Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 44

[Daffyfan4ever]

So there's a new segment where Grover teaches "force", and ends up needing help from a few monsters.... This would have been a great opportunity to use Herry. Then again, if Herry helped, they probably wouldn't have continued struggling.

And on the plus side, Frazzle made a return appearance, performed by Joey Mazzarino.

That was good. I see what you're saying. Having Frazzle around performed by Joey is proof the Jerry's characters can make a comeback. Of course, they'd need new performers. They could have used Herry. But you're right. Herry could have pulled the rope by himself so that would have defeated the purpose.

It's on PBS Kids.org; they upload all the new material from the episodes, unlike SS.org.

Thanks for that info. I usually use SS.org if I miss an episode or parts of an episode. I might need to try that site sometime especially with the 'repeat' episodes, that way I'm not sitting through something I've already seen to wait and see if they sneak anything new in.

Nothing illustrates these points like today's episode. Leslie played both Judy and Abby. I'd say this is pretty hard evidence they only employ a certain number of performers based on who's available on those days of shooting.

You're kidding me? Yeah. I've read the previous post about that and I thought for sure that if a female was going to interact with Abby, she'd have a different performer. That is a good question. Whatever happened to Fran and Stephanie and the other female puppeteers. (Though Fran did play Zoe in a recent ep, so she easily could have played Judy since none of her other characters were in that scene.)

Did Usher request Bert to do the word of the day? If so, he has impeccable taste. I'm glad they're expanding these beyond Elmo, Abby, or sometimes Murray. Plus, we finally got some new Bert footage on the show. That's always great.

That's true. I don't know if it was Frank or Eric who played Bert in WOTD, but either way it was great that they're using other characters in those now. I was a little disappointed though when he said the things that Bert showed him weren't that unique. I mean how many other people collect bottle caps and paper clips and eat oatmeal for breakfast every day and all that. Bert himself is very unique, so he could have pointed that out. I did like the dance he did, but I wish they would have went in to "Doin' the Pigeon." I guess they didn't have a lot of time for that though.

How many times do we actually see Oscar and Cookie Monster interact? Seems like that's a pairing we don't see nearly enough.

True. First he had an interaction with the Count and now Cookie Monster. That's always been the trouble with Oscar since his trashcan is often in the middle of the street and the other characters mainly appear in inserts, you don't see him interact with all those characters that often, so it's good that they're expanding on that. I was sort of expecting Telly there before he showed the cookie since he's usually the one that falls victim to Oscar's pranks. Maybe he'll do something with Grover later on. You never know.

 

[Drtooth]

You're kidding me? Yeah. I've read the previous post about that and I thought for sure that if a female was going to interact with Abby, she'd have a different performer. That is a good question. Whatever happened to Fran and Stephanie and the other female puppeteers. (Though Fran did play Zoe in a recent ep, so she easily could have played Judy since none of her other characters were in that scene.)

They probably weren't on set that day or left or something. I dunno... something about this episode just seemed overall like they were trying to rush everything out at the end of the day. The story was weak, the songs were meh, there seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm on everyone involved. They looped dialogue instead of just waiting until they had more than one woman puppeteer on set. Something about this episode rubbed me the wrong way

True. First he had an interaction with the Count and now Cookie Monster. That's always been the trouble with Oscar since his trashcan is often in the middle of the street and the other characters mainly appear in inserts, you don't see him interact with all those characters that often, so it's good that they're expanding on that. I was sort of expecting Telly there before he showed the cookie since he's usually the one that falls victim to Oscar's pranks. Maybe he'll do something with Grover later on. You never know.

