There's just an unfortunateness to the wife leaving and the husband staying that even the smaller ones would pick up on.

The only characters I can think of that actually got the send off were Hooper and David, both for reasons we already knew. Everyone else that left just...left. And while you can hand wave some of the short lived vast as coming and going, you have to admit the disappearance and complete "sucked into the void and forgotten about" of some of the longer time members is jarring. Linda especially. She was a staple character for quite some time and then she just ...stopped. And not even a nod or reference to her existing. Heck, the entire Around the Corner disappeared and it was less awkward. (Is Sesame Street located that close to Elmore?) Even if there were a logical way to send Maria off on the series without making it depressing about Luis, it's not like they've had many for any other of the characters. A shame they don't, but that's how it is.

I'm sure that's true to a point, but Bob has gone on record in both newspaper interviews and in I Am Big Bird to state that he now views Sesame Street more like a hobby than he does a job because he is not called in for more than an episode or two per season. So, it seems at least he is available to work more than they are calling him in for. Plus, the likes of Gina and Gordon are obviously available to work because they are there on the set, except they are extras in the background.

I'm not going to completely doubt that it has something to do with kids relating to younger adults. I mean, when the show first popped up Bob and Gordon and Linda were the young adults (20's and 30's young) that were the not quite parental figures (friends of parents) that acted like friendly teacher types/young adult relatives to the Muppet characters, and even the audience. Maria pretty much was the cute college age girl that little kids develop their first sort of weird "I don't understand the age barrier" crush on (which I'd say Gina, then Gabby, and now Leela filled as the show progressed). David and Luis at the time were the not quite college going teenagers, not quite Bob and Gordon age funsters (Chris and Mando today). Hooper was the not quite grandfather figure... maybe older uncle. That's a role I'd see Bob and or Gordon in today. I think there is lost opportunity for Gordon to mentor Chris, and that's sort of the role Alan plays. I agree. It's strange, though, that Gordon was the go to adult for the several seasons up until just recently.

It's a shame and unfortunate, but again who thought this was going to last 10 years, let alone 46? There was a huge learning curve and still is. I'm glad that they didn't replace characters willy nilly giving us a sort of Maria and a maybe Bob. Gordon's change was for the better, I think and they got very lucky with that one averting the "you don't look like you" he could have.

 

[DTF]

I'm not so sure there *isn't* a good way to explain Maria's absence. I've done quite a bit of fanfiction for other shows, and I can think of 2:

1. Moved close by to care for elderly relative (short term, of course, but my mom moved in with my grandma for 2 months as she was dying of cancer, though it was only 8 blocks away. Still, it could explain extended absences if she's the primary caregiver.)

2. Got job as nanny to make more money. (Doesn't have to be a human one, either. Could be a Muppet... like the all-too-absent Prairie Dawn) She'd be at her job but come home in the evenings, we'd never see her becasue it's daytime most times on Sesame Street when we see, and Lius is at work.

Then again, I came up with this to explain Uncle Jesse saying he graduated and findng out he had been lying on "Full House," so many it's just my weird mind at work.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Thought I'd share my signature here.

A lesser show would have seen Sonia out in 10 years of her debut only for another Maria to be cast without a second thought.

BTW, I'm not quite sure what you're referencing there, but one thing that reminded me of is Harriette Winslow of "Family Matters" who was recast at the end of the ninth season. That was a big disappointment since JoMarie Payton had played the role even before FM aired, (she originated the character on "Perfect Strangers.") Is that what you're referring to? Just curious on that one.

 

[Drtooth]

BTW, I'm not quite sure what you're referencing there, but one thing that reminded me of is Harriette Winslow of "Family Matters" who was recast at the end of the ninth season. That was a big disappointment since JoMarie Payton had played the role even before FM aired, (she originated the character on "Perfect Strangers.") Is that what you're referring to? Just curious on that one.

Sesame Street, being a kid's show, works on the fleeting demographic rule. By all means they could have recast any of the adults the second they started to go from youthful 20's and 30's to slightly older 30's and therefore hard to relate to for some reason. If Sesame Street was that kind of show we'd be on our fifth or sixth Bob by now. But Sesame Street sticks to its guns, and with certain exceptions, doesn't replace its actors, and long time favorites are played by who they've always been played by (Gordon being the exception, obviously, but Roscoe stuck and was the best one anyway). That's what they could have done with Mr. Hooper, but they refused. Could have done the same with David, but didn't. Worst case, they replace older characters with new characters instead of actors. And that gives the show a realistic quality... even though Bob aged and Big Bird didn't. And if you count his first season appearance, Big Bird actually aged down.

