TV Alert: Sesame Street at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

[Daffyfan4ever]

I missed it this year and from what I hear, I didn't miss much, but just for the heck of it, does anyone have a clip of this years float?

 

[JimAndFrank]

I was pretty underwhelmed by this years performance, I hate to say. I think it was definitely the weakest one in recent memory.

QuestLove was completely unnecessary. I don't know why he was there.

Why were only Alan and Nina there? That was so weird to me. I know Chris is never a part of the parade (he must not be able to be in New York for thanksgiving) but it makes me a little nervous for the status of all the other human cast members. There are not even hints of other humans appearing in new season 46 episodes besides Alan, Chris and Nina. I mean, even when humans like Susan, Gina, and Bob were only appearing once a season they would still be a part of the parade. The fact that no one else was there makes me worried that they scaled down the human cast a bit. (Nina is said to work at both the bike shop and the laundromat....)

The song they sang last year was, in my opinion, a better version of this song. It uses the same key words (stronger, smarter, kinder) and teaches the same lesson but I think it's just catchier.

I wish more characters had solo lines. Last year just about everyone had a line to themselves. This year, only Elmo did. I would have loved to hear Stephanie's Prairie or Jen's Zoe.

Ovejita was there but Murray wasn't? I know Joey left, but it seems weird to have her there without him. (I mean, it would be interesting to try and establish her as a standalone character. I'm always up for more females on the Street. But I don't know if that's what they're doing.)

Also, whoever was inside Big Bird was clearly struggling. I'm sure it wasn't Matt. The lip sync was way off and he never really looked as alive as he should have.

Apparently, Noel MacNeal was performing Big Bird while Matt had the Count.

Neal hasn't performed Bear in a very long time so it's not surprising that he is a little low on performance stamina for such a character.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Ovejita was there but Murray wasn't? I know Joey left, but it seems weird to have her there without him. (I mean, it would be interesting to try and establish her as a standalone character. I'm always up for more females on the Street. But I don't know if that's what they're doing.)

Well, it wouldn't be the first time. Recall Barkley sticking around after Linda left the cast. Same thing with Uncle Wally's seal Wolfgang or Lyman with Odie for that matter.

 

[D'Snowth]

Wait . . . Wolfgang belonged to Uncle Wally? I didn't remember that.

 

[antsamthompson9]

I missed it this year and from what I hear, I didn't miss much, but just for the heck of it, does anyone have a clip of this years float?

@Rugratskid posted it to YT:

 

[Oscarfan]

I was pretty underwhelmed by this years performance, I hate to say. I think it was definitely the weakest one in recent memory.

QuestLove was completely unnecessary. I don't know why he was there.

Why were only Alan and Nina there? That was so weird to me. I know Chris is never a part of the parade (he must not be able to be in New York for thanksgiving) but it makes me a little nervous for the status of all the other human cast members. There are not even hints of other humans appearing in new season 46 episodes besides Alan, Chris and Nina. I mean, even when humans like Susan, Gina, and Bob were only appearing once a season they would still be a part of the parade. The fact that no one else was there makes me worried that they scaled down the human cast a bit. (Nina is said to work at both the bike shop and the laundromat....)

The song they sang last year was, in my opinion, a better version of this song. It uses the same key words (stronger, smarter, kinder) and teaches the same lesson but I think it's just catchier.

I wish more characters had solo lines. Last year just about everyone had a line to themselves. This year, only Elmo did. I would have loved to hear Stephanie's Prairie or Jen's Zoe.

Ovejita was there but Murray wasn't? I know Joey left, but it seems weird to have her there without him. (I mean, it would be interesting to try and establish her as a standalone character. I'm always up for more females on the Street. But I don't know if that's what they're doing.)

Also, whoever was inside Big Bird was clearly struggling. I'm sure it wasn't Matt. The lip sync was way off and he never really looked as alive as he should have.

Yeah, I thought the song last year was a lot better. It was a lot more sublter with the new tagline of the show and yeah, it gave everyone a chance to sing. Not sure what they were thinking with this one.

Here's an MP3 if anyone wants it: https://www.sendspace.com/file/m9jao4

 

[Drtooth]

I was disappointed by the parade as a whole, actually. It just didn't feel... you know...good. 2 of the new balloons were movie advertisements (we just had to get movie Angry Birds), and the other one, while supposedly a recreation of an older balloon was an advertisement for Sinclair Oil. UGH. Memories of the "Ask Jeeves" balloon flooded back. Yeah, the Sinclair Dinosaur. Even the movie advertisement balloons were more endearing. And why so many freaking commercial breaks? ALL of the floats are essentially advertisements. And do they have some quota of bad bro-country music to fill out? Also... and I'll just rattle this off quickly... the Lindt float is beyond creepy, I wish that *&^% Elf on the Shelf balloon would have snagged something and tore itself wide open, and that "Biggest Loser: Temptation Nation" commercial was just about the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

On the plus side, at least completely forgettable pop stars that you never hear of ever again are down significantly.

The Sesame float was meh, and I'll agree. Why they went for so much minimalism is beyond any of us. I know they didn't invite any of the older cast members, but only Alan and the new cast member were there. SW is getting all this dough from HBO, and you'd think to advertise the massive channel jump they'd've done something bigger and better. It almost felt like it was there out of contractual obligation. Though, of course they'd use the new show closing as their choice. Frankly, it's still one of the two best floats in the parade. That and the TMNT one that's always hijacked by some pop musician.

Of course, the best Sesame Street float appearance for me was the "We are all Earthlings" one with all the international characters on it.

 

[Rugratskid]

Would've posted my video here, but it had already been done by the time I got here so glad someone already did it for me Anyway..

I had only learned of the new Sesame character, Nina, a few days before the parade (I should really keep more up to date on Sesame, haha), so seeing her there was kinda shocking for me. However, the more shocking thing was the fact that only Alan and Nina were there, out of the main human cast. Maybe it's a contractual (is that a word) thing? I really doubt that but it's all my mind could come up with. The lack of solo lines for anyone other than Elmo was disappointing, but I loved the song and this was my favorite song in the entire parade.

I was disappointed by the parade as a whole, actually. It just didn't feel... you know...good.

I'm on the same page as you, it was a lot better last year; I watch it every year with my mom, we've been doing it since I was born (wish I remember those years, back when there was a Rugrats balloon... (hopefully one of the 1998-2000 parades will pop up eventually so I can see the balloon!) It's on every year at my house, and this year just felt... lacking. Not quite sure in what but it just wasn't as good as last year for me.

Spoiler: About the recording of the Sesame float

Fun fact about that, I actually recorded that during the 2PM rerun of the parade; the first time the parade aired, I wrote down who was on before them, so I knew when to record it during the second broadcast. Also, another thing, the audio actually came from my HD camera sitting in front of my speakers, because the audio was the most important part for me. Recorded the video with my webcam at a odd angle, which I corrected in Sony Vegas. Not that it really matters. just thought I'd share it because it was on my mind, and why the heck not?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Wait . . . Wolfgang belonged to Uncle Wally? I didn't remember that.

Well, that's what I heard.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

@Rugratskid posted it to YT:

Thanks. I'll take a look when I get a chance. Looking forward to seeing Noel's fine performance as Big Bird. :rolls eyes: