Sesame Street Season 50 Episode 5021 - The Fluffster Kerfuffle

[Phillip]

Episode 5021 - The Fluffster Kerfuffle
HBO Premiere: Monday April 6, 2020
PBS Premiere: Monday April 6, 2020

Elmo, Rudy, and Abby play superheroes with their toys while Big Bird and Julia paint nearby. Rudy wants to play with another toy and spots Fluffster, Julia's toy, on a table. But as soon as he takes Fluffster, Julia gets upset. Alan explains that Fluffster is Julia's special toy that helps her calm down so it's not a toy she likes to share. Rudy understands how Julia feels and apologizes for taking Fluffster. And even without sharing their special toys, they all find a way to play together.

This episode features an all-new street story, a new Big Bird's Road Trip (Corvallis, Oregon), a new Abby's Amazing Adventures ("Toy Salespeople") and a new Elmo's World ("Toys").

Beginning with Season 46, HBO acquired exclusive first-rights to broadcast Sesame Street episodes. PBS broadcasts these same shows nine months after their HBO premiere. In order to help more children with autism, this episode aired jointly on HBO and PBS on Monday April 6, 2020. Check local listings for air times for PBS and HBO. This is the first Season 50 episode to air on PBS.

Autism currently affects 1 in 68 children. Sesame Workshop has an official website for children and parents who are dealing with the challenges of autism.

If you saw "The Fluffster Kerfuffle" please like this post and share your thoughts below.

 

[Oscarfan]

Other than seeing how the writers are getting a better handle on Rudy, this was easily the weakest of the Julie-centric episodes.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Other than seeing how the writers are getting a better handle on Rudy, this was easily the weakest of the Julie-centric episodes.

I have to agree. I think that was more talking about aspects of autism rather than having an actual plot. I get that they wanted to teach about that, but this kind of is a bit too similar to the first one with Julia and after "Shape Hunt" and "Julia's Haircut," I felt like they could have done more of a storyline with that.

But since this is my first viewing of a season 50 episode, some notes about other stuff on the show.

I liked the cold opening with Oscar and Fluffy (I thought that might have been Carroll there since I know he's recorded lines for his characters for season 50 prior to his retirement/death, but I don't know. I'll check Muppet Wiki on that).

I liked the new letter of the day and especially the number of the day inserts, especially the latter with the martians. They were due for an update there since the ones they've used before have become outdated. (After they still have been using the old ones with Murray and he's pretty much gone by now, though they have used MHALL repeats over the past few seasons.) The "Around the World" segment was nice too. Kind of reminiscent of the segment they had in the 90s with Big Bird's postcards from around the world. This season seems to show promise. Can't wait until season 50 comes to PBS this fall.

 

[D'Snowth]

I guess I probably should have tried watching on HBO, because even though my PBS's schedule shows that it's on right now, it appears they're broadcasting local content instead . . . some lady's cellphone video about living out in the country and something like that, I don't know. Which is odd, considering it's been a looong time ago that my PBS pretty much abandoned most of its own local daytime programming and adopted the national PBS schedule instead.

 

[Phillip]

I guess I probably should have tried watching on HBO, because even though my PBS's schedule shows that it's on right now, it appears they're broadcasting local content instead . . . some lady's cellphone video about living out in the country and something like that, I don't know. Which is odd, considering it's been a looong time ago that my PBS pretty much abandoned most of its own local daytime programming and adopted the national PBS schedule instead.

We mentioned this was happening about a week ago. Most PBS stations have changed their schedules in response to children being home from school due to COVID-19 school closures. Sesame Street still airs as normal on the PBS Kids subchannel.

PBS updates daytime TV lineup for students learning at home during COVID-19 crisis

Many local PBS stations are modifying their daily kids' lineups beginning on Monday March 30 to help the millions of students across the country now learning at home for the first time. Numerous stations are rearranging their programming blocks so that they fit into a specific age range at...

muppetcentral.com

 

[D'Snowth]

Didn't see that, but that does explain it, yes.

 

[CoolGuy1013]

Then again, this is the time of year when #YourHBOisFlawed.

 

[Oscarfan]

I guess I probably should have tried watching on HBO, because even though my PBS's schedule shows that it's on right now, it appears they're broadcasting local content instead . . . some lady's cellphone video about living out in the country and something like that, I don't know. Which is odd, considering it's been a looong time ago that my PBS pretty much abandoned most of its own local daytime programming and adopted the national PBS schedule instead.

It is on the PBS Kids website if you missed it.

 

[antsamthompson9]

I really liked the ballad that was sung in this episode. It was nice seeing Fluffy again. The new Amazing Adventure was one of the best ones so far, because of the environment and other characters besides Basket to interact with Abby and Rudy.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

The song was nice. Rudy was very cute in this episode.