What would happen if Sesame Workshop retired Elmo?

[RedPiggy]

At least we can be confident the Henson folks understood Barney smacked them below the belt ... see the jokes about him in Dinosaurs. They hate him with as much passion as we do

I doubt Elmo CAN'T be retired, as I would have thought a lot of characters couldn't but they were. I do agree that maybe he's psychologically necessary at the moment (depressing as that is).

I'll be honest ... I change the channel once his skit comes on. Like someone else said, he's like sugar, and I don't like that much sugar.

I despise the de-aging of the show, but what can you do? Other characters are much older than that (please don't give me ages ... some characters are clearly teenagers at the very least ... such as Grover ... he has far too many jobs to be less than a teenager ... can you imagine any of the SST tots doing that?). Toddlers can't relate (apparently) to even Big Bird, who was the eternal child of my generation and the one before that.

We all see ourselves, in part or in whole, in lots of characters. It's rather distressing to me that most toddlers see themselves in just Elmo. *shudder*

 

[Gelfling Girl]

Maybe they could start by shortening Elmo's world. I admit I'm not that big of an Elmo fan now, but I loved him as a kid, so I wouldn't want them to completely get rid of him, but it would be nice to give some more attention on the other characters.

 

[JanicesMainDude]

Maybe they could start by shortening Elmo's world. I admit I'm not that big of an Elmo fan now, but I loved him as a kid, so I wouldn't want them to completely get rid of him, but it would be nice to give some more attention on the other characters.

I agree 100%...

 

[Drtooth]

We all see ourselves, in part or in whole, in lots of characters. It's rather distressing to me that most toddlers see themselves in just Elmo. *shudder*

What do you expect? they make the show for 2-4 year olds now... didn't they make it for like... 4-6 year olds in the first place? I'm surprised Baby Natasha didn't become the break out relatable star of the show...

At least we can be confident the Henson folks understood Barney smacked them below the belt ... see the jokes about him in Dinosaurs. They hate him with as much passion as we do

Honestly, there is so much to hate about Barney when you get deep down into the surface of it. I have to admit something... I kinda sorta liked him when he first came out... my Sister was a baby at the time and watching it. But after a while, I saw him as an annoying, personality devoid Marty Stu that just mumbled old public domain songs (as it's cheaper than writing your own songs)... now I see him as an upper class conformist... shoving his suburban affluence in SS's urban setting. That's what's wrong with SS... I touched upon this in the now closed "Muppet Diplomacy" thread...

Maybe they could start by shortening Elmo's world.

I'm totally dumbfounded by why he needs a full 10-15 minute segment, when so much of it could be trimmed down. Even Monster Clubhouse and Hewo guy cut straight to the point and lasted 5 minutes each. None of the beating around the bush and talking nonsense about Birthday cakes. Even cutting a minute here, a minute there.... you could pair it down to 8 minutes easy.

 

[Nick22]

i don't mid elmo. i don't love him, but i don't hate him either. he's pretty annoying, yeah, but i grew up with him. i think elmo has WAY too screen time. it's not fair. where has praire dawn been? gone? replaced by abby? i can't sit through elmo's world. i tried watching awhile ago, and hadda turn off elmo. it's too long, and too irratating. i can't stand it. if the segment were 5 minutes, i'd probably be fine.

 

[muppets2]

yea elmo's world gets annoying and when you watch it again more annoying pretty soon you cant stand it and hate elmo

 

[CensoredAlso]

What do you expect? they make the show for 2-4 year olds now... didn't they make it for like... 4-6 year olds in the first place? I'm surprised Baby Natasha didn't become the break out relatable star of the show...

But what's strange is that I think 2-4 year olds watched Sesame Street, even back in the '80s. It's not like it was unwatchable back then for that age until Elmo came.

now I see him as an upper class conformist... shoving his suburban affluence in SS's urban setting. That's what's wrong with SS... I touched upon this in the now closed "Muppet Diplomacy" thread...

And I still agree.

Okay... you know when you watch a really really bad Sci-Fi movie from the 1950's... not to enjoy it, but to laugh at it, make fun of it, or sarcastically pretend to enjoy it....Watching a reality TV show ironically is when people watch these shows to either laugh at the contestants or because they know the show is trashy, and they watch it for the campy trashy value....I'm under the belief that NO ONE likes reality TV shows on purpose.

Ahhh, OK thanks! I do think that represents a big part of the audience. Despite their claims of being inspirational and helpful to people, some of these shows are a lot about humiliation and exploitation. I don't feel they're that far from Roman Colosseum days. I think we're all a little guilty of keeping them on the air!

 

[unclematt]

It would make th show watchable again. Just playin!

 

[Drtooth]

But what's strange is that I think 2-4 year olds watched Sesame Street, even back in the '80s. It's not like it was unwatchable back then for that age until Elmo came.

es, but I mean the difference is that they specifically cater to that group most of all now. It's written specifically for them in mind... something I don't agree with one bit. And that's because ALL Preschool shows are targeted to that range... Blue's Clues... Dora. Face it... when Teletubbies came on the scene (a show made for kids even younger than that- who don't benefit from TV at all), things all went downhill.

Ahhh, OK thanks! I do think that represents a big part of the audience. Despite their claims of being inspirational and helpful to people, some of these shows are a lot about humiliation and exploitation. I don't feel they're that far from Roman Colosseum days. I think we're all a little guilty of keeping them on the air!

And of course the people who watch "Survivor" and other reprehensible ones and say "OOh... like, I just have to like, watch it and some junk BECAUSE it's all, like, trashy and sleazy and bad." You know that whole "this is my guilty pleasure" stuff.

 

[CensoredAlso]

And of course the people who watch "Survivor" and other reprehensible ones and say "OOh... like, I just have to like, watch it and some junk BECAUSE it's all, like, trashy and sleazy and bad." You know that whole "this is my guilty pleasure" stuff.

Yeah I know, not even putting up a pretense of finding something redeaming about it, hehe.

I think everyone has that part of the brain that enjoys that sort of thing. Maybe most of the time we don't think about it, but Television stimulates it. It's the essence of advertising. We don't know we need something until they tell us we do!

Which I think can be said for the dumbed down kids shows as well.