There have to be other Oscar/Cookie interactions but all I can think of are "Four Furry Friends" and "Pigeons and Cookies and Trash," and those were both songs anyway. You really see more of Oscar and Big Bird, Oscar and Telly, Oscar and Elmo... and like that.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

They probably weren't on set that day or left or something. I dunno... something about this episode just seemed overall like they were trying to rush everything out at the end of the day. The story was weak, the songs were meh, there seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm on everyone involved. They looped dialogue instead of just waiting until they had more than one woman puppeteer on set. Something about this episode rubbed me the wrong way

About woman puppeteers, I wonder why they would even need a woman. Whatever happened to the days where they had males perform female Muppets? If Frank Oz was able to make Miss Piggy into what she is today, than it's possible with other male puppeteers. Jerry did a lot of female characters as well. That is something they don't seem to think about these days.

 

[Drtooth]

They have a lot of female performers on staff. No need to go back to the first-third season of having the few Puppeteers on staff take on many roles.

Plus, I'd tend to think if Leslie had to loop dialogue for Judy, she was probably performed by a male puppeteer anyway.

 

[antsamthompson9]

That's true. I don't know if it was Frank or Eric who played Bert in WOTD, but either way it was great that they're using other characters in those now.

It was Eric.

 

[Oscarfan]

Plus, I'd tend to think if Leslie had to loop dialogue for Judy, she was probably performed by a male puppeteer anyway.

Leslie was doing the Judy puppet and someone else was manipulating Abby.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

Episode 4418: That was one adventurous street story they did there! I love that we got a street story with the 3 girls! I was not surprised that it ended with Zoe and Abby ready to play ball while Rosita was interested in writing another story. For the Word of the Day bit, even though it probably would have been impossible, it would have been cool to see Abby and Ginnifer in the locations of their pretend adventures and then get snapped back to reality. But either way, it was cool that these also tied into Elmo the Musical! That was especially fun!

Episode 4419: The street story was quite good. It was very unique that Leslie performed 2 characters in 1 scene for the first time. I especially loved how Leela gave directions to the lobster and kangaroo who were about to head back to their respective homes, as well as how Judy rode off on her horse down the street at the end. Like all of you other people out there, I love how Bert finally got to appear in a Word of the Day segment! Plus, I'm sure we fans can agree with Usher about Bert's dancing! As for the rest of the episode, the Oscar and Cookie Monster skit was great. (Now, Oscar has tried to mess with the original letter/number of the day hosts once this season!) It was very cool to hear those horses hum an acapella version of "C is for Cookie". The 5 Kangaroos insert was pretty quite catchy! I loved how it had an Australian theme! The Grover teaching about force skit was absolutely awesome! Big kudos for bringing Frazzle back! (Now Joey has performed 2, 2 Jerry Nelson characters; coincidentally enough, both of them are monsters!) Like minor muppetz pointed out, it would have been cool if Herry was in the skit, but then again, considering how strong he is, that might have ruined the ending.

 

[Drtooth]

Leslie was doing the Judy puppet and someone else was manipulating Abby.

Eh, either one.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

It was Eric.

In a way that's a shame, as talented as Eric and David are, they did use all three of Frank's main characters in new material and as far is I know Frank didn't return to perform any of them. I know he still does a few inserts for SS each season, but I don't think we've heard his voice at all this season except in repeated material, but maybe I'm wrong on that. I don't know.

 

[minor muppetz]

True. First he had an interaction with the Count and now Cookie Monster. That's always been the trouble with Oscar since his trashcan is often in the middle of the street and the other characters mainly appear in inserts, you don't see him interact with all those characters that often, so it's good that they're expanding on that. I was sort of expecting Telly there before he showed the cookie since he's usually the one that falls victim to Oscar's pranks. Maybe he'll do something with Grover later on. You never know.

The Count has often appeared in street scenes over the years as well as inserts. And Cookie Monster is not just limited to inserts. Back in the 1970s it was common for Frank Oz to perform in street scenes, and ever since David Rudman took on the role of Cookie Monster he's been in a lot of street scenes again (he seems to have had a lot of his own episodes these past few years as well). And Oscar has appeared in inserts, maybe not as many as The Count or Cookie Monster. But there also have been many inserts that take place on the street.