Sesame Street shrinks to 30 minutes, new shows will premiere on HBO and PBS nine months later

What is the biggest major change Sesame Street has been through in the past 46 years?

  • Adding the first daily repetitive segment, Elmo's World, beginning in 1998

    Votes: 7 12.3%

  • Reducing the annual shows from 130 episodes in 1998 eventually down to 26 episodes in 2003

    Votes: 7 12.3%

  • Changing from an unpredictable "commercial" format to a more predictable "block" format in 2002

    Votes: 12 21.1%

  • Shrinking from a 60 minute show to a 30 minute show in fall 2015

    Votes: 17 29.8%

  • New shows debuting on HBO, then airing on PBS nine months later beginning in fall 2015

    Votes: 14 24.6%
  • Total voters
    57
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Drtooth

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I know this is reading waaaaaay too much into this, but SW just posted a clip of the new Play with Elmo DVD, and there's something interesting with it...


It really seems that this DVD is a collection of Elmo segments that look like they were intended for something besides a DVD. Which leads me to three theories.

  • This was intended as a segment for Sesame Street, but with the new 30 minute run time, it didn't fit and instead of blowing the money on an already produced segment they can't use, they put it on DVD.
  • This is a segment for Sesame Street produced specifically for a 30 minute run time to fill in the gap that ETM left for Elmo content.
  • This segment was produced with foreign series in mind.

I was going to say that maybe this was a test run/pilot for that supposed Sesame Spinoff, but this seems to have been produced before that announcement. Either way, if this is just a DVD with Elmo hosting very much in a Play with Me Sesame style, it's a weird DVD.
 
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Drtooth

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The thing is I know that, but it really feels that this is a little too specific for just a DVD. It feels like this was something else, even if it isn't. I could totally see something like this as a segment. That's why it feels weird.
 
Oscarfan

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Drtooth said:
The thing is I know that, but it really feels that this is a little too specific for just a DVD. It feels like this was something else, even if it isn't. I could totally see something like this as a segment. That's why it feels weird.
Click to expand...
I don't see it being any different than the Monster Manners DVD, where the framing scenes are (from what I can tell) just Cookie and Prairie sketches based on a similar theme.

I can see this as sort of that, just a game with Elmo and some segments following each game that relate to it in some manner.
 
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minor muppetz

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I feel like what appears to be the linking footage for the DVD looks very appropriate for video linking footage.
 
Pig'sSaysAdios

Pig'sSaysAdios

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Drtooth said:
I know this is reading waaaaaay too much into this, but SW just posted a clip of the new Play with Elmo DVD, and there's something interesting with it...


It really seems that this DVD is a collection of Elmo segments that look like they were intended for something besides a DVD. Which leads me to three theories.

  • This was intended as a segment for Sesame Street, but with the new 30 minute run time, it didn't fit and instead of blowing the money on an already produced segment they can't use, they put it on DVD.
  • This is a segment for Sesame Street produced specifically for a 30 minute run time to fill in the gap that ETM left for Elmo content.
  • This segment was produced with foreign series in mind.

I was going to say that maybe this was a test run/pilot for that supposed Sesame Spinoff, but this seems to have been produced before that announcement. Either way, if this is just a DVD with Elmo hosting very much in a Play with Me Sesame style, it's a weird DVD.
Click to expand...
It sounds like Ryan Dillon is still having a hard time getting Elmo's voice just right.
 
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D'Snowth

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Ryan's been doing just fine; it's useless to expect the new performers to sound exactly like their predecessors in every way.
 
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Drtooth

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Oscarfan said:
I can see this as sort of that, just a game with Elmo and some segments following each game that relate to it in some manner.
Click to expand...
That's probably it. Kinda looks cheap, though. The PWMS backdrop and just Elmo. I guess they aren't putting that much money into these things because the home video physical media market keeps shrinking.

D'Snowth said:
Ryan's been doing just fine; it's useless to expect the new performers to sound exactly like their predecessors in every way.
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Other than a tiny glottal/nasal minutia, Ryan sounds closer to Elmo than most recasts do to their respective original characters. I still fail to see why sounding the same always trumps being able to capture as much of the character traits and details as possible. I'm just impressed that for the longest time a death or retirement meant years of not seeing a certain character due to lack of permanent recast, and how SW didn't skip a beat with Elmo. I mean, that's their money character. I really like the idea of understudies taking over roles if something happens, rather than leaving a huge gap in the cast. In both Sesame and Muppet productions, this means we're actually seeing more classic characters than the ones meant to replace them.
 
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