Rumor: Abby gets own segment

[dwmckim]

The E&B claymation is actually very understandable once you know the history behind them. They were originally produced to be a stand-alone show to be aired in other countries (ones with childrens programming blocks of a bunch of short under 30 minute pieces - which these days are a rarity in the US). Sesame fans complained that we wouldn't see them in the US. Sesame (originally not planning to do so when they were in production) eventually reversed themselves as aired them as part of Sesame Street in season 39...and then dealt with everyone complaining and afraid that clay E&B were going to replace real E&B.

Sesame Workshop often has to contemplate the big global picture when they create stuff - not only the American Sesame but the various international versions of Sesame have become institutions in their own respective countries. Most of them air stuff that were originally made for American Sesame...and more and more since Elmo's World and the breaking of the show down into different segments, there's always the tempation to create more segments that can both work within American Sesame and be stand-alone shows elsewhere. Elmo's World was the beginning of this as indeed these are shown elsewhere as its own stand-alone show. Global Grover became another segment that became its own entity elsewhere - Ernie and Bert's Great Adventures - the claymation Twiddlebugs were also created with the same idea (though i don't know at the moment if they actually followed through making this an international "show" or just ended up with a handful of segments for Sesame Street. I've not heard anything about these being broadcast anywhere as its own show (really because it is a bit narrow to an English-as-first-language being taught Spanish as a second language) but at it's regular timing of 6 min, 20 seconds, Murray Has a Little Lamb seems tailor-made to be an independant series.

I would think (hope?) that Sesame realizes that EW was a bit too much in terms of a segment in terms of time (15-20 minutes...originally done that way because research showed that around the 40-45 minute mark is when the younger children started to get restless watching) and would never attempt something like that again and that a new Abby (or any new segmants) would be more like 4-6 minutes.

 

[SSLFan]

The difference between Big Bird and Elmo and Abby though is that BB is the heart, soul, and start of SS IMHO. Characters may come and go but they will always have BB to thank for it . My being depressed over him being overlooked isn't just because I grew up with him but becuase I think he still has so much more to teach than Elmo or Abby ever could at their level, or age (maybe Abby could teach words but she'd have to mellow a bit more than she is now IMHO). I think back when BB was in his prime he did a great job at teaching things that were far far above the simple-let's-sing-a-word-to-the-turn-of-jingle-bells level...
To me, BB stands for the idea of not talking down to little ones because they are smarter than you think-ness, and that's what I really miss on SS

Well said!

 

[The Shoe Fairy]

The E&B claymation is actually very understandable once you know the history behind them. They were originally produced to be a stand-alone show to be aired in other countries (ones with childrens programming blocks of a bunch of short under 30 minute pieces - which these days are a rarity in the US). Sesame fans complained that we wouldn't see them in the US. Sesame (originally not planning to do so when they were in production) eventually reversed themselves as aired them as part of Sesame Street in season 39...and then dealt with everyone complaining and afraid that clay E&B were going to replace real E&B.

Sesame Workshop often has to contemplate the big global picture when they create stuff - not only the American Sesame but the various international versions of Sesame have become institutions in their own respective countries. Most of them air stuff that were originally made for American Sesame...and more and more since Elmo's World and the breaking of the show down into different segments, there's always the tempation to create more segments that can both work within American Sesame and be stand-alone shows elsewhere. Elmo's World was the beginning of this as indeed these are shown elsewhere as its own stand-alone show. Global Grover became another segment that became its own entity elsewhere - Ernie and Bert's Great Adventures - the claymation Twiddlebugs were also created with the same idea (though i don't know at the moment if they actually followed through making this an international "show" or just ended up with a handful of segments for Sesame Street. I've not heard anything about these being broadcast anywhere as its own show (really because it is a bit narrow to an English-as-first-language being taught Spanish as a second language) but at it's regular timing of 6 min, 20 seconds, Murray Has a Little Lamb seems tailor-made to be an independant series.

I would think (hope?) that Sesame realizes that EW was a bit too much in terms of a segment in terms of time (15-20 minutes...originally done that way because research showed that around the 40-45 minute mark is when the younger children started to get restless watching) and would never attempt something like that again and that a new Abby (or any new segmants) would be more like 4-6 minutes.

Here is an example where FR would be good. Fraggle Rock was produced in such a manner that it could be easily redone internationally and syndicated. I think SS is trying to do this kinda thing, and here in Australia E&B's Great Adventures is a separate program, albeit on in 6:30 in the morning. Same deal with EW and Global Grover. When they run out of SS, they put on EW, when they run out of that, Global Grover. Thereby keeping the timeslot by replacing one SW production with another. And it doesn't have to be a muppet one either.

 

[CensoredAlso]

The difference between Big Bird and Elmo and Abby though is that BB is the heart, soul, and start of SS IMHO. Characters may come and go but they will always have BB to thank for it .

I know what you mean. Other characters can appeal to new generations and that's great. But it's not easy to really replace what made a show so special in the first place.

 

[Drtooth]

The E&B claymation is actually very understandable once you know the history behind them. They were originally produced to be a stand-alone show to be aired in other countries (ones with childrens programming blocks of a bunch of short under 30 minute pieces - which these days are a rarity in the US). Sesame fans complained that we wouldn't see them in the US. Sesame (originally not planning to do so when they were in production) eventually reversed themselves as aired them as part of Sesame Street in season 39...and then dealt with everyone complaining and afraid that clay E&B were going to replace real E&B.

