Where are the older humans?

[Censored]

Keep something in mind: as much as we may or may not like certain changes made to the show, its characters, its cast, the sets, what have you, the show isn't made for us, it's made for the ever-changing audience of preschool kids.

Perhaps, but what does that have to do with betraying three veteran actors who have devoted their lives to the show?

 

[Censored]

Gerontophobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by
an abnormal, irrational, and intense fear of the elderly,
becoming old, or both.

http://www.medfriendly.com/gerontophobia.html

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Gerontophobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by
an abnormal, irrational, and intense fear of the elderly,
becoming old, or both.

http://www.medfriendly.com/gerontophobia.html

That is literally not what I meant at all.

 

[Censored]

In any case, Captain Kangaroo was a highly successful program for decades. If elderly people were really TV poison for children's shows, that could have never happened.

 

[Drtooth]

Well no, at this point, since Alan and Chris have been the cast members who have appeared the most out of all the cast members it makes sense to keep them. Those are the guys that kids would recognize at this point. And another thing, to put it bluntly, the older cast members are, well, old. Kids don't respond or relate to older people as well as they do to younger adults/teens.

I think, old or no, there's no way kids would really respond with characters that don't appear frequently as well. Roscoe was the only one who was a regular actor on the show the past few seasons up until this point. Luis really didn't appear on the show for a few seasons until the bike shop. Bob was only cameoing every so often. Can't remember exactly when he had an entire street story about him. Suffice to say, kids respond to characters who regularly appear on the show more than someone who pops up here and there. That's why they're focusing on a small number of characters, and frankly I still can't tell if it's a good or bad thing. I miss Telly appearing in most stories.

Whatever the reason, ageism or just plain cheapness, they cut the human roles down to three, and the puppeteer roles down as well. I don't like it, I care not for how clumsily it was handled, but it's something that was an unfortunate necessity of a crappy budget that PBS didn't want to give them. The comeback of 15+ year old Elmo's World segments as filler brutally points this out. Too bad these actors couldn't have been rehired after HBO's money kicked in.

 

[D'Snowth]

In any case, Captain Kangaroo was a highly successful program for decades. If elderly people were really TV poison for children's shows, that could have never happened.

CAPTAIN KANGAROO is from a completely different time and from a completely different generation: back then, kids may have had more to do with their grandparents and such, but fast-forward to today, parents are getting steadily younger, due to poor upbringing and improper sex education, and as such, grandparents are getting steadily younger. In addition to that, notice something else too: other adults that kids would interact with are getting steadily younger too - teachers, instructors, coaches, etc. Kids today aren't very likely to interact with older people as much as they used to, and like others have been pointing out, today's kids are more likely to relate and respond to younger humans like Chris and Nina than they would the older humans. SST has always been about reflect the times, and these are the times now.

 

[Censored]

SST has always been about reflect the times, and these are the times now.

Actually, Sesame Street has always been more progressive than the times.

 

[Censored]

CAPTAIN KANGAROO is from a completely different time and from a completely different generation: back then, kids may have had more to do with their grandparents and such, but fast-forward to today, parents are getting steadily younger, due to poor upbringing and improper sex education, and as such, grandparents are getting steadily younger. In addition to that, notice something else too: other adults that kids would interact with are getting steadily younger too - teachers, instructors, coaches, etc. Kids today aren't very likely to interact with older people as much as they used to, and like others have been pointing out, today's kids are more likely to relate and respond to younger humans like Chris and Nina than they would the older humans.

Where did you get these statistics?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Actually, Sesame Street has always been more progressive than the times.

Yes, it's always been ahead of it's time. For instance, no other show before them had such a diverse cast. But on the other side of things, would we have gotten a song like "Wet Paint" on the show today? No, because the song is too 80s. The show has to stay relevant and to do that they, yes they have to innovate, but at the same time they have to fit in with the times

Where did you get these statistics?

It's not statistics, it's called observation.

 

[Censored]

CAPTAIN KANGAROO is from a completely different time and from a completely different generation: back then, kids may have had more to do with their grandparents...

On the contrary:

Their ranks are increasing. The number of grandparents raising grandchildren is up 7 percent from 2009. Experts say the trend is likely to continue as the nation responds to the opiate epidemic. Military deployment and a growth in the number of women incarcerated are other factors forcing grandparents to step into parental roles.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/more-grandparents-raising-their-grandchildren/