Little things we've noticed

[minor muppetz]

I can't remember if it was in this thread or elsewhere, but some time ago, somebody pointed out that Don Music did not appear in season 23, Richard Hunt's last season, speculating that he was taken off the show by that season, as opposed to because of Hunt's absence. And I don't know off-hand how often Hunt performed in season 23, it seems he got to do most of his characters that season. Can't remember off-hand if Placedo Flamingo appeared that season, and David Rudman did take over as Sonny Friendly before Hunt died, but the season did have new appearances by Gladys, Sully, and Two-Headed Monster.

But I am surprised to find that Forgetful Jones did not appear that season. Maybe not too surprising, they might have just not gotten around to it, but looking at the Muppet Wiki page, I see that he appeared in quite a few episodes every season between seasons 12 and 22 (and after season 13 when Hunt took over it seems Forgetful make a ton of appearances each season), and the last insert segment starring Forgetful came in season 22.

Been looking at "episodic appearances" by classic characters, sometimes it's surprising to see some went a long time without new appearances (and to me it's been more of a shock for "street scene characters" than "insert characters"). But in particular is Sully. After his debut in season 5, Sully was completely missing from season 12, then he appeared at least once a season before being absent from seasons 19-21 (though Sing-Along came out around season 18 or 19, and the video was expanded as an episode in season 19), then in season 22 Sully was not only in new material again, but he appeared quite a bit that season, before appearing less after that, with one appearance in season 23, no episodic appearances in season 24 (but he did show up in the "El Timbalo" song), then three appearances in season 25 (plus Stars and Street Forever) and one appearance in season 26. Even more interesting about Sully suddenly appearing a lot again in season 22 is that they added Stella to Biff and Sully, though she was absent in Biff and Sully's last appearance of the season. So Sully didn't do anything new for so long, then suddenly, they add a new - and short-lived - buddy to Biff and Sully.

Additionally, after Biff's debut in season 4, Biff made at least one episodic appearance each season until season 26, with the exceptions of seasons 12 and 16. Yet season 16 also has some rare solo appearances by Sully, which include the "Grover's Newspapers" segment and one of the episodes after Luis gets his cast off.

 

[minor muppetz]

Don’t really know if I’m at the right thread for this or not, but considering Muppet Wiki has fully tabled guides for every episode (keeping in mind that some episodes end up having segments not in the scripts used for reference and Vice versions), it seems that the original version of “I’m Sad Because I’m Happy” did not air.

It was in an album that only used broadcast recordings, so I guess they recorded the segment and didn’t put it in a final aired version. Wondering if there should be something noted on the unaired segments page (and maybe it was intended as a street scene).

I am a little bummed that the version of the song from The Gang’s All Here album wasn’t on the actual show, it seems. I guess it’s cool that an album back then had something that ended up not appearing on the show.

 

[TimzUneeverse]

Adobe will start blocking Flash (the plugin on which Muppet Central's home page header relied on) tomorrow. That means our website needs a facelift.

 

[LittleJerry92]

So someone pointed out in the comments (and then deleted it ) that Richard did the puppetry for the Green and lavender female members (which I definitely see), while Marty did the puppetry for the other lavender member (which I also see), but also mentioning Brian did the puppetry for Chrissy.

To be honest I’m still figuring out Brian’s puppetry and I’m not too familiar with how he performs the fat blue puppets. Thoughts?

 

[D'Snowth]

I don't know about the fat blue AMs specifically, but as far as Brian's puppetry in general goes, one thing I've always noticed about his lip syncing is that he often makes the mouths look as though they're "chattering" rather than talking - just really quick opening and closing motions without necessarily matching the syllables . . . if you want to see what I mean, take a look at Rusty here:

 

[LittleJerry92]

I have noticed that with some lavender muppets he performed. Bushman Bill I think also had that style.

 

[minor muppetz]

Thinking about how in season 16 Gordon, Maria, and Linda now believe in Snuffy, and that they were planning for him to be seen by the adults soon, I feel like many of the cases where the others miss out on seeing Snuffy are more realistic than before. And there are some that seem more in line with before, like when Snuffy is behind them at the movies and leaves before they can see him, and maybe when Snuffy meets Oscar (Oscar insists he's a grouch and not Gordon, but Snuffy doesn't believe he's a grouch when he tries to get Snuffy to stay long enough for Gordon to see him - even if that's not grouch-like, he's still saying he's not Gordon. And Snuffy had known Big Bird's friends by name before meeting them, he should know what Gordon looks like).

But many of these near-misses seem more realistic. Like in one episode, Big Bird tells Gordon that Snuffy is behind his doors and Gordon wants to see him but Susan points out they're running late and he decides to go on with their plans, or in one episode Big Bird keeps looking over his doors for people to show up so he can introduce them but Snuffy gets mad so Big Bird decides to just focus on their game, even when he finally does hear people on the other side and not introduce them for the sake of the game. With some of the adults believing, it seems like it would be easier for them to finally meet, which could have contributed to them all finally meeting. I always assumed Big Bird's plan in episode 2096 was his own doing, but it's possible Gordon, Maria, and/or Linda helped come up with the plan.

In Big Bird Goes to the Carnival, Oscar mentions that Big Bird is the only one on Sesame Street who has seen the Snuffleupagus (though Oscar had met Snuffy in season 16), and Big Bird invites Oscar to come with him to Snuffy's cave, which Oscar refuses because Big Bird was going to invite Snuffy to the carnival and Grouches hate carnivals. But that is more realistic - Big Bird was going to bring somebody with him to the cave, and it was one who turned down more because it's to do something he doesn't like. Maybe he should have invited Ernie or Grover to the carnival and to visit Snuffy.

It seems the Muppets were more kind about Mr. Snuffleupagus than the adults were. Oscar didn't talk about Snuffy much back then, perhaps because he and Big Bird didn't get many scenes. And yet two of the few Muppets to see Snuffy before the rest were ones who would probably act more like the adults - Bert (who ended up thinking he might be imagining things) and Oscar. Kermit would probably have been annoyed by it but I don't think he ever acknowledged Big Bird's "imaginary friend" (but there weren't a whole lot of interactions between Kermit and Big Bird).

 

[Oscarfan]

So someone pointed out in the comments (and then deleted it ) that Richard did the puppetry for the Green and lavender female members (which I definitely see), while Marty did the puppetry for the other lavender member (which I also see), but also mentioning Brian did the puppetry for Chrissy.

To be honest I’m still figuring out Brian’s puppetry and I’m not too familiar with how he performs the fat blue puppets. Thoughts?

I'm 99% certain that's Richard as Chrissy, Jerry as the Green, Brian as the girl, and Marty as the bass.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Really? Cause to be honest those head tilts on the Green and female members gave off that Richard style of puppetry, especially also with how lifeless the green guy looks when the female member is whipping her hair after the choruses (a case of a puppeteer focused more on one character). Again, I’m still studying Brian’s puppetry movement but I’ve never really seen him do a head tilt on a character, far as I know.

EDIT: Okay, I actually see some of that slowness in the green guy that Jerry has with his characters, looking more carefully, and I do see a bit more Richard in Chrissy comparing it to Rock and Roll Readers.

 

[D'Snowth]

The "123" in the actual street sign and the "123" in the officially licensed SS street sign logo are quite different. . . .