Sesame Street Season 46 Episode 4602 - Mucko Polo, Grouch Explorer

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I'm sure most kids don't the changes at all,my biggest problem is that the street stories don't have any closure.

 

[123Sunny]

I can't wait to watch them. I'm at my mum's house, but my dad is recording them for when I get back

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

One thing I really like is that Ryan Dillon seems to finally gotten the hang of Elmo. I really missed Kevin because he was so comfortable with the character that somehow even when the script was boring Elmo was still fun to watch just because Kevin gave him so much life. The past couple of seasons Ryan was still figuring out the character and Elmo became a bit dull,although he did improve a bit in season 45,I thought it was a problem with the writing but then I went back and watched some of the episodes with Kevin as Elmo and realized that wasn't the case,it was the performer not the writers. This year Ryan has finally started to come to his own as the little red guy and he's back to being one of my favorite characters.

 

[MuppetSpot]

I get use to recasts in a few months but Ryan Dillon does an amazing job with Elmo.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm a little upset at the loss of "Brought to you by..." Yes, the show isn't the same as it was in 1969, and that's one of the things that's been a constant since. And it does seem like an artifact now and even the past couple of seasons, it seems more of a last-minute tacked on thing. It kinda feels weird though to go straight from the end of a random segment to the credits; there's not really a sense of closure.

Yeah, weren't the Murray closings all the same a couple seasons ago? And they essentially turned him into an automated phone machine. It really sucks they turned the most iconic thing about the show into an afterthought for seasons yet. I can't say I blame the for cutting it off, especially with the runtime and format they have now. That said, I'd trade the cold opening for a closing with various characters giving the day's sponsors.

I will say there should not be an Elmo segment at the end of each episode, which appears to be the thing. He's going to be more prominent than ever with the street stories, there's no reason for him to have a segment of his be in every episode. They should do what the half-hours on PBS do and rotate the long-form segments episode-by-episode. The pacing of the whole half-hour is really off, especially in the street stories.

I agree, but if only SW was so bold to take a risk on that. If reruns are new episodes to the youngest of the audience, that same audience doesn't know about Elmo's World and therefore wouldn't have the same attachment as the older 4 and 5 year olds. I wouldn't discount not filling the half hour timeslot wisely either. But yeah. ETM rotating with Smart Cookies and the rest is a far better usage of their time. Too bad they dug themselves into an Elmo's closing segment hole and refuse to try and dig themselves out again.

 

[Drtooth]

Like I've said a few times, the HBO deal was clearly so HBO can bulk up its kid's line up for HBO family. It had shows over 15 years old and still on the channel for the sake of saying they have something there/cheap filler.

So a simple HBO family channel schedule check shows that mornings starting at 6:30 will air more current full hour long Sesame Street episodes (from last season) as well as a couple Pinky Dinky Doos and an Electric Company episode in the afternoon. So other than the new Sesame Street episodes, they're mostly in the deal (it seems) for the back catalog of programming.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

I'm a little upset at the loss of "Brought to you by..." Yes, the show isn't the same as it was in 1969, and that's one of the things that's been a constant since. And it does seem like an artifact now and even the past couple of seasons, it seems more of a last-minute tacked on thing. It kinda feels weird though to go straight from the end of a random segment to the credits; there's not really a sense of closure.

Yeah, I remember back in season 34 (and a few seasons later before the Murray closings and after Trash Gordon ended) they would have an ending scene sort of related to the street scene where someone would announce the sponsors. They really need to bring those back.

 

[Drtooth]

I really liked what happened in that year just before the Murray block format. I like how they either tied the letters and numbers into the street story or had intros with characters on the street set. And indeed they also did something with the letter and number sponsor end tags. When Murray first came on the scene they just, you know, shot a couple different ones and just piped in the same dialog. While it improved with later seasons of this format, it just felt like it was tacked on because they felt they needed to keep that up. So that's why I'm also mixed about their disappearance. Even the promotional material makes reference to it ("The show is brought to you by the letters H B and O," is used in one of the ads).

 

[CoolGuy1013]

Welcome back to CoolGuy1013 Reviews. Today, I'll be reviewing episode 4602.

The first thing in the episode (besides the HBO logo), is the cold open. This one features Cookie Monster setting up today's theme of exploring, naturally by exploring a cookie. There isn't really much to say about this one. It's alright, but Cookie sounded kinda higher pitched in it.

Now onto the street story, which guest stars Alan Cumming as the titular Mucko POLO! (By the way, that was a reference to a running gag throughout the episode where the grouches that follow him shout Polo after Mucko announces himself). He even gets to sing, and I won't deny that it's a good song. It sounds a bit generic, but the lyrics were creative. I also like that all the current humans were in this street story. Also worth mentioning is that my local bakery actually sells those smiley face cookies Alan was making.

Now for the letter of the day, which is of course E. We don't get a segment of any kind, just a film about exploring underwater in Australia. And it's boring. At least they didn't add a crappy "E is for Explore" at the beginning. There will be one of those in season 48. It will infuriate me.

Today's episode doesn't really have a short-form segment, instead opting for the bit where Elmo and Grover look for a pyramid, only to encounter other 3-D shapes along the way. It's a really fun way to teach kids the 3-D shapes, but that selfie gag. Ugh. Look, I understand why you want to add these modern references. It'll make you look relevant. However, you'll just end up being painfully dated in a few years. Lest we forget that many mainstream cartoons are inserting memes to make them "cooler". The rest of the segment is pretty good, however.

Now, the number of the day. It's 6, and we get. *Sigh* We get one of those "Can you find X in the rocks" bits. I'll admit it somewhat fits the theme, but come on Sesame, can't you make better number segments? Either that or don't include any at all. Trust me, we'll get to that when I review season 49.

And now, Elmo the Musical. Like with Elmo's World, these segments were edited down to 7 minutes to fit the format. Here for example, they edited out most of the part where Elmo comes up with the idea. It feels very sudden now. But anyway, Elmo the chef/explorer has to make a dip for the Queen of Nacho Piccu's tortilla chip or else... This leads to Elmo getting the recipe for guacamole from "The Rhombus of Recipes" in a funny joke, and then setting off to get the ingredients. His first stop is to get 14 avacados from Nose McDonald, which he does, IN SONG!!!!! Then he gets some onion from the Temple of Spoons, which collapses, but no before Elmo gets 3 spoonfuls of onion. And then a bowl of guacamole magically appears. How the... No! No questioning the logic in a show where green things live in trashcans.

This episode was likely made as an excuse to reuse all the content from last season's "Everyday Magic" to save money. This might explain why my favorite part of the episode was the street story. There were some other things I liked too such as the ETM and the Pyramid bit (minus the selfie gag), but overall, it gets a 6/10. Let's hope the next can break this 6/10 streak.