Changes that you actually liked

[Ilikemuppets]

Yeah! I really love the imaginations song a lot too. It's a bit Elmo Centric, heh, but it cover it in a matter of minuets and it and within length of the song number.

 

[Convincing John]

Elmo Centric...(rim shot).

Yeah, it does get the point across, and the composition and design of the bit obvously took a lot of time. The hard work really pays off, as so many elements look realistic, yet are set in imaginary context. I always liked that realistic hand moving the cloud, the butterflies around the window and the hidden "Elmo Gone Nuts!" sign.

As I've said, SW can do some really great stuff if it wants to. This clip, in all honesty is Elmo's World. It's Elmo's imagination.

As a former teacher in elementary schools, it's sad what Sesame Street has to conform to sometimes. I've seen the curriculum of my former schools. Sadly, creativity and imagination take a back seat...a very distant back seat to adequate scores on standardized tests. Rote memorization was abundant and reading focused solely on non-fiction. An acceptable student in the eyes of the administration was represented mainly by test scores and how well their scores matched the others...

Come graduation day...

"Magnificent, aren't they?"

SW writers need to realize that although it's important to address current issues (now the hot topic is nutrition), it shouldn't neglect the identity of the street and what it means to all of us. Sesame Street's unique, one of a kind. This competitive nature between it and other kids's shows not nearly as good (i.e. Dora) only hurts the "soul" of the street and is also an insult to the rich history of where 35 years worth of kids grew up. Sometimes I feel like the characters between shows are trying to see who has the loudest, most obnoxious voice. Elmo is a siren, Barney came along with an obnoxious laugh and terrifyingly saccharine demeanor. Elmo became even more falsetto and giggly. Then Dora appeared and shouts--her--words--slowly! Then it seemed Sesame felt it had to retaliate with the Elephant...whose voice cannot be explained better than by Vic.

What Horatio the Elephant sounds like.

It's as if all these networks are playing one big game of Ernie and Bert's "Appliance War" with their characters.

I think that this is (partially) why Frank Oz is sad about the current state the show is in. Nearly 20 years of fine tuning the place with Jim at his side. And then...there's that elephant.

It's not Stepford Street...it's Sesame Street. Frank knows that. We know it. The trick is to get the experts behind the show to realize this so the program can be the innovative powerhouse of learning and entertainment for ALL ages it once was.

Sesame Street ain't just for kids. It's lessons are there for all of us.

Convincing John

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Aw, man! I've never seen the "Elmo gone nuts" sign before! That is totally cool! I have to keep a look out for that one!

By the way. Is the graduation the attack of the clones?

 

[Convincing John]

Yeah, the "Elmo Gone Nuts" sign is there in the corner of the screen when Elmo sings about going for a walk on the moon. Also, since Elmo smiles a lot, they replaced Teddy Roosevelt (another well-known smiling personality) with Elmo on the Mt. Rushmore statue. Look for it.

And yeah...when I was a teacher, there was this huge emphasis on standardized tests. Test scores defined the student as far as the aloof administration was concerned. Students as individual people was a concept sadly left unrecognized.

To have an entire class of students achieve the same percentage on standardized tests, walk quietly in line at all times and not to disrupt the general status quo with independent thought was an underwritten goal of that administration. So when graduation comes for those kids...

"As a result they are totally obedient, taking any order without question..."

It was a scary time.

It's times like those I was so glad there are artists (like Jim, etc.) that thought outside the box. Of course, when Frank Oz started out on Sesame Street, he was clearly thinking outside the box.

See?



Convincing John

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Yeah, I remember having to stand in line and having to be quite and not talk. It had something to do with not interrupt or distracting the other classes while they were trying to work. But I know what you're talking about, though.

Sesame Street challenges that being different was okay and that its important to be who you are. All this stuff about trying to take away recess and playtime and PE is just crazy and scary all at the same time you know? Kids need to get out run rampant somtimes and not just be stuck in a uniformed, law biding environment all day. And the talk about thirteenth grade for the past several years.

 

[CensoredAlso]

As I understand it, the reason they want to take away recess is because kids can get so uptight and nasty and competitive when playing. And I agree, that does happen. But the answer isn't to cancel recess, it's to raise your kids differently so they know not to behave badly.

I personally don't have many fond memories of recess because I'm not at all athletic and wasn't part of any groups. Kids aren't born bad, but neither are they born entirely good I think. They do need to be taught about empathy and compassion.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I do know what you mean by sports and group games like tag. I wasn't a very competitive person as a kid either and is was. You know, I always envied the kid who was chosen last because that were at least chosen at all, LOL! But I guess that is another subject for another time I suppose. But just let a kid get some energy out from sitting around all day. I mean slides and swings and monkey bars and other things to play on. But then their is always the possibility of someone hogging everything. A simple lessing about sharing and taking turns can go a long way, heh.

 

[Drtooth]

Sigh. I thank you for your opinion, but once again, this thread has degraded back into an anti-Elmo/post 1998 Sesame rant thread. I think we've covered this ground millions of times by now, and we have lots of other threads to post these in. May I suggest here?.

So, if you have any changes that happened to the show in the course of it's 39 years... and it needn't be a recent one, this is where to discuss it.

Not that I'm not agreeing with you (I do), but just trying to keep this thread from being cluttered up about something like this.

 

[Convincing John]

Didn't mean to get off topic. Sorr-ee.

As for improvements over the course of the show, I would have to say I enjoy the constant additions of subjects added to the ever-growing curriculum. This was mentioned in the 20th Anniversary special with Bill Cosby.

Although concepts were covered in a clip here and there in the old days (for instance ecology), sometimes shows would stretch out over a week (maybe more) in later years to teach this basic concept.

They've done dozens of "themed week" shows dealing with concepts kids need to know beyond ABC's and 123's. After the recent hurricane episodes (done very well, by the way), I remembered another week of shows done in the late 80's, early 90's. It covered fire safety thoroughly with Miles (earlier post describing what happened).

Also...I think think they re-aired it during October (Fire Safety month) in my area. Don't know whose idea it was to do that (the network may have had advice from CTW to re-air it) but it was a smart thing to do.

Even though the divorce episode was too intense for kids, the other plunges SW has made over the years to teach about, well...life always gets a thumbs up from me. Hopefully, if an Old School 3 set comes out, episodes like that will be on there so kids can learn even more about big events in life (Maria and Luis's wedding, Mr. Hooper's death, Gabi's birth, etc). What can a kid learn from the wedding episode? Well, learning to keep your "beak" shut till it's over, for one thing.

Since the curriculum is always in a state of flux, kudos to them for expanding kids minds and basically saying "Hi, and welcome to the world. Now, there's a LOT here, I know, but we're going to try to teach you as much as we possibly can about it. C'mon!"

Can Barney do that? I think not.

Convincing John

 

[SSLFan]

May I suggest here?.

Honestly, I never meant for that to become an anti- Elmo type thread. In fact I was only expressing how much I missed, well, you've seen the rest...

Anyways, my apologies.