The set of Sesame Street

[Pug Lover]

I used to wonder what was across the road from the general Sesame Street niehgborhood scape.[In real life of course,it would nothing more than studio tv cameras and such.]When viewing Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird,I got my wish.There you saw all kinds of small shops situated directly across the street from Oscar,s trash can and Big Bird,s house.Not to mention,more brownstone buildings located on the opposite side of Mr.Hooper,s store and Lewisses workshop.In recent time,I,ve noticed a change in the appearance of the famous Sesame Street set.Mr.Hooper,s store doesn,t look the same on the outside[of course,Mr.Hooper had died of cancer back in 1981],and the cityscape painted on the walls has changed.But I suppose that,s natural.Different time,different world.After all,so much has changed since the 1970s.

 

[Mister Fred]

Changes

Your right about the changes to Hoopers store. The fix it shop has changed too. Too many repairs are done outdoors on the sidewalk and they don't fix much of anything. Mr. Hooper died of a heart attack in 1982, not of cancer in 1981. David (Northern Calloway) who was Mr. Hoopers helper, took over running the store until he died of cancer in 1989 or 1990. The big barn doors in the far corner have changed. The NO PARKING sign has been painted over for years and last I knew, the doors were painted red and a small door was put in for Gina's office (the vet). The basketball hoop has also been taken down over there too! Big Birds nest and area are TOTALLY DIFFERENT! Where are all the colorful barrells that had holes in them. Another change is THE CAST! What happened to Linda, Bob, and Susan. YOU HARDLY SEE THEM! I know Will Lee (Mr. Hooper) and Northern Calloway (David) have passed on. Why did Olivia LEAVE THE SHOW! She was great and had an excellent voice when she sang. Alot of muppets are missing. Don Music, Sully (Biffs friend), Dr. Nobel Price, Warren Wolf (Kermit the frogs substitude on SS NEWS) and a few others have VANISHED. There is WAY TOO MUCH of Elmo. Elmo has stolen the show as well as Zoee, Roseta, and Telly. There is VERY LITTLE of the count, bert & ernie, and others. Lot's of changes indeed.
Maybe Sesame Street could be redesigned entirely.

 

[jeffkjoe]

Well, the set has gone though MANY changes.

1) The most DRAMATIC change happened between 1969 and 1970. Nowadays, the street curves around at a 90 degree angle, with a playground/tire-swing between Hooper's and 123 Sesame Street. Back in Season 1, there was none of that. Just a long street, with a fence connecting the store and the apt. building.

Reason why they changed it? Carroll Spinney explained in his book that the "L" configuration of the set allowed for more different camera angles, rather than looking waaay down the street either from one side or another.

2) Also, Oscar's trash-can set up has changed over the years.

- first half of 1969 - he had a blue box next to his trash can, sitting on top of a larger grey box
- second half of 1969 -1973 or 1974 the blue box changed to a purple trunk
- 1974 - present - Brand new trash can sits next to brown crate, on top of barrel
- 1978 or 1979 - Oscar's trash can is accidentally taken away by the sanitary dept, so he has Luis fix up (i.e., dirty up and bang dents into) a whole new trash can

3) The space beyond Big Bird's nest and the lamppost also has changed BIG time:

- yes, the cityscape that was painted on the wall has changed from 1969 to 1992
- and then 1992 or 1993, the set goes "around the corner" and reveals a whole new cul-de-sac, including the Furry Arms Hotel, Ruthie's Finders Keepers, and Celina's Dance Studio
- then in 1998, probably due to budget cuts or story limitations, that whole new corner magically disappears, and what appears there now is just a couple of colorful doors and a brick wall

4) The Sesame Street sign has changed too. Once CTW changed its name to Sesame Workshop in the late 1990's, they updated the Sesame sign.

5) Also: the set location has changed too.

From 1969 - 1992, the show was taped in an old movie theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side, 81st Street Teletape.

Now, you have to take a cab across the East River to Kaufman Austoria Studios in Queens, where the Cosby Show and Spin City were taped.

6) And over the years, they've "recreated" the set for various productions outside of the regular PBS show.

- For "JULIE on SESAME STREET", a 1973 ABC special w/ Julie Andrews, they made a strange recreation at ATP Studios in London - they actually revealed what was across the street from 123 Sesame
- And like you said, they had different interpretations of the studio set in FOLLOW THAT BIRD and ELMO IN GROUCHLAND. I know FOLLOW was filmed in TORONTO on a backlot.

