Why is Sesame Street slowly dying?

[Censored]

GeeBee, I am courious, what is it about the modern Sesame Street is so horribile? What don't you like about today's Sesame Steet? What changes are causing the show to be "the living dead", "being murdered", and "slowly dying"?

Some say I've made my opinions crystal clear and they are sick of hearing them; others ask for more clarification.

I do think I've basically spelled out what I don't like about the modern show. The format has radically changed. They're afraid to make a move without consulting the "experts" about the latest "studies". They show very few old clips. Most old shows are not available to complement the new ones. And basically, the current producers seem ashamed of the rich history that made Sesame Street famous so many years ago and seem to be trying to bury it.

Are these the worst things in the world? Absolutely not. Are they some of the worst things to happen to Sesame Street? I believe they are.

 

[Censored]

I don't see this differance of opinon as a fight, I'm just trying to understand what GeeBee's opinion. Except we keep geting of topic and talking about people's right to say things rather than the discussion of why Sesame Street is "slowly dying".

It only becomes an issue of people's right to say things when personal attacks are hurled at others for expressing opinions about the show. If you trace these threads all the way back, you'll find that I've never initiated a personal attack and have only responded in self defense.

I do find it funny that the very people who cry the loudest about my "negativity" on modern Sesame Street, paraphrase exactly what I say in their own negative posts about the current show.

 

[MeepEeep]

Here's my thoughts on the matter

From what I recall, growing up Sesame Street was the ONLY kids show on TV. Now today you have Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network. It's alot of competition, much more than there was when Sesame Street first started out.

So I think that could explain what's going on.

 

[mikebennidict]

it wasn't the only kids show on TV. what are you talking about?

 

[Lone Wolf]

It's not that it was the only kids show on TV, but it certainly was recognized as being a cut above all the rest in terms of popularity, even ahead of shows like Captain Kangaroo, Mister Rogers, and even The Electric Company, which was also a CTW production. (Note that I'm only dealing with kids shows that were designed to be educational and entertaining at the same time.) Today that's no longer the case. You now have shows like Teletubbies, Blue's Clues and Barney which, which aim to be exactly what Sesame Street is -- educational and entertaining -- and now rival Sesame Street in terms of popularity. (The irony of it all is that these other shows owe a debt to Sesame Street, because they used it as a model.) That's why they changed Sesame Street's format a few years ago. It dropped a bit in the ratings, so they had to make the format of the show more like that of their competitors so they could compete. In previous years, Sesame Street just didn't have this competition with other kids shows.

 

[Mario]

How can anyone say that Elmo's world isn't educational? Before that show, I had know idea what a hat or a ball was, thank you Elmo for teaching me those valueable(Sp?) lessons, lol. But serioulsy I do like Elmo's World, I didn't at the start of this thread, but I've been thinking about it, and I always sing along with the song in my best Elmo voice, and its the only chance for me to see the great Bill Irwan!!! Also, Journey To Ernie is pretty bad, but look at the bright side. Once you find Ernie, you get a chance to see some old Ernie and Bert shorts. err, clips, I'm used to the Disney lingo,

 

[bigbirdfan]

This is so sad I might want to cry my eyes out

 

[Mario]

What's so sad?

 

[Censored]

it wasn't the only kids show on TV. what are you talking about?

Actually, the very early episodes of Sesame Street seemed to copy a bit off of the classic show, Captain Kangaroo. Mr. Hooper was an inventor like Mr. Green Jeans. And like on Captain Kangaroo, they'd bring in live animals and storybooks were read out loud with close-ups of the pictures. Of course, there were many aspects that made Sesame Street unique early on and it wasn't long before the show found its own identity and was in a class by itself. However, now they seem to have gone back to copying off of other children's shows (and shows that aren't half as good as the great Captain Kangaroo to boot). That's just not a good sign.

 

[Tera]

Okay, Journey to Ernie doesn't do it for me, but my 3yr old loves it.

I agreee with the Elmo's World spinoff idea. One of the things I loved about SS (as child and adult) was the continuing storyline that wore throughout the various segments. It seems that Elmo's World leaves little time for a developed plot.

just my thought, but I don't claim expertise - my girl is in a Dragon Tales/Toy Story phase at the moment, so i'm a bit out of the loop.