Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 41

[minor muppetz]

I wanted to elaborate more on the fact that they practically don't show any old material at all this season. They haven't even shown anything from the 2000s, nevermind the 90s. And I do think HD might be one reason for it, and I guess it would make sense. But I still think they should show at least a clip or two in each episode from before Season 37 or so.

Ironically, as far as I know, none of the Elmo's World segments were made in HD (not even the ones made for season 39... I don't think they made any new ones for seasons 40 or 41... The "Frogs" episode doesn't count).

 

[Oscarfan]

Today's episode is supposed to be a repeat of the Golden Triangle of Destiny, but SS.org lists it with a different episode number and different sponsors, so I recommend you guys watch it to see how it's altered.

 

[minor muppetz]

Today's episode is supposed to be a repeat of the Golden Triangle of Destiny, but SS.org lists it with a different episode number and different sponsors, so I recommend you guys watch it to see how it's altered.

If it is an existing street story with a different number and inserts, then this'll be the first time they did that since the format changed.

 

[dwmckim]

Really weird. I put on my dvr to catch today's episode then when i saw it was a rerun, stopped the dvd. But then i thougt "wait a minute - did they show that with the season 40/41 opening theme?" So i looked at the part i caught on tape - and it was Episode 4239! (If i caught that earlier, i would have left the tape running)

Now if season 41 has 26 episodes, that should take us up to episode 4238! So it looks like we're getting extra episodes of SST this year which are redone older ones.

 

[muppet baby]

Really weird. I put on my dvr to catch today's episode then when i saw it was a rerun, stopped the dvd. But then i thougt "wait a minute - did they show that with the season 40/41 opening theme?" So i looked at the part i caught on tape - and it was Episode 4239! (If i caught that earlier, i would have left the tape running)

Now if season 41 has 26 episodes, that should take us up to episode 4238! So it looks like we're getting extra episodes of SST this year which are redone older ones.

HI dwmckim , i am actually watching todays eposide right now had taped it this morning , last night i was going though my dvr upcoming showing section this one i almost put for this show to not record , even though i am seeing just as you saw that it is a redone old eposide , it is funny so far to see some of the things that they have redone .
Yes i had saw that we where geting mrore epsoides , and they are redone old ones LOL . That is a interesting thought that SW had .
My guess to the reason why they wanted to redo some old ones , i guess to have more eposides , and then also not to show a " re run " inbeween those times in the now seasons when they want to show a rerun and now a new eposide for the season .

I am sorry that i can not remember when those times when they want to show a rerun insead of a new eposide , i was told when it was because i had forgot at one point a couple of years ago , but silly me forgot again i guess a brain freeze while doing this post LOL .

 

[Drtooth]

Anyone actually seen this and can state what the changes are? Seems like there's really little to add, considering.

I've been saying they should've done this years ago, but NOT of ones from the season directly before it.

 

[antsamthompson9]

My DVR worked for the last episode so here's my thoughts: The street story was decent. The fanatastic 4 parody was cleaver, Joey's squiarl, and Chris' acting as Furry Musscels cracked me up. The new Bert and Ernie Adventure was good. It's the first episode that shows E&B in their trademark outfits. The Hair song was cute! I wonder who did her voice? She's got good pipes. I still can't comment on the one from Friday.

 

[dwmckim]

Wonder how much of these new/old episodes they'll do - wonder if there'll be 26 of them to make up for the "lost season" of Sesame Street (caused by so many pushbacks on seasons that they eventually lost a season) - under ideal circumstances they should be in season 42 - wonder if these might be considered "season 42"! Actually, i'm sure they wouldn't do that because it would confuse too many people, but internally they probably are thinking of these as getting caught up and we may just be looking at a 52 episode season (again, it's only speculation as to how many of these there are)

All things considered, i kind of find this a little insulting - that the current season's format is So Precious that they can't show anything older than season 40 now because they're a "different" block format so any repeats have to be redone to look like the current season to make them "acceptable". I mean it isn't even like the current format is anything to write home about to begin with!

I know it's not the first time they've used old street stories in a newer episode - but when that was originally done, they had 130 episodes a season so repeats were much more rare - at that time, it allowed them to put together an extra episode when it's hard to maintain that kind of killer production schedule and it gave people a chance to see something that hadn't been repeated all that much. Now in their 26 it-only-takes-a-little-over-a-month-to-show-the-entire-season episode season, this ia just silly. And even MORE overkill with the newer segments that are already being rerun to death during the "real" season. So things like AFFS which are shown several times during a season anyway now are shoehorned into episodes they wouldn't have been in otherwise and we get sick of them even more!

