Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 40

[scarletjul]

My TV listings were off last week - I still haven't seen Stinky's birthday episode yet; they showed a show about US History instead (though Sesame Street was listed for the spot and they showed the right show at the right time the week before.)

I really liked today's episode - it was great to see Oscar's inclusion. Yes, the title made the ending obvious, though I was half expecting Leila to give the machine to Oscar. But, I loved seeing Luis in his fix-it shop environment (though, of course he wasn't in the Fix-It Shop.) That said - does Luis usually repair such big objects like washing machines? I haven't watched regularly in years but I was under the impression that he generally focused on smaller appliances, i.e. toasters. I didn't know/remember they made housecalls.

And I loved seeing the Teeny Little Superguy. That was the best hidden gem so far. I got so excited to see him and I was so happy when they played a line from his music. I just hope he hasn't been stuck in a washing machine all of this time. And they played a line of "I love trash!"

Elmo's inclusion in the story was okay. I got a little tired of him helping Luis also, but I'm not the target audience. I thought he was cute when he was telling the washing machine that everything would be all right.

I scanned through most of the (repeated) segments but I enjoyed seeing Ernie's "Somebody Come and Play." Is it just me, or has anyone else not warmed up to "Abby's Flying Fairy School?" I don't know why I'm not a fan; it might be the CGI-effects or the length of the story. Or, maybe it's just me?

I don't mind so much the inclusion of skits from the last few seasons, like Pre School Musical, but that's because I haven't been watching regularly. When I was in Sesame Street's target audience I could (and did) watch the same show 2-3 times a day. I don't know if I could still do that and I could certainly see getting sick of these repeated segments.

In general, I've been enjoying the new episodes this season. The one with the baby bird was very cute. I giggled a lot when the baby bird went on his eating frenzy and ate Cookie Monster's cookies and then went after Slimey.

I wish the new Arthur episodes went into reruns this fast. Seems I always miss them and have to wait months to see them.

Slightly O/T, but me too - I often miss the Arthur episodes the first time around so I wouldn't necessarily mind it if they went into reruns as quickly as SS, too.

 

[Muppet Frog]

So far my favorite scenes in season 40 are Kermit's comeback appearance in Elmo's World: Frogs, Guess the Seasons and the Jim Henson photo in 4192.

 

[SSLFan]

I'm really pleasantly surprised at how much i've been enjoying Elmo lately. I used to love the character when he first started but over time the character lost a lot of the things that made him unique and became more a generic icon after the Tickle Me Elmo craze. But lately i've seen so many little things about the character that reminds me of the initial endearing things that were so great about his character. Maybe in all the retrospective looking back that everyone does on a decade anniversary, Kevin looked at some of his old work and got reinspired to get the character a little bit more back to his roots.

I agree.

I caught my first episode of season 40 today (sadly, school has been preventing me from watching any, and I just got a recorder so now I start recording episodes now), which was "The Grouch Messing Machine", and was the first time I actually enjoyed watching Elmo is a while. He definately reminded me of classic Elmo, and definately reminded me of the Elmo-thon video on youtube, espicially his paring with Luis. I hope we continue to see more of this Elmo, or even more of the character getting back to his past roots.

As far as the season itself, while I really feel like ranting about how SS is using a "block format" now , I won't.

Like the majority of others, I like AFFS, though it is just a tad too long, and for a second I forgot I was watching SS.

As far as Muarry hosting the show, it has it's pros and cons. For instance, I like the Muarry character, and of course I like to see a muppet interacting in the real world instead of just on the street all the time. However, one big problem is it's too much of him, like overexposure. So far we are guaranteed an appearance in every episode by Muarry, Elmo, and Abby. And one thing this stupid new "block format" does is only allow room for at least one random segment to be featured, and that and the street story(which is already Elmo/Abby loaded most of the time) is the only other chance to see an appearance by other characters.