Hope this helps!

 

[Jessica]

There is WAY TOO MUCH of Elmo. Elmo has stolen the show as well as Zoee, Roseta, and Telly. There is VERY LITTLE of the count, bert & ernie, and others.

I agree. It's because of the rights to the characters they have perhaps? Plus, they have to get new puppets every year to use. Most of the ending of the show is Big Bird, Ernie, and Baby Bear.

I think they're having huge problems paying to keep the show alive because of the new generation of kids. There's more of punk, preppy, and other garbage that's even worse than Oscar. Parents are not paying attention to what their kids are watching. These kids are learning about drugs and war instead of their numbers and letters. The taxes are giving way for the communities needs and we aren't able to donate as much as we could before.

 

[matleo]

o
- then in 1998, probably due to budget cuts or story limitations, that whole new corner magically disappears, and what appears there now is just a couple of colorful doors and a brick wall

Actually the cast and space got trimmed because there was just too much there. It was tough for the writers to balance all the new character and settign in a way that kids could remember who they were. You'd see the Furry Arms hotel or Celina or the family that was supposed otb e Gordon's cousin or whatver in one episode and then it would be another 2 weeks before you'd see them again. Come ot think of it, I almost nnever remember seeign the other african amrican family they added Anyway, there woudl eb all this time in between and kids would forget who they were. So they didn't care about them, so the writers did the logical thing and streamlined the show. Only about a handful of puppets survived the cast cut. I don't think ANY of the actors did. That's probably a good thing. I never cared much for a lot of the actors they added.

I don't remember if this was actually in Carroll's book or something he talked about at the booksigning, but that's where I remember hearing it from.

--Matt

 

[Mister Fred]

I agree. It's because of the rights to the characters they have perhaps? Plus, they have to get new puppets every year to use. Most of the ending of the show is Big Bird, Ernie, and Baby Bear.

I think they're having huge problems paying to keep the show alive because of the new generation of kids. There's more of punk, preppy, and other garbage that's even worse than Oscar. Parents are not paying attention to what their kids are watching. These kids are learning about drugs and war instead of their numbers and letters. The taxes are giving way for the communities needs and we aren't able to donate as much as we could before.

Jessica is right. With these new generation of kids and more working moms, parents are not paying attention to what there kids watch. When I was a kid, I never watched any of this violent stuff that's on tv. I liked to watch the tv show "Emergency" (LA COUNTY fire station #51 ). That was good. The incredible hulk used to scare me until I saw Mister Rogers when he went to the tv studio and visted Bill Bixy & Lou Ferrigno. They showed how Lou's makeup was put on and since then to this day I love the incredible hulk. I also enjoyed RESCUE 911, which came out when I started high school and one night my grandpa sat down & watched it with me and when he saw Willam Shattner, he said "that's hooker". He was reffering to the police show T.J. Hooker, which was one of his favorites. For the entire 7 years that RESCUE 911 ran, I NEVER missed an episode! Today there is too much violence on tv & in school. When I was a kid, I went to a daycare ladies house for a couple of years and she put on captain kangaroo & sesame street for the kids. If todays kids go to daycare, the daycare workers should watch sesame street and all the other educational shows WITH THE KIDS. My mom did not just turn on the tv, leave me in front of it, and then go do house work. She would sit and watch sesame street with me.
Kids will learn more from sesame street when they watch with a grown up. I did even if it was with a baby sitter.

 

[ssetta]

You know, I think that's one reason why they don't need to make it entertaining for the parents anymore. That's why they're making it strictly for younger kids, because parents really don't watch it with their kids much anymore.

