1985 seemed to be Sesame Street's peak

[LincolnHeights]

I'm not sure if anyone else will agree, but it seems like 1985 was the first year when Sesame Street went through its first period where the show started to loose its magic. Now I was only 4 years old in 1985 and it is almost as far back as I can remember watching the show, but looking back at all the episodes and seasons, I'm sure for a lot of people who grew up with the show in the 70's would agree that the show started to loose its edge in 85 just a little bit, and it only went downhill from there. I'll give some examples

Snuffy is finally seen by all the Sesame Street humans and is no longer known as Big Bird's imaginary friend. Therefore the magic of the Big Bird Snuffy relationship dies down a little bit, because they no longer have that sacred friendship, and Snuffy is seen having special moments with other people. Besides Big Bird. Since Snuffy looses his status as the "imaginary friend" he is just another Large Muppet on Sesame Street.

Northen Calloway (David) starts to pack on some pounds and shaves off his sideburns. This gives David a whole different image, and seems to change his charachter a bit too. He's no longer that young, slim, energetic kid we once knew who worked in Mr. Hooper's Store. He's now more serious, and to the point. Also it's at this point when his health starts declining, and there is a noticable change in his voice, due to the fact Northen had cancer.

David and Maria's relationship starts to die down slowly, while Maria's friendship with Luis slowly turns to love, a few years later. While Maria and David are still occasionally seen holding hands or standing real close to each other during songs, there was some courtship with Maria and Luis starting as early as this 17th Season, in an episode where they have their first date and go to the movies, and Slimey follows them there. It wasn't until 2 years later when it became relevant, and everyone on SS knew they were officially in LOVE.

Elmo is officially introduced this season. He was seen occasionally the year before (voiced by Richard Hunt) But now he has the personality that's here to stay and is an official part of the SS family, and 22 years later, I do mean official. LOL Slowly the charachter would gain more and more popularity and by the early 90's many storylines focused on him, by the mid 90's the majority of storylines would focus on him, and the late 90's........ Youv'e got it, Elmo's World.

Olivia's role on the show becomes "Recycled" when the actress Alaina Reed leaves the show to star on 227. She is still in the Friday closing credits as a regular cast member, but most of the stuff you see with her is old rerun clips that are inserted into current episodes. Either that or rerun episodes from 2 years ago with an advanced number.

So in a way, you could say 85 was the first watering down of Sesame Street. And probably the first time classic fans started to loose interest.

 

[muppet maniac]

My 2...5...10...er, 50 cents on this (hands 50 cents) Oh, no, now I'm almost out of cash:

While you think that 1985 was the year SS apparently started to go down, it's really late '78 that killed it---the "warm, nurturing comedy", and that of what is akin to a children's version of "Laugh-In", kinda started to fade away. It just wasn't so special like it was anymore. People have said that it was the late 90s that Sesame Street got "dumbed" down. Apparently, it had already "PC'd" at the time period I just mentioned.

I have absolutely nothing against Elmo-I don't think he's such a bad guy. I mean, he's there for the little kids, and kids at the age can identify with him because of his manner of speaking and curiousity, and ways of seeing the world.

THAT'S the whole point about Sesame Street: the Muppets created for the show were characters kids could easily identify AND relate to him/herself: Big Bird was the everychild, always wondering about the world, etc . Ernie and Bert were like brothers who'd bicker at times but still got along. Oscar has the "Eh, I don't wanna do this, I don't wanna be bothered..." attitude, and is also very cheeky, and filled with wise-cracks. Grover, was a peace-loving little fellow who wants to do good and struggles to do so. He's also popular because of the same reason as Elmo is. Cookie Monster of course, is a glutton and one-trick pony. Herry was a big tough-looking fellow but was completely harmless. Prairie was every "goody-two shoes" girl.

The adults-Gordon, Susan, Bob, Mr. Hooper, Maria, David, etc. were there to teach them, play with them, help them with certain things, and even be the butt of all that hilarity and chaos. So they're like the Muppets' "psychological" parents and caregivers.

Then came more "kid" Muppets like Telly Monster, Alice, Elmo, etc. Then came the 90s where we had Rosita, Zoe, Baby Bear, and others to name a few.

Like I said, these characters are great, because kids can really relate to them and their adventures. I know I too, related myself to these characters. And all of you may have as well.

And look at the show now: Big Bird is still 6 years old (Muppets cannot age, can't they?) but he seems like the big brother now. The others are pretty much the same, but they've kinda "grown" too.

About Snuffy: Truth is, he WAS real this whole time: several kids saw him, Judy Collins sang the alphabet with him (in opera may I add, it's also on YouTube. Just go to sawing14s' profile, you'll find it there)...so clearly, he was never "imaginary". It was all just...a simple misunderstanding.

While Muppets like Elmo and the ones I mentioned are clearly kids, some may have adult characteristics-having jobs, being uncle, etc. Ones like Biff and Sully, The Count, are all adults, yet they do tend to think like kids.

