What year did it all change for the worst?

[mikebennidict]

May I ask why was it bad they made Snuffy known to everyone? I mean if you liked it the other way around that's OK but personally but to me it was pointless that he kept missing the grownups. I'm glad BB finally had the chance to let everyone know he was real.

 

[mjb1124]

I'm kind of indifferent about that change myself, probably because I grew up with Snuffy being visible to everyone. I was just pointing out that a lot of people didn't like that change. I could see where both sides are coming from.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah, for me it was normal that Snuffy was visible to the adults. It's weird for me to see older episodes with the adults not believing Big Bird. You can see why it became a problem, I think. Big Bird is so frustrated and upset that the adults won't listen to him. It created a bit of a gulf between him (the kid) and the adults, which is obviously not good for the show's kiddie audience to see.

I mean, a lot of kiddie shows have the kid characters keeping secrets from their parents. But Sesame Street was supposed to be educational and a bit more realistic (despite the Muppets).

But I can see if you grew up during the "invisible years", you may not have liked the change.

 

[Censored]

Yeah, for me it was normal that Snuffy was visible to the adults. It's weird for me to see older episodes with the adults not believing Big Bird. You can see why it became a problem, I think. Big Bird is so frustrated and upset that the adults won't listen to him. It created a bit of a gulf between him (the kid) and the adults, which is obviously not good for the show's kiddie audience to see.

I mean, a lot of kiddie shows have the kid characters keeping secrets from their parents. But Sesame Street was supposed to be educational and a bit more realistic (despite the Muppets).

But I can see if you grew up during the "invisible years", you may not have liked the change.

As has often been noted before, Snuffy was never invisible to anyone back then. The grown-ups just missed his presence. The belief that Snuffy was unseen due to invisibility is a myth that has gotten perpetuated over the recent years and was further confused by the recent episode where he did become briefly invisible by magic.

Snuffy's bad timing when it came to the adults was a running gag that I grew up with as a child, and it never bothered me. I just accepted it as part of the show's plot, similar to other irresolvable plotlines on TV shows, such as Lois Lane never discovering Superman's identity, Gilligan and the crew never getting rescued off the island, etc.

For what it's worth, I really don't believe such a plot line made children more vulnerable to child abuse. As I've noted once before, Snuffy was a benevolent friend, not a malevolent one. If a character had been scaring Big Bird or hurting Big Bird and none of the adults would believe or help him, then there would have been a problem. But, I doubt that such a storyline would have ever been written to begin with. Despite what Sesame Workshop might say these days, the Children's Television Workshop knew what they were doing and it worked or else the show would not have lasted so long.

Having said all of that, if Sesame Street has to be a saga with a continuing storyline, it might have been a good move to finally allow Snuffy to be discovered by the adults, simply because they were running out of ideas for the ongoing gag where he's missed by the adults. They had done almost every scenario possible and it may have been time for a change. I enjoyed the episode where Snuffy got discovered and I have enjoyed seeing him interact with the rest of the cast. It's all good (at least up until recently ).

 

[Censored]

I think Jim Henson had much more influence on the show than people realize. No, he didn't run the show, but he owned all of muppets that made the program a success; that had to give him some creative control.

Joe Raposo and Richard Hunt were definitely a huge part of the show's success.

Also, don't underestimate the significance Northern Calloway as David had in the program. He used to work for Mr. Hooper and then inherited the business from him. David running Hooper's store was a true link to Mr. Hooper's memory.

Of course, none of these losses were anything that Sesame Workshop had control over. At the same time, I wish they would have made more of an attempt to keep the spirit of their styles alive on the show.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I just think every successful, long-running show eventually loses its luster. You can't keep it up forever, it's impossible. I think the company also tried conforming to what was currently popular in kid's entertainment. But you can't go back home again.

 

[mikebennidict]

Well no matter whether you like today's SS or not they need to keep up with the times and do what's best for the audience of today. They come first.

 

[Censored]

Funny thing though, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, an equally successful educational show for children, never felt the need to change with the times, yet it's still being rerun today and its benefit for today's children is completely recognized. Guess it ultimately comes down to the philosophy of the people who run the programs.

 

[JLG]

Regarding Snuffy, that reminds me of a side note to the "invisibility" thing----the adults always missed seeing Snuffy, but kids didn't. I think the little girl in the old Christmas show (can't recall her name) saw him. And I just saw #406 for the first time and was surprised to see Snuffy hanging out with a whole bunch of kids---sans The Bird. Granted, that was pretty early on in "the Snuffy saga" and they might have later decided that things like that violated the gag too much, but I still get a kick out of imagining Big Bird begging all his kid friends to tell the adults that Snuffy's real. (Maybe they tried and weren't believed either... )

 

[Censored]

Regarding Snuffy, that reminds me of a side note to the "invisibility" thing----the adults always missed seeing Snuffy, but kids didn't. I think the little girl in the old Christmas show (can't recall her name) saw him. And I just saw #406 for the first time and was surprised to see Snuffy hanging out with a whole bunch of kids---sans The Bird. Granted, that was pretty early on in "the Snuffy saga" and they might have later decided that things like that violated the gag too much, but I still get a kick out of imagining Big Bird begging all his kid friends to tell the adults that Snuffy's real. (Maybe they tried and weren't believed either... )

As far as I can recall, the human children were always able to meet Snuffy and know he was real as well. They just didn't seem to be as concerned with proving his existance as Big Bird was.