Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 40

[Oscarfan]

Um, they didn't. Your station (like one of mine) just chops off sides of the show so that the new stuff is in 4:3 ratio.

 

[D'Snowth]

Anything but the annoying black bars is fine with me.

 

[dwayne1115]

Anything but the annoying black bars is fine with me.

Well i want to dissagree with you if they went with wide screen then you would have been able to See that during Big Bird's song when he was at his nest Grover, and Cookie Monster where both there. with out it you could hardly see Cookie at all.

You may not really like the "Black Bars" but after really studing movie magic Widescreen is the way to go with almost anything. You really get to see more when you use it.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Okay. I thought I'd post my thoughts here. It was a disappointment that I missed Kermit. That was Steve Whitmire performing him there, right? What was the EW theme on that, frogs? I'd like to catch it if they show it again.

In all honesty, I didn't care much for Murray hosting the show and doing the letter, number, etc. of the day. That gives the other characters so much less air time. Like someone mentioned, I'd much rather see the Bert and Ernie puppets than Great Adventures. They really need to find a way to give the characters more airtime.

The street scene was really good too. I liked that it incorporated all the SS humans. Of course, that was probably Bob and Susan's appearance for this season, so we probably won't see them again until next season. But it was good that they showed up in this ep. Same with Barkley. Lately, he only appeared in the Elmo's trycycle segment, so I was glad they used him in something new.

I did like how Big Bird kept butchering the guys name like he often did with Mr. Looper. I think what would have been a good idea is to have the Big Bird plot carry on the whole episode. They could have showed Big Bird actually move to the rain forest and have his friends try to convince him to return. They could have incorporated more Muppets and maybe some flashbacks. It just seems like there's so little they can do when they only have about fifteen minutes for a street scene. This might have worked better for a prime time special. Anyway, I'll have to look for that cameo again. That seemed to be the highlight of today's show!

 

[ISNorden]

Episode 4187 in review

The Good Points:

• The hint of "Follow That Bird" that others have mentioned in the opening scene: like Miss Finch, Mr. Flipman overreacts to Big Bird's minor discomfort and tries to make him behave like other birds. The goodbyes to the cast put a lump in my throat, too...and so did the song about Sesame Street being Big Bird's real habitat. Awww...
• The running gag about Big Bird's repeatedly mispronouncing Flipman's name; the two of them even meet in front of Hooper's Store as a kind of visual hint.
• Susan, Gordon, and Bob all appearing on the street--not to mention Barkley. This'll probably be their only appearances all season, but seeing them together again was worth it.
• The little girl hugging Murray in the letter-of-the-day intro; any "hug moment" is a good point to me!
• The birthday cake with 40 candles, included in a counting-by-fives number clip...a subtle reminder of you-know-what. (There were at least three new number clips in this episode, in fact; Traction Jackson's song was decent, though I wish they'd revived some of the older segments about counting to 40! *sigh*)
• The accent-switching humor in Bert and Ernie's "Maltese Duck" sketch. (Sure, Malty can't quack; but his other vocal skills are awesome!)
• Big Bird's naive wondering whether the First Lady ate seeds. This is the Big Bird I grew up loving: a curious, childlike fellow who treats celebrities and ordinary neighbors the same.
• Kermit the Frog's cameo in the new "Elmo's World" segment. It's a shame Disney couldn't afford to give him more than one line, but at least Kermit's kept his old sense of humor.
• "Murray Has a Little Lamb" no longer appears every day; I wonder if they're dropping it permanently. (Still, Ovejita shows up during the opening theme so I could be wrong!)

The Bad Points:

• Yet another change to the opening visuals: including more kids and Muppets was a great idea in theory, but in practice the street looked as overcrowded as the show's new format.
• WAY too much time wasted introducing segments; between Murray's emcee bits and two long theme songs, it's no wonder the lesson material was easy to miss.
• A total lack of classic clips, even if you count any pre-EW season as classic.
• Three mini-shows starring a single character, in the same episode. Even kids who like Bert and Ernie, Elmo, and Abby Caddabby equally might get bored seeing repeats all season... The way Sesame Street is evolving, I fear that it'll fracture into separate shows within 5-10 seasons--each one a 15-minute block starring a different Muppet.

Overall Impression:

After all the PR fanfares about the 40th season, and the books and recordings commemorating it...the actual season premiere felt as if Sesame Workshop were running out of steam. The street plot and the Obama appearance were very well done, the occasional in-joke turned up in mid-show; but most of the memorable parts were buried in an avalanche of new formatting. Hopefully, this half-hearted beginning doesn't reflect the other 25 episodes to come!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Yeah! I got to watch Sesame Street's 40th. season premiere! And that was really cool! It was great seeing the whole human cast there- but it would've been nice to see more of the Muppets. And Big Bird's storyline was pretty similar to "Follow That Bird", although the real estate dude wasn't nearly as mean or scary as Miss Finch.
I still wish everything wasn't segmented all the time, but oh well.
Abby's Flying Fairy School was humorous enough, as was Bert and Ernie's Adventures. (But I'd still like to see the actual Muppets on there too.) I guess I miss seeing some of those classic Muppet sketches and songs- that's what seemed to be lacking. And I sat all the way through the Elmo's World segment as well- and I was freaking out to actually see two things- a quick clip from a classic live action frog song from the '70s, and Kermit the Frog himself! With one line, even! And yes, it was classic Kermit humor. Nice! That alone made the episode for me, being a pretty big Kermit fan. It would still be great to see him in a much larger role once in a while, but still it was good to see him on Sesame Street again in a new scene.
A nice start to the 40th. season- Happy Birthday, Sesame Street! May you have many more!

 

[dwayne1115]

I know Kermit on Sesame Street sounds natural right. You know it seems like the apperance was kind of saying Kermit sitll lives on Sesame Street. At least thats the way it seemed to me.

 

[animalrescuer]

I either missed the premiere or it never came on where I am right now, Chambersburg, PA, just for college. Why didn't anybody tell me that Kermit, The Kermit the Frog was making a cameo? I can't believe I missed it!

When someone has a chance, can you please post the clip on YouTube? I really want to see it now! Did Steve Whitmire play him then?

 

[dwayne1115]

yes Steve did preform Kermit! How wonderful to see him. Was this the first time he was ever a part of Elmo's world?

 

[mbmfrog]

I can not believe I missed Kermit the Frog on Elmo's world. I mean WHY?

Still this could explain why we haven't been hearing any news of a 40th anniversary special, because maybe the show higher-ups were trying to negotiate with Disney into allowing the Frog to show up for a few mintues. Besides Sesame Street is also Kermit's home away from home.