 

[Jessica]

Jessica is right. With these new generation of kids and more working moms, parents are not paying attention to what there kids watch. When I was a kid, I never watched any of this violent stuff that's on tv. I liked to watch the tv show "Emergency" (LA COUNTY fire station #51 ). That was good. The incredible hulk used to scare me until I saw Mister Rogers when he went to the tv studio and visted Bill Bixy & Lou Ferrigno. They showed how Lou's makeup was put on and since then to this day I love the incredible hulk. I also enjoyed RESCUE 911, which came out when I started high school and one night my grandpa sat down & watched it with me and when he saw Willam Shattner, he said "that's hooker". He was reffering to the police show T.J. Hooker, which was one of his favorites. For the entire 7 years that RESCUE 911 ran, I NEVER missed an episode! Today there is too much violence on tv & in school. When I was a kid, I went to a daycare ladies house for a couple of years and she put on captain kangaroo & sesame street for the kids. If todays kids go to daycare, the daycare workers should watch sesame street and all the other educational shows WITH THE KIDS. My mom did not just turn on the tv, leave me in front of it, and then go do house work. She would sit and watch sesame street with me.
Kids will learn more from sesame street when they watch with a grown up. I did even if it was with a baby sitter.

Yes, I remember seeing RESCUE 911 when I was younger. I also remembered that my old babysitter didn't have any of the fancy cartoon channels like Cartoon Network and such. Although she did have the really violent channels. I never liked watching TV that much anyway. There's just too much now, and I hate it. That's why I keep my channel on PBS all the time.

Parents should be more careful nowadays. The media is trying to influence young minds to drugs and tacky non-13 year clothings. There isn't a reason why your children wouln't want to copy their peers, and most likely their peers will be watching all the violent messages that are being given out today.

 

[Mister Fred]

Yes, I remember seeing RESCUE 911 when I was younger. I also remembered that my old babysitter didn't have any of the fancy cartoon channels like Cartoon Network and such. Although she did have the really violent channels. I never liked watching TV that much anyway. There's just too much now, and I hate it. That's why I keep my channel on PBS all the time.

Parents should be more careful nowadays. The media is trying to influence young minds to drugs and tacky non-13 year clothings. There isn't a reason why your children wouln't want to copy their peers, and most likely their peers will be watching all the violent messages that are being given out today.

Jessica,

Your babysitter DID NOT have the cartoon network channel? That's sad cause there are alot of good cartoons on there that are not violent. My favorite is that little detective INCH HIGH PRIVATE EYE. I have seen every episode of that cartoon. What needs to be done on sesame street is the following:

1. Put big birds nest back the old way with all the blue barrells & stuff.

2. Put in as many buildings on the opposite side of hoopers store & the fix it shop. (This will give sesame street a real big look)

3. Rearrange oscars area with a small trash can next to his and give oscar a clean neat dent free trash can. Keep the big crate next to the can by the steps.

4. REMOVE ELMO'S WORLD!!! He has STOLEN the ENTIRE show!!!

5. Bring back more of the count at his castle, ernie & bert at there home, as well as the tweetle bugs in ernies garden.

6. Where the big gargage doors are in the far corner that once said NO PARKING and a basketball hoop stood, open up the doors & put a garage (car repair shop there and ginas vet office at the top of the stairs next to the garage. (or maybe park a car in the garage). That corner needs to be changed.

7. CHANGE THE FIX IT SHOP! have them fixing something INSIDE like lawnmowers or vacum cleaners NOT TOASTERS!!!

8. Show a better mix of characters.

9. Bring back old songs & scenes like making new paper out of old paper, making new bottles out of old bottles, making apple cider, the counting segment with the baker falling down the stairs at the end with the deserts, the old number song with the pin ball machine (123456789101112), the song about pockets, and some other old films & songs.

10. If any cast changes need to be done I don't think so. The cast is very deversified ( some whites, hispanics, and blacks) and sets an excellent example for every kid & parent.

 

[WiGgY]

I think they need Elmo's world. Even if you hate it, kids love it. After all, isn't that what it's all about? If you sit and watch what Elmo teaches, it's some pretty important stuff. I passed by PBS the other morning to find Elmo teaching fire safety. Isn't it better to have a character that kids listen to to teach that than a character they don't know to well?

They should bring back some of the older segments because a lot of them were really great. Also, it would bring Jim Henson's ideas and heart back into the show.

They have done a good job by separating the letter and number segments. It makes sense and kids should be following it better. They could add some old number and letter segments in there though. Also, they should bring back the older Journey to Ernie where they would play a lot of these segments, though now JTE has become a real segment instead of a vessel for segments. So, I suppose thats better.

Basically they should do whatever they can to get kids to watch without compromising the integritty of the show. Play With Me Sesame seems to have taken the older segments and characters from what I hear. So, they aren;t lost forever.