Sesame Street Anounces Layoffs

[fleecenotfelt]

Bro, I hate to say it but they don't care about the collectors or older fans. They've forsaken them.

The ONLY Sesame merch you're ever going to be seeing is
Fisher Price garbage for infants.

I'm starting to realize just how important International Sesame is, and I wish there was a way we could all see it. Im getting really disgusted with how anathema American Sesame has become in relation to its original intension.

Remember when "Old School" was released, they dared to freaking have advisory warnings? Gosh forbid we show black children in the slums playing in New York inner city areas!

WELLLLLLL i have to respectfully disagree with you! i definitely miss the sesame street of old that i grew up with.... but i think we all have to remember that the sesame street audience demographic of current times is infant to 2 yrs old-- and audience that is WAY YOUNGER than the 5 yrs olds of back then! so yeah it feels a little dumber than the glory days, but the reality is that the show needs to cater more for the extra young ones. also, the show was never made for us collectors and old school fans -- mostly for kids and their parents! we're just the minority of the sesame street viewership so it would make sense that they can't always have our interests in mind (hence all the majority of infant/pre school toys). i figure if the kids of our generation like the show, and are willing to tune in instead of the other garbage out there, then the show is doing it's job. i think it's unfair to demand sesame street to do what we want if we're not the target audience in the first place.

also, i know that the sesame street muppets have been involved with the military- BUT! only in the context of dealing with parents in the military being deployed or coming back injured. NOT to promote any wars or violence. and i personally think that it's admirable! i watched it when the talk listen connect show was broadcast on PBS and i nearly cried! no other pre school show is out there helping kids cope emotionally with the devastating idea of a parent/caregiver leaving for an extrended period time with the possibility of that person coming back injured, or god forbit not at all!

as for the old school parental advisory... i'm pretty sure it's not to warn against black kids playing in inner cities... you just gotta remember the times! we coddle our kids a lot more nowadays than when the old school episodes were produced. so the over around through live action bit with the kids playing in a construction site TOTALLY WOULD NOT FLY. and even though old school was created for nostalgic adults, not preschool kids, just the fact that it's a sesame street title... parents will stick their young ones in front of the tv to watch. so i think sesame workshop is just protecting themselves from any parental backlash-- old school episodes were made for kids in the past, not the generation growing up now that have A LOT MORE RULES than we all did before. i think the fact that old school needed a disclaimer speaks more to the kind of parenting that's prevalent now, not the content.

i will agree, that it would be nice to have access to the international productions... i'd be really curious to see israeli/palestinian co-production.

anyway, those are my (more than) two cents.

 

[Colbynfriends]

Its weird, I thought the advisory warnings were there to tell us that these episodes don't fit the criteria of learning now a days, not because it had kids playing at construction sites.

 

[beaker]

i agree with many of your points, but i have to say the shows with elmo's and rosita's dads were done very well. no mention of war, fighting, military, sacrifice, freedom, duty, or even doing something for your country. they basically treat the families as victims of something beyond their control (in the same way they did with the show on serious illness, and in the regular show itself with the hurricaine, poverty, racism, etc.), and it's all about what kids feel happening to them and how they can cope and turn it into something positive. you could show those shows to the child of a truck driver who is gone from home frequently and the child of a factory worker who was injured on the job or someone who had been in a car accident, and they would be perfectly applicable.

Well I guess that sounds better than what I was reading.
I think they should have had Oscar explain that Rosita and Elmo's dad almost got killed fighting for Haliburton, Unocal, and Mobil corporation.

The reason this doesn't sit right with me, is because Sesame Workshop now gets heavy defense department funding, but LOOK
what our own government is using Sesame Street music for in Iraq for "interrogation"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28144557/
Sesame should sue the US government, not take handouts from the Pentagon, RAND and the other war profiteers

And the same politicians who were trying to vote to end PBS financing are the same guys who were voting to finance these wars.

Im just glad Elmo and Rosita's parents are still alive. 5000 US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq haven't been so lucky.

 

[beaker]

of course. and they shouldn't be focused on collectors and older fans. their goal is to produce something that helps kids. they have found ways through their podcast and their website to integrate a lot of older material in a way that does that. and gets parents excited to watch with their kids, which also helps their goals. collectors and older fans should be more focused on what will help kids--if we all want to see older material, i think the workshop would respond better to an argument about how it will help reach kids than how older fans like the nostalgia.



me too. if they're trying to save on production costs, why not run some international segments--there are some animations without words that would require no alteration at all, and other segments that would only require some dubbing. they've dubbed our sesame street into other languages so often, and you're right, a lot of great creative work is coming out of the coproductions. it worked so well bringing the swedish number segments and the claymation bert & ernie to our sesame street, i'd love to see more.

