Let's face it. Ernie has gotten huge portions of popularity lately (almost dethrowning Elmo's stay). This year, "Journey to Ernie" has been aired on Sesame. Each episdoe of this segment ends with an Ernie sketch. Though some of them ae classics, featuring Bert (and some new ones), they are mostly songs sung solo (or with Elmo or Grover, in a very funny skit) or "Ernie's Show and tell" segments. I know that Frank Oz is busy with other career options, and only does a few days of filming a year, but Eric Jacobson plays him quite a lot, so that's no excuse. Is it because of certainrumors? Mayhaps the ne'erdowell student who put him with pictures of hated enemies lost his credibility. Oh why can you never see Ernie and Bert together anymore?