PBS Kids was influential

[Muppet Master]

Interesting timing as the federal government has now gutted the Ready to Learn grant, leaving PBS Kids in jeopardy.

I remember seeing these quite often. They were really neat crossovers, cool to see the Between the Lions and Sesame Street characters interacting. I think there was also one where Guy Smiley hosted a game show where the contestants were T-Bone from Clifford and Grandma Thora from Arthur.

 

[sootyfan]

I really hope PBS is able to survive man, this **** is ridiculous

 

[LittleJerry92]

Admittedly getting into my first HUGE nostalgic trip of Sesame Street skits during the baby days of YouTube in the summer of ‘06 when I was 13 (wow, this site really has aged like milk 20 years later), I was pretty impressed seeing the Ernie rapping commercial. Also makes me miss hearing Steve Whitmire as Ernie.

Regarding what happened with PBS, yikes…… definitely not a good situation there…..

 

[Muppets02]

Admittedly getting into my first HUGE nostalgic trip of Sesame Street skits during the baby days of YouTube in the summer of ‘06 when I was 13 (wow, this site really has aged like milk 20 years later), I was pretty impressed seeing the Ernie rapping commercial. Also makes me miss hearing Steve Whitmire as Ernie.

I completely agree—I really miss when Steve Whitmire performed Ernie. He brought such warmth, charm, and energy to the character during his time on Sesame Street. I was genuinely surprised and dismayed when he was abruptly let go and replaced in Season 45. It was also disappointing that much of the material he filmed as Ernie in his final years on the show never aired in the domestic version.

 

[datman24]

I completely agree—I really miss when Steve Whitmire performed Ernie. He brought such warmth, charm, and energy to the character during his time on Sesame Street. I was genuinely surprised and dismayed when he was abruptly let go and replaced in Season 45. It was also disappointing that much of the material he filmed as Ernie in his final years on the show never aired in the domestic version.

And we don't know if they either let him go or fired him, because we have two different stories of what allegedly happened.

 

[Muppets02]

And we don't know if they either let him go or fired him, because we have two different stories of what allegedly happened.

That’s a fair point, and you’re right to say that we don’t know for certain. However, Steve Whitmire has stated on more than one occasion that he was let go from Sesame Street due to the financial issues Sesame Workshop was facing, which made it increasingly difficult to fly him to New York to film the show. I do think it’s plausible that this could have been a contributing factor, especially considering that Sesame Workshop was cutting back on both its cast members and budget at the time. On the other hand, the story that he was "fired" came from an anonymous source, and I have some reservations about the credibility of that account.

 

[Muppet Master]

I thought Steve did a good job as Ernie as well, and Peter Linz has been pretty decent at it. Honestly wish Linz would also take over for Kermit since he seems to have the cadence down.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I’m tolerable with Matt’s Kermit at most. I just find a lot of people who continually over-credit him saying “He sounds JUST like Jim Henson!!!!11111!!!!” make me like him performing Kermit less with all the unfair hate these same people will often give Steve in return.

 

[sootyfan]

I’m tolerable with Matt’s Kermit at most. I just find a lot of people who continually over-credit him saying “He sounds JUST like Jim Henson!!!!11111!!!!” make me like him performing Kermit less with all the unfair hate these same people will often give Steve in return.

real

 

[Muppet Master]

So after all these years, my local PBS station finally removed The Berenstain Bears from their lineup. The show stopped producing new episodes in 2003, but the station aired reruns up until August 2025.