I have to disagree with you on that one, Tooth. I think SS has really improved since they moved to HBO. Heck, that's kind of the main reason I've been upset about not having any kind of means of watching the new shows. In recent years how often have we seen a Grover/Fat Blue street scene. Over the past few seasons it's been the Abby/Elmo/Telly/Baby Bear show so if the show had moved a few years back it wouldn't have made too much of a difference for me. But now with more focus on the classic characters, (Ex: Big Bird, Oscar, Grover, Bert and Ernie.) this season seems to show a lot of promise. I'm going to check on that now and see if I'm getting HBO on my TV.*
To be perfectly, perfectly fair, my problem is that they really don't have a handle on the half hour version of the show just yet. They did try that format for over a year or so (almost 2?), but they were using rerun footage made for the hour long broadcast, so they were just editing things they already had. Trying to write the main show around these edits has been tricky. I'm actually very resilient towards changes. The show's
not for me, and hasn't been in some time, or at least until someone
somehow could tolerate me enough to somehow have a family or something with me or trust me to babysit their kids. I'd have to say some of the changes I actually like. Getting rid of Word on the Street/of the Day, the new design of the street, the focus on more Muppet characters. Toning the Pop Culture-ness of the show down a little was a solid move. Even condensing the show in theory I agree with. Some were already there, but not enforced (relating every segment to the subject matter). But then there's things like reducing the letter and number "sponsors" to just one repetitive song, sometimes tying in the letter to a long(er) form film about something that
starts with the letter that's related to the episode's subject. And, yet, keeping an edited Elmo segment at the end of the show because it would confuse the 4 and 5 year olds that absolutely
need Elmo because routine.
And yes, I've liked some of the street stories so far, even though the pacing isn't there. I LOVED Grover's Safari, and think that's the highlight of the season so far (as far as street stories go). Grover and Cookie were on the uptick in popularity since season 35 at least.
I wouldn't say this season is the worst, or bad even so far. It has potential, but this season seems to be a trial and error situation for the show. We can hope that Season 47 is snappier, makes better choices with its time frame. But so far, the little things are a put off. I can forgive the 9 month timeframe before PBS gets it, though I think 6 would have been plenty. Trying to cram too much into a 26 minute (less if you don't count the opening and closing) slot and slashing something from the curriculum that was vital since the beginning as a result and
still airing 2 long form segments an episode (upwards of 16 minutes of those 26)... that's where my beef is. They had to make it a half hour and they needed HBO to sponsor, which I can support. I just hope that season 47 can co-ordinate better with HBO and the half hour frame.
I totally agree with you on all those points. This season is definitely not for me,which i'm okay with and I think Sesame Street may actually become more popular with preschoolers due to the changes. But I think i'm officially done watching the show on a regular basis. Those reasons and the fact that they got rid of the entire human cast besides Chris and Alan and added a character who I don't really like. Only having three cast members for the entire season kind of makes the street scenes kind of boring.
Frankly, I always say "this is the last season I'm bothering with" and watch the next season anyway. For well
well longer than I admit I should. Probably because it's the only regular thing with the Muppets, maybe because I always wanted to do a kid's show on some level or another and I'm like a former High School athlete watching sports and arm chair quarterbacking it, maybe I just sort of need that affirmation that comes from something from my childhood. I'd say I'm part
Junkion and watch a crapload of TV a day. But whatever the reason, I still watch it, even though I've been like "this is the last season" since I was 12. It's not that age gives me a burning desire to give it up. I appreciate the craft of the puppetry and putting on a show of that caliber the older I get.
Still, if this manages to keep that preschool audience, I'm very happy for it. I'd never wish to see this show end and get replaced with something inferior or at least lacking that long term impact. While I'm happy that the content of 8-12 year old demo cartoon series is on the uptick since 2005's dark times, it really seems that networks really
only care about preschoolers. That's a goldmine because parents buy those toys and videos and aps
for the kids without them having to ask. I mean, Cartoon Network has started to run that
atrocious Baby Looney Tunes series for 2 hour long blocks a day
and an additional one on Boomerang (and believe me, I'm going to rant about it elsewhere). Disney and Nick seem to have a new preschool series on a bimonthly basis (of course, in Disney's case, they're actually
good). Preschool programming isn't special anymore, not like in 1969. Sesame Street has weathered Purple Dinosaurs and Obnoxious girls pretending to be interactive. The only way they can weather the Preschool Programming glut is to get cable money and cut their run time, and I'm okay with that.
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