2020 to be "the year of the monster"

[minor muppetz]

I've found that Sesame Workshop plans a year-long celebration of Grover to be called "The Year of the Monster".

I heard about it yesterday when Muppet Wiki added a page for an upcoming special called The Monster at the End of This Story, and searched the sourced links, including this one: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw...2019-publishers-hunt-new-revenue-streams.html

Normally when a big anniversary season ends (since the 30th season), I get a big feeling of sadness, but this upcoming anniversary feels like motivation to continue being excited/happy after the 50th anniversary is over. I believe that article says that they plan to do similar things for other characters who are not in the "top three" (which the article says are Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Abby), I can't wait to see who else gets similar campaigns (how about a focus on the bottom 50?).

So far the only thing confirmed is The Monster at the End of This Story, an animated television special based on The Monster at the End of This Book. It'll be interesting to see how they can adapt that story into 30 minutes (wouldn't it be cool if it was multiple shorts based on multiple Sesame Street specials?), it's the first animated half-hour (I assume) special. I feel this would have made a great compilation spotlighting the best of Grover (by having linking footage based on the characters best-known book introducing the best of the character).

 

[D'Snowth]

I have to say, this almost sounds like another April Fool's joke, because it seems so random and unexpected.

 

[minor muppetz]

I have to say, this almost sounds like another April Fool's joke, because it seems so random and unexpected.

I thought the same thing as I did the first post (I was surprised this hadn't already been reported here, at Tough Pigs, or The Muppet Mindset). But if I was doing it as an April Fools Joke, I would have done it on the actual day AND I would have ended the first post with a big "April fools".

 

[minor muppetz]

I kind of wish they'd call it "The Year of Grover" or "The Year of the Monsters" and focus on other monsters as well as Grover.

Thinking about what would be good for the event. It would be cool to have a comprehensive book about Grover, or maybe Grover can be the next Sesame Street Muppet to "author" a book (he's already had so many other jobs, I don't think he's ever been portrayed as a writer before).

It would be cool if there could be a new Grover album, but only if it has plenty of content that hasn't been released in audio form (would it be good enough if it only had one previously-unreleased song?), especially since in the last two years we've gotten two new Grover compilations consisting entirely of material that's previously been released in audio-only form.

It'd also be great if we could get a new Grover DVD compilation. Ever since the recent Awesome Alphabet Collection I've been thinking there should be more with the "Awesome (insert theme here) Collection", an "Awesome Grover Collection" would indeed be awesome. Or if there were to be a multi-disc Grover collection aimed more at us, "Ultimate Grover Collection" would be a cool title. As would "The Year of Grover".

I won't be surprised if Sesame Workshop puts out more Grover content on its official YouTube channel to celebrate. It'd be cool to see various Grover compilations spotlighting his waiter job (or a Grover and Mr. Johnson compilation), Super Grover, Grover and Kermit, Grover's Monsterpiece Theater appearances, and more. Maybe upload some rare street stories where Grover was the main focus. A cool concept would be to have one collection called "the years of the monster", with a Grover segment from each season (if they are going strictly by what year they were broadcast, I think Henson #5 is really the only segment with Grover that aired in 1969, and he's not really the star of that; though I have a feeling they would show the first and last sketch, which seems to be the go-to season one Grover clip that Sesame Workshop releases).