Suggested ideas for season 10

[SkyeFan]

While looking at this one book about Jim Henson called "Imagination-Illustrated", I came across in the chapter about Sesame Street where it shows a picture of a yellow sheet of legal pad paper with notes written by Jim Henson himself of ideas proposed during a meeting in preparation for the show's tenth season. While this part of the book references Barkley the Dog (with pictures and original sketches), we actually learn of some interesting ideas that may or may not have made it to the show.

Some of Jim's notes consisted of the following ideas -

- A character with a rhyming name (Cecil Bill) - I believe this note suggests this character would be played by Jerry Nelson (it reads "Jerry w/ mask" - perhaps a live full-bodied character?)
- Rocks w/ hands (talking Muppet rocks?)
- Harvey the Invisible Rabbit (as in the classic James Stewart film)
- Landlady of Ernie and Bert (as if played by the puppet of either one of them) - this idea seemed like it would've been REALLY interesting, especially since I've always wondered who Ernie and Bert's landlord/landlady was
- Little Bird as a marionette - I guess this was suggesting an idea to be used more frequently, since we've usually seen this character built in this style before in scenes that required him to fly
- Two-Headed (Monster) cooperation - push and pull
- Space Martian S.A.M. the Robot - I would love to see this!
- Abstract AMs - I would also REALLY love to see this. I don't know what kind of skits or scenes would be written for such characters, but I just suppose this could possibly have been some sort of tribute to the original Muppet characters from "Sam & Friends".
- Puppet or costume making with Ernie and Bert (?) followed by puppet show performed by Ernie and Bert - this seems like it would be fun to see
- Baby brother of Mr. Snuffleupagus - this concept has some character sketches drawn, suggesting a baby Snuffleupagus would consist of only two feet (likely performed by a short person) and that this particular species gains an extra pair of feet through maturity, described as "tadpole-like". A similar concept was used later on when Alice came along.

Many of these ideas seemed like they would have been really neat to see on the show, but I just don't know if any of these were ever accepted.

 

[minor muppetz]

Now that the wiki has full guides to every season 10 episode (but video evidence sometimes shows inaccuracies, especially with the plot of episode 1259), we know that pretty much all of these did not make it to the show.

There were eventually rocks with hands, I think they were called Rockapellas. I can't remember what season they first appeared in.

I wonder if Cecil Bill surfaced with a different name. I kind of feel like the style of that name isn't really different from a name like Leslie Mostly (who would debut in season 11). Though now I'm thinking maybe that's more of a male name.

I wonder if Ernie and Bert's landlady would have appeared in street stories with the cast. After all, Ernie and Bert are not the only ones to live in the apartment.

Two-Headed Monster had already existed in season 9, I wonder if it was just a sketch idea/suggestion for the character. Then again, we also now know that Barkley did indeed debut in season 9. Maybe the notes were written before season 9 ended production and they were preparing for the next season (and got ahead of schedule in a few cases).

 

[SkyeFan]

That sound really interesting to know that there were actually talking Muppet rocks on the show at some point. I have some doubt they were called "Rockapellas" since that was the name of an actual accapella singing group best known as the house "band" on the PBS show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?".

The idea for the Two-Headed Monster cooperating, by means of one pushing and the other pulling, was probably just a scene to be performed as part of an episode, rather than just a repeated insert. Nevertheless, this just sound like a typical routine for that character.

As for S.A.M. the Robot appearing as a space robot, this was probably done as a loose reference to "Star Wars", since this was about the time when the first movie was released and was also the craze. I suppose this idea led to having R-2D2 and C-3PO guest starring on the show for season 11 in two separate episodes, as well as a few inserts.

I would still be interested in seeing these "abstract AMs" that were suggested in Jim's notes. As I had stated, this was probably a way of trying to capture the spirit of the original Muppets from "Sam & Friends", although I just can't imagine what kind of skits they would appearing in and what these characters would have to offer. The only times I can ever remember seeing "abstract" Muppets on the show would be the three characters named "Beginning", "Middle", and "End" in an early skit with Betty Lou, and the two characters (one was lavender and the other was green) reciting the alphabet one at a time and then together.

It would be pretty funny seeing an appearance by Mr. Snuffleupagus' baby brother, as if he was sighted by one of the adults, and Big Bird would find it silly that someone who spotted him would describe him as being small and having only two feet, rather than four. Thus, Big Bird would only believe that they (the adult cast member) was just making it all up.

Seeing Ernie and Bert performing a puppet show would be quite a treat, as well. Think about it. Seeing a Muppet performing a puppet seems mind-blowing, since it's a puppet performing a puppet at the same time. Although, the notes for this idea says something like "performed by live", meaning the puppets would technically by performed likely by Jim and Frank rather than them performing Ernie and Bert performing the puppets. However, in the Señor Wences episode of "The Muppet Show", we do see both Beauregard and Fozzie Bear performing puppets in two separate scenes.

On another topic, I know that there have been several talking Muppet letters on the show, but would anyone know exactly when the earliest appearance was for any such characters? I've seen in a book a rough storyboard drawing by Jim for a Wilkins Tea commercial featuring talking Muppet letters, namely the letters "T" (as in "Tea"), "O" (who says "Oh!"), and "Y" (who asks "Why?"). I don't know if this commercial was ever produced, but it sure seemed really neat.