Why is Sesame Street slowly dying?

[Drtooth]

Fozzie Bear is right, things have changed alot since we were kids and we can't expect Sesame to meet only the needs of the adult fans. We need to remember that the show is geared toward children to help them learn and understand with quality TV that isn't too dumbed down. Sure I would like to see some of the old sketches and I think some of those thrown in here and there would be great, but not the entire episode..

THIS IS WHAT I"VE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!!!!!

sorry about that.

Remember, younger kids are watching SS now, and a lot of the older kids would rather watch some toy based psuedo-anime series (Like the kid's WB line up) than a bunch of puppets (albiet, well crafted, best of the best in puppetry sort of puppets).

Now, we fans can say "OOH! It's because it's dumbed down by Elmo" or "Where is ________ (fill in the blank of character who doesn't exist)?" But the fact of the matter is that PBS isn't getting the money it usually gets. I'll save you from a tirade about Government spending.

Personally, As a fan, I do miss the old skits, but seriously... do kids care about characters that don't really exist anymore?

Think about it... what's missing from Sesame Street? Jim Henson, Richard Hunt... Jerry Nelson and Frank Oz appear from time to time so, most of the old characters disappeared with their performers (Either a death or a retirement)

Plus, even some characters aren't used because the performers didn't like performing them (I.e. Harvey Kneeslapper) and some skits were one note jokes, so the writers didn't like writing them (again, i.e. Harvey Kneeslapper)

But I feel they are making strides. A lot of Frank characters were missing because Frank didn't want to do it as much, and characters like Elmo and Baby bear had to fill in in newer skits. Thus the "Elmo's taking over Sesame Street" theory. But have yu people been asleep the entire year? Someone came back in a big way, and no one noticed.... GROVER! He had a starring role in 2 Celebration DVD's (A celebration of me, and What's the name of that Song), and an integral role in the third. A Super Grover Balloon (as apposed to an Elmo Balloon) flew twice in the Macy's Parade, and he was the $16.99 with the purchase of $30 or more doll (the second Muppet in 3 years, BTW). Not to mention he has a segmenbt in the show all his own, claiming back the 1970's early early 80's spot he used to have.

I feel like SW is making strides for older fans, Butt backwards in some accounts, in the area of Nostalgic collectibles. Palisades took over for the bankrupt F4A in SS action figures, at this time last year the line at all seemed like it was never going to happen.

And I feel they at least took out the weakest, worst segments of the show (Monster Clubhouse and Hero Guy) while totally overhauling and revamping JTE, making it a lot less painfull to watch.

And we haven't seen the new season yet, so who knows what'll be changed there.

Sesame dying? No.... Sesame is being resurrected from the Elmo 90's!

 

[Censored]

Modern Sesame Street isn't really dying; it's just kind of the living-dead.

 

[maxdrive]

i guess your right abotu some thigns coming back in diffrent ways the letter of the day skits yes they are done with parie dawn not kermit or ernie but they still have cookie eating the letter its still funny to watch how he does it

 

[Lone Wolf]

Not just opinion. As a professional social worker with a Masters Degree who has worked with children and families for three years, I can tell you that seeing old episodes of Matt Robinson on Sesame Street would be the least of a child's problems. I'm glad your energy is channeled into better things, but what are they?

Since when did having an MSW make you an expert in child psychology?

And no one said classic SS was distubing kids, but a lot of the old material can't be used because it would confuse kids, and detract from whatever their supposed to be learning in any given skit.

And you're hardly in a position to criticize others for not facing up to reality.

Pot, meet kettle.

 

[AmazingMumford]

Drtooth, If they aired old Sesame Street episodes on PBS, what harm would be done? I'm sure kids of today would enjoy seeing Sesame Street back when it was good and I think it would attract an older audience again. They could show Sesame Street, and Sesame Street Classic. I mean think about it, they show old cartoons on TV still, does that really affect kid's minds? They show Mr. Roger's episodes on PBS still that go back as far as 1979 does that affect kid's minds? I think your'e a little too pesimistic Drtooth and I really don't think classic Sesame street is as bad as you think.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Another thing to remember is that Sesame Street is trying to keep up with newer popular shows for kids on other stations, such as Blue's Clues. These other shows are luring viewers away from Sesame Street and Sesame in turn has to do what they can to keep an audience. Blue's Clues in more interactive, therefore Sesame added segments like Journey to Ernie and Elmo's World to be more like that. Times change and today's kids are different, and it shows something that Sesame Street is able to adapt and survive.

 

[Drtooth]

A bit of clarification... Old sesame Street episodes would not disturb, or confuse kids.... but rather bore them. Why do you think they were adding stuff like "journey to Ernie?" Because they were losing viewers to abhorent crap like Blue's Clues, and Dora the explora! (Though Little Bill is pretty good., the only decent Nick Jr. Show). I mean, there is a lot of stuff younger kids wouldn't get, but that's a moot point. As I said, kids like to read, watch, and get along with other kids than adults. Most of the characters we don't see are adult characters. Elmo's dominance is quite obviously because the target audience is their age. Remember, Big Bird was created with the psycological age of six year olds... back then, 4-6... maybe even 7 year olds were watching the show. Now the audience is mostly 3-5 (5 being a stretch), so why wouldn't characters more like 3-5 year olds not be the focus?

Also, try to remember, there used to be less stations, and less "Pre-school" educational series, even on PBS. I grew up in the 80's. We had Mr. Rogers, Square one, and stuff like that. There were no government guidlines about educational shows beng on a certain amount of programming in a week. There was no Nick Jr. or Playhouse Disney. Yes, I feel SS had no other choice but to fall into that ilk to at least be competitive. Plus I still say the show is leap and bounds better than most of the other programming for kids of that age now a days. At least they hint at more complicated words like "Piquant " in their dialogue.

Then of course, there are the people taking SS for granted, plopping down their kids to watch it so they can do something else. sure, a large percentage of us watched SS even younger than 3 (myself included), but there were no Demographics and target groups.

Personally, I'm more peeved with the Newer Cap'n Crunch commercials. Wanna talk about a dive in quality? Try going from an ad created by the great Jay Ward Team, with humor, action, more entertaining than most of the shows it interrupts, to a bunch of Buzz word extreem type of current to get kids thinking the cereal is "hip."

But I digress... Since I am trying to get a cartoon series on TV (by the time I die, at least) I have to learn how to deal with this sort of stuff. How to work around it.

 

[Dantecat]

But like I was saying: Little kids right now can watch the old/vintage SS as long as they taped the episodes from tv.

 

[Censored]

Since when did having an MSW make you an expert in child psychology?

And no one said classic SS was distubing kids, but a lot of the old material can't be used because it would confuse kids, and detract from whatever their supposed to be learning in any given skit.

And you're hardly in a position to criticize others for not facing up to reality.

Pot, meet kettle.

Oh, yes, kids would spend all of their spare time just wondering and pondering about the inconsistencies on Sesame Street.

BTW, Lonely Wolf, you never told me what important things you put all of your energy into, besides being a troublemaker on this board.

 

[Censored]

I don't know about vintage Sesame Street boring kids, but some people sure post some loooong and boring posts to defend modern Sesame Street.

Bottom line, whoever doesn't like what nostalgic adults are saying on this board does not have to read it.