• Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
    You are viewing our forum as a guest. Join our free community to post topics and start private conversations. Please contact us if you need help.
  • Christmas Music
    Our 24th annual Christmas Music Merrython is underway on Muppet Central Radio. Listen to the best Muppet Christmas music of all-time through December 25.
  • Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
    Let us know your thoughts on the Sesame Street appearance at the annual Macy's Parade.
  • Jim Henson Idea Man
    Remember the life. Honor the legacy. Inspire your soul. The new Jim Henson documentary "Idea Man" is now streaming exclusively on Disney+.
  • Back to the Rock Season 2
    Fraggle Rock Back to the Rock Season 2 has premiered on AppleTV+. Watch the anticipated new season and let us know your thoughts.
  • Bear arrives on Disney+
    The beloved series has been off the air for the past 15 years. Now all four seasons are finally available for a whole new generation.
  • Sam and Friends Book
    Read our review of the long-awaited book, "Sam and Friends - The Story of Jim Henson's First Television Show" by Muppet Historian Craig Shemin.

Sesame Street Season 52 Episode 5220 - Friendship Celebration

Phillip

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Messages
8,298
Reaction score
3,430
Episode 5220 - Friendship Celebration
HBO Max Premiere: Thursday March 24, 2022
PBS Premiere: Monday, January 30, 2023

Zoe learns to be careful with her words after hurting Elmo's feelings over their friendship dance.

This episode features a street story from Season 45, I Wonder, What If, Let’s Try ("Riding a Tricycle"), Amanda Gorman writes a friendship poem, Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck ("Mustard"), and Elmo's World ("Friends").




If you saw "Friendship Celebration" please like this post and share your thoughts below.
 
Last edited:

antsamthompson9

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Messages
3,386
Reaction score
1,687
The bit with Elmo and Amanda was sweet. The ending with Elmo and Zoe was cute.
 

Phillip

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Messages
8,298
Reaction score
3,430
"Friendship Celebration" premieres on PBS this Monday, January 30. Tune in and let us know your thoughts.

Season 52 episodes are also available to stream online at pbskids.org/sesame for a limited time.
 

Daffyfan4ever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Messages
5,043
Reaction score
589
The bit with Elmo and Amanda was sweet. The ending with Elmo and Zoe was cute.
True. But still no explanation as to why her voice changes all of a sudden. :smile: Nice that they still keep her in the tutu though when adding new material to repeat episodes.
 

CoolGuy1013

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2019
Messages
1,013
Reaction score
528
Not to mention that she has the same tiara she wore in the episode (it also kinda looks like a gold version of Gidget’s tiara in my avatar).
 

antsamthompson9

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Messages
3,386
Reaction score
1,687
But still no explanation as to why her voice changes all of a sudden. :smile:
Kids aren't gonna care. If anyone other than Jen took over Zoe, you'd still get people saying Zoe sounds different. Keep this discussion in mind.

Adam Kreutinger: We were talking to Dave Goelz about performers who carry on characters, and obviously fans can be critical of how these new performers interpret these characters.

Fran Brill in an empathetic tone: I know, yeah.

Adam: Obviously in the case of people taking on Jim Henson's characters, the original performer can't say "I approve of these choices."

Cameron Garrity: "Leave them alone!"

Fran: I think you have to be a grownup about it.

Adam: I think from some fan perspectives, they might think "Jim might not have done it that way" or so and so, and I guess one thing that seems wonderful about you, it sounds like you want these new performers to put a lot of themselves into these characters, not necessarily just try to do what you did before.

Fran: Oh sure, because they're not me. And you can imitate somebody's voice and I know this goes on and on, but a lot of the fans say "I can do a perfect Kermit or a perfect Grover, I wish I could audition" but it is not a voiceover job. If it were it would be easy and everybody could do it, but it's so many talents at the same time, and if they don't have the voice absolutely perfect, especially in the beginning. Like when Eric Jacobson took over Grover and a lot of Frank's characters, Miss Piggy, and he is doing such a fantastic job that even I sometimes have to think "Who was that?" And I know the fans get troubled when a new person takes over a character, but all of these people are cast from within the family of the puppeteers. It's not like they have found a puppeteer from outside the group, so the ability to imitate a voice is already in the air, let's say. Cause we would all kid each other and do each other's voice sometimes, but I think you have to give a new Kermit or Prairie Dawn or whoever, you have to give that person a chance. I can tell you they worked extremely hard listening to Jim, for instance, Matt Vogel now doing Kermit, I think he's doing a great job, and he really worked at it. He went back to not what Stevie had did cause Stevie was very good too, but he went back to Jim, the original, and listened and listened. It's the intonation, the inflection, it's the humanity of that character, and the manipulation, there's just so much. Plus all these puppeteers are a unit and they're used to each other and joke around with each other. So to bring in somebody from outside the Muppet family to replace a character as important as Kermit, that almost has to be done within these performers who've been working together 10, 15, 20, 25 years, it makes perfect sense to me. Matt had to do a lot of auditioning too, they didn't just throw a major character like that around. So I hope the fans can be more understanding about what all is involved, it's not just the voice, it's finding the soul of that character, speech pattern, keeping that character alive, while improvising which is really tricky, and the quick wit that you need.

Adam: I love what you said about having the audience give the new performer a chance, because the original characters are in some way a piece of that performer, and that's what I think people fall in love with so much, how humanizing these characters can be, so when someone else takes over that, what people think they want is an impression, when really that's not what's best for this character to have a long living life as a character. So I think it's important for these new performers to try to be as honest to the character as they can be, but also in order to make this a real fleshed out character, it has to have a piece of that new performer in it.

Fran: Yeah, I mean how can it not? I have my DNA and Stephanie has her DNA and Jen Barnhart has her DNA. Fans have to be patient.
 

Daffyfan4ever

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Messages
5,043
Reaction score
589
Kids aren't gonna care. If anyone other than Jen took over Zoe, you'd still get people saying Zoe sounds different. Keep this discussion in mind.
I don't know. I kind of wonder about that because in SS's 50 years of existence nearly all major characters have been recast at least once, but Zoe is kind of the most noticeable, her and Big Bird actually. Kids these days are a lot smarter than we think.

But I did read through that interview you posted (Interesting to note Fran calling Steve Stevie) and I see what you mean, especially with Fran's quote at the end. I guess it's all in the DNA. :smile:
 
Top