Whenever i critique Sesame, i try to keep in mind how i feel about something present-day and what i would have thought as a kid. Kid d.w. wouldn't have liked it either - i may not have known the specifics about episode numbers or seasons or anything but i would have been very turned off by the repeats. Back in the day, SST was must-see viewing. Something REALLY IMPORTANT had to be happening in order for me to miss an episode. Back then, the same episode ran in the morning and the afternoon. I usually watched it both times but i also wouldn't be upset if i missed the second viewing because i saw it earlier. However a third time would have been my limit. Kid d.w. would be bored with seeing the same segments over and over (not the segment types mind you, but the same "episodes" of those segments). 70's Kid d.w. would sometime run and hide in the closet when something "yucky" came on like the milk film or slow boring non-Muppet/cartoon inserts or Bob singing with no Muppets around. I imagine 10's Kid d.w. would do the same thing with an Abby or EW repeat.

...and unlike past "new-old" episodes there don't seem to be anything new individual segment-wise even if the street story's old. So these are essentially "clip shows" - 100% recycled. Is SST THAT troubled budget-wise? If so, (if i had any income right now) i would be snatching up every piece of SST merchandise to help support them!

Come on, Sesame Street - you're not even TRYING anymore...

To reiterate, i don't object to reruns - with a show with 4200+ episodes and only 26 episodes a season shown daily, i welcome them. But don't dress up a rerun in new episode's clothing. Just don't.

 

[Drtooth]

All things considered, i kind of find this a little insulting - that the current season's format is So Precious that they can't show anything older than season 40 now because they're a "different" block format so any repeats have to be redone to look like the current season to make them "acceptable". I mean it isn't even like the current format is anything to write home about to begin with!

I know it's not the first time they've used old street stories in a newer episode - but when that was originally done, they had 130 episodes a season so repeats were much more rare - at that time, it allowed them to put together an extra episode when it's hard to maintain that kind of killer production schedule and it gave people a chance to see something that hadn't been repeated all that much. Now in their 26 it-only-takes-a-little-over-a-month-to-show-the-entire-season episode season, this ia just silly. And even MORE overkill with the newer segments that are already being rerun to death during the "real" season. So things like AFFS which are shown several times during a season anyway now are shoehorned into episodes they wouldn't have been in otherwise and we get sick of them even more!

This would have been an ideal idea otherwise. Even if they need to keep the short opening story and block format, they have almost 10 years of episodes they can use. Shorter street scenes have been around since 2002, and unless they need a little trimming they'd fit just fine. There's no call to take reruns of season 40 they'd intersperse anyway, change a segment, and change the number to pad the seasonal run time. Especially if AFFS is on every episode anyway. Yes. We ARE sick of seeing the same 10 episodes multiple times a season. They did not think it through making it every day when they barely had enough to show them twice at most a season. I wouldn't mind if they reran JTE in its place for those episodes.

If it's due to that stupid HD widescreen that they don't even show in every station then that's just a lame excuse. BTL handles older segments in HD/Wideframe by putting curtains or some sort of patterned borders allong the screen. If you can get old 1960's TV shows and cartoons on Blu-Ray, you sure as heck can fudge seasons 33- 39 to fit there too.

Is SST THAT troubled budget-wise? If so, (if i had any income right now) i would be snatching up every piece of SST merchandise to help support them!

(In best Phineas voice...) Why... Yes! Yes they are! But aside form that PBS had screwed SW out of 56 episodes a season for quite some time now. I mean, they did lose a lot of potential money when no one bought Elmo Live (a luxury in the recession people would have easily maxxed their credit cards out for a season earlier... but I'm not going into that). Something's telling me SW said "we want to get 52 episodes a season at least" and PBS is telling them, "Fine... just as long as you foot the bill yourselves!" leading of course to reruns with fancy new number titles.

And they wonder why Dora's kicking their butts in the ratings.

 

[Oscarfan]

I'm in favor of repeats, just not the fact that EVERY SEGMENT is something we've seen dozens of times already. I mean, the AFFS and Murray bits were a given, but even the B&E Adventure was re-used? They've got a half-dozen widescreen ones not used that are the exact same length.