Any idea when Prairie Dawn became a major character?

[minor muppetz]

Does anybody have any idea when Prairie Dawn became a major character? It seems like she was a lot more minor during the first 20-something seasons. Seems like she was just barely more major than Betty Lou was on the show. This could be due to the fact that Fran Brill seemed to work on the show less than the other main performers until the early 1990s, when Zoe was introduced. After all, after the second season Fran Brill was uncredited for years.

 

[Oscarfan]

I don't think she started appearing more until the early 90's. She was basically a semi-recurring character beforehand.

 

[SSLFan]

I would like to say sometime in the 80's, since she was featured with the core muppets (Big Bird, Cookie, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Oscar, Count, and an early Elmo) in some promotional stuff like SSL pictures.

However, she really came into the spotlight sometime in the early 90's.

 

[mikebennidict]

Think she was always major.

After all these was doing the SS Theater segments though maybe she was used a lot more later on.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Think she was always major.

After all these was doing the SS Theater segments though maybe she was used a lot more later on.

Agreed I think she was major much earlier than the '90s. She was always putting on the little plays. Plus the feminists in the '70s were always coming down on the show for not having enough female characters and I think she was a reaction to that.

 

[dwmckim]

Kind of hard to narrow it down to a specific year/season, but i would not call her major in the 70s. Yeah, she had the pageant sketches but really that was the main thing she had for her. Aside from the pageants and the difference in hair styles there was very little distinctions between her and Betty Lou or any other random "little girls".

Sesame did have the (valid) criticism for years that there were a lack of female Muppets and i think they got more proactive towards addressing that in the 80s and you saw Prairie more - but i'd still say she was reflected more in books and merchandse than the show itself (course that was also especially true in the 70s)

I'd still wouldn't call her a major character in the 80s. The most prominent female Muppet, yes - major character, no. But she was used more and more of her personality began to develop. The 90s is when she really took off. Yeah, there was also a push to include more females like Zoe and Rosita (and briefly to resurrect Betty Lou and give her some more distinct personality traits) but even with the big media hooplah with Zoe, Prairie really started to come into her own - featured more in street stories, pairings with Monty, Cookie Monster...

It's been a slow climb to the top (and when one considers the "top" as Elmo, then Prairie's still climbing - Abby Cadabby got there much quicker and sooner - but hey, she was wings which makes it easier to reach high places, right?), but Prairie's rise has been slow and gradual. Mileage may vary on when she finally crossed over from minor to major.

 

[FatBlueMuppet]

Prarie Dawn first became a major charachter in the 1990-1991 Season. I remember being very surprized to see her appear in the street scenes. Before this, she only appeared in inserts. It must be Fran Brill started spending more time working on SS in the early 90's.

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm not really sure whether this thread inspired it or if it's just a coincidence, but The Muppet Mindset has an article about Prairie Dawn: http://themuppetmindset.blogspot.com/2009/09/weekly-muppet-wednesdays-prairie-dawn.html

 

[Drtooth]

Kind of hard to narrow it down to a specific year/season, but i would not call her major in the 70s. Yeah, she had the pageant sketches but really that was the main thing she had for her. Aside from the pageants and the difference in hair styles there was very little distinctions between her and Betty Lou or any other random "little girls".

You bring up Betty Lou... which gets me to say this....

How come you see a lot more Betty Lou merchandise than Prairie Dawn? Prarie, I'd say is a B character... not as Major as Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie or anyone like that... but certainly more major than, say Don Music or Sherlock Hemlock. But yet, you never see Prairie stuff, and you see a lot of Betty Lou stuff... The Gund 35th anniversary plush, several figures... I swear there's more examples I just can't think of right now... but all Betty Lou favoring.

 

[minor muppetz]

You bring up Betty Lou... which gets me to say this....

How come you see a lot more Betty Lou merchandise than Prairie Dawn? Prarie, I'd say is a B character... not as Major as Big Bird, Ernie, Cookie or anyone like that... but certainly more major than, say Don Music or Sherlock Hemlock. But yet, you never see Prairie stuff, and you see a lot of Betty Lou stuff... The Gund 35th anniversary plush, several figures... I swear there's more examples I just can't think of right now... but all Betty Lou favoring.

I was thinking about this, too. I thought Prairie Dawn was made as a Sesame Street beanbag toy in 1998, but then I looked at the Muppet Wiki page for Sesame Street Beans, and there was no Prairie Dawn, and she was a main character by then. And during the 1970s there were many toys made of Lefty, Sherlock Hemlock, and Guy Smiley, but not Prairie.

But I found that there was a Prairie Dawn puppet made in 1983. It was made by mcCall's Crafts. A Prairie Dawn PVC was also released by Tyco in 1998.