To me, the series ended when Jim Henson passed away. I mean don't get me wrong, I like Steve Whitmire, but let's face it, he's not Jim Henson. There will NEVER be another Jim Henson. Let's be honest, Jim Henson was 25 - 50% the reason why Sesame Street is such an iconic household name and why we even loved it in the first place. Jim Henson laid out some of the foundation work for Sesame Street, with him being the one behind the designs of a lot of the Muppets we know and love to this day. I mean yeah Frank Oz was still there along with Jerry Nelson, but without Jim Henson, there was definitely an element of Sesame Street that was missing, and that was Jim Henson's personality that he portrayed through his characters, especially Ernie and Kermit. And it ESPECIALLY feels like there's an element missing without Jim Henson and Frank Oz working together anymore in the Muppet skits like in years previous. The rest of the series after his passing just feels like extras in some ways. Without Jim Henson, sesame street was NEVER the same. Anyone who prefers Whitmire to Henson, that's fine, but a lot of Sesame Street has been preserved on both online, vhs, and dvd. I mean it wouldn't at LEAST hurt to give Henson's skits a try and see what he had that Whitmire doesn't.