Insert Question

[cjd874]

Hi all,

I have been wondering who at CTW (now Sesame Workshop) had the responsibility of choosing inserts for each episode. What kind of method or process have the SS staff used to choose which inserts, and what order they go in? How do they decide which Muppet insert to put in (Ernie & Bert sketch versus a Grover Waiter bit), or which cartoon (Ladybugs Picnic or Billy Jo Jive), or film (Hard Working Dog versus Sad Flower)? Do they still use this process today?

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm betting the responsibility belong to the writers and producers, and I'm betting that they simply decided which inserts worked best with whatever the educational goal/theme of the street story was.

 

[cjd874]

But some inserts weren't relevant to the street story. I know a lot of the cartoons and films were based on letters and numbers and word families, but a great deal of Muppet sketches weren't related at all, and had a more comedic effect (like the E&B faucet dripping skit and the Cookie & Herry bicycle skit). So I guess that those Muppet sketches/songs were chosen somewhat randomly in comparison to the other, more educational inserts.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Again, I'm not sure who had the final say on the content of a show, but at least during Jon Stone's reign for most of the 70's-80's, they tried to give as diverse and varied an hour as possible. So there would be so much time allotted for street scenes, letter and number segments, etc., but there would still be leeway to throw in a few surprises. That's why I like the format I grew up with in the 70's. You never knew what you would see next. You might get a hint from a letter or number segment, but the rest of the time you were kept guessing. And that was great.

In recent times, it's become so structured that you could connect the dots: first a street scene, then the letter of the day, then this, then that, until the 45-minute mark with Elmo's World. That's change, but I miss the old freewheeling spirit that once set the show's tone.

 

[Oscarfan]

I've often wondered how they do that too. 'Cause, I'm pretty sure the inserts are picked out ahead of time, so it's seems weird that some episodes would require longer stories than others based on the inserts and not the other way around. The only thing I do know is that before hand, the segment breaks couldn't be more than 12 and a half minutes between street scenes or just inserts taking place on the street, not relating to the plot at all.