Where are the older humans?

dwayne1115

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This was just posted on Emilio Delgado's Facebook page:

Thanks to everyone for your love and appreciation of Bob, Luis & Gordon. It's very gratifying to experience the outpouring of love and appreciation from our fans. My dear friend and colleague Roscoe (Gordon) prepared a statement that speaks for all of us. It accurately sums up the current news about the fate of Bob, Luis & Gordon ...

"To all of you who have expressed your appreciation and support for the years of work and service to Sesame Street by me and my colleagues, I thank you! Due to your overwhelming reaction regarding the status of myself and others on the show, the new producers of Sesame Street have reached out to us with an expressed desire to continue our longstanding relationship, to be initiated with a meeting in September. Hopefully, this will result in the inclusion of veteran cast members in upcoming productions. I look forward to sharing with you at such time, the results of that conversation. Thanks again for your loving support and devotion to Sesame Street and to what it has meant to the children of the world."

Hopefully we had some effect, but I'm not holding my breath...
It's statements like that that make me proud to be a fan!!!
 

Drtooth

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Yeah. I read the article about us losing Bob, Roscoe and Emilio. That is sad news, but they may make future guest appearances. Heck, maybe even Sonia will make a guest appearance or two. You never know.

Honestly, I think that's really all we all want. I'm sure most of us who still follow the show were aware that's the extent they were being used in recent seasons. One or two, maybe three episodes a season. I can understand them not being available to keep coming into the studio routinely, rather than a day or two. Letting them go completely was the problem. If it was a case of being welcome to appear on the show in capacity ranging from full episode to cameo or a matter of availability, that would be far more understandable. If it was the choice of the actors to say "I've been on this show 30-40+ years, time to pack it in," totally understandable. The way this was handled was the problem. Doesn't help that it comes on the heels of trying to reboot the show a 5th time.
 

fuzzygobo

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It would be nice to know Bob, Emilio, and Roscoe have the option to come back if they so desire. I generally don't believe in entitlements, but after each of them put in at least four decades on the show, you'd think they would have at least the SMALLEST say in if they want to continue.
They're fortunate enough to have other extraneous activities to keep them from sitting home and doing nothing. Book signings, personal appearances, etc.
Plus, like Bob, who does a telethon in Canada every year, Sesame has generated enough goodwill to keep him relevant there, if not on the Street.

If it's in their fate to come back, great, hopefully no hard feelings.
If any of them decide to walk, like Joey did, who could blame them?
 

Muppet Master

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Well, unfortunately, kids these days don't even know or care about the human characters, I could understand from a commerical standpoint why they were let go, it's not like they were used much in the seasons before, though seriously that was pretty rude. Here's three guys who dedicated 40+ years to working with a TV show and no goodbye, they're just yanked away, that's just pathetic in my opinion.
 

D'Snowth

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Somebody comment on the ToughPigs' Facebook that they blame Disney for this.

People. R. Ill-Informed.
I've even seen somewhere out there where somebody is saying JHC needs to take the show back, even though it was never their show to begin with.
 

Censored

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Seems the old schoolers who refuse to watch anything related to the show are coming out of the woodwork to whine about how terrible this is when if this wasn't publicized, they wouldn't have known or cared about the older cast leaving. And frankly, yes, this is conflicting to me.
There are 2 issues. The many changes that have been made on Sesame Street through the years are debatable and there are arguments on each side. However, betraying veteran members who have been loyal to the show for years and years is quite another issue. Prejudice and hatred of seniors is a major, and often overlooked, problem in this society. One doesn't have to watch a show to see the injustice in it.
 

Censored

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It would be nice to know Bob, Emilio, and Roscoe have the option to come back if they so desire. I generally don't believe in entitlements, but after each of them put in at least four decades on the show, you'd think they would have at least the SMALLEST say in if they want to continue.
They're fortunate enough to have other extraneous activities to keep them from sitting home and doing nothing. Book signings, personal appearances, etc.
Plus, like Bob, who does a telethon in Canada every year, Sesame has generated enough goodwill to keep him relevant there, if not on the Street.

If it's in their fate to come back, great, hopefully no hard feelings.
If any of them decide to walk, like Joey did, who could blame them?
But the answer shouldn't be, "Well, we really don't want them here anymore, but we'll put up with them if we have to." They are cast members, who contribute to the show, have done so for years very well, and frankly were on the front lines helping to make the show the great success it was.
 

Drtooth

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There are 2 issues. The many changes that have been made on Sesame Street through the years are debatable and there are arguments on each side. However, betraying veteran members who have been loyal to the show for years and years is quite another issue. Prejudice and hatred of seniors is a major, and often overlooked, problem in this society. One doesn't have to watch a show to see the injustice in it.

My issue is, frankly, if they didn't report that the show let them go, I don't think anyone really would have noticed, at least immediately. They were being slowly phased out anyway, and other than the fact that Roscoe was still around for some time and they brought Luis back a season or so ago, they weren't shown that much in recent seasons. I don't know if it truly is ageism no matter how much I do suspect it, but it seems they've just been in the process of whittling down the cast for the past several years. I don't know if its because of the budget or actors being unavailable or the writers having favorite characters to write... but whatever the reason, I'm not surprised the show's basically Alan and Chris and one other character now.

I just want to know at this point the status of other actors if they were fired or they left on their own. I'm not sure I'd be more comfortable if it was just a full sweep that lessened the street's population. The point is, this could have been handled so much better than it was. I blame the new Ex-Hit Entertainment executive. Talk to a Thomas the Tank Engine fan about them, you'll see where I'm coming from about this (they're terrible and humorless is the short version).
 

Censored

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My issue is, frankly, if they didn't report that the show let them go, I don't think anyone really would have noticed, at least immediately. They were being slowly phased out anyway, and other than the fact that Roscoe was still around for some time and they brought Luis back a season or so ago, they weren't shown that much in recent seasons. I don't know if it truly is ageism no matter how much I do suspect it, but it seems they've just been in the process of whittling down the cast for the past several years. I don't know if its because of the budget or actors being unavailable or the writers having favorite characters to write... but whatever the reason, I'm not surprised the show's basically Alan and Chris and one other character now.

I just want to know at this point the status of other actors if they were fired or they left on their own. I'm not sure I'd be more comfortable if it was just a full sweep that lessened the street's population. The point is, this could have been handled so much better than it was. I blame the new Ex-Hit Entertainment executive. Talk to a Thomas the Tank Engine fan about them, you'll see where I'm coming from about this (they're terrible and humorless is the short version).
“As of this season, I have completed my 45th season this year. And the show has gone under a major turnaround, going from an hour to a half hour. HBO has gotten involved also. And they let all of the original cast members go, with the exception of Alan Muraoka — who is probably 20 years younger than the rest of us — and Chris Knowings, who is also young,” McGrath said. (His statement can be heard on the Muppet-centric podcast The MuppetCast, which broke this story.)
 
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