Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 42

[Phillip]

Just a reminder that Sesame Street's 42nd season officially begins Monday on PBS stations across the country. Check your local channels for times in your area.

After you see the new episodes, post here and let us know what you think. When you're the first to post about a new episode please include a description of the street scene or an episode number so that we know which episode you are talking about.

Find out about the new season here...
http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2011/080811.shtml

 

[Oscarfan]

I only got through the start of Abby's Flying Fairy School. They still have the block format, but there's a few modifications to it and other things. First, "Murray's Science Experiments" are the new form of "tune-ins". He didn't introduce the letter of the day, and instead he just went "Watch this!" and an H film followed (a new one, thankfully). The theme song is the same, but with a different arrangement. The transitions have new sound effects and AFFS' theme has a re-orchestration.

 

[Drtooth]

It's nice to see that cartoonish slapstick is back in full force in today's episode...

The Human Cannonball that got blown up by his own cannon (didn't get burned up, though), and crashing down on the floor multiple times, the food kicking the crap out of everyone in Abby's Fairy School, and of course, Pierre tripping over and knocking over the Dog House and seeing stars. I dunno why, but that seems like it came a long way.

I've noticed something about AFfS today. The lack of Spot (which, I honestly don't get, and I feel it stops the segment's flow dead), it didn't make the run time of the segment any shorter, but it had a much better flow than it normally does.

Was that Salty and Pierre new? I don't recall it. If it was, YAY! New Salty and Pierre. it's great to see a new recurring animated number segment. We haven't had one of those in forever.

I think I laughed harder at the Maternity leave joke in Super Grover 2.0 than all those Star Wars references.

I like how the Murray tune ins actually do something. But we'll be seeing those rockets quite a bit over the rest of the season. Believe me. But it's great that Ovejita's part of the segment. Murray's a great character, sure... but he's best with a partner.

And I have to say, I'm disappointed that we still have Elmo's World dead, stuck their at the end of the show. Even though there was a LOT of Elmo, especially with the Beiber parody... I really wish they'd at least attempted to see what putting Elmo's Backyard or Bedtime for Elmo (or a combination of both) would do as a substitute. they haven't made a new one in 2 seasons now.

 

[wiley207]

Mixed opinions. I did enjoy the street story and the Justin Beiber parody. But the rest of the show seemed a little... cramped. They only had a small handful of segments, almost no cartoons either. This was obviously due to the street story, Abby's Flying Fairy School and Elmo's World eating up 45 minutes of the show's running time. (But hey, let's hope we get some more variety with the Abby segments, at least it's not like that MILK film from the first episode in 1969!) I'm also disappointed with the Elmo's World thing, even if we got a decent one today with Super Grover guest-starring.

I also noticed they now use a NEW stock opening of Murray opening the "Word on the Street," again, but this one's more of an extreme close-up And was I the only one who noticed Elmo's eyes looked rather crooked at times?

And was that Jerry Nelson voicing the Big Bad Wolf again? It sounded a lot like him, sort of like how he was in the "School for Huffing and Puffing" News Flash from the 1980s. But I seem to prefer the Wolf when he's in segments, like the News Flashes or another certain song or sketch (the Wolf Lineup, Monsterpiece Theater's "Dances With Wolves," etc.)

 

[Drtooth]

Tough Pigs posted an article about this...

Now, I have to ask the question here...

How come we still call the show "dumbed down" if they're trying to teach more and more complex things to 3-4 year olds? The kids they're teaching can barely read, but they're trying to teach them engineering?! I gotta admit, I dig that they referenced the letter and number of the day in the opening skit, but the one thing about the other Murray tune ins (though I do still find these superior) is the fact they also taught the letter and number. We still only get one short skit for both. The H for Helping is cute and all... but I think Salty and Pierre did a better job with the number 5 (showing the symbol and value) while H did show the symbol, all the way at the end.

Somehow, I can't help but think about last nights' Cleveland show (cause it was, after all, last night) and how Donna forced 5 year old Rallo into a junior quiz bowl because she seeks the approval of snobby upperclass mothers who spend a fortune tutoring their kids in things way too complicated for their age group. I get the need for science based curricula and all, but much like the healthy food and nature aspects of the past few seasons, I get the feeling this will be forced painfully down kids' throats, while letters and numbers take a back seat.

it really has an odd contrast against Elmo's World, which spends 15 minutes on a single, simple subject.

 

[Oscarfan]

The H for Helping is cute and all... but I think Salty and Pierre did a better job with the number 5 (showing the symbol and value) while H did show the symbol, all the way at the end.

The H segment did point out that H stands for "helping."

 

[The Count]

BTW: Muppet Wiki has that Salty & Pierre sketch dated as first appearing in Episode 4203, which would be about two seasons ago I think.

 

[antsamthompson9]

I got an HD TV for my birthday, so now I can enjoy Sesame Street the way it was meant to be seen; in widescreen, complete with bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Anyway, I liked the street story. Matt did a good job with Hubert. I like the Word of the Day bit. And I like the way Ovejita is now with Murray in the tune-ins. The new Abby's School and Super Grover 2.O were funny. Good season premire.

 

[Oscarfan]

I'd like to point on the oddness of introducing Elmo the way Murray did. He announces the segment solely as "Elmo", saying he's coming soon, with the following segment involving Elmo heavily. It just seemed really odd.

And another thing, wouldn't the "Building Things" episode of EW have made more sense to use? Consider the whole "engineering" thing they had going.

 

[Drtooth]

I'd like to point on the oddness of introducing Elmo the way Murray did. He announces the segment solely as "Elmo", saying he's coming soon, with the following segment involving Elmo heavily. It just seemed really odd.

And another thing, wouldn't the "Building Things" episode of EW have made more sense to use? Consider the whole "engineering" thing they had going.

I don't get why they'd say "time for Elmo" when they should have said "Time for Elmo's World," especially since that did make the fact they still have that leach of a segment siphoning off the last 15 minutes of the show. Of course, the helping EW makes sense because of A) the Helping H segment and B) the fact that the street story was all about them helping the Human Cannonball.

I also noticed the sign off is slightly different. At least they got rid of the lame bit where Murray forgets the letter and number of the day in EVERY episode and rethinks the day. It's much shorter, and there's an alternate "PUH-EACHE!" take. But I;m sure they'll use this one with no variation the duration of the season. And maybe the next one.