 

[Slackbot]

Least I Could Do, a webcomic, has been doing a story about Maria's departure--or, rather, the main character trying to move to Sesame Street now that there is a vacancy. Here's the first page of the storyline. Warning: this is an adult-oriented webcomic. Not porn by any means, but the characters do adult things and sometimes cuss. No "adult things" in this storyline (thus far), but a bit of language.

 

[Drtooth]

Kinda lame comic, actually.

I really like the style of art on the Muppets here, though. Shame the jokes weren't as good (liked Bribing Telly with the letter of the day, however). The "she didn't die, she retired...she stopped working so she could wait to die" gag sounds like a bad attempt at a Homer Simpson line.

But anyway:

I'm not so sure there *isn't* a good way to explain Maria's absence. I've done quite a bit of fanfiction for other shows, and I can think of 2:

1. Moved close by to care for elderly relative (short term, of course, but my mom moved in with my grandma for 2 months as she was dying of cancer, though it was only 8 blocks away. Still, it could explain extended absences if she's the primary caregiver.)

2. Got job as nanny to make more money. (Doesn't have to be a human one, either. Could be a Muppet... like the all-too-absent Prairie Dawn) She'd be at her job but come home in the evenings, we'd never see her becasue it's daytime most times on Sesame Street when we see, and Lius is at work.

Eh... then again, have they ever (David and Hooper aside) ever give a cast member a send off? They just tend to disappear. They had a real revolving door of cast members from time to time. You wonder if they're going to make a big deal about this or they're just going to give her the illusion of still being there. Fran's big send away was a throwaway line in a TV special.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Sesame Street, being a kid's show, works on the fleeting demographic rule. By all means they could have recast any of the adults the second they started to go from youthful 20's and 30's to slightly older 30's and therefore hard to relate to for some reason. If Sesame Street was that kind of show we'd be on our fifth or sixth Bob by now. But Sesame Street sticks to its guns, and with certain exceptions, doesn't replace its actors, and long time favorites are played by who they've always been played by (Gordon being the exception, obviously, but Roscoe stuck and was the best one anyway). That's what they could have done with Mr. Hooper, but they refused. Could have done the same with David, but didn't. Worst case, they replace older characters with new characters instead of actors. And that gives the show a realistic quality... even though Bob aged and Big Bird didn't. And if you count his first season appearance, Big Bird actually aged down.

Oh, I never knew that was the case with other kids shows. But I see what you mean, after all the show was still in it's earlier years when Gordon was recast, so they probably wouldn't do that in this day and age. I am going to have to disagree with you about the possibility of recasting Mr. Hooper and David though, especially with David since he's been on the show for nearly two decades before he was written out. I think a recast there would have been noticed. Maybe they made the right decision by writing him out of the show altogether.

Maybe they made the right decision by writing him out of the show altogether.

So maybe they are doing the right thing by writing out the character of Maria, rather than recasting her. As much as we'll miss her. It's better than having people get used to a 'fake' Maria. Just thought I'd put in my two cents there.

 

[Drtooth]

So maybe they are doing the right thing by writing out the character of Maria, rather than recasting her. As much as we'll miss her. It's better than having people get used to a 'fake' Maria. Just thought I'd put in my two cents there.

Exactly what I was saying, but that's why Sesame Street is so great. This show wouldn't have the same cultural impact if it just thought less of the audience and kept the human characters as ageless as the Muppet ones. Sure, does Elmo stay three and a half years old while attending the birth of a child and watching it grow to be an adult while he never will? Does anyone bother questioning that under the age of 20?

 

[DTF]

Sure, does Elmo stay three and a half years old while attending the birth of a child and watching it grow to be an adult while he never will? Does anyone bother questioning that under the age of 20?

No, I think even if they're like me at that age and notice, they think what I did - the idea of the Muppets just being such special friends that they become "real" a la the Velveteen Rabbit.(pre-illness, that is, when the child sees him as real but before he becomes a real rabbit.)