Sesame Street Season 46 Episode 4611 - Abby's Fairy Garden

[Oscarfan]

There wouldn't be as many repeats if HBO didn't ask for more shows.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Yup, 35 episodes per season was part of the HBO deal. That could be why this season was delayed several months, so that they could stretch the season out.

 

[Drtooth]

There wouldn't be as many repeats if HBO didn't ask for more shows.

Clearly there wasn't enough time or money to film extra new episodes to fill that void, but it seems that we would have had a decent amount of reruns if this didn't happen, either.

 

[antsamthompson9]

Just wanna warn @Daffyfan2003 and anyone else who hasn't seen this that this episode airs on on PBS this Monday. Get ready to meet a new character we'll likely never see again, considering it's Joey using that high-pitched voice he always uses.

 

[CoolGuy1013]

So, Abby's Fairy Garden. On Sunday, I actually watched this and the next episode back to back on HBO Now to prepare for my next 2 reviews (including this one). That way, I didn't have to watch the episode on Youtube when I was writing this review (something I usually do). That said, is this episode pretty as a flower, or should I just let it shrivel up and die? Let's find out...

So the episode begins with a pretty amusing cold open featuring Grover setting up the episode's theme of gardens by trying to water plants, only to get sprayed in the face instead. Like I said, it's pretty fun.

The episode proper starts with Elmo and Abby singing about the former going to the latter's garden. Like most songs this season, it's not memorable, except for one thing. At one point, they rhyme "day" with "day". Seriously? Anyway, Elmo had to bring 2 things with him (a flowerpot and some seeds), only for them to disappear when he gets there. It turns out it was stolen by Jerome the Gnome, who Elmo doesn't believe is alive, until he sees him dancing around. Credit where credit's due, I liked that Elmo saw Jerome was alive when he turned around the first time, instead of Jerome freezing when Elmo saw him like most shows would do. Anyway, he hid them and will only give them back if Abby and Elmo play his games. His first game involves him arranging vegetables into a sequence, and having them remember what it was. But to try to make them forget, he makes them dance to the most annoyingly catchy song in Sesame Street history. I think Pig's Laundry put it best:
"Geez, what an earworm..." - Pig's Laundry, 2016
Anyway, they succeed anyway, and Elmo earns his seeds back. To get his flowerpot back, he must give a ladybug with only 1 dot a High-5. So Abby and Elmo shrink themselves down to what appears to be a blue screen or maybe it was a green screen zoom in of the garden. They find 2 ladybugs (10 away from a full picnic), the right one, and one with 4 dots. They correctly identify the 1-dotted bug, Elmo High-5's it and gets his flowerpot back, just in time to grow a magical plant (with help from Jerome). Then they all sing, with Jerome's voice being dubbed in by Tyler. And wow is it obvious. He wasn't even trying to sound like Joey like he did when he preformed Horatio not to long ago. That said, it's still a decent street story, and I liked exploring one of the new locations. I mean, it's not like we'd get an entire episode about Hooper's new neon sign.

But enough of that, time for the letter of the day, G. And we get another "letter" segment. Once again, another forum member said it best:
"They're forcing letters into segments that probably wouldn't need them. The garden film? Could've just been a film about gardening without the "G for Gardening" intro. Or like that "H is for Healthy" cartoon earlier in the season; no H words stressed other than Healthy." - Oscarfan, 2016
It's a good thing the next episode with an actual letter segment isn't too far away.

Now onto MHALL, where Murray and Ovejita go to gardening school. Once again, nothing eventful here, except I liked it when Murray found out there were no orange flowers at the time, he'd just stand there and pretend to be an orange flower. That was amusing, but that's about it in this one.

And now for the number of the day, 17. We get nothing. Well, I'm pretty sure we got nothing. Absolutely nothi- OK FINE, I'LL TALK ABOUT IT!
For those unaware, the number segment in this episode is in a series infamous for being boring, bland, dull, uninteresting, and overall just plain sucking. They feature kids voices finding something to count in a garden, and counting it until they reach the number of the day. In this case, they count 17 mushrooms. Like most of you, I don't like these segments, I find them incredibly dull. And unfortunately, all of them will be used at least once in the HBO era...

What more can I say about the EW repeats? Nothing, that's what.
OK, maybe that's not quite right. I did enjoy it when Mr. Noodle poured the water into a glass for himself to drink instead of on the plant. And the cactus puppet was pretty cool. But other than that, it's just another EW repeat. Good thing the next 2 episodes won't have any.

All in all, this episode had some bad stuff, but also some really good stuff. I was tempted to give this yet another six, but there was just enough good stuff in this one to bump it up to a 7/10 instead. I hope the next episode is even better, especially since it features another Crumby Pictures.