But back to Muarry, as Drtooth said in previous post, it would be a lot more interesting if Muarry and Ovejita should host the show. Or better yet, to have alternate hosts, like Bert and Ernie( I love how in Germany they're featured in the real world, why can't American SS be more like that show? Lol) in one episode, and have Cookie Monster, Grover, Big Bird, etc. just alternating days. It would be a lot more interesting and would keep the shows fresh. However, this "block format" shouldn't have been here to begin with, IMHO. Honestly, whatever change happens in the field of children's television that seems "hip" and "cool", it really srews up SS because they *try* so hard to duplicate it when it's not them.

Excuse me, I still went ahead and ranted on the block format anyway lol.

Well, I can't be so judgemental off of one single episode, so I'll just have to tune into more for it to grow on me some more i guess.

 

[Oscarfan]

As far as Muarry hosting the show, it has it's pros and cons. For instance, I like the Muarry character, and of course I like to see a muppet interacting in the real world instead of just on the street all the time. However, one big problem is it's too much of him, like overexposure. So far we are guaranteed an appearance in every episode by Muarry, Elmo, and Abby. And one thing this stupid new "block format" does is only allow room for at least one random segment to be featured, and that and the street story(which is already Elmo/Abby loaded most of the time) is the only other chance to see an appearance by other characters.

But back to Muarry, as Drtooth said in previous post, it would be a lot more interesting if Muarry and Ovejita should host the show. Or better yet, to have alternate hosts, like Bert and Ernie( I love how in Germany they're featured in the real world, why can't American SS be more like that show? Lol) in one episode, and have Cookie Monster, Grover, Big Bird, etc. just alternating days. It would be a lot more interesting and would keep the shows fresh. However, this "block format" shouldn't have been here to begin with, IMHO. Honestly, whatever change happens in the field of children's television that seems "hip" and "cool", it really srews up SS because they *try* so hard to duplicate it when it's not them.

Excuse me, I still went ahead and ranted on the block format anyway lol.

Well, I can't be so judgemental off of one single episode, so I'll just have to tune into more for it to grow on me some more i guess.

Yeah, you've only seen one episode and the block format is something you'll need to watch in a few to really warm up to. When I saw the season premiere, I didn't like it (it kind of remind me of those lame little intro segments from season 30-32. Those were so bland, except the Big Bird/Snuffy vaudeville ones, those had effort in them). But, as you'll see in future episodes, there is a little randomness in the segments.

 

[Drtooth]

Okay... first off, what the heck kid doesn't know what the word "Crunchy" means?

Secondly, I never thought I'd see Cookie Monster dominate an episode that much... Cookie was the star of the main story, he was in the word of the day explanation, AND they used that Sesame Street English footage of him talking about the letter A.

Kinda disappointed they didn't make a reference to the Cookie Tree song, not even underscoring it. Seems like the episode is a reference to the song/book... but it would have been nice to hear it underscored or something. But it was great to see that Flashback of Luis and Maria supposedly after they got married, and waving at Forgetful Jones... no need to rewatch it and squint and look under the PBS logo to see that gem. They're getting much better at showing these.

So, what? Every 10 years, Forgetful Jones walks by and waves? Must forget that he lives there or something.

Seeing Cookie pat down Elmo's hair was just brilliant. Nice little improv by David.

I really dug Adam Sandler's bit. See, Adam... you CAN be funny without picking on the vertically challenged.

Finally, a new Abby (at least, I'm sure it was a new one). Not much I can say that hasn't been said. Wonder what would happen if they just cut out the Spot segment.... yeah, that's save a whole 30 seconds.

Another great Bert and Ernie claymation. I would say it took them until Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to finally parody Indiana Jones (twice), but they've done it long before and I didn't know about it... I think Sawings has it on youtube.

A nice Professor Grover bit with Cameron Diaz (lived how he tried to kiss her hand, and she moved it away... I know that couldn't have been scripted).

Aaaannnnd Elmo's World so old, they do the video recording thing instead of E-mail...

 

[Oscarfan]

Kinda disappointed they didn't make a reference to the Cookie Tree song, not even underscoring it. Seems like the episode is a reference to the song/book... but it would have been nice to hear it underscored or something. But it was great to see that Flashback of Luis and Maria supposedly after they got married, and waving at Forgetful Jones... no need to rewatch it and squint and look under the PBS logo to see that gem. They're getting much better at showing these.

