'Downton Abbey' gets the 'Sesame Street' treatment

[Drtooth]

Releasing these before they air kinda ruins the surprise. I know they want to drum up publicity for the series, but it's far more satisfying to see these in the show first and online second.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Wow, these last few years we've gotten Frank Oz performing one-shot characters in parody sketches.

I agree. It's nice that he's doing more than just Bert, Grover and CM these days.

When I first heard that there would be a "Downton Abbey" parody I assumed Abby Cadabby would be featured (it would be something to see Frank perform a character alongside Abby, I don't think he's done that yet). I also previously misread the title as "Downtown Abbey", and assumed it was a show on MTV (then again I still don't know that it isn't). Wasn't expecting a show taking place in a mansion.

Yeah. I thought Abby Cadaby would appear there as well, but I guess in that case it would be "Dowtown Abby." No E.

 

[Drtooth]

I just realized. They blew a humongous opportunity to make this a Monsterpiece Theater skit, considering what show Downton Abbey airs on.

 

[minor muppetz]

I just realized. They blew a humongous opportunity to make this a Monsterpiece Theater skit, considering what show Downton Abbey airs on.

Too bad Monsterpiece Theater hasn't been on the show in over a decade. It would have been a good opportunity for Frank to perform Cookie Monster again. These past several years he's performed Grover and in the last few years one-shots in parody sketches, but he hasn't been Bert or Cookie Monster since season 36 or 37 (in fact there's a number of instances Frank performed them when I thought it was the replacement performers). I wonder if any of that has to do with Cookie Monster being hard on Frank's voice (as there has been plenty of Cookie Monster material, though a lot of it has been in street stories) or them having difficulty writing Bert sketches without Ernie (who doesn't appear in new segments as often due to Steve's limited availability).

It's interesting, back when "Mad Men" came out, I thought it was a big deal. It was the first time Frank had performed a one-shot in years, and it was an anniversary season so I felt that made it extra special (as if Frank was supporting the anniversary by performing a one-time character, to make it more of an event for us). Then a couple years later he did "The Heaviest Catch" and I didn't see that as a big deal (not in the same way), and don't really care for that segment much. Then he's done two more one-shot characters this season, and both those segments are great. It's getting so that it's more of a regular thing for Frank to perform one-shot characters again (not too regular, but at least he's doing that again), and yet "Birdwalk Empire" and "Upside Downton Abbey" feel more special than "The Heaviest Catch".

When the parody sketches for next year are announced, I wonder if we should try to guess which ones will have Frank in them.