Mark The Shark said:
Overall, though, I'm not too impressed with current SS. It's "dumbed down" too much. The producers aren't giving kids enough credit. Aside from that though, when you see a long-standing favorite show which has entertained a couple generations of kids go through big changes like that, it is an indication that the show is in trouble, and that it isn't grabbing the audience numbers it once did. In Chicago, SS is on (last time I checked) once a day, at 10:00 in the morning. When I was growing up, it was on at 7:30, 3:30, and at least one or two additional times daily and a bunch of times over the weekend. That tells me it isn't doing as well as it used to, and the suits have panicked and messed around with it, and as each change doesn't help make anything any better, more changes follow. It's too bad. (Sigh)
I cannot stand the term "Dumbed Down." Way too harsh, considering. I mean, society is "dumbed down" and they drug SS down with them. the trouble? Tv has become the baby sitter, too many people take SS fro granted, and just throw their 2 year olds in front of it while they do something else. 2 year olds are too young to watch TV anyway. Not only that, but look at the other PBS shows of our times... you 70's people had stuff like Mr. Rogers, and Electric Company, us 80's folks had Mr. Rogers, 321 contact, and Square one (the electirc company of math). I think SS was on more times a day then, because PBS didn't need to buy all these different shows. Sure we still have great shows like Arthur, Cyberchase, Zoom, stuff like that, but we also have pointless garbage like Jayt jay the Airplane, Barney the dinosaur.... shows that don't try, and are only on TV to make money off of merchandising.
But if you think it's just kid's TV that's been dumbed down, check out the adult shows. Extreem makeover, Survivor, Married to the Kelleys.... uninspired knockoffs of everything.... I barely watch anything except SS, a few cartoons, and King of Queens (I'm a big Jerry Stiller fan), and maybe the ocassional Seinfeld reruns. TV is dumbed down. In fact, no matter how "bad" SS gets, it's still way more intellegent than what's on fox (Freak show fridays, come on!)
It's a very confusing time at SW.... I remember Sonia Manzano (Maria) talking on the Today show how they have to deal with all these studies. This study says one thing, this study says another, focus groups... blah blah blah. It sucks that they have to deal with it. But the sad thing is, they have to. It's not a conspiracy to alienate SS fans, just something they have to do. Sure, they could just give up, but do you really think any show could fill the void, espcially since they are low quality, and not even the actors try hard.
I feel SS is doing a pretty good job considering the fact that they don't have the larger budget, PBS doesn't have the larger budget, older kids want to watch Pokejunk and the like, they have to deal with studies that say one thing or another.... It's crazy. Personally, yes... I did not like Elmo's World. I did not like the structural changes. I reluctantly excepted them, and found to look towards the positive aspects. Hey! The show is still on, and still the highest quality of any kid's show produced to this day (Arthur being a close second, I wish they had that show when I was younger).
I mean, the one thing no one really looks at is the puppets. Sure, you can hate the character of Elmo, but you have to admit, he is flawlessly performed. Muppeteers are my favorite actors in the world, because they can take the guise of any character, anywhere and convincingly play that part, even if someone continues the role of someone else (I think Eric Jacobson does a much better job of performing Piggy and Fozzie than Frank Oz has of late, check out MFS or MTI if you don't believe me). They even screw up in character. The puppetry is why I still like the show, and that's the one thing that stays consistantly high quality throughout the entire series.
However, I do agree there should be a fan alternative. I think they are trying to reach out to the fans of classic SS, with Merchandise, mostly.... If only Nick didn't buy out SW in Noggin we would still have SS Unpaved and the Electric company. I think SW should try to branch out into classic skit related DVD's, or best ofs for fans. Then we have to deal with the parents who take SW for granted (the ones that plop them in front of the TV, to get rid of them). Go to Amazon.com and look at half the reviews for the SS media... They always buy them for 2 year olds, and complain about various idiotic things. That's pretty much the type of people that SW unfortunately has to look out for. It sucks, sure... but you cannot change parents.
Bottom line, SS as a show still is qaulity kids entertainment, but the fans need love too....