I know! I has half expecting them to use at least the first verse of the song.

 

[minor muppetz]

I apologize if this should be a seperate thread, but I've been thinking about the whole "block hosting by Murray" thing, and have been thinking... Wouldn't it be cool if each day of the week was hosted by a different Muppet? Like Murray on mondays, Abby on tuesdays, Elmo on wednesdays, Big Bird on thursdays, and Grover on fridays? And sketches could alternate and be shown only on certain days, maybe two or three days of Elmo's World and the opposite for Abby's Flying Fairy School, have 2-3 days of Murray Has a Little Lamb and Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, have the letter and number of the day every day, bring back the spanish word of the day...

Of course, I feel like having characters host a different day of the week would require the season to have a number of shows that's a multiple of five. I know that one of the producers wouldn't allow for less than 26 due to the number of letters in the alphabet, and in this economy I'll be surprised if we ever get more than 26 a season. But it would be an interesting way to see which days of the week get the best ratings.

 

[Drtooth]

As I said, I don't care if it's hosted by Murray, Sherri Netherland, Leo the Party Monster, or Guy Smiley... I don't care for the block format at all. And no matter how cool switching the hosts up is, it still makes it feel like we're watching a foreign co-production of our own show. Again, I like the letter and number bits, but that should be it.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Okay... first off, what the heck kid doesn't know what the word "Crunchy" means?

Secondly, I never thought I'd see Cookie Monster dominate an episode that much... Cookie was the star of the main story, he was in the word of the day explanation, AND they used that Sesame Street English footage of him talking about the letter A.

Kinda disappointed they didn't make a reference to the Cookie Tree song, not even underscoring it. Seems like the episode is a reference to the song/book... but it would have been nice to hear it underscored or something. But it was great to see that Flashback of Luis and Maria supposedly after they got married, and waving at Forgetful Jones... no need to rewatch it and squint and look under the PBS logo to see that gem. They're getting much better at showing these.

So, what? Every 10 years, Forgetful Jones walks by and waves? Must forget that he lives there or something.

Seeing Cookie pat down Elmo's hair was just brilliant. Nice little improv by David.

I really dug Adam Sandler's bit. See, Adam... you CAN be funny without picking on the vertically challenged.

Finally, a new Abby (at least, I'm sure it was a new one). Not much I can say that hasn't been said. Wonder what would happen if they just cut out the Spot segment.... yeah, that's save a whole 30 seconds.

Another great Bert and Ernie claymation. I would say it took them until Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to finally parody Indiana Jones (twice), but they've done it long before and I didn't know about it... I think Sawings has it on youtube.

A nice Professor Grover bit with Cameron Diaz (lived how he tried to kiss her hand, and she moved it away... I know that couldn't have been scripted).

Aaaannnnd Elmo's World so old, they do the video recording thing instead of E-mail...

Yeah. I saw that ep yesterday. I thought it was good especially Forgetful's appearance. Still not sure if that was footage taken from the year of Maria and Luis's wedding or if that was new and they just had make up or whatever to make them look younger.

Seeing Cookie pat down Elmo's hair was just brilliant. Nice little improv by David.

Yeah. It seems like Dave has gotten so good with CM, I thought it was Frank performing him. But I guess he just does inserts now rather than street stories. Also, I thought it was funny that Maria & Luis would hold the plate of apple cinnamon cookies in front of Cookie Monster. You'd think out of all the years they've known him that they would know better than that. I just saw the street scene there and the Adam Sandler bit, so I can't really comment on much else.

 

[SSLFan]

Yeah, you've only seen one episode and the block format is something you'll need to watch in a few to really warm up to. When I saw the season premiere, I didn't like it (it kind of remind me of those lame little intro segments from season 30-32. Those were so bland, except the Big Bird/Snuffy vaudeville ones, those had effort in them). But, as you'll see in future episodes, there is a little randomness in the segments.

Yeah, since then I've watched a few more episodes, and it's grown on me a little. Does this change my opinion of the block format still? No. But I can tolerate it for now.