Sesame Street Season 41 Press Kit

[Drtooth]

That said... I hope her boyfriend or husband or whatever comes in next season. Russel Brand on Sesame Street? Dynamic.

 

[InvaderZim]

I just watched the Oprah cartoon parody-its' been done quite well.

 

[Drtooth]

True Mud leaked by another source...

I thought it was funny, but I didn't quite get it.

 

[Oscarfan]

I've never seen the actual series, so yeah, a lot of it goes over my head. But, it's got Jerry Nelson as the main character!

 

[minor muppetz]

Jerry Nelson mentioned that "True Mud" segment in his Tough Pigs interview which I think came before season 40. I thought it was meant to be broadcast last year (could it have been held over like Elmo's World: Frogs? Or could it have tested poorly and now won't be broadcast?).

I think I might be starting to notice Matt Vogel's puppetry style. Before I heard Jerry Nelson's character talk I was thinking (is that Matt Vogel's puppetry?). Of course that's assuming Matt Vogel did the puppetry (Vogel performs most of Nelson's characters, but does he also have to perform any new Jerry Nelson character?).

 

[minor muppetz]

Sesamestreet.org just added a season 41 highlight reel: http://www.sesamestreet.org/video_p...97-be0f-fc96c5bb1125/season_41_highlight_reel

I have a feeling they might have re-edited this after deciding to not air Katy Perry's appearance. No clips from it appear, and I'd find it hard to believe they wouldn't have included clips in the reel otherwise.

The website has also added some segments with Super Grover 2.0 explaining words. Either those are clips from the Super Grover 2.0 segments, or Grover will appear as Super Grover 2.0 outside of the segments.

 

[ISNorden]

So far, I'm having mixed feelings about Season 41--

• The block format needs to go as soon as possible; it exposes the same characters too often and wastes time that could be used for lesson material. ("Sounds of the Street" and Murray's demonstrations of opposites? Those teach very little, in my opinion.) Yes, Sesame Street got where it did by imitating the other programming on TV; I can understand their need to keep up with the times. But (and this is a major "but")...they don't need to copy the bad side of kidvid competitors along with the good side!
• The parodies sound well done, as funny and memorable as some from Sesame Street's early years. If only the rest of the show could keep that kind of quality, even "Elmo's World" might appeal to both toddlers and older viewers. Sesame Workshop needs to spread their writing talent around for that to happen, though...
• The decision to drop Katy Perry, well...I can understand why even "fake" nudity on a kids' show would offend most people. Then again, as the song goes, everyone makes mistakes!
• "Super Grover 2.0" has its good and bad points: Using a long-established character to teach scientific concepts was a smart decision. On the other hand, it supports my fear that Sesame Street is breaking up into a series of one-character acts. What in the world happened to the sense of community that the old show had? At most, you see cliques of two or three Muppets now...rarely anyone else deciding to socialize or work together.

 

[Drtooth]

Worst case scenario with the block format, it stays for a few years. No change is permanent on Sesame Street. And the writers CAN and WILL object if they find it cumbersome and detrimental to their work. Journey to Ernie was deleted for that reason. Time to Play (the worst, most intelligence insulting segment ever) died rightfully after one season. The block is an experiment sort of like a Muppet Labs experiment. Even the best results will wind up getting Beaker blown up.

I've spoken my peace about the self censorship, and I find them completely spineless in the matter, and that's NOT a good thing. I can almost guess that the Apple people will go nuts about the iPogo stick episode, the Tea Party will probably find offense in the veggie revolt segment, and I'm almost certain Scientology will try to sue Sesame Street because of the obvious parody of Tom Cruise in the O segment. To quote a Bloom Country comic, "America is a great place to get your undies in a bunch."

But the clique thing has been going on for a while... and by no means does the fact that they're struggling with budgets (less puppeteers on set, less extras and actors too) makes it any worse. This is all because this is the (ugh) norm in kid's television and has been since the 90's when you know who was worshiped like a king... nay... god in a well to do suburban School house. They keep trying to move away from that, sure, but they always get pulled back in.

Though, if any character's going to get a new segment (and only 6-8 are produced... man, I hope they don't make it an every episode showing like they screwed up with Abby's Fairy School) I'm glad it's an old standby character like Grover. And the fact they're clearly parodying ultra hip-ified super heroes for their movie roles (... this has Chris Nolan Batman movies written all over it, down to the Grovermobile) is a plus with me. I just hope we have a better balance of this stuff this time.


Oh, and I'll throw a rock through the TV if they dare show the how to make sushi film again this season. I get it... you went from dingy urban streets to gentrified yuppie neighborhood.

 

[SSLFan]

Besides what's already been discussed, and minus that horrific block format and Elmo's usual over dominance, this season looks very good. I'm loving the parodies (especially A-Team) and the street stories look decent as well. I just have one minor complaint: can someone PLEASE tell Joey Mazzarino to try out DIFFERENT VOICES for characters he perform? He uses the same voice for EVERY character he does, and since he's a principle performer now, wouldn't it be fitting he tries different vocal ranges instead of that same "squeaky-whiney" voice he always uses?

Is anyone else irritated by this?

 

[antsamthompson9]

I just have one minor complaint: can someone PLEASE tell Joey Mazzarino to try out DIFFERENT VOICES for characters he perform? He uses the same voice for EVERY character he does, and since he's a principle performer now, wouldn't it be fitting he tries different vocal ranges instead of that same "squeaky-whiney" voice he always uses?

Is anyone else irritated by this?

I'm not. Joey can do other voices. Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JDAn9j5DFc. The only Joey voice I think is annoying is Horatio.