Major Changes in store for Sesame Street Season 46

[Drtooth]

Probably like this entire last season.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

True true.

 

[antsamthompson9]

New article about the set changes:

http://digiday.com/publishers/m-makeover-sesame-street-gets-new-look/

But, here's an interesting quote from it:



So, will they be the focus of every story? Or will they just be in every story? Seems cryptic, but not negative. We know the others are going to appear, what with them bothering to recast a bunch of them and all. Daily doses of Oscar, Grover, Cookie and Big Bird sounds good though.

Sadly that was bound to happen. As Tyler Bunch said on an episode of Getting Felt Up, "The ideology about kids' TV in general is lots and lots of characters under a single roof kinda gets distracting. So, they're trying more and more to focus on a handful of characters, so that there's a more immediate identification for the kids. So over the 45 years, there have been some amazing characters that have come out of Sesame, but there are those that consistently resonate with kids. So, they try to stick with them more then the others." That's why even though Tyler took over Herry, Herry doesn't appear anymore.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Not only are we losing Fran this upcoming season, but it looks like Sonia is going bye-bye as well.

Don't believe me? https://twitter.com/amlibraries/status/615598035867844608

I wonder what show's gonna be like without Maria...

Oh, that's a big disappointment. Maria's been a major character on the show for as long as I can remember. How will they explain her departure? I don't think they'd have Maria and Luis divorce or anything like that and a recast wouldn't be good either. Too many people would notice.

This is what I worry about with the focus of the human cast being Chris, Mando and Leela. We're losing all the cast members we've grown up with. Oh, well. Still I want to wish the very best for Sonia.

 

[Oscarfan]

Sadly that was bound to happen. As Tyler Bunch said on an episode of Getting Felt Up, "The ideology about kids' TV in general is lots and lots of characters under a single roof kinda gets distracting. So, they're trying more and more to focus on a handful of characters, so that there's a more immediate identification for the kids. So over the 45 years, there have been some amazing characters that have come out of Sesame, but there are those that consistently resonate with kids. So, they try to stick with them more then the others." That's why even though Tyler took over Herry, Herry doesn't appear anymore.

Tyler did Herry for one thing. I wouldn't say he "took over" him.

 

[antsamthompson9]

Tyler did Herry for one thing. I wouldn't say he "took over" him.

True.

 

[Drtooth]

The ideology about kids' TV in general is lots and lots of characters under a single roof kinda gets distracting.

And the original Transformers cartoon agrees with him.

Tyler did Herry for one thing. I wouldn't say he "took over" him.

Really is a shame it was for that one time only. Really seems more of Jerry's roles should have been recast. Seems that, as far as Sesame Street goes, it's just The Count. I don't see why they didn't bother taking initiative with Sherlock Hemlock during the Sherlock Holmes fad, considering how parody heavy they've been lately.

Other than that, I am mixed about the core characters. If we can focus the stories on those 6, that's a good thing indeed, but how "the others will still be there" will the others actually be? I'm sure they're going to be used enough in capacity, but I really wouldn't like it if Abby was the only female character on the show regularly. Again, Elmo and Abby have little chemistry together, even with Ryan (who actually has done slightly better), and it's just something done from a marketing standpoint. She's great with most other characters, but the one they pair her up with most is forced.

 

[Oscarfan]

I thought the writers had a hard time writing for Big Bird? Maybe they just needed to step away from him for a little bit, to help re gain focus. All in all I have a feeling this is going to be an awesome season of Sesame Street!

That was based on something Joey M. said. HE said he had trouble writing for BB, not the whole staff.

As something I was complaining about a lot lately, I was getting annoyed that these characters were getting pushed aside for public domain story characters. Hopefully this means they'll have their own problems they need to solve and not pass the buck to fairy tales. Though, at the risk of being slightly negative, I wish they expanded it to 10 or 11 core characters counting Ernie, Bert, Count, Zoe (if she's recast), and Snuffy. Sounds also like Telly's falling out of favor for some reason. So make that 13 to include him and Baby Bear.

