Things That Disappointed You

[Oscarfan]

I agree with SSLFan, a lot of the characters have been skimped out this season. Grover, who usually appears in nearly every episode, made half of his appearences in background musical numbers and short cameos in Word of the Day bits. And I'm really peeved Prairie Dawn made ONE appearance outside EW, and that wasn't even a new sketch! Unlike last season, however, Cookie Monster made more appearences (albiet animated most of the time, but hey, last season he appeared in less than 10 episodes).

 

[D'Snowth]

Dude, I literally laughed for like 10 minutes after I read this, lol.

Okay, that's it for me... remember to tip your waitresses!

*Walks out on a high note*

 

[Drtooth]

I agree with SSLFan, a lot of the characters have been skimped out this season. Grover, who usually appears in nearly every episode, made half of his appearences in background musical numbers and short cameos in Word of the Day bits. And I'm really peeved Prairie Dawn made ONE appearance outside EW, and that wasn't even a new sketch! Unlike last season, however, Cookie Monster made more appearences (albiet animated most of the time, but hey, last season he appeared in less than 10 episodes).

I really will go deeper into it Friday when I write up a season wrap up (which will be in the your thoughts thread)... but to me it wasn't even just the lack of characters. Steve and Eric are probably a bit busy with Disney's stuff and we're likely to see less of their characters (and possible David's too) when Cheapest Muppet Movie starts filming.

The short end of it seems to be, for some budget reason, they only had a handful of puppeteers on site every day, and they somehow didn't feel like paying extras. So with the exception of Big Bird's move, The Squirmadega Race, Counting Booth, and Jack's big Jump, Sesame Street looked like a ghost town half the time, and Oscar's can was probably seen more than the grouch himself. The low budget really hurt them this year.

 

[HeyButtahfly]

The show opening (and closing) changing in the early '90s.

The Fix-It Shop going away.

The disappearance of Kermit.

 

[Redsonga]

I miss the Fix It Shop so much. I know it is a silly thing to miss, but I do...

 

[D'Snowth]

They brought the Fix-It-Shop back apparently, it's just off camera now, next to the subway.

At least that's what Austin said when he visited the set here a while back.

 

[Drtooth]

The Fix it Shop only was the Mail-it Shop for about a season or so (maybe two? I forget). And I sometimes wonder what the point of switching it back was, if they mention it once a season. They actually had stories take place in the Mail it Shop... it was useful. Sort of like how the Laundromat serves today. Other than one or two episodes where Maria is seen fixing a toaster or something (mainly as a nod to fans) it just doesn't really serve any major plot points like it used to. And I think, now more than ever, it really could serve a nice message in reusing old appliances and various pieces of brick a brak like that.

Now, the disappearance of the Fix it Shop basically was commentary on what was happening in the early 00's, where people apparently had all this money they really didn't have and would tend to throw out stuff that didn't work. You could always buy another, there's always more, that's what more means. A dangerous mentality that drove us to ruin. Bringing back the Fix it Shop really could have served the purpose of saying, "you can have an appliance serviced and not just toss it out." But they really don't make that statement, and only really brought it back to appease oldtimers.

 

[D'Snowth]

That's it basically, because in actuality, actual Fix-it-Shops rarely exist anymore, which is why it disappeared in the first place.

Personally, I didn't mind the Mail-it-Shop myself, that was one of the few modernizations I didn't mind... and it was around longer than two seasons. Four at least. It first came around in 2002 during Season 33, and it was said because Maria and Luis "wanted a change" (I remember Slimey's girlfriend, Glo, moving into one of the residential mailboxes)... then suddenly, the Fix-it-Shop returned at the beginning of Season 37 in 2006, when Big Bird brought Abby to the Fix-it-Shop to get her wand fixed.