Everybody keeps putting the blame on poor little Elmo for "killing" the street. It's NOT his fault, it's the producers'. Well, it's actually all that commercialism that's choking the show to death. The big Tickle-Me craze back in 1996 was way too much. I remember thinking, "Why?" So yeah, I don't hate Elmo, I just hate the ambigous commercialization that they're putting him through. Well, that and Elmo's World.

I was kinda irked when I first became aware of the new format back in 2002 (that is when I turned on the TV one day). I did manage to get over it eventually, but 1969-1978 was the best time period for Sesame Street (69-74 being "rock-on")

 

[minor muppetz]

I often wonder when the "cut-off" period is for when the classic/ early years began. Would it be 1975? 1979? 1985? 1990? 1992? 1998? or later? Hard to determine. I think that the cut-off period would have been sometime before Jim Henson died.

And Elmo was around longer than just one year before 1985. He's been around since 1979.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

The elmo we have today had been around sense 85. O could agerr that the first major "cut-off", or "decline" it you will would be 1885. But I sure that it just happend naturally because the show had lasted till that point. Nothing and be on 16, 17 years with out having to have something major change about it.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I've heard that argument before, that the show peaked when the adults saw Snuffy. My opinion was that it was a positive step for them to see him, the whole "let's not believe Big Bird" thing was too upsetting. Of course the show lost something, that will always happen. Big Bird's line about "I feel like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend" was perfect.

And Elmo was only one of the characters in '85 and not a problem at that point. The problem was when the character took over and monopolized everything.

I suppose some stuff started getting a little artificial and PC compared to the '70s years. But overall, no I think the '80s was a great period for SS. It was later that the show started to lose it.

 

[superboober]

I wouldn't call any particular point in the show's history an outright peak, just as there's no particular point that it fell off. It did plateau throughout the 80s and somewhat into the early 90s. I agree having everyone realize Snuffleupagus was real helped; it was bound to happen eventually was always my reasoning, so why prolong the inevitable too long. And Elmo as used from 1985 to about 1994 or so was a good character. Perhaps he would be liked more by old times fan such as ourselves had they kept him in that sort of supporting capacity.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Interestingly, Follow That Bird was from 1985, and was very successful. And even kids today enjoy watching it. They don't turn if off because it's not 'modern.' Just look at Amazon.com's reviews.

 

[zns]

I think it was probably by season 30 that the show started to die down. It still seems to rise up on an ocassion though.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Even though I was born that year,I'd say that Sesame Street started to go downhill in 1992 when they introduced that new hip hoppy intro and credits.

 

[mikebennidict]

I'm not sure if anyone else will agree, but it seems like 1985 was the first year when Sesame Street went through its first period where the show started to loose its magic. Now I was only 4 years old in 1985 and it is almost as far back as I can remember watching the show, but looking back at all the episodes and seasons, I'm sure for a lot of people who grew up with the show in the 70's would agree that the show started to loose its edge in 85 just a little bit, and it only went downhill from there. I'll give some examples

Snuffy is finally seen by all the Sesame Street humans and is no longer known as Big Bird's imaginary friend. Therefore the magic of the Big Bird Snuffy relationship dies down a little bit, because they no longer have that sacred friendship, and Snuffy is seen having special moments with other people. Besides Big Bird. Since Snuffy looses his status as the "imaginary friend" he is just another Large Muppet on Sesame Street.

Northen Calloway (David) starts to pack on some pounds and shaves off his sideburns. This gives David a whole different image, and seems to change his charachter a bit too. He's no longer that young, slim, energetic kid we once knew who worked in Mr. Hooper's Store. He's now more serious, and to the point. Also it's at this point when his health starts declining, and there is a noticable change in his voice, due to the fact Northen had cancer.

David and Maria's relationship starts to die down slowly, while Maria's friendship with Luis slowly turns to love, a few years later. While Maria and David are still occasionally seen holding hands or standing real close to each other during songs, there was some courtship with Maria and Luis starting as early as this 17th Season, in an episode where they have their first date and go to the movies, and Slimey follows them there. It wasn't until 2 years later when it became relevant, and everyone on SS knew they were officially in LOVE.

Elmo is officially introduced this season. He was seen occasionally the year before (voiced by Richard Hunt) But now he has the personality that's here to stay and is an official part of the SS family, and 22 years later, I do mean official. LOL Slowly the charachter would gain more and more popularity and by the early 90's many storylines focused on him, by the mid 90's the majority of storylines would focus on him, and the late 90's........ Youv'e got it, Elmo's World.

Olivia's role on the show becomes "Recycled" when the actress Alaina Reed leaves the show to star on 227. She is still in the Friday closing credits as a regular cast member, but most of the stuff you see with her is old rerun clips that are inserted into current episodes. Either that or rerun episodes from 2 years ago with an advanced number.

So in a way, you could say 85 was the first watering down of Sesame Street. And probably the first time classic fans started to loose interest.

I don't see why snuffy finally being revealed to the adult was all that big of a deal.