The show went through phases since the 90's. That's only due to the constant changing of children's television and SS unfortunately having to adapt. However, while I'm no big fan of the block format, it's a great deal better than what we had last decade that brought the pre-preschoolers in. JTE and Elmo's World are long gone, replaced with much better Super Grover 2.0 (but OH those reruns), Abby's Flying Fairy School (which gets better with every season), and Elmo the Musical (which is far superior on every level, and a whole 5 minutes shorter). And even that's not going to be as permanent as we think.I'm right there with you. We run these wonderful shows into the ground until they're shadows of their former selves. It's become your typical "talk down to kids" program. I doubt it will be cancelled because it is such an institution.
AS long as we never get "Come on, it's time to play" back ever again. That was Sesame Street's "Batman and Robin," or rather, for the TV show reference, those horrid episodes of Frasier where Jane Leeves was pregnant and they had to write all those horridly unfunny fat jokes about Daphne... ugh.