Where are the older humans?

[Drtooth]

Let's also not forget that, sure there was Mr. Rogers's Pre-PBS series, Captain Kangaroo, and dullsville Ding Dong School and Romper Room either before it or as competition back in the day, where as Disney and Nick have a steady output of preschool programming. And I swear a new one pops up every month. There's some Goldilocks and Baby Bear show I've never heard of until now that's somehow always on when I flip through the channels. And that's discounting the Internet and educational Apps. Everytime I see an ABC Mouse commercial, I almost shout "IT'S EXACTLY WHAT SESAME STREET OFFERS!!! FOR FREE!"

Sesame Street has never existed in a vacuum. Outside...well...everything changed around the show as it changed itself. Be it society marching on (Telephone Rock in a Telephone booth? Come to think of it, how the heck is Bill and Ted 3 going to happen?) or steady, growing competition and changing trends in preschool television, the show has to keep rebooting itself to remain relevant. On the plus side, most of its competition has come and gone. Especially the "talk really loud and slow to the audience like an obnoxious American tourist looking for a bathroom" model of educational programming. And that thing is dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, no matter how Nick still manages to push it.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Come to think of it, how the heck is Bill and Ted 3 going to happen?

Gentlemen...you're on your own.

 

[Drtooth]

I would have made a reference to Superman, but that gag was discredited well before the first movie. Didn't even come from Superman, he just wound up using something from a parody.

 

[Oscarfan]

IN OTHER NEWS, SW has released a statement from Jeffery Dunn, CEO:

We apologize for the misunderstandings around the changing cast roles at Sesame Street. Over more than 40 seasons, Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado and Roscoe Orman have made enormous contributions to both television and to the lives of preschoolers. They are, and always will be, a key part of the Sesame family.

As always, our curriculum and educational goals drive our story lines and character appearances. These change season-to-season. In 2014, when we first began producing the current half-hour show format, we let all of our cast members know of the shorter story lines and, therefore, reduced appearances. However, our production team also intentionally left the door open for all actors to continue to appear, based on the story lines that were written in any future season. In our latest season, the story lines written did not include appearances by these three actors and we certainly could have done a better job of communicating with them about our ongoing episode plans.

I have been in touch with each of them to meet in person about how we best adapt their talents to the current content needs and preschool media landscape, in a way that honors their historic contributions. We are very grateful for the many loyal fans of Sesame who continue to care so deeply about the show and what it means to them.

 

[dwayne1115]

IN OTHER NEWS, SW has released a statement from Jeffery Dunn, CEO:

Wow finally a clear answer from SW! This is sounding more and more like a lack of communication, and a lack of story lines for the three actors. It's like I said in another thread why pay someone when they are doing very little or nothing.
No where dose it say anything about HBO which means this was all on Sesame.You have consider the fact that Sesame has to be very careful with it's funding. Especially now with the HBO deal.they want to make every penny of that deal count.

 

[The Count]

Gentlemen...you're on your own.

Thanks Rufus. Don't worry, they put an "Out of Order" sign on the phone booth so no one but them know it's actually a time-travelling machine for their express use thereof.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't know if that apology threw the writers under the bus or what. Though it does seem like the reasonable, rational thing to get out of this is no one was really fired, per se, but rather not hired this past season or two. Whatever this means, I didn't think you could fire a cast member if they just appear sparingly.

Something also tells me availability and money were also a huge key factor, and they're not mentioning that either.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Thanks Rufus. Don't worry, they put an "Out of Order" sign on the phone booth so no one but them know it's actually a time-travelling machine for their express use thereof.

Excellent!

 

[Drtooth]

Tough Pigs put the new press release poignantly:

It’s nice to hear they haven’t closed the book on these guys, but I imagine this news won’t get spread around nearly as much as last week’s story. “SESAME STREET FIRED BOB!” is a much more sensational headline than “Sesame Street Isn’t the Same As It Was in 1979 But the Producers Haven’t Forgotten About the Older Cast Members.”

 

[dwayne1115]

It seems to me that Sesame has been having a lot of bad press ever since Kevin Clash had to leave the show. I could be wrong but it seems that since he left the show has had one issue after another.