But if this does indeed mean more Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie, and Grover stories, I'm all for it.

To me, I've considered the core cast to be these 16: Elmo, Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, Cookie, Ernie, Bert, Telly, Baby Bear, Count, Zoe, Rosita, Abby, Prairie, Snuffy and Murray. Then there's the second tier ones like Ovejita, Stinky, Two-Headed Monster and Mr. Johnson.

But still, that's like 20 characters, which I guess is a lot for kids to remember (most shows have much fewer ones).

Eh, we'll find out in a few weeks if the press materials are published at the same time they usually are (I wonder if the season will start later 'cause of the later production schedule).

 

[Drtooth]

To me, I've considered the core cast to be these 16: Elmo, Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, Cookie, Ernie, Bert, Telly, Baby Bear, Count, Zoe, Rosita, Abby, Prairie, Snuffy and Murray. Then there's the second tier ones like Ovejita, Stinky, Two-Headed Monster and Mr. Johnson.

But still, that's like 20 characters, which I guess is a lot for kids to remember (most shows have much fewer ones).

The real tell is that kids young enough think every character is Elmo, so there's that. Wore a Toy Story Mr. Potatohead shirt and a kid thought it was Elmo. And that's not exactly an obscure bomb of a film series. To be fair, it was one of those all face shirts.

I just want to see a good enough balance. Ernie and Bert should have a bigger presence than they've had lately, even if it's just a few segments here and there. Other than that, I like how Grover, Cookie, Big Bird, and Oscar are in the core 6. Elmo and Abby are non-negotiable. So the mixed blessing is maybe Big Bird getting more street stories and screen time. Grover and Cookie already managed to gain back their past popularity and focus due to the recasts.

Though, as I said somewhere else, it's strange that The Count's stock was rising on the show, even before Jerry passed, only for him to be used in a couple word of the day segments and the number introduction (which appears every day, sure, but it's not the same as multiple segments). Hopefully he gets a street story or something again this time.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Really is a shame it was for that one time only. Really seems more of Jerry's roles should have been recast. Seems that, as far as Sesame Street goes, it's just The Count. I don't see why they didn't bother taking initiative with Sherlock Hemlock during the Sherlock Holmes fad, considering how parody heavy they've been lately.

Other than that, I am mixed about the core characters. If we can focus the stories on those 6, that's a good thing indeed, but how "the others will still be there" will the others actually be? I'm sure they're going to be used enough in capacity, but I really wouldn't like it if Abby was the only female character on the show regularly. Again, Elmo and Abby have little chemistry together, even with Ryan (who actually has done slightly better), and it's just something done from a marketing standpoint. She's great with most other characters, but the one they pair her up with most is forced.

I agree with the Sherlock Hemlock factor. Performing Uncle Deadly in both of the recent Muppet theatrical films (but mainly in the 2011 movie) gave Matt the opportunity to show off how spectacular of a British accent he can do, so I still can't help but thinking if that was the type of voice he'd use for Sherlock. But yeah, in general, several of Jerry's Sesame characters deserve to be recast.

On the subject of how "the others will still be there", we obviously won't know until the press kit shows up, but last month I private messaged Weston (SpinneyBigBird1) in regards to how he got to look at a few episode scripts during his most recent visit to the set. While I knew very well not ask what any of them were about, I asked if there are going to be any new scenes with Bert and Ernie. He said that there will be (he was also quick to note that Ernie is still being performed by Billy, which isn't surprising). So at least there's that to look forward to. As for The Count, all I can say is that considering he just went through a small makeover, it's going to be a waste if he's not going to be used in any new appearances. Though I hope Snuffy's appearances aren't limited to background type stuff.

But in the end, I'm not really surprised about SW's choice about limiting the core Muppet cast to Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie, Grover, Elmo, and Abby. Considering that nowadays they're used a lot in merchandise/memorabilia, it was somewhat bound to happen if you ask me.