What happened to Shurlock Hemlock?

[Cookie fan]

Anyone out there knows why his character was retired? I enjoyed his sketches as a kid, and his song "X marks the spot" was one of my favorites. Was this character controversial in some way that I don't know about or probably he didn't appeal to kids? Egad! Seems we have a mystery here.

 

[SesameStreetFan]

I think Sherlock's absence on the show these days has a lot to do with 2 things.

1. The fact Jerry Nelson doesn't do a whole lot on the show anymore due to health reasons. He only performs the Count now once or twice a season. All his other charachters Simon Soundman, Herry Monster, Mumford, Biff, Fat Blue, Farley etc. are either only seen in inserted material from several years back, or have been written out of the show.

2.Another reason is because of all the newer charachters the show seems to focus on now. The writers seem to think they have more preschool appeal, and your'e less likely to see a storyline revolve around our old classic friends then you were in the 70's 80's and even 90's. Sad but true

The best thing is, we have 20+ years of Sherlock memories, and hopefully he will be on the DVD set, coming next month.

 

[Cookie fan]

Yeah, its like they just got rid of Sherlock just like Herbert Birdsfoot. Pity... but as you said, we can hope for that greatly anticipated SS old school DVD.

 

[Drtooth]

1. The fact Jerry Nelson doesn't do a whole lot on the show anymore due to health reasons. He only performs the Count now once or twice a season. All his other charachters Simon Soundman, Herry Monster, Mumford, Biff, Fat Blue, Farley etc. are either only seen in inserted material from several years back, or have been written out of the show.

2.Another reason is because of all the newer charachters the show seems to focus on now. The writers seem to think they have more preschool appeal, and your'e less likely to see a storyline revolve around our old classic friends then you were in the 70's 80's and even 90's. Sad but true

There is another reason:

The writers or the performers of any given old character got tired of performing and or writing for the character. There is just so much matereal you can write for some before they get to be routine. Certain characters on the show nowadays have the same problem with being routine, but they are more popular, and the performers didn't grow tired of them yet.

And another thing... am I the only one who doesn't care they got rid of Herbert Birdsfoot? I recal hearing Jerry got sick of the character.

 

[BEAR]

I'm sure we'll see some of the good Sherlock on the upcoming DVD release. It is atleast nice to see that he made the box cover!

 

[minor muppetz]

I'm sure we'll see some of the good Sherlock on the upcoming DVD release. It is atleast nice to see that he made the box cover!

What do you mean? He is not on the box cover. After I saw this line, I checked the threads on the set to see if an updated cover has been posted, but I didn't see any updates to any threads about the set.

 

[BEAR]

What do you mean? He is not on the box cover. After I saw this line, I checked the threads on the set to see if an updated cover has been posted, but I didn't see any updates to any threads about the set.

Sorry, Minor. My mistake. I honestly thought I remembered seeing him on the box. I guess he's not. I did see him in a picture for one of the ads I saw though. Sorry for the confusion.

I still think he will probably be on the DVDs.

 

[mikebennidict]

There is another reason:

The writers or the performers of any given old character got tired of performing and or writing for the character. There is just so much matereal you can write for some before they get to be routine. Certain characters on the show nowadays have the same problem with being routine, but they are more popular, and the performers didn't grow tired of them yet.

And another thing... am I the only one who doesn't care they got rid of Herbert Birdsfoot? I recal hearing Jerry got sick of the character.

I highly doubt they're gonna retire a character for those reasons.

 

[BEAR]

No, I don't mind them canning Herbert. He was only on the show for a short time anyway. The reason he was there was to replace Kermit when he was away. Then when they put Kermit back in, Herbert went out. Another reason for him leaving was because he was so dull. There was nothing interesting about him. I for one am not missing the Birdsfoot.

 

[minor muppetz]

I believe I have read about a quote from Jerry Nelson somewhere were he said that Jim Henson and Frank Oz didn't care too much for the character, and their characters normally appeared with him in sketches. I think thats why he was taken off.