The "You know what?" thread

[mr3urious]

It's a little too early to be a 90's throwback. Maybe in a couple more years? Maybe in five years when the 00's come back? I am starting to see adult nostalgic Barney merchandise, and much has my feelings about the character have changed over time, I still can't really fathom it.

Unfortunately, Barney's going to be coming back, too. I know I speculated that the new show would be all-animated due to 9 Story being behind the production, until I found out that they do produce quite a bit of live-action shows, too. So live-action it will stay.

 

[Drtooth]

These are clearly for nostalgia purposes. I understand the reasoning behind bringing the big purple doofus back, and I must admit, at least he didn't ask kids which triangle was the green one for 30 seconds of silence. Other than that, preschool programming (with the exception of certain shows on Nick that still enforce that crap) seems to have turned a sharp corner back to quality. If no other show before it proved it for Disney, certainly the Lion Guard did. But Barney's only real point now is to have the parents that grew up with it share it with their kids. That is, as long as the parents don't go all "this loud, obnoxious dinosaur singing crappy lyrics to old public domain songs used to be waaaaaaay better in my day" on the revival.

Even then...ehhhh... a Barney comeback would at least be timely. Teletubbies is waaay too soon for a proper revival.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Shows with exceptional quality, like Sesame and Mr. Rogers, will never need a revival.
Mr. Rogers especially. His message and teachings are just as relevant today as they always were. I always admired Fred Rogers never worried about keeping up with trends, never pandered to kids or their parents. And it would be wonderful to air his episodes again, not out of nostalgia, but because he spoke such universal truths.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Shows with exceptional quality, like Sesame and Mr. Rogers, will never need a revival.
Mr. Rogers especially. His message and teachings are just as relevant today as they always were. I always admired Fred Rogers never worried about keeping up with trends, never pandered to kids or their parents. And it would be wonderful to air his episodes again, not out of nostalgia, but because he spoke such universal truths.

Well, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is basically an updated version of Mr. Rogers.
It kind of covers a lot of the same things. Of course it lacks some of the warmness and sincerity of the original but it's still an okay show.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is just a hint, Mr. Rogers was the real deal.

The point can also be made Steve Whitmire and Artie Esposito are great puppeteers. But without Jim's inspiration, could they accomplish as much on their own?

 

[D'Snowth]

The point can also be made Steve Whitmire and Artie Esposito are great puppeteers. But without Jim's inspiration, could they accomplish as much on their own?

Some have. David Rudman and his brother Adam have done their own shows. Kermit Love co-created and designed the puppets for THE GREAT SPACE COASTER (Jim Martin being the other co-creator who went on to be a director and performer for SST). And look at so many other successful non-Henson shows that had a number of Henson people involved: PUZZLE PLACE? BETWEEN THE LIONS?

 

[fuzzygobo]

No, actually I was referring to Steve and Artie's portrayal of Kermit. They both did amazing jobs, considering they had such big shoes to fill.

My original point was Daniel is a good PBS show, but still just a glimmer of Mr. Rogers.
At least they didn't try to reboot Mr. Rogers with someone else replacing him. Captain Kangaroo tried it without Bob Keeshan ... and the silence was deafening.

 

[D'Snowth]

No, actually I was referring to Steve and Artie's portrayal of Kermit. They both did amazing jobs, considering they had such big shoes to fill.

Sorry, I misunderstood.

Captain Kangaroo tried it without Bob Keeshan ... and the silence was deafening.

I remember the long-defunct Fox Family had an updated version of CAPTAIN KANGAROO in the 90s, with a Captain who wore a blue suit instead of red; Bunny Rabbit looked like a cute, yet cartoonish plush toy; Mr. Moose was a full-bodied costumed character who sounded like Mickey Mouse; Mr. Greenjeans seemed like an expy of Eb from GREEN ACRES. I've never actually seen the original CAPTAIN KANGAROO, but I remember not being real impressed with the 90s reboot.

 

[Drtooth]

Shows with exceptional quality, like Sesame and Mr. Rogers, will never need a revival.

Yeah. Cuz Sesame Street has never been cancelled. Though the deal with HBO pretty much saved the series from it.

I like to think of Sesame Street, The Simpsons, and Saturday Night Live as the extreme opposite of a revival. Shows that have been on long enough, change were gradual enough that if you never stopped watching them, you don't notice the change as much as someone who stopped watching and then came back to it. No wonder a lot of 70's kids back in the day were adamant about how much they hate Elmo. Where as a revival, no matter how close to the original they try to get, it's always completely different and the fans hate it for some reason. Theoretically, a show that's never been cancelled is the same as a show that has and came back, at least with fan reaction is involved.

But the thing is, Barney gets a revival because, unlike Sesame Street, he didn't quite have the staying power. Granted, he was on a loooong time too before PBS just gave up on it. Not 46 years, but a decent 10-15. And from what I understand, Barney did go through the same changes Sesame went, only comparatively to Sesame Street's Around the Corner 90's rebrand and eventually the not so beloved season 33, Barney's "we're still relevant" rebrand came relatively early in the show's run. Hilariously, ATC was meant to combat the popularity of Barney, those changes were meant to combat the popularity of Dora type shows....and frankly they're worse than Barney. Much worse.

At least they didn't try to reboot Mr. Rogers with someone else replacing him. Captain Kangaroo tried it without Bob Keeshan ... and the silence was deafening.

I'm sure that the Rogers Estate or whoever owns the rights to the original series is smart enough to know that a fake Mr. Rogers would annoy enough of those who grew up with him that it would be unsuccessful on every level. Mr. Rogers wasn't a character, he was a live person. That's why Daniel Tiger was a compromise. It's not exactly the same show and it doesn't do exactly the same thing, but I don't think it needs to be. It gives enough of the everything but Mr. Rogers himself that they didn't turn it into a cash grab like...well...these Barney and Teletubbies revivals.

And you totally know that 25 year olds with kids will be saying "Hurrrumph! Teletubbies was much better in my day. Now when they show the same video clip twice it feels forced."

 

[D'Snowth]

I just now realized that over the years I've built approximately a dozen puppets. Doesn't seem like that many, but I suppose so. Funnily enough, it's only been with my four most recent puppets that I feel I've finally gotten about as good as I'm ever going to get . . . at least I remedied one problem I've been having in that I've been building my puppets too big all this time.