Your Thoughts: Elmo’s Christmas Countdown

[The Count]

Oh ok then... Yes, Stan is the man, the man who arrested Lefty for stealing the golden "AN, gave him ten days in the can when Lefty shoulda ran.
Happy holidays and have fun exploring the rest of the forums.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Okay, now that I saw this I can post a few comments. I guess after reading whatshisname's post I understand why the set was made to look like a pop-up book, but I still don't think that looked right. I like better when they use the real Sesame Street set and just decorate it for Christmas. It worked in many other SS Christmas specials. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Anyway, just to clarify, Telly, Zoe and Rosita did appear but not until the end of the special when they sung along with the rest of the Muppets and Santa Claus. (That was Kevin James? I didn't recognize him with the beard.) Anyway, I'm sort of glad those characters took a back seat to this one. I mean, not to say anything bad about them, but I liked that they were able to focus more on classic characters (ex: Big Bird, Snuffy, , Cookie Monster, Grover, , , and the Count). Though I feel that the Count could have been used more heavily since the focus was on a 'countdown.' About using Don Music in the place of Stiller the elf. That wouldn't be a bad idea. I was thinking Telly because of how nuerotic he was, but it would have been nice to see Don again. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the elf. I mean, he didn't mess up the Christmas calendar. That was Oscar. Yet, Stiller got blamed. Where's the justice? I couldn't blame him for being mad at that reindeer news correspondent.

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Interesting quote
Stiller: Even Elmo thought we didn't have a snowball's chance in....
Stan: Hey! This is a family program!
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I also liked when those guys from the Soprano's played Bert and Ernie. Though I did find it odd that Eric's Bert was criticizing someone for not getting the laugh right. That's a bit hypocritical there. Lol.

Also speaking of Eric's characters, in response to your post, Snowth, I guess Eric's Grover is sounding a bit different each time. I guess he's still working on it trying to sound more like Frank.

I also hadn't noticed that Matt was talking for Big Bird. I thought it was him in the costume, but I thought Carroll dubbed in all the lines. Not just the singing voice. Either someone was mistaken on that or Matt's getting better with the voice. I don't know.

 

[Grovette]

I thought that the Bert and Ernie skit was the best of the show.
Yep. Quite entertaining just like in the olden days of Sesame St.
The bit with Prarie Dawn yelling "Gingerbread Man!" was a hit im my Living Room.

The set was cheesy and there were parts of show that I didn't care for.
Oh well...overall, it was much better that what I was expecting...

 

[CensoredAlso]

Anyway, I'm sort of glad those characters took a back seat to this one. I mean, not to say anything bad about them, but I liked that they were able to focus more on classic characters (ex: Big Bird, Snuffy, Cookie Monster, Grover and the Count).

I agree. I have nothing against newer characters like Zoe or Rosita, but they got a lot of the attention most of the time. It's the classic characters who are in need.

About using Don Music in the place of Stiller the elf. That wouldn't be a bad idea. I was thinking Telly because of how nuerotic he was, but it would have been nice to see Don again. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the elf. I mean, he didn't mess up the Christmas calendar. That was Oscar. Yet, Stiller got blamed. Where's the justice? I couldn't blame him for being mad at that reindeer news correspondent.

Hehe, thanks for the support on my idea! Yeah I mean Don Music's whole deal was that he would quickly lose confience and start complaining and feeling sorry for himself. Yeah I felt sorry for the Elf too, the blame he kept getting was extremely harsh! lol

 

[Aleal]

Yeah but some of the kids in the audience are raised to know who the king is. I know it was meant to be a joke, but I just personally didn't find it funny, especially with the way the society treats Christmas lately.

