Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 43

[antsamthompson9]

yes drtooth etm is getting good

It was never bad.

 

[ISNorden]

It was never bad.

Agreed! As much as I dislike seeing Sesame Street carved up into several mini-shows starring one character, those "Elmo: the Musical" sketches are both funnier and more educational than "Elmo's World" ever was. There's still a predictable structure, but none of it feels like pointless filler; the humor and plot twists add to the curriculum bits instead of feeling tacked-on. Plus, Elmo finally seems to have gotten over his obsession with birthday cakes; many thanks to the writers for not continuing that running gag from "Elmo's World" into the new mini-show!

 

[ISNorden]

On a more serious note: I admit I enjoy the fake ad bits at the end of this season's episodes. Since the letter/number "sponsorships" originally poked fun at the brief sponsor credits on commercial TV, it's logical that Sesame Street would write longer, detailed spoofs of its own longer, detailed funding credits...and keep the kids engaged till the very end of an episode.

 

[ISNorden]

(Before I continue: Sorry to spam the thread here, but since I'm writing about three unrelated aspects of Season 43 I thought it justified three separate posts. )

Two classic bits that I wish the Season 43 writers had left as they have been for decades--

1. "One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others)": Why couldn't they have kept that song for Murray's comparison games, instead of using the "Dare to Compare" rap? The music directors have redone a lot of classic Sesame tunes in the past few seasons; why not add another classic remake to their list, and keep the game familiar to both parents and kids?
2. "People in Your Neighborhood": Murray's new rap may allude to "the people that you meet each day", but it's not as catchy or singable as the original song. Granted, the new job-related transitions include more natural, serious, and educational talk about the jobs (unlike the occupational humor which dominated the classic song). Still, would it kill the writers for Murray to sing the original song and add a bit of light-hearted conversation with the humans? If a teaching method works, it doesn't need changing.

 

[Oscarfan]

For anyone who probably won't tune in to next week's "repeat" street story episode, here's most likely the only highlight:

http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos#media/video_6d372103-93f8-4a32-bf41-d2fb99ed7514

 

[minor muppetz]

For anyone who probably won't tune in to next week's "repeat" street story episode, here's most likely the only highlight:

http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos#media/video_6d372103-93f8-4a32-bf41-d2fb99ed7514

That is a great song, and I'm having trouble figuring out if that's Frank Oz or Eric Jacobson as Grover. I want to say Frank Oz. The voice sounds a little different from what I'm used to hearing from Oz, but voices do tend to change after a certain number of years, even when performed by the same person.

 

[SSLFan]

It's Frank Oz. This must be the song he recorded. Cute.

 

[muppetlover123]

I love it

 

[Drtooth]

1. "People in Your Neighborhood": Murray's new rap may allude to "the people that you meet each day", but it's not as catchy or singable as the original song. Granted, the new job-related transitions include more natural, serious, and educational talk about the jobs (unlike the occupational humor which dominated the classic song). Still, would it kill the writers for Murray to sing the original song and add a bit of light-hearted conversation with the humans? If a teaching method works, it doesn't need changing.

I'm mixed about it. People in Your Neighborhood was traditionally talking about professions in general, and the only time they weren't either Muppets or actors was the celebrity version from the "Put Down the Duckie" special. From that point, I think it's far more interesting. That's why I love the character Murray. He goes out and talks to real people and they're not afraid of getting the puppet's hands dirty. I'm sure Jim would have loved this idea. I'm surprised he didn't make it a show. But I agree. On the other hand, while it's nice that they keep the original song as an underscore for the segment, I don't get why they had to change it so much to the point where it's barely referencing the original.

Still, I like these better than the usual Murray transitions. I almost wish People in the Neighborhood was a recurring segment like Murray had a Little Lamb used to be, so it can alternate between Super Grover 2.0.

Er, I'd have to go and check Muppet Wiki for Episodes 3786-3790 to find out if there were Elmo's World episodes attached when the five-part Hurricane on Sesame originally aired. But since that was in Season 32, my guess is most likely that they did. But as was said in the thread for the special airing SW edited the five episodes so they'd be condensed into a full-hour viewing, so I'd think they would have gotten through it without any Elmo's World.
And even if they had decided to include the Elmo's segment at the end of today's airing, it would have been an Elmo: The Musical, cause you know how they have to retrofit older episodes into the current format.

There wasn't a single number or letter segment in the bunch either. They played the whole episode completely straightforward from the aftermath. While we lost Kermit, starting from the aftermath was the right choice for what they were going for. However, I almost expected to see Elmo's World Helping people. As much as I would be against editing the 5 episodes down even more (though there were key places they could have), that would have been an ideal way to close the episode out to tie in with the theme.

Plus, they didn't retrofit other rerun episodes that aren't counted as the 26 episode count with Elmo the Musical. The older episodes they run to pad out the show's season still have EW unaltered.

 

[SSLFan]

For anyone who probably won't tune in to next week's "repeat" street story episode, here's most likely the only highlight:

http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos#media/video_6d372103-93f8-4a32-bf41-d2fb99ed7514

Just noticed something...I'm surprised they didn't digitally remove the arm rods in an already digital background.