Thoughts on the lack of adult human characters on Sesame Street?

[GroverFan22]

Hi all. Long time Muppet fan and forum-reader, first time poster.

I’ve recently been nostalgically looking back on my Sesame Street viewing days.

I’ve been struck by just how few adult human characters there are on the show. I’m younger than a lot of users here, but when I was growing up, Sesame viewers still had the chance to see characters like Gordon, Susan, Bob, Luis, Maria, Gina, etc.

Now the only three adult human characters regularly on the show are Alan, Chris, and Nina. This simply doesn’t seem like enough, especially with regards to female characters. Where once there were Maria, Susan, and Gina filling the role of “adult surrogate parental figure to the Muppets”, the role is now exclusively held by Nina. Even when it comes to men, Alan and Chris are the only ones. They have brought back Roscoe Orman occasionally over the past year or so but that’s pretty much it.

All the other well-known human character actors who used to be on the show are either no longer involved or deceased.

Should there be more characters introduced to fill the void? What archetypes should they fill?

 

[eurbane]

the kids prefer the muppets better. The adults will remember the humans on the show.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Well, there's also Frank and Dave, but neither of them really had that big of a role other than being Mia's two dad's. So yeah I see what you mean.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I mean is that a surprise? The characters that will stick out more are other children and more importantly, the Muppets. Who small children with very early brains will see and relate to easily.

 

[datman24]

Kids have always preferred the Muppet to humans. The whole reason why the Muppets were integrated into the street scenes was because they were bored with just the humans. Yes, they did once play a bigger part in the show than they do now, but keep in mind, they were doing over 1000 shows a season back then. Now that some of the Muppets have their own parents who are recurring characters (ie: Elmo's parents), the humans kind of seem useless now.

 

[wiley207]

Kids have always preferred the Muppet to humans. The whole reason why the Muppets were integrated into the street scenes was because they were bored with just the humans. Yes, they did once play a bigger part in the show than they do now, but keep in mind, they were doing over 1000 shows a season back then. Now that some of the Muppets have their own parents who are recurring characters (ie: Elmo's parents), the humans kind of seem useless now.

That also explains why many "Sesame Street" picture books only focus on the Muppets, often featuring them as the only characters, with various Anything Muppets to fill any human roles. And even if any of the human cast members appear, it's often only one of them, such as Susan in "Everyone Makes Mistakes", Maria in "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street", Luis in "Big Bird Plays the Violin", etc. There are some exceptions though; "Ernie Gets Lost" had Maria take Ernie to a department store, and there are some human customers seen alongside the Anything Muppet customers, but the female salesperson helping Elmo is a Lavender AM. (Interestingly in the read-along book-and-audio version of that story, Sonia Manzano voiced the salesperson in addition to reprising Maria.) The "Visit to the Sesame Street [location]" books from Random House I enjoyed as a kid frequently featured a combination of "real" humans and Anything Muppets, in many cases with an original human character created for the book serving as the "Sesame Street" characters' guide. "We're Different, We're The Same" featured a huge cast of both humans and Muppets, greatly adding to the book's diversity message. (I had a LOT of "Sesame Street" books illustrated by Joe Mathieu as a kid, and I like the way he'd also illustrate humans in said books.)

 

[sootyfan]

I'm just happy we still have Gordon at least, and I guess Alan as well

 

[Ahappyfan]

I'm just happy we still have Gordon at least, and I guess Alan as well

Will Gordon be there for season 56? I know he was there in seasons 54 and 55.

 

[sootyfan]

Idk, why are you asking me?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

That also explains why many "Sesame Street" picture books only focus on the Muppets, often featuring them as the only characters, with various Anything Muppets to fill any human roles. And even if any of the human cast members appear, it's often only one of them, such as Susan in "Everyone Makes Mistakes", Maria in "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street", Luis in "Big Bird Plays the Violin", etc. There are some exceptions though; "Ernie Gets Lost" had Maria take Ernie to a department store, and there are some human customers seen alongside the Anything Muppet customers, but the female salesperson helping Elmo is a Lavender AM. (Interestingly in the read-along book-and-audio version of that story, Sonia Manzano voiced the salesperson in addition to reprising Maria.) The "Visit to the Sesame Street [location]" books from Random House I enjoyed as a kid frequently featured a combination of "real" humans and Anything Muppets, in many cases with an original human character created for the book serving as the "Sesame Street" characters' guide. "We're Different, We're The Same" featured a huge cast of both humans and Muppets, greatly adding to the book's diversity message. (I had a LOT of "Sesame Street" books illustrated by Joe Mathieu as a kid, and I like the way he'd also illustrate humans in said books.)

One thing I wonder about those is they often have disclaimers such as "Maria is played by Sonia Monzano," "Gordon is played by Roscoe Orman," etc. Makes me wonder if the writers needed the cast members' permission to use their likeness.