To paraphrase Sesame Workshop’s press materials for the 40th season, Snuffy was never imaginary- he just had bad timing. The joke was that everyone except Big Bird thought he was imaginary because he would always enter after everyone else had left.
As of Season 40, Sesame Street is now four segments in a programming block-style setup: the main story and Elmo’s World are in each episode, and other segments include “Abby’s Flying Fairy School” and “Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures.” In between each are the letter and number of the day and celebrity segments, with Murray Monster introducing each. An interesting format. I don’t watch Sesame Street regularly, but Elmo’s World, which has been around for over a decade, never really seemed to me to be too much Elmo, since other characters make appearances in the segments as well. But then again, I like Elmo, so maybe I’m biased. You could arguably ask the same thing about any new character that’s appeared in the past couple of years- “Is there too much Abby Cadabby on Sesame Street?” or “Is there too much Murray on Sesame Street?” I don’t think there’s too much of any character- maybe there’s too little of some, a few characters who have been given short shrift for newer or more popular ones, but I can’t think of any.
Jim Henson didn’t do as much of the programming as you’d think. Most of it was Joan Ganz Cooney, who came up with the original idea for the show. Despite not having a background in education, she pounded the pavement and got research from people who did have a background in education in order to outline the show’s goals. From there, more people were brought in to the Children’s Television Workshop to craft the show and keep it educational, relevant and entertaining.
Henson - while a brilliant creative talent who most definitely provided the vehicle by which the education could be delivered - was not really a decision-maker when it came to Sesame Street.
Ganz Cooney stepped down as CEO of the CTW after Henson died in 1990. A lot of other key CTW characters died between 1990 and 2000. Most of the big changes happened after that.
Here’s a little breakdown, from Wikipedia:
Elmo was created in 1979 and Kevin Clash (the current performer) didn’t take him on until 1983 - while Henson was very much alive. I do believe Henson really took to Clash and was totally fine with Elmo as a character. Henson would not have had much say in how Elmo was used.
The book Street Gang goes in-depth into the history of Sesame Street, but the Wikipedia article History Of Sesame Street does a pretty good job of summarizing Michael Davis’s book.
I think there’s too much Elmo, but like so many others have said, my kid thinks otherwise.
Zoey and Abby are on too much.
Baby Bear makes me want to stab something.
Murray and Telly grew on me, but I want more Herry and Prairie Dawn.
As to the animated Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster is also on a lot less and Grover. Since three of those 4 are/were done by Frank Oz, I would think that might be a correlation.
Although my kid is obsessed with Elmo, she does really enjoy the “classic” characters too… sleeps with Big Bird and Snuffy and Grover dolls.
I wish there would be more new Elmo’s World segments. Supposedly they made them, but they haven’t aired this week yet.
Frank Oz still performs as a Muppeteer, but very infrequently- he makes a rare appearance as Don Draper in this Mad Men spoof. Oz’s characters have been taken over by David Rudman (Cookie Monster) and Eric Jacobson (Bert, Grover). Ernie is performed by Steve Whitmire, who replaced the original performer, Jim Henson.
The first episode of the 40th season featured a new Elmo’s World about frogs, which is notable since it featured a cameo by Kermit the Frog, his first new appearance on the show in nearly eight years.
Seriously, Kermit isn’t on the show anymore? Is that because Jim Henson died or is it because Elmo grabbed him by his frog legs and threw him under a passing car?
You ever notice we’ve never seen Elmo and Satan together in the same place at the same time?
Just sayin’.
I have a Sesame Street-age nephew and I weep to think of him knowing only of Elmo’s mafiaesque stranglehold on the Neighborhood.
I think I’ll buy a few of the old Sesame Street albums like Bert and Ernie’s Greatest Hits and “C” is for Cookie–Cookie’s Favorite Songs off iTunes to at least give him a glimpse of what he’s missing.
Technically, Kermit is one of The Muppets and therefore owned by Disney. I think they have some agreement allowing him to be on the show occasionally. I missed the Kermit segment, though I did see a different frog.
I like Elmo. I like all the new characters except Abby. I really don’t like the new Abby segment.
My daughter (18 months) first got exposed to Elmo on “Play with Me Sesame”, which is an all-muppet show for little, little kids. It features primarily Bert, Ernie, Prairie Dawn and Grover, with Cookie Monster, Elmo and Zoe as supporting members, and Irate Blue Man (don’t know is real name), Big Bird and Kermit making very occasional appearances.
Despite the fact that Elmo is a very small part of this show, within two episodes, he was far and away my daughter’s favorite. She LOVES Elmo. She’s also a big Grover and Cookie Monster fan as well, but Elmo is her favorite. So, there’s a lot of Elmo because really young kids love Elmo.
We’ve started TiVoing Sesame Street now too, and there is a lot of Elmo on SS, but it makes her happy. Of course, all of the SS characters pale in her mind to coloring in her coloring book or being read to.
I always thought “Elmo’s World” was meant to connect with little kids who had to stay inside all the time, because their streets were too full of random violence. To me it’s really tragic that “Sesame STREET”, where neighbors meet each other, has been reduced to a safe room.
Elmo’s voice annoys the heck out of me, but my two year old loves him.
I think most of what I don’t like about Sesame Street now is that it’s not like what I remembered watching as a kid. Of course, since I’m not Sesame Street’s target audience, but my kids are, I just have to lump it.
Kermit was never a permanent resident on Sesame Street (although as the Elmo’s World on frogs pointed out, he does have an apartment there)- he mainly appeared in inserts, most famously as a reporter. Even the official Sesame Street website lists him as a special guest star. Sesame Workshop has an agreement with Disney to allow Kermit to appear on the show and use the word “Muppet” to describe their characters (something the Jim Henson Company can no longer do- their characters are just “puppets”), and Kermit segments still appear on the show, in compliations on DVD, and on the official website.
Kermit’s role was greatly reduced because the Muppet performers felt that no one could do him justice as that was the character most closely aligned with Jim Henson. That is why the movies also shifted focus from Kermit as leader to Gonzo and Rizzo as hosts. Seseme Street generally includes Kermit by reusing old segments done by Jim Henson.
Easy to say, but Elmo’s World did definitely help us with a problem we were having with our two year old. He absolutely refused to put on a jacket, acting like we were pouring lava on him by making him wear one.
Then an Elmo’s World came on talking about jackets. All of a sudden, he was all for his jacket. No longer a problem.
