Sesame Street Season 47 begins shooting, HBO premiere set for January 2017

[cahuenga]

Do you think we will see Gordon, Susan, Luis, Bob...etc?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Why is it that Leela and Maria are still listed as cast members in the press kit if they're clearly not on the show anymore and are no longer in the credits? Not to mention, I highly doubt Susan, Bob, Gina and the rest of the older cast are going to make any appearances, so why list them either? Is it maybe because they appear in repeats, because they don't usually list characters who are only in reused street scenes.

Do you think we will see Gordon, Susan, Luis, Bob...etc?

Probably not. And if we do, evidence shows they'll hardly be in it at all.

 

[Oscarfan]

Tori Kelly's "Try a Little Kindess" has leaked:

(I kinda prefer Chris Jackson's version...)

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

(I kinda prefer Chris Jackson's version...)

I think I like Tori's version better. I think the music is a little bouncier and I really like Tori's voice in this even though i'm not usually much of a fan of her.

 

[Oscarfan]

Here's a great interview with David Gallo about the set changes:

 

[D'Snowth]

It's nice to see more of his conceptual designs to the set before the actual changes were made . . . and we get a better look at a glimpse of what we saw in the Mannequin Challenge video - it looks like he had a number of more changes planned for the set that never got made.

I can really see the points he was making about the set, because I believe some of us have mentioned the same thing before about how the street was looking less and less like an actual inner city street, and more and more like a little sanitized, little village street (but, to be fair, that's been happening since the ATC days, when the set was first brightened and spruced up).

I can understand why some people were shocked and blindsided by the changes to the set, but it's really unfair of people to not only blame the changes for taking away the "grit" from the street, but to blame all of the changes on HBO - who had nothing to do with any of the creative decisions of the show or its set. While I don't necessarily agree with his sentiments about the modern Hooper's looking unrealistic (to me, it looked realisitic with real gentrification), but I still liked his other feelings about Hooper's losing its identity over the years and wanting to bring that back with its retro design.

I didn't know his Sesame tenture started with ELMO'S CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN - I remember how mixed the reactions were to the production design of the special were.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Y'know what? They could really have a whole documentary just based on this season alone, what, with all the major changes to the show's format, set, intro, the narrowing of the core group of Muppets, the controversy surrounding the move to HBO and the recent cast changes. This year has really been a crazy one for the show.

 

[D'Snowth]

Looking at the notes SW sent David, they were suggesting that Cookie, Alan, and Leela live above Hooper's . . . which is just one apartment . . . so, there's some interesting three's company dynamics.

But, I guess they originally intended to keep Leela if she was mentioned in production notes for Season 46?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Looking at the notes SW sent David, they were suggesting that Cookie, Alan, and Leela live above Hooper's . . . which is just one apartment . . . so, there's some interesting three's company dynamics.

But, I guess they originally intended to keep Leela if she was mentioned in production notes for Season 46?

That actually could've led to some pretty interesting story lines. But I guess Nitya must've quit for some reasons.

 

[D'Snowth]

Rewatching the interview, it's interesting that almost all of David's changes to the set were the result of what he felt like was getting the street back on track with urban evolution (and even using drawings that kids made to get a better idea of how they see their urban landscape), because he felt like up until his employement, that the street hadn't evolved realistically - the irony is that the 40 Years book said that this is exactly the reason the street had evolved the way it had in recent years (especially starting around Season 39), because it reflected the shift in inner city neighborhoods had been seeing, and that slick and contemporary convenience stores would be more recognizable to today's kids than little mom-and-pop type stores that Hooper's once was (and now is again).

I must admit though, now that I think about it, the street almost has a claustrophobic feel to it, what with moving Oscar closer to the middle of the street and exposing Big Bird's nest (though I do love the tree his nest is in), trying to bring more of the street itself into a small, central location, rather than spreading it out a bit the way it used to be. I'm not saying I dislike these changes, but I guess I do miss the old familiarity of Oscar's can being on the opposite side of the stoop, and the construction doors around Big Bird's nest. But again, the tree makes me think of how vacant lots sometimes have a large tree growing in them that inner city kids enjoy - remember that "Save the Tree" episode of HEY ARNOLD!?