Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 43

[dwayne1115]

If it gets kids excited about music then it is fine by me I love hearing my little 3 year old sing. Think about it this way SS is always changing and EW has been on the show for what 15 years next to the Street stories that is the longest thing that has not changed on the show. It was time for a change and this is a change in the right direction.

 

[The Count]

Er, has noone reported that woman to FB? Clearly, it's a case of trolling and sock-puppet multiple accounts. *Shrugs, walks out of thread to wait for today's episode and give Season 43 a chance.

 

[Phillip]

The episode for Tuesday September 25 is...

4302: The Good Sport

After losing to Abby in several games of hot potato, Elmo turns to Telly for help in becoming better. He becomes so good that, the next time he plays Abby, he repeatedly wins; and then his newfound skill goes to his head, causing him to show off.

 

[The Count]

Oh, so this'll have the Eye of the Potato (Rocky Theme) parody. Excellent.
*Can't hear that intro music without lapsing into The Rye or The Keiser by Weird Al instead.

 

[minor muppetz]

This was a good episode. I think it's episode number 4334 (hey, a number palindrome! And the first two digits are 43, like the season number!)

Oops, I checked Muppet Wiki and it's actually episode 4301. Don't know why I thought it was 4334, but I thought I'd "known" that for a few weeks. But it is cool that the 43rd season is one digit off from starting the 4300 episode numbers.

 

[The Count]

First off, I'm because the TV signal's buzzing with a potential storm/flood warning without any news of such.

Episode 4302: The Good Sport.

Word on the Street: Champion.
Commercial Sponsors.

Street Story:
Elmo and Abby keep playing with a regular, then a big, then a small potato.
They try playing faster... Elmo gets frustrated. And of course it's the potato's fault.

Then Telly comes in and we get the Rocky song parody.
So we launch into what South Park taught us, that when you need to get really good at something in a really short time, you need a montage.
The song was too short for my taste though. Still can't hear that song without singing The Rye or The Keiser.

Apparently hanging out with all those sports stars has influenced Elmo's skills at both Hot Potato and trash talking.
Telly: I created a monster.
Elmo: I was already a monster.
Telly: I created a monster monster.

Forgot how the "boyee" can get really annoying really fast.
Trust the grown-up, Leela, to insert the moral lesson of sportsmanship back into the story.

Me am impressed with the song "Elmo Didn't Mean To", that's the kind of depth that makes the character genuine likeable.
Which leads to the kids playing another round of Hot Potato.

BTW: Anybody besides me remember the game show of the same name?


Inserts/Segments:
1 Word of the Day: Abby and Blake Griffin explain "champion".
This seems much more organic than past seasons' inserts. Especially since Abby pits a hen versus a griffin in a chicken-calling competition.
2 The Plontsters? Thought we'd gotten rid of those bits.
Why do I feel Sesame "borrowed" them from Eureeka's Castle.
3 Murray and Ovejita present the letter R with a radio, rock, and rabbit.
4 Animated: R is for roar, river, row, race, run, rope, rain forest, roar, rain, rainbow.
Meh, another plotless letter segment. We need to get back to segments that show some thought and fun rather than just list a bunch of items starting with the featured letter.
5 Abby's Flying Fairy School: Choice Time with Super Fairy, repeat.
Super Fairy's diva act makes me laugh, it reminds me of attention-starved celebrities.
Surprised Mrs. Sparklenose is also a fan of hers.
6 Obligatory Alphabet Song, bleh.
7 Murray and Ovejita present the number 11 with eleven flowers after Murray pushes the button.
7 Kids count eleven butterflies.
Again, can we please get something interesting like the Lonely Eleven song/segment?
*Grumbles as to why we don't get the Count TV added to the lineup, Jerry's Count for the single digits and expand it to Matt taking over the character for the double digits.
8 Bert & Ernie's Great Adventures: The Bird Games, repeat.
Now this is a segment I've missed watching. Sure, it may be claymation versions of the characters, but at least it's something entertaining.
9 Murray and Ovejita play a game of match-up with sports balls and their helmets.
10 Muppets: Grover gets Mr. Johnson a cup of coffee, along with a lesson on how coffee is harvested and made.
And of course, he has to make fresh sugar from sugar cane... And fresh milk from his old friend, the Sesame Street cow.
*Laughs at the cow getting excitable after she drank Mr. Johnson's cup.
11 Elmo: The Musical: Athlete, The Musical.
I already like Velvet much more than Shade, especially if she's going to be Elmo's coach.
Enormous Athlete: What shoes?
Me: The ones you endorse.
Elmo wants to win the golden shoes?
Event #1: The Long Jump. The event that made Carl Lewis famous.
Event #2: The Shotput.
Enormous Athlete won these and has four total points.
Event #3: The Hurdles, worth five points, can you guess who'll win?
Now we know this is a fictitious competition because Elmo stops to help Enormous Athlete when a real race would keep running. Either the downed racer would get back up or in worst case he'd get medical attention from onsite trainers.
Gotta agree with Drtooth, this is far more enjoyable than Elmo's World.

Murray recaps the sponsors and we're done.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm probably the only one to say this, but I actually loved seeing Elmo act like a jerk. We rarely get to see that side of him, and almost never without the aid of Rocko. Making Elmo a completely infallible character does no service to anyone. Even he should have his bad side. It really sold the Abby/Elmo pairing in a way that it rarely does. I told yah they needed some comedic tension.

The bittersweetness of this being the last Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson Grover and Mr. Johnson sketch is outweighed by how great it was. They did the "where something comes from" angle before, where Grover gives him corn when he wanted eggs or something... but this took it to eleven with dizzying levels of frustration. The Cow drinking the coffee while it was being milked was just genius.

And Elmo the musical, as cliched as that ending is, managed to surpass its expectations once again. I LOVE the character design for Enormous Athlete. Sort of like Lord Zostig, but not quite. I hope to see that monster in the background and used in monster sketches.

And the only complaint I have is that I really dislike that Tilly and the Wall alphabet.

 

[muppetlover123]

Is the theme for ETM catchy?

 

[Oscarfan]

Is the theme for ETM catchy?

Heck yeah it is! I've already got it on my iPod

 

[muppetlover123]

Do you have a mup3 of it yet?