why were there three gordons?

[minor muppetz]

does anybody know why Matt Robinson and Hal Miller both stopped playing gordon? did they get fired (althoguh i don't think this is the case with matt robinson, since he continued to voice rosevelt franklin) or did they quit? did they not like acting (I know that matt robinson has produced a lot of things)? could they have not gotte along with the cast and crew? were they terrible actors?

 

[Beauregard]

Three Gorgs, three Gordens. It's symbolism.

In otehr words...I have no idea...

 

[mikebennidict]

does anybody know why Matt Robinson and Hal Miller both stopped playing gordon? did they get fired (althoguh i don't think this is the case with matt robinson, since he continued to voice rosevelt franklin) or did they quit? did they not like acting (I know that matt robinson has produced a lot of things)? could they have not gotte along with the cast and crew? were they terrible actors?

well obviously they wanted to do other things. same reason why Olivia left in 1988 after 12 years. Robinson was a producer and not a professional actor and I don't know about Miller. and could you ask what happened to the other 2 not get overly dramatic with your questions? were they terrible actors? please!

 

[minor muppetz]

well obviously they wanted to do other things. same reason why Olivia left in 1988 after 12 years. Robinson was a producer and not a professional actor and I don't know about Miller. and could you ask what happened to the other 2 not get overly dramatic with your questions? were they terrible actors? please!

sorry. I haven't really seen much of them, so i am not too sure of how their acting was. i meant did somebody working on the show think they were terrible. All I have to witness their acting are a few clips from the first episode, the song I've Got Two, and a brief clip of hal millers gordon featured in the A&E biography.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Hmmm. I've noticed Matt seemed to be pretty popular as Gordon considering the Sesame merchandise I've seen around that time. I don't think his acting ability would have had anything to do it. Then again, I wasn't born around that time, so how would I know. I do see his name in the credits as a producer for "The Cosby Show." So that's probably what happened. I guess he went on to be a producer/director. Hal Miller, I know nothing about, so maybe they did think that he was a bad actor and they got rid of him quickly. But I could be wrong. I just don't know why it's so hard to find info about him.

 

[mikebennidict]

is there any reason why we must consider Miller was a bad actor? let's just assume he quit.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Gordon # 4

Actually, the only reason Matt Robinson got to be Gordon first was because Robert Guillame wasn't working out. If you ever see the Sesame Street Biography special that aired in 2001, they were making five test shows in July 1969, and Guillame was cast as Gordon. Then they showed the completed shows to survey groups- to see what clips worked and what didn't, and they came to the consensus to change Gordon. Guillame's a great actor- they all are- but the producers weree looking for someone just a little better. Matt Robinson was a staff writer and producer, and probably would've stayed behind the scenes, but he was asked to try the Gordon part. And his charisma really took off. He seemed to be a natural in front of the camera. After his stint as Gordon he went back to screenwriting and producing- yes, he did do a lot for the Cosby Show. Hal Miller did a good job too, but then when Roscoe Orman came in, he seemed to have that special
SOMETHING that made Gordon work. So none of them were duds, but Matt had the real personality, and Roscoe helped keep that going for the last 32 years.

Don't feel bad for Guillame. He got his day in the sun on SOAP and Benson, and the voice of Rafiki in The Lion King.
Hal Miller- I hope he just ended up happy, if not famous.

 

[SesameMike]

I think the question should be, why did Gordon even need a stand-in. Afterall, several other adults have come and gone over the years, and most of the time they just disappeared without a word (David was written out, and of course for Mr. Hooper we were presented with the somber truth.)

So, why did Gordon stay on after Matt Robinson left the cast? My feeling has always been that they intended Gordon to be a central character -- a "host" of the show if you will. It seemed to me that's what it was like in the early days. In fact, the Mad Magazine parody "Reality Street" from the early '70s had the Gordon character (Gorgon?) introducing and closing the show; I know it was just satire, but Mad was usually pretty good about capturing a show's premise.

I also got the feeling that, by the time Roscoe Orman came in, Gordon was no longer a "lead" character among the adult cast; the billing was pretty much egalitarian, and anyone could open or close the show. Was this a good idea? Perhaps, but I'm reminded of a line from "The Incredibles", where Helen tells her son that "Everyone's special", and Dash replies "That's just another way of saying no one is."

 

[mikebennidict]

I have a couple of ideas why the Gordon character wasn't eliminated. they probably didn't feel comfortable killing off his character like they did with Mr. Hooper especially since the since the show was reletively new. also I read at that Hooperfan page since Susan and Gordon are black and according to the site the seris was trying to create a positive black male role model because apparently many black households didn't have that. Now I'm not saying such a thing is limited to the group of people but I guess over the years it had been all to common for many in the black community so they probably felt instead of writing off the Gordon character after Robinson left, they hire someone else.

 

[minor muppetz]

speaking of matt robinson producing the cosby Show, i have read that he appeared on-screen in the episode "Cliffs Nightmare", which featured the muppets. He was in the scene where the youngest daugther talked about penicilian and cureing runny noses by blowing it. I am not sure if he had any lines or if he was just an extra. I wonder if anybody involved with the muppets talked him into appearing on-screen, or if he had anything to do with the muppets being on the show.

it is a little bad that matt Robinson couldn't have both written, produced and acted on Sesame Street. there are a lot of actors (mel brooks, danny devito, bill cosby, weird al yankovic, etc) who also write, produce and/ or direct their own works.

i knew that robert guiliume auditioned to play gordon, but i didn't realize that he was in the test pilots. with the way it was mentioned in sesame street unpaved, I thought that he auditioned when roscoe orman auditioned.