Exactly! Reading this thread I was very surprised to see how many people disliked it because it was so Elmo centric. But that was the era the show was in at that time, and really it's arguably the best Elmo's World thing the show ever did. That's what SST's anniversary specials do, they look back at the show's history from the point of view of whatever era they were in.
I usually go on rants about how Sesame Street fans always feel so butthurt that the show isn't
exactly the same as it was when they were a kid, grew out of it, hated on it because they were "cool," and then somehow jumped back into for nostalgia sake. They'll always whine that some specific sketch isn't on the show anymore even though there are least 4 or 5 uploads on Youtube that can easily be searched at convenience. Because somehow it's more special to sift through an entire episode for
one skit in between some film about kids and an Elmo song.
HOWEVER... this was 10 years ago. While there were clips online, they had to be extensively searched out from fan site to fan site and were of the download instead of streaming type. Need I mention the trainwreck of RealPlayer? This was a time where fans would blow 10+ bucks on a 30 minute VHS because it had one or two rare sketches on it. I certainly did, and lucked out that most of the rest of the video was some prime Oscar and Telly stuff. Heck... tape trading. That's barely a thing now unless someone wants full, rare old episodes that haven't resurfaced on Youtube. So, yeah... I can see why a good chunk of the audience for this special was a little ticked off when they heard about it and tuned in. They did get the Baker 10 film and a couple others, but most of it was just very much more of Elmo looking back at a couple things with a nugget of Mythology gag or reference here and there. The Old School DVD sets were years away, Youtube wasn't a thing until then either. There wasn't the rumblings of Sesame Street creating its own streaming site for a while either.
So basically those who stopped watching the show who tuned in nostalgically...I hate to admit they had a point about being ticked off with this special, but that is the case. Still, it's a point I don't agree with.
I'll give Season 40 this: there was hype surrounding the anniversary: the talk show appearances, the special retrospective showcases on the news show circuits, reality show episode dedications, and certainly the whole internet was buzzing about it - I still recall way back then saying that if Season 40 got that much hype, imagine what will happen in 2019 for Season 50? 45 on the other hand . . . did that get any recognition at all?
I never saw why 35 was a
thing and 45 was... so blaze. Not so much as a line of retro products or a book or something. While I still think it sucks we didn't get a proper 40th special, at least things surrounded it like you said. Were they no longer going by 5's? Were they waiting for the big 50?
Oh...and one more thing...
This is really on the Lost Media Wiki? Why? For Christ's sake, even
I, at 10 years old or so remember watching it live. Surely tons of people taped this, right?
http://lostmedia.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street:_The_Street_We_Live_On_(Original_Uncut_Version)
Whatever you do, never go to
that lost media wiki. It's been abandoned and completely taken over by Scratch Wiki wannabes that make their terrible fan fiction outlines and obsession over placing two closing show logos together come true. The
preferred site is actually
http://lostmediawiki.com