Abby Caddaby vs. Zoe

[D'Snowth]

This is a tough decision...

On the one hand, I like Zoe because she's been around a long time, and I'm used to her presences on the show - not to mention the fact that I didn't grow up in the completely "classic/old school" era like most fans here, so I actually grew up with Zoe. It seems odd not having her around at all.

On the other hand, Abby Cadabby is a not only a new character, but a completely different character: she's not a traditional muppet as been discussed and reported, and wasn't built to look like one - she's built to look different because she's not from around the area. Plus, the way I see it, it's nice to have another regular female muppet around the street for little girls to relate to because up until now, they only had Zoe, Prairie Dawn, and Rosita, meanwhile there are COUNTLESS male muppet characters for little boys to relate to.

I say a delicate balance of either for me.

 

[minor muppetz]

Abby is better.

 

[Drtooth]

Plus, the way I see it, it's nice to have another regular female muppet around the street for little girls to relate to because up until now, they only had Zoe, Prairie Dawn, and Rosita, meanwhile there are COUNTLESS male muppet characters for little boys to relate to.

Actually, there were quite a few female characters. problem is, not too many of them stuck. Merry Monster, Lulu, Elizabeth, Pheobe and Google- all gone. And 2 of them were played by men, which enters the quandery of "does that really count?" which I won't go into. And let's not forget Snuffy's sister, which brings up a scary Family Matters type thing I won't talk about. In fact, Zoe and Rosita are the only 2 girls to stick so far. Abby Might as well. But I could see it two ways. Either she sticks around for a while, or the writers exhaust the charactrer, and drop her all together. Luckily for her, Abby seems to be catching on.

None of them can hold a candel to Prarie, though.

 

[D'Snowth]

Actually, there were quite a few female characters. problem is, not too many of them stuck. Merry Monster, Lulu, Elizabeth, Pheobe and Google- all gone. And 2 of them were played by men, which enters the quandery of "does that really count?" which I won't go into. And let's not forget Snuffy's sister, which brings up a scary Family Matters type thing I won't talk about. In fact, Zoe and Rosita are the only 2 girls to stick so far. Abby Might as well. But I could see it two ways. Either she sticks around for a while, or the writers exhaust the charactrer, and drop her all together. Luckily for her, Abby seems to be catching on.

None of them can hold a candel to Prarie, though.

Exactly, they were the only female muppet characters that have stuck around since their debuts... if Stephanie hadn't departed to partake in Avenue Q, who knows? Maybe Lulu and Elizabeth might still be on as well, especially since considering Stephanie completely created the character of Lulu.

But thanks for reminding me about little Alice, I had forgotten all about her! In fact, I haven't seen her since the mid 90s where she and Snuffy were reciting the alphabet together (even though I know that particular bit was from like the 80s I believe).

 

[BEAR]

Well, Prairie is still around. People forget that she is still a part of the show. I also completely agree with everyone's opinions about Rosita. I think she is one of the greatest characters to come about in the last 15 years. She's made herself a staple on the show now and yes the character becomes more and more dimensional. As for Alice, all I can say is I miss her. She was cool. And what confuses me is that if she isn't on the show anymore, why is she appearing with the rest of the cast on the Macy's float every year?

 

[erniebert1234ss]

Maybe since Ms. Abruzzo seems to live in NYC, they just rope her into doing it again and again...

Also, between Abby & Zoe, I actually am going for Abby! (Shocker, I know) Yeah, Fran Brill's awesome and all, but I kinda liked Prairie Dawn better than Zoe (and if you get to see Play With Me Sesame, you get quite a bit of a Prairie Dawn fix!).

BJ

 

[CensoredAlso]

The whole boy and girl character thing, as a girl I've always ended up identifying with the male characters more, even when there were females. But on the other hand, as a girl I always wished they'd include more female characters because you do start to feel left out and unrepresented. Like, "Oh this is great, but is this not meant for me?"

Probably the female character I enjoyed most was Grunchetta, since there was so much comedic chemistry with her and Oscar, lol.

 

[Drtooth]

The whole boy and girl character thing, as a girl I've always ended up identifying with the male characters more, even when there were females. But on the other hand, as a girl I always wished they'd include more female characters because you do start to feel left out and unrepresented. Like, "Oh this is great, but is this not meant for me?"

I feel like an idiot, because I almost thought you were a guy. I don't know why.

Anyway, it gets into the whole grey area of making girls with personality. Anything you can do will be seen as a negative stereotype by someone. Same thing with non-white characters (I refuse to use a term like minority. I find it insulting). that's why you never hear someone say Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin are stereotypes of white people.

That's why you don't see too many charactes that aren't able bodied white males. People are so daggum afraid of insulting someone. So white males are usually the safest route. And I think it's really everyone's loss. people are people, no matter what clothes they wear, or color skin, or religion, or whatever. And people are all flawed in some aspect.

it is a shame that people would try to lump stereotypes into various characters, and then complain why there isn't enough diversity in cartoons and TV shows. Which is why I like characters like Joe from Family guy. he's in a wheel chair and they don't give him special treatment.

But I digress, because we're getting way off topic here.

I think Stephany is a very talented muppeteer and actress in her own right. problem is, one of the reasons the characters never stuck? I don't think she found a voice for any of them. I mean, Elizabeth was a one note joke. She just really really loved her cat. And there wasn't way too much different to Lulu- mainly because I don't think she had time to let the character evolve into something amazing (which she totally could do, if you ask me). I would say, if she were still on the show today and Lulu was still around, she'd have become a character in her own right.

Same problem I had with Abby last year. She didn't do too much more than say catchphrases her first episode, and the second appearance was pretty much the only character developement she had outside of the character being a fairy in training and messing things up accidentally.

This season, she really developed as a character on her own. We know her flaws. She relies so much on magic, she can't do too much by herself. Which will be the source of tension later on, I hope. I don't think kids should be left out when it comes to drama, albiet mild drama.