Tell me about it. I for one, love the segments. I just wish they switched up the show so it could have alternated with Murray's segment. They only made about 13 Murrays, and showed them twice. There are still some E&B's that haven't aired yet. And I feel it's not so much they want to replace them (though, Frankly, I don't care if I never see weak segments like Ernie singing "In My Room" again), so much as they don't have time for both. I'm glad they combined it into the SS show... otherwise, we'd have to see them all unofficially on Youtube.

I would think (hope?) that Sesame realizes that EW was a bit too much in terms of a segment in terms of time (15-20 minutes...originally done that way because research showed that around the 40-45 minute mark is when the younger children started to get restless watching) and would never attempt something like that again and that a new Abby (or any new segments) would be more like 4-6 minutes.

Funny thing about getting restless around that mark... the show is like, 50 minutes or less right now. I agree with that logic there. An Abby segment, as popular as the character is, I doubt would hold kid's attention for that long. And I don't think it would be too be a cross gender hit. I doubt the boys will follow it.

Plus, what's she gonna do for 15 minutes anyway? Talk to another spastic adult for 5 minutes, talk to a baby for no apparent reason and say that a birthday cake can't fly?

 

[Drtooth]

Well, the RUmors are True...@^% And it will be 10 minutes long. Again, @

Here's what I think about it....

 

[SSLFan]

Well, the RUmors are True...@^% And it will be 10 minutes long. Again, @

Here's what I think about it....

LOL. I imagine that's what 'Big Bird' is actually thinking too!

It's really sick though. I mean, now I DON'T want to watch Season 40. But again, I cannot judge anything yet, since nothing has aired. This may be good, or this may be really bad. But I'm sick of CGI! Really! It's taking away from the Muppets! We JUST had a CGI Bert & Ernie segment! Now an Abby one? That's 9-10 minutes! Get out of here! And as I stated in the other thread, having them openly admit to making Abby as their 'next big thing' really just says SELL OUT all over their faces. At least Elmo's popularity really was sorta 'unexpected', and the character DID have time to DEVELOP; point is, it wasn't necessarily planned or anything. Abby has been on the street for only 3 years and already SW is prepping her as their next big star. I hate it. What were they thinking? It really shouldn't be called Sesame Street anymore. It's the Elmo & Abby Cadabby Show, with occasional appearances by Cookie Monster, Oscar, Big Bird, and if you're even lucky, Snuffy and The Count will stop by! Oh, and Drtooth, I would have said I hate 'Sesame Workshop', not 'CTW.' To me, their two different periods in SS's history, 'CTW' was the vintage, good quality era of SS where they were not listening to all these crazed people telling them how to run their show, but 'SW'? That's another story. Sick.

 

[Oscarfan]

although I'm shocked, I'm not as worried anymore because SW will find a way around the time length to fit in some segments. take last year for example, we lost 6 1/2 minutes to Murray, but we still got some good segments included, like Grover vs. Pino. Plus, they've mentioned all these other new sketches, like a new waiter Grover and Marshal Grover sketch, the Word of the Day stuff will continue and we got new parodies like Mad Men and John and kate Plus 8 that they'll squeeze into each show. So, I'd calm down until we actually see some visual proof.

 

[Drtooth]

Oh, and Drtooth, I would have said I hate 'Sesame Workshop', not 'CTW.' To me, their two different periods in SS's history, 'CTW' was the vintage, good quality era of SS where they were not listening to all these crazed people telling them how to run their show, but 'SW'? That's another story. Sick.

I was too lazy to add annotations, but I couldn't find any good footage of anyone saying "Sesame Workshop." otherwise I would have used it. Plus, I needed that funky Chimes intro. And I spent, roughly 3 minutes on it.


If anyone's wondering, apparently other people have done this before, and I just was bucking the trend.

although I'm shocked, I'm not as worried anymore because SW will find a way around the time length to fit in some segments. take last year for example, we lost 6 1/2 minutes to Murray, but we still got some good segments included, like Grover vs. Pino. Plus, they've mentioned all these other new sketches, like a new waiter Grover and Marshal Grover sketch, the Word of the Day stuff will continue and we got new parodies like Mad Men and John and kate Plus 8 that they'll squeeze into each show. So, I'd calm down until we actually see some visual proof.

That's what I feel. I'm over-reacting a bit, but I hate the idea of SS being segmented up, especially since they actually were trying to move away from that. Like in that Organized Crime movie, everytime dey try ta go straights, dey gets pulled back in!

Personally, I'm more troubled about the fact it's 9 minutes (5 minutes shouls suffice) and the fact they've replaced a major character with CGI. Why do I still watch Sesame Street as someone pushing 30 (in a few years)? The puppetry. If they'd use the Waldo system from Henson, that would at least be technically digital puppetry. But now it will look like roughly everything else on kid's TV, including the horrible Superwhy and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

I bet they bulk the segment up with film footage of talking to kids. I like the Murray segment because the muppets actually interact with the kids. This... this stuff I've always felt boring.

 

[Oscarfan]

I bet they bulk the segment up with film footage of talking to kids. I like the Murray segment because the muppets actually interact with the kids. This... this stuff I've always felt boring.

The SST films I can tolerate, the ones on Plaza Sesamo I hate so much. They go on forever!