Season 40 wrap up
I just can't put my finger on it... but the 40th season seemed to disappoint me somehow... whether it was the results of the dwindling budget, the unavailability of certain performers, the heavy amount of Elmo episodes (some he basically was shoved into when he wasn't even a useful character). Maybe it was all of it, maybe it was the abrupt format change... but whatever the reason, it felt uneven.
Now, I can't complain about the street stories. They weren't the strongest written scenarios out there, but they weren't weak... not even middle of the road either. Only one I really didn't like was the camp out with Elmo and Chris one. One thing is for sure, and I said it before, the lack of many puppeteers on the same set and lack of kids and other extras made the show look like a ghost town half the season.
I like the idea of the Hidden Gem fan shout outs, but some of them weren't fully thought out. Seemed that there was more stuff you can only see in HD, provided they were broadcast in widescreen, and weren't covered by the PBS logo... or folded up in a newspaper that you couldn't see. Seems a LOT of them were puppeteer cameos, and somehow it seemed more like, "If you want to take a break, can you do it on set, in front of the camera?" The appearances by older characters were great, just not used as much as they should have been. The Roosevelt Franklin cameo that was even used in a publicity photo seemed to be cut out. They really should have put more classic characters in crowd scenes or looking out windows or something. But anything was more interesting than sort of humming the Willy Wimple song halfway through the end, where it was unrecognizable.
The celebrity and parody moments were pretty good... SW seems to have pulled the Jon and Kate parody, and I know that someone felt it was inappropriate, but I still wanted someone to nail the exploitative and voyeuristic series that SHOULDN'T be a headline. Liked D-Dance... liked the Special K parody of the Total commercials, liked the you only get this if you watch Sex and the City bit with SJP, LOVED Adam Sandler and Rickey Gervais. Adam hasn't been that funny since SNL, actually channeling his weird song writing bits from SNL. I'm pretty disappointed that Set your Piggys free was the anniversary celebrity edition of a song, especially since it was new. But I really think they could have done without Jason Unpronounceble Last Name's "Outdoors" song. I've been saying it for the longest time, but the celebrity parodies of their own songs don't have the same magic "Furry Happy Monsters" or "Wherever I see your Grouchy Face" or even "I really got a Hold on U" have, and seem like "Hey! Look Ma! I'm famous! I'm on the Sesame Place!" This one especially.
Now, I said what I can say about Abby, but I think I should bring it back up. I LOVE the segment, I LOVE the idea, I even don't mind the 9 minute running time (it can clearly be pruned down a little to be 6 or 7 minutes), but when you have only 10 episodes done, you do NOT put them on every day in a 26 episode season. Repetition ONLY works if the segments are short, snappy 30 second-1 minute bits. Considering that they reran this season to bulk out 26 episodes, you'd tend to see reruns of reruns reran over and over. That REALLY detracts from rewatchability. I was half expecting to see everything twice anyway (like Murray had a Little Lamb) but three times a season in supposedly "New" episodes? Not a very bright cost cutting move. Too bad they had NO choice.
And for that Matter, I REALLY wish they showed more Ernie and Bert Great Adventures than Murray had a little Lambs. The only thing new about them was the shortened intros. We saw all the Murray's twice last year, we still have yet to see Ernie and Berts.
As for the tune in... I still think it's a bad idea. They're trying to turn Sesame Street into a block of disconnected programs to compete with the same junk. The difference is, those block programmings ARE actual blocks of programming, connecting full half hour shows together. SS does this artificially, and inconsistently. After all, SS is a single show. HOWEVER, I like Murray hosting the letters and numbers of the day. Now, I want to see that continued, but with NEW footage for next year. We can do without his guessing games (some of which were used a whopping 4 times), and give that time to shorter, older segments.
The one ray of improvement is that this season had better new letter and number segments. Too bad there were few of them. Salty and Pierre? Brilliance. I hope they become official recurring non-Muppets like Teeny Little Super Guy, Noodles and Ned and the like. I even kinda dug the picnic ants army call. But the Sesame Street English Hello Kitty Flash animated versions of Cookie Monster and Elmo (in some cases, the only way Cookie was even on the show) were flops. Very bland, repetitive, and went on twice as long as they should have. And Annoying after a while.
This season had some of the most repetitive use of segments I've seen, something that was disturbingly increasing with every season. Reruns of stuff we got sick of last season like "Pre-School Musical." At least they gave American I a 2 year wait before they reran it. As the 40th season, I wish they took some initiative and reused older segments. There's a LOT of stuff that's timeless that could fit in perfectly. But they squandered that potential, and gave us the dang Kids paint a Mural and boring Karen Aqua animations again. But less than previous seasons... that's good I suppose.
But when it boils down the one thing that was disappointing was the lack of variety in characters. Now, I wonder what the availability for David, Eric, and Steve was (again, they're working with the Muppet Show characters too), and I think that could have been a big problem. Matt is helping Jerry's Characters stay on the show... but it really felt like they had to film a bunch of episodes in one day, and only certain puppeteers would be paid if they stayed late. Again, deserted ghost town. They could have at LEAST used them in older segments. We had a couple Cookie Monsters in street stories and one Grover, and a few separate segments with Grover, but Ernie and Bert didn't appear in ANY new footage, not even in the background silently. And it felt like there were no new characters this season. Ann Phibean, that's it.
All and all, I really REALLY hope SS gets more money next year. They NEED all they can get to keep the show with original footage, and less stuff made for foreign markets (though they are welcome) in the series. Here's hoping that more people bought Sesame Street stuff for Season 41's budget. Had I the money, I'd get to Target and get all the Collect-a-pals and dollar section goods I can.
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