Sesame Street Season 48 Episode 4801 - A Sesame Street Thanksgiving

[Phillip]

Sesame Street's 48th season officially begins this Saturday on HBO with an all-new episode at 9 am eastern, 8 am central. New episodes are scheduled to air on Saturday mornings through July 2018. The Season 48 episodes are slated to air on PBS stations across the country beginning September 2018 after the season concludes on HBO. Sesame Street episodes will also be available on-line via HBOGo (requires cable or satellite) or HBONow (requires a monthly subscription). A free 30-day trial of HBONow is also available.

Season 48 features:

• A continued curriculum focus on kindness.
  
  
• A new segment starring Cookie Monster, "Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck" with Gonger ("The Furchester Hotel"). Each segment introduces the origins of certain food items as the monsters cook up orders in their food truck.
  
  
• Guest stars include: Leon Bridges, Alessia Cara, Ellie Goulding, Josh Groban, Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez, Padma Lakshmi, John Legend, Lucy Liu and Kate McKinnon.
  
  
• Classic characters Herry Monster, Simon Soundman and the Martians will return among others.

• Ilana Glazer joins the "Elmo's World" Noodle family.
  
  
• This is the last season Billy Barkhurst will perform Ernie.
  
  
• International Sesame Street characters Chamki ("Galli Galli Sim Sim") and Zuzu ("Takalani Sesame") will make special appearances.

After you see the new episodes, post here and let us know your thoughts.

If you've seen Sesame Street Season 48, please like this post.

 

[Phillip]

Episode 4801 - A Sesame Street Thanksgiving
HBO Premiere: Saturday November 18, 2017
PBS Premiere: Monday November 19, 2018

Elmo, Big Bird, Rosita, Alan, Julia, Nina and the rest of the neighborhood gather to appreciate all the traditions, cultures, and delicious foods their community has to offer.

This episode features an all-new street story, Leon Bridges singing "The Thanksgiving Song", the premiere of Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck ("Apples") and an all-new Elmo's World ("Thanksgiving").

If you saw "A Sesame Street Thanksgiving" please like this post and share your thoughts below.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

Do you know when this is going to be on PBS?

 

[Phillip]

Do you know when this is going to be on PBS?

Unfortunately this episode won't air on PBS until November 2018.

 

[antsamthompson9]

As the very first Sesame Street Thanksgiving episode, it was pretty good. Every character except Snuffy, Baby Bear and Rudy appeared. Kinda nice how Carmen now plays both Rosita and her abula. Also Mikaela, you wanted to know if Caroll Spinney is done with Sesame Street now: I'd say yes. His voice wasn't heard at all in this episode. His name is still in the credits, but that doesn't mean anything. The song with Leon Bridges was pretty good. The new Cookie Monster segment looks like it could be funny, mostly thanks to Gonger. The new EW segment was pretty good, with a cameo by Grover, Abby and Rosita. Interesting how there was no number of the day, or street story outro.

 

[Oscarfan]

Nice street story where everyone got a line of dialogue (except the Count, ), but hey, a good dose of Prairie Dawn is never bad.

This was definitely a jam-packed show, since they had to shorten the Foodie Truck intro, and there was no Number of the Day or closing scene. I hope this isn't a trend.

The Leon Bridges song was okay, not really that great to me. But I fully expect it to be the song on this year's parade.

But I really like Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck; major improvement over Smart Cookies, which were nice-looking, but repetitive and surprisingly unfunny, especially under Joey's helm.

EW is pretty much the same still, so...whatever.

 

[D'Snowth]

The street story itself was pretty nice - not much to go on except for Rosita's embarrassment that her abeula didn't prepare things such as turkey and sweet potatoes and such for Thanksgiving, but learning of other family traditions and dishes helps her feel more included. It's nice that SST, which has countless Christmas specials and a handful of Halloween specials to their name has done something for Thanksgiving - I kind of feel like I wanted a little more, but I'm not sure how much more they could have fit into the story, and I feel like they focused on the right things as it is: sharing food with your families and loved ones, and being thankful for what you have.

I can see what @HiHo3892 is saying about how deep Matt's Big Bird voice has gotten - it almost sounds like Matt is using his natural voice for Big Bird now. It is a tad disorienting, but I guess we can't complain about it. Gonger, on the other hand, sounds very much like Baby Animal, but with Baby Bear's speech impediment, and a British accent . . . it was difficult to understand him half the time, which is why I guess we had Cookie to sort of parrot what he says.

Speaking of which, I . . . could go either way on the Foodie Truck segment: on the one hand, it's interesting to see Cookie (and Gonger) in a Murray-esque environment of traveling out into the real world, though unlike Murray Has a Little Lamb, we don't see Cookie or Gonger actually out and interacting with whoever they visit, they just do it through a tablet screen. On the other hand, Foodie Truck lacks the humor and cleverness of Crumby Pictures and Smart Cookies. Overall, I'd say Foodie Truck may actually be a step down from Crumby Pictures and Smart Cookies, but I remain confident that it still has potential - again, if only because food trucks, in general, are all the rage right now, so if anything, Cookie's hip and with it.

Leon Bridges's Thanksgiving song was pretty smooth. I liked it. Not much else I can say about it.