I don't quite follow this, and actually, I think it's a misunderstanding of the song lyrics. If you mean "the king" in this instance is referring to Jesus Christ, it isn't. "The Child" is Jesus. The king is, presumably, either a proxy for the magi or just any other figure in a high position who is still able to preclaim the news and significance of Christ's birth when he hears it. So, if Alicia Keys is doing the same thing, I don't have any problem with listening to her.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I don't quite follow this, and actually, I think it's a misunderstanding of the song lyrics. If you mean "the king" in this instance is referring to Jesus Christ, it isn't. "The Child" is Jesus. The king is, presumably, either a proxy for the magi or just any other figure in a high position who is still able to preclaim the news and significance of Christ's birth when he hears it. So, if Alicia Keys is doing the same thing, I don't have any problem with listening to her.

Right yeah, I posted a couple of posts back that I misunderstood what was happening in the scene. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Drtooth]

Would you believe it took me three days till I could review this thing?

I thought it was pretty good. I mean, it wasn't as cloying as a Very Special Sesame Street Christmas (or the a very special Leslie Uggams just happening to be on Sesame Street... and uh Big Bird is there too... and Oscar Somewhere).

I also hated the set. it looked like it was filming a stage show, not a special. I enjoyed most of the content, and I like how Oscar was the one that set everything in motion. And the cut scenes were pretty good. The highlights being The Count singing "I Saw three Ships" (Mayhaps a reference to Muppet Family Christmas?) and the Ernie and Bert Christmas Special. I also enjoyed I want a Snuffleupagus for Christmas.

The Other stuff was pretty good as well, but nothing extremely mind blowing. The Nutcracker thing was good only for Jamie Foxx, IMO. I did like how they at least tried to work in other characters.

But still, that set. Looks like a local theater production. What were they thinking? The only things that bugged me were that and the fact that...well... I think the special should have been "Filmed" (there are filters on current cameras that make everything look filmed) instead of "Taped."

And sue me. I love Kevin James, so I liked his Santa.

A nice little special, but not my favorite. I prefer the classic Christmas eve special, as well as Elmo saves Christmas and Happy Holidays (the only time something should be called Happy Holidays. I mean, they went to explain Hannuka and Kwanza. Plus the true meaning of Christmas). But much much much much much much better than the 75 thing. Oooh.... I hate to put down a classic SS product, but.... I never seen the Star Wars Holiday special outside of the Youtube posted cartoon segment. it can't be worse than that, but I feel it's the same 70's style "here are celebrities guesting on a familiar scene" type special.

I give it a B- ...maybe a C+. I'd watch it again next year. Maybe buy a DVD. It kinda felt more like Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, the way the celebs were shoe horned in. Especially 2 people from ABC (to tempt the network to airing, ala the Scrubs cameo). And I think the plot could have been a little sharper. It seemed like Family Guy cutting away to a random scene. But at least (sorry to keep ragging on this special) it didn't feel like "OH! Ethyl Merman! Glad you could come. Hey! It's Immogine Coca for some reason. Now Michael Jackson walked by!" like the other special was.

So not the best, but not the worst. Plus, they really should have given Cookie a bigger part.

 

[ChellisPal]

as i sat and watched this special i was thinking, yes they did a good job with this and it is nice to see a new holiday Muppet special BUT Disney could have taken that same story, all the guest stars, set it in say the Muppet Theatre and have an excellent Muppet Show Christmas special. Maybe Kevin Clash will see some potential in doing that and convince Disney and ABC to go that route next year.

All in all very enjoyable, well written by Joey Mazzarino (I generally enjoy his stuff) I look forward to keeping it in my holiday rotation for years to come.

 

[minor muppetz]

I thought that the special was great. The cardboard-looking set reminded me of Sesame Street Live. It's a shame that no explanation was given as to why Christmas still came. And it was great to see Herry in this (though he didn't get any lines). I am surprised that Murray wasn't in this (I saw an orange monster who looked a bit like Murray among the crowd at the beginning of this).

 

[MelissaY1]

Well, like many recent Muppet projects I was hugely disappointed by this one as well. The CGI stuff was awful, NONE of the human characters featured? I'm sorry but I taped it to watch it and I will be taping over it shortly...not a keeper in my opinion