The future of Sesame Street

[D'Snowth]

Cablevision is still in existence? I thought that went out with the 80s.

 

[FunnyBear]

Cablevision is still in existence? I thought that went out with the 80s.

Yeah, Optimum has Cablevision and I just got Sprout last week.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Not necessarily. Back in the early days of the Muppets, Rowlf was the most prominent Muppet character.
I mean, he was everywhere on a regular basis. He was the Kermit the Frog back then. He would be on every TV appearance starting from the Jimmy Dean show. See how that went? Rowlf hasn't disappeared, but he's been used less than he did way back in the beginning.

Rowlf: "I used to be a big star back then..."

 

[D'Snowth]

Every ensemble series has an "unofficial star" who pretty much serves as the heartbeat of the show: Big Bird DID used to be that "unofficial star", but Elmo has pretty much taken on that role.

 

[SSLFan]

Every ensemble series has an "unofficial star" who pretty much serves as the heartbeat of the show: Big Bird DID used to be that "unofficial star", but Elmo has pretty much taken on that role.

Yeah...seemed like they tried to balance it out in the 2000's with giving both characters the "unofficial star" status, but starting around Season 40 it became clear it was Elmo's street, lol.

 

[Oscarfan]

I wouldn't say that's when it happened; keep in mind, in the season 40 theme, Big Bird's the first Muppet to appear and Elmo doesn't even appear until the second verse.

 

[Drtooth]

The "Elmo's Street" bit happened well over a decade ago. They've been better at sharing characters. Big Bird, unfortunately, doesn't appear as much as he used to. It looks like an availability problem. They need to shoot more Big Bird inserts when Carol comes in to shoot an episode.

I think that's the problem right there... they shoot as much footage with the available puppeteers as they can in the shortest amount of time possible. Remember... budget. There's clearly something about certain Muppeteers being more readily available than others. That's probably the rise in generic fairy tale characters. They can get any Muppeteers to play those characters, so they just get whoever's the closest.

 

[CensoredAlso]

If they can survive Barney, they can survive anything. They have a replacement Elmo, and they probably have replacement Muppeteers lined up just in case something else happens. Definitely enough to sustain them the full 6 years to season 50. Further than that is anyone's guess. As long as they can get back on budget, things will go fine.

Wow, only 6 years? I didn't think of that. OK yeah I think they can last that long, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

Seems like just yesterday we were whining about how lackluster the 35th anniversary special was. And it seems like later yesterday we were whining about how the 40th anniversary didn't have a special.

 

[D'Snowth]

I don't remember ever thinking the 35th anniversary special was lackluster... I don't remember there were ever negative reactions to the 35th anniversary special honestly...

But yeah, Season 40 didn't have a special, but then again, Season 30 didn't really have a special - ELMOPALOOZA was supposed to be the 30th anniversary special, but it was more of Exactly What It Says On The Tin, it was an Elmo-palooza more than it was an anniversary special.