And I guess as of this season, what Alan was saying about he, Chris, and Nina being the only humans left on the show is official, as they were the only cast members credited. That doesn't still mean we won't still see the others in repeated episodes: after all, Sonia officially retired from the show a few years ago, but Maria surprisinly appeared last season when the Season 40 opener was used as a repeat.

Is this the first time Alan's Japanese-American heritage was actually mentioned on the show? I know it's common knowledge with fans and behind-the-scenes, but I can't remember the show ever actually calling it to attention.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

As the very first Sesame Street Thanksgiving episode, it was pretty good. Every character except Snuffy, Baby Bear and Rudy appeared. Kinda nice how Carmen now plays both Rosita and her abula. Also Mikaela, you wanted to know if Caroll Spinney is done with Sesame Street now: I'd say yes. His voice wasn't heard at all in this episode. His name is still in the credits, but that doesn't mean anything. The song with Leon Bridges was pretty good. The new Cookie Monster segment looks like it could be funny, mostly thanks to Gonger. The new EW segment was pretty good, with a cameo by Grover, Abby and Rosita. Interesting how there was no number of the day, or street story outro.

I knew it was coming that Caroll would eventually be done with Sesame and retire. It’s just sad now.

 

[antsamthompson9]

Could fellow members of Muppet Wiki please reply to the question I asked in this thread? http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:217959 As much fun as I've had updating that page, I don't think it needs to be updated anymore if Caroll's not gonna voice his characters anymore.

 

[HiHo3892]

I knew it was coming that Caroll would eventually be done with Sesame and retire. It’s just sad now.

The street story itself was pretty nice - not much to go on except for Rosita's embarrassment that her abeula didn't prepare things such as turkey and sweet potatoes and such for Thanksgiving, but learning of other family traditions and dishes helps her feel more included. It's nice that SST, which has countless Christmas specials and a handful of Halloween specials to their name has done something for Thanksgiving - I kind of feel like I wanted a little more, but I'm not sure how much more they could have fit into the story, and I feel like they focused on the right things as it is: sharing food with your families and loved ones, and being thankful for what you have.

I can see what @HiHo3892 is saying about how deep Matt's Big Bird voice has gotten - it almost sounds like Matt is using his natural voice for Big Bird now. It is a tad disorienting, but I guess we can't complain about it. Gonger, on the other hand, sounds very much like Baby Animal, but with Baby Bear's speech impediment, and a British accent . . . it was difficult to understand him half the time, which is why I guess we had Cookie to sort of parrot what he says.

Speaking of which, I . . . could go either way on the Foodie Truck segment: on the one hand, it's interesting to see Cookie (and Gonger) in a Murray-esque environment of traveling out into the real world, though unlike Murray Has a Little Lamb, we don't see Cookie or Gonger actually out and interacting with whoever they visit, they just do it through a tablet screen. On the other hand, Foodie Truck lacks the humor and cleverness of Crumby Pictures and Smart Cookies. Overall, I'd say Foodie Truck may actually be a step down from Crumby Pictures and Smart Cookies, but I remain confident that it still has potential - again, if only because food trucks, in general, are all the rage right now, so if anything, Cookie's hip and with it.

Leon Bridges's Thanksgiving song was pretty smooth. I liked it. Not much else I can say about it.

And I guess as of this season, what Alan was saying about he, Chris, and Nina being the only humans left on the show is official, as they were the only cast members credited. That doesn't still mean we won't still see the others in repeated episodes: after all, Sonia officially retired from the show a few years ago, but Maria surprisinly appeared last season when the Season 40 opener was used as a repeat.

Is this the first time Alan's Japanese-American heritage was actually mentioned on the show? I know it's common knowledge with fans and behind-the-scenes, but I can't remember the show ever actually calling it to attention.

He's 83, so he's held off retirement for a long time. (Fran Brill retired in her 60's) But he still visits the set frequently. Even though he's not performing. I'm glad that he's still involved by supporting Matt, Eric and his fellow muppeteers. However, even though he really just retired, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he reprises his roles for something special regarding the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street. Also, he still performs Oscar sporadically for various live appearances.

I think there's a chance we might see him with Oscar at the Henson Company event next Spring. We'll just have to wait and see. So I don't think he's completely done with Big Bird and Oscar just yet. They're always going to be a big part of him. But we have we have Eric and Matt to fill in until then.

As for Matt. I don't really see why we can't complain about him. The character would be better served with another performer. It just doesn't feel like Big Bird the same way Eric's Oscar feels like Oscar or Stephanie's Prairie Dawn feels like Fran Brill's Prairie. It seems like a different character whereas even when Caroll did him for the Julia episode I could still see the same BB that asked about Mr. Hooper, ran away from the Dodo's, etc. I don't see any of that Big Bird in Matt's performance.

I know I felt the same way when Fran Brill retired, as well as Frank Oz (If Jim were still alive I'm sure he would be retired as well). But it's a different show now. It doesn't feel like a real neighborhood anymore. A neighborhood where muppets where just a small part of a community with real people that went through experiences like hurricanes, grief, adoption, etc. A place that you felt like you could visit and knock on Oscar's trash can and he'd be there. It feels too surreal, too trendy, too random. I miss the episodes that focused on a community at it's core. Not just a spot where a celebrity could play some random, one off, trendy, unrealistic character. The street itself has less of a presence. It feels like an empty shell of what it used to be.