New half-hour version of Sesame Street to debut on PBS Kids this fall

[ssetta]

I just saw a post from the SS fb page that there will be a new half hour version of the show coming this fall, in addition to the existing hour - long series. This should be interesting. It says it will have the word on the street segment, Cookies Crumb Pictures, Super Grover 2.0, and some of the spoofs. It looks like it will air in the afternoon, and is going to be targeted toward older kids. From what it looks like, it will NOT have the letter and number of the day. Which really isn't surprising, really. You can clearly tell that it seems like an afterthought these days, and do kids even need to learn letters and numbers anymore? So I can't wait to see what it's like.

 

[minor muppetz]

At first, I wondered if this would be a completely new show, or if it would include classic segments, but it looks like neither will be the case.

I wonder if there'll be a special title for these edited reruns.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Hmmm...you know, considering that this show is intended to be for older kids, I almost think it would be appropriate to include classic segments!

 

[Phillip]

It will be interesting to see if most markets show both the 60 and 30 minute versions of Sesame Street or if many stations choose to air one version or the other.

 

[Oscarfan]

I just saw a post from the SS fb page that there will be a new half hour version of the show coming this fall, in addition to the existing hour - long series. This should be interesting. It says it will have the word on the street segment, Cookies Crumb Pictures, Super Grover 2.0, and some of the spoofs. It looks like it will air in the afternoon, and is going to be targeted toward older kids. From what it looks like, it will NOT have the letter and number of the day. Which really isn't surprising, really. You can clearly tell that it seems like an afterthought these days, and do kids even need to learn letters and numbers anymore? So I can't wait to see what it's like.

It will have the letter and number stuff too.

 

[Drtooth]

If you took the Abby's School and ETM/EW segments out of Sesame, that's about 20-25 minutes right there. The show's segmented anyway, so a half hour version seems to make sense. Somehow, I'd like to see a half hour version using different material from the main show. Different rerun street stories and such. But it sounds like they're going to be condensed versions of the hour long one broadcast that same day.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if these 30-minute versions will have special alternate titles (like how Noggin referred to its airings as Sesame Street Unpaved and 123 Sesame Street).

It would be great if they could do a few different 30-minute versions of the show from different eras* (in different time slots, and I guess different titles). Like one representing seasons 1-24, another for seasons 25-29, another for seasons 30-32, and another for seasons 33-44.

*That is, if not full episodes from various eras.

But I wonder how well they could edit down a pre-season 33 episode into an hour... Would the total time for the various street scenes exceed 30 minutes without leaving something out? Though the good thing about the really old ones is that the street scenes didn't have much of a connection (I recently saw a scan of an old memo given to new writers back in the early years mentioning that episodes should not have plots that last more than three street scenes).

 

[Drtooth]

It would be great if they could do a few different 30-minute versions of the show from different eras* (in different time slots, and I guess different titles). Like one representing seasons 1-24, another for seasons 25-29, another for seasons 30-32, and another for seasons 33-44.

Not going to happen. They insist on using only HD material from the last 5 years.

Except when they totally don't. And it's completely inconsistent.

My question is, what other show's going to get the business to make room. Fingers crossed it's Super Why. We don't need that brand of obnoxious pseudo-interactivity in kid's television anymore.

 

[minor muppetz]

Not going to happen. They insist on using only HD material from the last 5 years.

I know, but it'd still be cool if they did.

I keep thinking, for a 3o-minute version of the show I had in mind, I would open each show with a street scene but rarely include any street stories (though it'd be great to include stuff like the episode where Big Bird ran for president, or the one where Big Bird became convinced Snuffy was imaginary, or the whole street story where Big Bird hosted a show about the number four), at least two inserts with "old school" characters rarely seen on the show anymore, one or two really obscure segments, and end with a big song from the show (like Rubber Duckie, Put Down the Duckie, Imagination, Subway, Fuzzy and Blue, etc.), occasionally making an exception with a closing street scene that had a connection to the opening one (like when Grover and the audience surprised the adults, or when The Count counted hellos and later goodbyes), but cutting out the letter and number sponsors.

Back to the actually 30-minute version that is coming out, I wonder what Muppet Wiki will be doing for the guides. I've been meaning to ask about this on the Muppet Wiki forum. I guess the most obvious choice would be to put notes bu each segment that's cut from the shortened version (would that be redundant when we know that Abby's Flying Fairy School and Elmo The Musical will be cut from all of these?), though there could be a separate sketch rundown below the hour-long one.

 

[Drtooth]

It would be cool if they could at least use things from just before the HD/widescreen shift. And at least in a consistent manner. And without having to use pop culture clips that are far from being relevant anymore.

Can you believe they reused the Preschool Musical skit this season? The thing Disney hasn't bothered with since 2009? And inconsistent as "we're reusing the same parody segments twice a season because of budget problems, but refuse to run any of the Ernie and Bert stuff made for every country except ours."