Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 40

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

I want to say that the framing just has to do with what it looks like when editing. Since everything got switched to widecreen in High def, maybe the title frames on the editing software have changed slightly. You're right though. Hopefully someone would have noticed that and they'd try to work with it.

 

[Drtooth]

This really cuts to the core about how it seems like some of the most important people that really understood what makes the show work were among those laid off and how overall the show seems very rushed and sloppily put together.

No matter what - the children come first right? And while appealing to kids of all races, backgrounds, and social class, Sesame from the beginning was meant to give lower income children a headstart.

So, if one of the biggest parts of the curriculum is learning letters and numbers as well as the initial building blocks of reading, why did everyone involved with Sesame Street seemingly forget that just because the show switched to hi-def/widescreen last year, that that doesn't mean that every single household WATCHING the show on the other end of the screen doesn't have these newer fancy (expensive) television sets...especially during a major recession? A large portion of children watching don't have widescreen tv's and various PBS stations don't maintain the widescreen format, instead switching to a fullscreen presentation (my local PBS sometimes switches to fullscreen and sometimes doesn't).

So if you have an educational show built on getting kids to recognize letters, numbers and words that show up on the screen, they should be FRAMING all those as if a viewer is still watching in fullscreen - as i've seen countless words cropped off - what good is it to teach how the letter "R" starts the word "Rodent" if all you see on the screen is "odent"? The lower income families that can't afford the latest fadgets are getting left behind...which should NEVER be the case when it comes to Sesame Street. They're losing touch with the realities of how their audience is seeing the show to the point where it interferes with a child's ability to learn from it and that just flat out makes me furious.

That's an annoying little problem. If they absolutely have to show the show in widescreen, why can't they put the words in the middle in the 1:33:1 cut off. Plus, when they switch from new widescreen segments to older full frame segments with the jarring black bars on the sides. I didn't notice them really, and I'm sure the kids may either notice or ignore them... but I watched a Between the Lions that was shown in widescreen (once... we have the same problem with that show since they air it on PBS's digital kid's station) the full frame skits were framed by artificial curtains on the sides of the screen. It made it look clever and seemless.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Has Marco (Gina's son) made appearances this season?

I haven't seen him. The weird thing is that I've seen Gina at work this season and she's not married, so what I wonder is who stays with Marco while Gina is at work. I know Gabi once said she babysat for Marco sometimes, but if she's in college during the day it might be hard for her to take classes and take care of Marco. I don't know. Just thought I'd post my thoughts on that.

 

[InvaderZim]

Australia will finally air season 40 on Feb 1:
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2010/01/returning-sesame-street.html

We in Australia always have seasonS aired sevral months after the US.

 

[Drtooth]

Pretty good episode, considering it was made up of mostly reused footage. At least Abby was only seen once this time.

Anyway, not only do we get a great story focusing on Big Bird, but Jerry Nelson and 3 of his characters appeared, The Count being a main figure, Jerry, Sherlock Hemlock and Herry as cameos... and Sherlock even had one line. It had a very classic sense to the street story... Elmo seemed sort of pasted in, but not so much as he has in other episodes.

And I just LOVED the way they handled the letter X, or how Murray handled the letter, breaking out of the song to say "There aren't many words that start with X!"

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Okay, so that was Jerry. You can disregard my post in the 'hidden gems' thread then. Lol. Yeah, Big Bird centered stories are always good though I was sort of expecting Snuffy to make an appearance. I guess it was Matt who wore the costume at least for the roller skating part. I don't know if Carroll still does stuff like that. Again, it was nice that the Count got a part in a street scene. Then there's 'The Counting Booth' coming up, so he'll have at least two eps this season. I still wish they'd bring back the old Zoe puppet though. I'm not used to seeing her with all that hair.

 

[Muppet Frog]

Don't worry the cuter Zoe puppet will be used in the next season and it's currently used in guest appearances.

 

[SSLFan]

I guess it was Matt who wore the costume at least for the roller skating part. I don't know if Carroll still does stuff like that.

Well, Mr. Spinney actually did perform as BB skating last season. It was a song that was performed in the finale episode.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Don't worry the cuter Zoe puppet will be used in the next season and it's currently used in guest appearances.

Thanks for that info, Frog. Yeah, I noticed the old Zoe puppet was on 'Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader.' I'm glad they're bringing her back. I guess they realized that people didn't care much for the later one.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Well, Mr. Spinney actually did perform as BB skating last season. It was a song that was performed in the finale episode.

Hmmm. I must have missed that. So Spinney does still roller skate as BB, so maybe it was him doing it in the last episode. That's very admirable for someone his age to skate in such a heavy costume. I feel bad for Matt though. It seems like he hasn't done much with the brid lately.