Why is Bert not on Sesame Street much anymore?

[salemfan]

Yes, Bert is still around. I saw him today(I think he was sitting with Ernie) in the street scene of episode #4067 as a member of the audience of Elmo's performance.

 

[CarburetorJane]

Okay, so now everyone's assured Bert's still alive and bottlecap collecting... Now...

What ever happened to Rosevelt Franklin?

 

[Splurge]

This Bert's not dead.

He's just resting.
Remarkable Bert, isn't he? His pigeons have lovely plumage.

(I hope I haven't brought bigger confusion to people here who don't get my reference.)

 

[Censored]

Okay, so now everyone's assured Bert's still alive and bottlecap collecting... Now...

What ever happened to Rosevelt Franklin?

Unfortunately, Roosevelt Franklin's characters was abandoned some time ago due to unfounded fears that his character was too stereotypical and that his classroom was a bad influence. I don't believe any explanation was given for his absence. He never had much of a role in the street scenes and was basically a "skit muppet." One sad season, I believe his skits just stopped showing up.

 

[mikebennidict]

i myself don't think he was all that bad myself. i might understand why some might have been troubled by the classroom skits. with the loud noise and whilw we all understand kids do act out, it's it's also good to show kids how to act right but why eliminate the whole RF and the classroom skits? i wonder if anyone took offense to The Electric company's Easy Reader? i never heard such stories. they they ceased production of the show around 1976 or 77 witch i think was around the time RF was canned and reruns of TEC were scene up till 1985 if not everywhere certainly in a lot of markets so not much could of been done about ER at that point.

 

[Censored]

Don't forget that there were also some great Roosevelt Franklin skits before he was in the classroom. To me, the best ones were the "blank background" skits where Roosevelt and his mother sang songs about learning. There is also an album with Roosevelt Franklin that featured his brother and sister (I don't know if they ever appeared on the show). I wish more of his early family and friends had been cultivated. There were also a few skits made where Roosevelt Franklin is playing a game of "head ball" in which teams of muppets have tournaments about letter, numbers, etc.

 

[mikebennidict]

oh yeah i rememeber some of those.

 

[salemfan]

Bert isn't around as much as he used to be. They tend to focus on Ernie more. They never do a street story that revolves around Bert. But keep in mind Bert was always known as a boring charachter, and I think now that the show is for younger kids, Bert just isn't appealing to that age group.

Actually, they haven't been focusing on Ernie very much lately either(except for Journey To Ernie), never mind Bert. The only Season 34 episode with a street story that revolved around Ernie was episode #4034(or as I cal it, "Moody Moose Buttons",see my list) in which Ernie puts together a surprise birthday party for Bert, but Bert prefers to be alone and read his new book. In fact, this episode probably revolved more around Bert than it did around Ernie.

 

[salemfan]

Yes, Bert is still around. This morning, in episode #4075, I saw a Bert and Ernie clip for the first time in which Bert sings, "There's a Tiger in My Book." Yes, I've seen the original animated version, but is the Bert and Ernie version new for Season 35?

 

[Mike]

Yeah when I was a kid I liked Ernie better, but only because of the way Ernie and Bert acted with each other. If you wanna have more Ernie, have more Ernie, but you cannot forget Bert. Since they already have the "Journey to Ernie" segments with exclusively Ernie, why can't the following sketch showcase them both?