Oh I hear you about the focus, totally. However for years we saw a ton of good quality Sesame merchandise for the older/collector/underground market.

Also, you are so right; there's such a rich gold mine of skits and animation from international Sesame productions.

I HIGHLY applaud Sesameworkshop for their "Youtube" like video archive, I find it amazing. One of these days I'm hoping their can be selected clips from foreign Sesame productions

 

[beaker]

Well look at early Sesame Street. Right there in the first show 40 years ago this year, Gordon is engaging kids in a very adult, almost existential discussion with the WhatNots. And I just don't think many of these suburban soccer mom parents can comprehend what it must have been like to be a kid in 1960's and 1970's inner city New York, where there wasn't much to do *but* play in junk heaps and explore around downtrodden areas. I'm glad Sesame has tried to retain the inner city vibe and the deep resonating intergrated specialness of the show.

About modern Sesame. I love Zoe, Rosita, Telly...and its funny to see Sesame Street make fun of the bloated housing market scam(salesmen tries to sell Bird an Amazon house in an episode they taped in February) and other issues.
I also like all the guest stars they have, from Adam Sandler to Tina Fey. I'm not sure I like the format change, but I'm glad the whole show hasn't been taken over by Elmo

 

[CensoredAlso]

Its weird, I thought the advisory warnings were there to tell us that these episodes don't fit the criteria of learning now a days, not because it had kids playing at construction sites.

I still vehemently disagree with that disclaimer, it was completely unnecessary and needlessly degrading.

 

[Colbynfriends]

I still vehemently disagree with that disclaimer, it was completely unnecessary and needlessly degrading.

I agree, just the thought of parental warnings on a SS DVD is bad. I hope when the 40th anaversary boxset comes out (if it comes out) doesn't have any type of warning. Sesame Street is both universal, and can age well, if given the chance.

 

[mikebennidict]

Is there some reason why we're talking this thread off topic?

 

[mikebennidict]

WELLLLLLL i have to respectfully disagree with you! i definitely miss the sesame street of old that i grew up with.... but i think we all have to remember that the sesame street audience demographic of current times is infant to 2 yrs old-- and audience that is WAY YOUNGER than the 5 yrs olds of back then! so yeah it feels a little dumber than the glory days, but the reality is that the show needs to cater more for the extra young ones. also, the show was never made for us collectors and old school fans -- mostly for kids and their parents! we're just the minority of the sesame street viewership so it would make sense that they can't always have our interests in mind (hence all the majority of infant/pre school toys). i figure if the kids of our generation like the show, and are willing to tune in instead of the other garbage out there, then the show is doing it's job. i think it's unfair to demand sesame street to do what we want if we're not the target audience in the first place.

also, i know that the sesame street muppets have been involved with the military- BUT! only in the context of dealing with parents in the military being deployed or coming back injured. NOT to promote any wars or violence. and i personally think that it's admirable! i watched it when the talk listen connect show was broadcast on PBS and i nearly cried! no other pre school show is out there helping kids cope emotionally with the devastating idea of a parent/caregiver leaving for an extrended period time with the possibility of that person coming back injured, or god forbit not at all!

as for the old school parental advisory... i'm pretty sure it's not to warn against black kids playing in inner cities... you just gotta remember the times! we coddle our kids a lot more nowadays than when the old school episodes were produced. so the over around through live action bit with the kids playing in a construction site TOTALLY WOULD NOT FLY. and even though old school was created for nostalgic adults, not preschool kids, just the fact that it's a sesame street title... parents will stick their young ones in front of the tv to watch. so i think sesame workshop is just protecting themselves from any parental backlash-- old school episodes were made for kids in the past, not the generation growing up now that have A LOT MORE RULES than we all did before. i think the fact that old school needed a disclaimer speaks more to the kind of parenting that's prevalent now, not the content.

i will agree, that it would be nice to have access to the international productions... i'd be really curious to see israeli/palestinian co-production.

anyway, those are my (more than) two cents.

Think you're a bit off in your commentary.

Think parents, even earlier generations would of been just as concerned about kids palying in places where they shouldn't be playing.

 

[SSLFan]

And then the total disrespect of Caroll Spinney from Sesame's corporate world, giving him an extreme pay decrease and what seems like pay threats. As well as the disrespect some other creative wonks there seem to give.

Disrespect? How!

He's a living legend! Who would treat a man such as Mr. Spinney this way? It's really unfair.

THEY'RE HURTING BIG BIRD! :::CRY:::