Elmo, Ready for Action! and his Overdominance

[dwayne1115]

Elmo apples to the younger kids and that is what he does best and if they want the younger kids comming to the show then they should put his name on the show.

 

[BEAR]

I don't have an enormous problem with Elmo. I guess I'm able to tolerate him and appreciate him more than most people here, but I do agree that he is overused. I mean, it isn't the fact that he is used a lot, it's that he is used over other characters too much as the front runner.

I believe Elmo has a purpose on the show, just as I believe all the other characters really do have a reason for being there. His speech never bothered me. Afterall, Cookie Monster has never spoken proper English either and we don't criticize him. It's part of his charm as a character. It also makes them real. Now, I'm not sure where Elmo's speech pattern came from. That would be an interesting thing to ask Kevin Clash about.

 

[Teheheman]

I think that Elmo is a little too egotistical for my taste. I mean, he talks in a 3rd person all the time, seriously, who does that? I also think that if the show has NOTHING to do with Elmo, and it has to do with Super Grover, then it shouldn't have Elmo's name on it. That's just me, I agree with a lot of people here when I say that Elmo is really a little too much sometimes. They try and make him the only character on SS. Back in MY day, there were a lot of different characters, for a lot of different skits. Now, it's like Elmo doing all those skits and Elmo doing it all. I guess the only thing that makes me wonder is how all those letters and numbers got all that money to be sponsoring the show for 40 years. They must have some Oprah money or something.

Daniel

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I don't have a problem with how he's used on the show as much as I do wish the enormous and unnecessary amount he's used in merchandise. It's as if the other characters are just there to be no more the background props and are totally over looked and ignored in favor of his face on a box of something.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I just don't think it's teaching a great lesson. If you're a kid who doesn't happen to like Elmo (yes they do exist lol), you're not going to get as much out of the show at this point.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I just don't think it's teaching a great lesson. If you're a kid who doesn't happen to like Elmo (yes they do exist lol), you're not going to get as much out of the show at this point.

Maybe they'll have to start looking somewhere else, perish the thought. It's like he'll turn some kids away from the show.

 

[erniebert1234ss]

More Elmo-milking. Please excuse me while I throw up. *barf*

Okay, that's a bit better. Thank God my puke isn't red.

BJ

 

[Drtooth]

I honestly don't think the performers have much to do with it, they generally don't have that kind of say. The people in charge of the show saw that the character was popular, they listened to certain child experts (not all of which I agree with), and they ran with it. And now they're stuck with it.

The only way a perfomer has any control over how popular a character is would be the performance of making that character endearing. The problem stems from what you just said, not to mention the popularity of the TME dolls back in the 90's, which really spurred the Elmo-centric style of the show now.

That said, You all know the real reason why Elmo speaks in 3rd person, right? The original version of the character was a lot more monstery than he is now. There are three kinds of Monster speak in SS/Muppet world. Correct English- Herry, Grover, Rosita (with correct Spanish as well), incorrect stitled English- Cookie Monster, Animal (he's not a monster, but he counts), and varying degrees of unintelligible mumbling- Two Head, Frazzle..etc. If you see Early Elmo skits, he had a Baby Monster stilted English speach. So that's pretty much the origen of his third person. With that one exception of speaking like that, his speach evolved to be more child like, and not so much monstery.

That said, clearly Elmo is a marketting tool now. I wouldn't be shocked to hear more parents ask their 2 year old kid if they want to "watch Elmo" and not "watch Sesame Street." Stuck is indeed the word, herald. SW deep down wants to move away from it, hense why 2 episodes last season didn't feature Elmo's World. They wanted to see how kids would react without that segment. And they reacted badly. They wanted Elmo. It takes 2 groups to make something a phenomonon- the creators and the mass audience. The mass audience wanted Elmo, so they got it. Now SW is indeed stuck having to use Elmo as a marketting tool. And it really is a double edged sword.

 

[SSLFan]

That said, clearly Elmo is a marketting tool now. I wouldn't be shocked to hear more parents ask their 2 year old kid if they want to "watch Elmo" and not "watch Sesame Street." Stuck is indeed the word, herald. SW deep down wants to move away from it, hense why 2 episodes last season didn't feature Elmo's World. They wanted to see how kids would react without that segment. And they reacted badly. They wanted Elmo. It takes 2 groups to make something a phenomonon- the creators and the mass audience. The mass audience wanted Elmo, so they got it. Now SW is indeed stuck having to use Elmo as a marketting tool. And it really is a double edged sword.

Speaking of those two episodes, I thought it would have maybe tested better if Elmo was featured in those actual street stories than in just clips.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

It like I said before. it's Urkel all over again. Where I characters takes over a show form an ensemble casts and takes the focus off of everybody els. LOL!