Little things we've noticed

[Mary Louise]

Oh, Pam did a fine job as Grundgetta. But I miss Brian anyway. I thought he did a better job of voicing Dr. Nobel Price than Kevin Clash did. Though I loved Kevin as Hoots the Owl.

 

[Muppets02]

One of my favorite Sesame Street episodes to watch over the years is Episode 3793, where Herry Monster has a sleepover with Gabi, while Maria helps fix anything Herry accidentally breaks.
I really miss seeing those characters on the show—Desiree Casado as Gabi, Sonia Manzano as Maria, and Jerry Nelson’s performance as Herry Monster were always so wonderful and memorable.
This episode actually featured one of the last street stories with Herry as a main character. Although he continued to have major appearances in a few street scenes during Seasons 31 and 32—most notably in Episode 3886, where he becomes best friends with Rosita—he was gradually relegated to a background role, especially after the "Monsters in Daycare" segments were removed from the show.

 

[Muppets02]

I get the straightman thing, but episodes like this is where I just can’t stand seeing Zoe on screen, especially with that stupid laugh of hers. Like I’ll be honest, this is one episode I really remember frustrating me when I was a kid and that hasn’t changed today (especially also considering the number 12 rocks cartoon, which I always loved whenever it came on, was interrupted for that Rocco joke).

But it’s not really Elmo being a straightman that’s the issue for me - the bigger issue for me is I felt Zoe’s existence basically dumbed down Elmo’s character (and that’s a similar problem I had with Baby Bear and Telly at times).

It is definitely ironic to see you say that Zoe was "ruining" Elmo's character, especially as I have seen many people on the forum accuse Abby Cadabby to be the one to do that instead.
While I’m fond of Zoe, I have to agree that the whole dynamic with Rocco was annoying and cringeworthy whenever it appeared in an episode. I remember a Season 35 episode where Zoe refused to give Elmo the last cookie because it was “promised” to Rocco, and Gabi had to step in to mediate the situation. Honestly, it wasn’t funny to see Zoe and Elmo argue about it.
Personally, I’m also fond of Abby, even if she’s sometimes overused and not always utilized to her full potential.
As for the friendship between Telly and Baby Bear, I’ll admit I really enjoyed their dynamic—I think they led many strong street stories together.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Telly’s and Baby Bear’s friendship was cute for what it is, that said Baby Bear in particular is just a character I never liked at all and is easily my least favorite of all of David Rudman’s characters. For what it is though, I’m at least glad his character got to expand more by season 30 and wasn’t just a literal parody of himself with his schtick with Goldilocks.

I honestly forgot I even wrote that comment about Elmo and Zoe, but yeah, my thoughts haven’t changed at all since. Abby dumbing down Elmo I also noticed as well but honestly I never liked her character either and always cringed seeing her on screen when I was taping episodes from season 37 back in summer 2007 reruns to upload still in circulation older segments (God, those tapes really ate up so much space of mine).

 

[Muppets02]

Telly’s and Baby Bear’s friendship was cute for what it is, that said Baby Bear in particular is just a character I never liked at all and is easily my least favorite of all of David Rudman’s characters. For what it is though, I’m at least glad his character got to expand more by season 30 and wasn’t just a literal parody of himself with his schtick with Goldilocks.

I honestly forgot I even wrote that comment about Elmo and Zoe, but yeah, my thoughts haven’t changed at all since. Abby dumbing down Elmo I also noticed as well but honestly I never liked her character either and always cringed seeing her on screen when I was taping episodes from season 37 back in summer 2007 reruns to upload still in circulation older segments (God, those tapes really ate up so much space of mine).

While I do have a soft spot for Zoe, I definitely understand your frustrations with her.
As I mentioned before, my issue with Abby is that, while I do really enjoy her character, she has become overused and isn't always written consistently. During the block format that started in Season 40, it was frustrating to see the same "Abby's Flying Fairy School" segments repeated over and over until Season 45, especially since there were no new ones that were aired after Season 43.

 

[CoolGuy1013]

(God, those tapes really ate up so much space of mine).

As someone who was a child trying to watch SST segments online around that time, I assure you that sacrifice was not in vain.

 

[LittleJerry92]

It was definitely fun taping the show at the time but once season 40 came around and it was clear nothing from the first 32 seasons (far as I can tell) would be circulated anymore, I had no reason to keep taping the show.

Then years later life happened and I had to get rid of those tapes. It wasn’t easy but I felt I had nothing left to lose since I used my purposes for them and had no desire to keep them anymore. (I ended up tossing out a good handful of shows I taped just because I skipped over the commercials anyway, so nothing of value was really lost).