Sesame Street Season 46 Press Kit; HBO premiere set for Saturday January 16, 2016

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Here's a new, somewhat jaded article about the show moving to HBO that pretty much addresses everything that we already knew about the new changes:

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/sesame-street-hbo-pbs-5-differences-174100955.html

I already posted this earlier in the thread.

 

[Drtooth]

Had a feeling Murray's "Word on the Street" bit was going to go away in time. Are they still doing the Word of the day? Article doesn't say anything about it. Kinda disappointed that we won't see those Murray interacting with real people, but I really felt the Word of the day segment was redundant. Even when they have a good guest who know what show they're on.

But bad call on bringing back Elmo's World. Not even so much the fact that segment was what brought the age level viewership down, but because with a new actually less than a half hour run time, EW's big, bloated 15 minute runtime will snatch up a significant amount of the show. I'm sure this is nothing more than a cost motivated move, and hopefully with the show, EW gets pared down to a slimmer runtime. But overall, ETM was a superior concept. Shorter runtime, better use of time and subject matter. EW isn't just long, but it feels longer than it does due to the painfully repetitiveness of the series. And even though the article blames HBO, I'm sure that this was a SW motivated change. I'm sure we'll see layers of why Joey left soon enough.

 

[MuppetSpot]

I wonder if Joey left because his characters weren't getting any screen time in the season.

 

[Oscarfan]

That seems awfully petty and selfish. He's said it was over what he thinks is "heart and soul of the show." His characters aren't objectively that. If he sees so, then that's kinda egotistical. But, I don't think it's over that.

 

[D'Snowth]

My only theory is that Joey's departure is perhaps over the overall scale-back of Muppets on the show, because that, to me, is the "heart and soul of the show." That seems to make sense to me, because as I've also said many times before, I really hate to think that Joey would be that conceited enough to walk away from the show if it has something to do with doing away with Murray or anything affiliated with Murray. After working for both Sesame and the Muppets for over two decadees as a performer and a writer, surely Joey has more integrity to him than that.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I don't think it had anything to do with his characters. As the head writer he should know more than anyone that characters constanly come and go(and sometimes come back and then go again etc.). Besides that,he only had one main character,Murray,all his other characters are pretty minor,like Horatio,Stinky,Papa Bear,hardly what we might call the soul of the show.
Like D'Snowth said,it was probably the scaling back on characters thing. So, in that case, it's not the "main six" thing in season 46 like some have feared would be the problem, but possibly something much more drastic coming next year in season 47.

Although,maybe he's talking about the human cast rather than the Muppets. This season seems to barely have any human cast members at all besides Chris,Alan and Nina.

 

[Drtooth]

That seems awfully petty and selfish. He's said it was over what he thinks is "heart and soul of the show." His characters aren't objectively that. If he sees so, then that's kinda egotistical. But, I don't think it's over that.

Something I've been misinterpreted as saying, by the way. Now to say it again...

Murray isn't just a character, he's a little side project for Joey. The whole bit about bringing a Muppet outside to communicate with real people instead of a staged, safe studio setting was very much a Jim-esque idea, and I wouldn't be surprised if he took that project as his own little baby. I mean, I'd be proud to call that my own, wouldn't you? I remember him giving an interview for Tough Pigs and letting out a kind of annoyance of the fact that they forced Murray into a street story for establishment purposes when Joey himself stated he wanted Murray to be separate from the main show. He used Traveling Matt as an example, though we all know Matt made some appearances in the Rock, but I get what he meant. Murray was the outside correspondent for the show. So it's much more than "my character's not on anymore" so much as "my special part of the show that I undertook and made a big risk in pitching has been taken away."

Now, how does this factor in on him leaving the show? Well, it only does as far as speculation is concerned. But I never thought just getting rid of a character was the reason he left. I'd say, and this is the best way to put it, well... okay. Imagine you've got a crappy job where the boss is breathing down your neck, the other employees are either jerks or cold to you, you keep getting in trouble for no reason, you've been turned down for a promotion and raise for a while, and at the very least, someone has repeatedly eaten your lunch out of the fridge. Now, one day things get really bad and while you've been annoyed about your lunch being taken, this time it really set you off. That was the last straw, and you angrily quit. It's not that someone ate your lunch so much as it was one of many things that ticked you off enough to leave. Now, whatever circumstance for Joey's departure, something tells me he was fighting a lot behind the scene filming season 46, and I wouldn't be surprised if losing his own contribution to the show was a reason if not the last straw.

Something tells me he was challenged a lot of times and I'd say the new SW head and PBS have something to do with it. I'm sure a lot of the changes to come will be apparent when the show finally premieres (I wouldn't be surprised if the re-inclusion of Elmo's World is a sign of things being focused back into the youngest of the demographic again). And they'll be blatantly obvious when 47 rolls around.

 

[MuppetSpot]

Something I've been misinterpreted as saying, by the way. Now to say it again...

Murray isn't just a character, he's a little side project for Joey. The whole bit about bringing a Muppet outside to communicate with real people instead of a staged, safe studio setting was very much a Jim-esque idea, and I wouldn't be surprised if he took that project as his own little baby. I mean, I'd be proud to call that my own, wouldn't you? I remember him giving an interview for Tough Pigs and letting out a kind of annoyance of the fact that they forced Murray into a street story for establishment purposes when Joey himself stated he wanted Murray to be separate from the main show. He used Traveling Matt as an example, though we all know Matt made some appearances in the Rock, but I get what he meant. Murray was the outside correspondent for the show. So it's much more than "my character's not on anymore" so much as "my special part of the show that I undertook and made a big risk in pitching has been taken away."

Now, how does this factor in on him leaving the show? Well, it only does as far as speculation is concerned. But I never thought just getting rid of a character was the reason he left. I'd say, and this is the best way to put it, well... okay. Imagine you've got a crappy job where the boss is breathing down your neck, the other employees are either jerks or cold to you, you keep getting in trouble for no reason, you've been turned down for a promotion and raise for a while, and at the very least, someone has repeatedly eaten your lunch out of the fridge. Now, one day things get really bad and while you've been annoyed about your lunch being taken, this time it really set you off. That was the last straw, and you angrily quit. It's not that someone ate your lunch so much as it was one of many things that ticked you off enough to leave. Now, whatever circumstance for Joey's departure, something tells me he was fighting a lot behind the scene filming season 46, and I wouldn't be surprised if losing his own contribution to the show was a reason if not the last straw.

Something tells me he was challenged a lot of times and I'd say the new SW head and PBS have something to do with it. I'm sure a lot of the changes to come will be apparent when the show finally premieres (I wouldn't be surprised if the re-inclusion of Elmo's World is a sign of things being focused back into the youngest of the demographic again). And they'll be blatantly obvious when 47 rolls around.

That's what I was thinking Murray not getting much use was the last straw for him but, I do like that he doesn't blame anyone in his goodbye.

 

[Oscarfan]

Murray seems to still be around in some capacity for this season. I'm almost certain the decision to trim the show down to 30 minutes was done before they started filming and as such, his stuff was probably nixed by then. And yet, they included Murray in the celebrity musical numbers they filmed in LA and he's still on their new "characters" page.

 

[Drtooth]

I'd think that would be the case. They keep Murray around for a little bit longer and then phase him out after this season. Then Joey left so if they even want him around, he' going to have a recast, or better yet not have him around and dump him.