Little things we've noticed

[minor muppetz]

Michael Earl has said that during the time he was on the show, he, Brian Meehl,
And Caroll Spinney were the only performers on the set every day. And I think season 12 is when both performers really start to do a lot of character (which could be attributed to most of the other main performers not being on set much that season).

But of these two in season 12, Brian Meehl seems to be the one to have gotten more star treatment, I feel he was the one more likely to get a lead role in a segment.Sure, Michael Earl was now performing Snuffy (who couldn’t really appear with anyone besides Big Bird, and I feel like Snuffy’s season 12 appearances weren’t that frequent) and Forgetful Jones, as well as Leslie Mostly and Poco Loco. But I can’t think of a lot of one-shot roles he had.

but in season 12, Brian Meehl performed the lead singer in “Come Join Us” and the shark in “Shark Song”, and he was the ringmaster in an episode involving a circus, and I think he had more recurring characters that season, including Barkley, Telly, Elmo, Countess Von Dahling, Clementine (who was really only there for Forgetful, admittedly), Pearl, and Dr. Nobel Price (admittedly, a few of those did not really appear often).

Not really sure about the next season, where Richard Hunt is a main performer in street scenes again and Martin Robinson joins the show (I assume appearing as often as Meehl and Hunt), I’m inclined to think that Hunt would get more starring roles with Meehl getting a little less (but then again, Hunt might have been willing to arrange for them to have more major roles).

 

[MuppetSpot]

With Michael Earl, he didn’t really get as many main roles due to how John Stone wasn’t a big fan of him and later got him fired.

 

[D'Snowth]

According to Jon, he didn't take direction as well as the other performers.

 

[minor muppetz]

And I've heard they thought his performance hadn't improved in three years. Makes me wonder if that's why he seemed to get less than Brian Meehl or if maybe not getting as many opportunities to star contributed to that (he was also told he needed Jim and Frank around to really help his performance and they weren't around enough).

 

[minor muppetz]

In the few times Little Jerry and the Monotones appeared after the 1970s, regardless of whether it’s all the same regular members or if there’s somebody who wasn’t part of the group before, it seems they always wanted the group to consist of three members instead of four.

The Rock & Roll video is the only post-1970s appearance by Little Jerry and the Monotones to include four members. I am glad they worked Telephone Rock into the plot, which meant four members, the same four regular ones, and they were all in their original attire.

And yet in their final appearance before they started reducing the group to just three members, they had five members.

 

[crackmaster]

Sketches that involved Gary Owens' voice work weren't played much after 1998. The last time a sketch he narrated was played was "Y for Yawn" in 2000. Was it because kids were unfamiliar with him by then? Space Ghost repeats still played on Boomerang, which debuted in 2000. I think the '00s was a dark time for Owens' voice.

 

[minor muppetz]

Recently, it has come to my attention that What's My Letter? only aired in one episode (one that has not surfaced to fans and the wiki has not yet fully guided it with pictures). I remember seeing it on YouTube back in 2006, before Sesame Workshop started officially uploading clips online (and long before certain fans have gotten access to rare clips). So how did it surface online back then? It didn't come to home video until 2019.

My guess is that it came from an international airing (the what links here feature does not link to any episodes of any international shows, but that does not mean a fan didn't have a copy of a foreign episode with the segment) and they replaced the dubbed audio with the audio from an album release, but I recall the upload including the title card in English (and title cards were usually completely cut from foreign broadcasts).

 

[minor muppetz]

Normally I don't have a particular desire for an instrumental version of a Sesame Street song, but after listening to the song a few times this past week, I really wish the backing track for Things That I Remember was available. The music sounds so great.

Additionally, Things That I Remember seems like it should be included in one of the anniversary specials, albums, videos, whatever, but it really never gets included in an anniversary (the closest being the song being heard over clips in the first of the My Favorite Sesame Street Moments, the one with Doris Roberts shown before The Street We Live On). It premiered in season 29, it's a shame it didn't air at all in season 30 (which was a big anniversary season). It would be cool if it could have had a new rendition in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration or that 50th anniversary jazz concert. I also feel there could be new versions sung by different characters, with lyrics being adjusted to fit the characters better (hey, that could have been done in season 30, accompanied by clips of whoever sang it! After all, that season did have multiple new versions of quite a few classic songs).

I remember a long time ago, somebody on the forum said that Jeff Moss wrote the song as his "goodbye" song, as he knew he didn't have much time left (but of course it was not the last song he wrote), I have not seen this info provided anywhere official. This was in the 1997-1998 season. That same year, Shari Lewis wrote a song intended as her goodbye song, Hello Goodbye, and died the next year. And I am thinking the two songs do have a similar vibe. If Moss indeed meant for that to be a farewell song, then it is interesting he and Shari Lewis had similar ideas for songs around the same time. Similarly, while this happened a couple decades prior (and I don't know whether she knew shed be gone soon), I also get the same feels when listening to Karen Carpenter's last song, Now.

 

[minor muppetz]

When the book Street Gang came out, a year later we got the 40th anniversary book.

More recently, we got the documentary film Street Gang, and around the time of its broadcast, we got that 50th anniversary special on ABC.

Yet the 40th anniversary book is the better of the two books, but the Street Gang documentary is a lot better than the other documentary.

 

[hooperfan]

Yeah, the ABC special was very underwhelming