It's Official: Caroll Spinney retires from Sesame Street after nearly 50 years

[Daffyfan4ever]

I think my heart just melted. That is the sweetest thing I have seen today. (And it makes me wish they did a crossover episode between SS and BitBBH. It would've been perfect!)

That would have been interesting to see. Seems like there would be some chemistry between those two characters.

 

[Schfifty]

I dunno. I mean, they were wanting to have Elmo make an appearance in THE MUPPETS (2011), but apparently couldn't afford to.

Dude, I would be so down for seeing that!

He probably would've cameoed in "Life's a Happy Song" or just appeared in the background with no dialogue as an easter egg.

 

[Oscarfan]

I've heard second/third-hand rumors that he was either going to be one of the telethon celebrity phone operators, or they were going to use him instead of Pepe in that brief Dirty Dancing scene.

 

[D'Snowth]

What number are their hands now?

 

[minor muppetz]

This is sad news, but I'm not really surprised. It is great that he'll achieve his goal of making it to season 50 (and season 49 hasn't even started airing yet).

But I see a lot of people online talking about this (and this applies more to reactions from fans on Facebook than on the Muppet Central/Tough Pigs forums), but I feel a lot of people are reacting to the news as if he had died. He's still alive, even if he's no longer involved.

I've heard he's made an "ambassador" of Sesame Street. I wonder what that means.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

MC's Twitter is saying that he made it through 49 years and not 50.

 

[D'Snowth]

Production-wise, yes. They usually shoot each season at least a year in advance, so even though they're working on TV Season 50, year-wise this is still the 49th year that SS has been around.

 

[minor muppetz]

After seeing that tribute video Sesame Workshop did to honor Caroll Spinney, I was thinking that's the kind of thing Sesame Workshop hasn't done for its official YouTube channel, and hope they can do more with other performers and people involved with the show.

But now I wonder if maybe they were planning such a series and it's a coincidence that it was uploaded right when Caroll announced his retirement. Unless he already talked about it to Sesame Workshop and the video was put together and they were saving it until he retired. But I noticed that at the beginning, Guy Smiley refers to Spinney as the guy who plays Big Bird (not played, though he was still to do the characters for one more day), and there's no mention in the actual video (just the description) that he's retired.

 

[D'Snowth]

I can't quite remember, but didn't they do something similar for Jerry Nelson's passing and Fran Brill's retirement?

 

[minor muppetz]

I can't quite remember, but didn't they do something similar for Jerry Nelson's passing and Fran Brill's retirement?

Maybe they did, but I don't think they were on the official Sesame Street YouTube channel.