Things you miss

You realize that Elmo the Musical replaces Elmo's world, and is only 11 minutes long, right? Elmo's World, unless some snotty parents get their way, is pretty much dead.

I'd love to see them talk about handicapped characters as long as the character comes first, and not the disability. Kids are smart enough to deserve a well thought out realistic character, not just a cripple Mary Sue/Marty Stu that just appears there for everyone to not feel sorry for, and is awkwardly a member of the group. I've seen that too many times. Linda was organic. She was much more than "oh, that deaf woman." Sure, she taught sign language and we knew she was deaf, but she was able to take place in comedy sketches (like the Charlie Chaplin ones), and act as a member of the group instead of someone who's just there. That wheelchair girl, not so much... but that's the writers' fault for not being more daring.

Plus Linda was a grown up who was able to go to the writers and really insist she be written with a personality. If you don't stand up for yourself, no one else will. But obviously a little girl isn't necessarily in a position to do that.

I see your point, but it's still no excuse for the character being so flat and passive that she was only there because she had to, and had no chemistry with any of the characters. The writers wanted none of that.

They put her in a situation where she had to be prominent, but she couldn't be prominent to talk about her disability, she couldn't be prominent with a bolder personality, and she couldn't be prominent to hold off a storyline by herself, other than her introduction episode. I really think the character should have been fleshed out more. Like a live action version of Traction Jackson. That's the kind of character they need.

But there's also this. She really was. Think about the cartoon shows that around the same time had to feature handicapped characters in wheelchairs. They're put in the same, if not worse situation by the writers, but they're fictitious characters and they aren't real handicapped people, like Sesame Street had. I always glow about Garret from Extreme Ghostbusters and even Joe from Family Guy (until the writers became lazy and just made nothing but mean jokes) manage to break the mold and get into storylines where their handicaps actually hinder the situation (in EGB, Garret got knocked off his chair several times in the series in climactic battles). That stuff is real. Unreal is personality devoid bussed in P.C. characters that feel completely inorganic in a group. The worst offender? Dragontales had a dragon in a wheelchair. This is a mystic land of magic that lies everywhere. They eventually added a third kid, sure. If he was in a wheelchair, that would be different... but the fact of the matter is, a wheelchair dragon from the land of magic makes about as much sense as a shape shifting genie that always has an arm missing.

I miss the chemistry that existed when Jim, Joe Raposo, Jeff Moss, and Jon Stone were still with us. (The Four "J " Horsemen) Back during its first 20 years, Sesame Street was unstoppable, every day was an exciting, swirling, magic trip, and the combination of the elements of the four men above produced pure gold.

Today elements are still fusing together, but the result is more like cubic zirconium.

Don't forget Jerry Nelson!

Oh around the corner!! I grew up in the early 90's and I'm partial towards it but I loved around the corner! The furry arms hotel was so awesome!
Who wouldn't want to stay in a hotel full of muppets!

Such was the trouble with the show in general at that point.

I too miss Big Bird being the main protagonist, and Snuffy being his most frequent sidekick. The fact that Snuffy is almost never seen anymore is particularly unfortunate. I do like Zoe and Rosita a lot, and I like Abby's look and her voice, but not all of the fairy stuff that she brought to the show. A permanent cast member who can fly, teleport, and cast spells really affects the show's dynamic, and it's too easy a crutch for the writers to lean on. And the Abby's Flying Fairy School segments are just awful.

As for things I'm grateful for, it's nice that Oscar is still prominent, and Gordon, and Maria. And honestly I think the new season is a huge improvement over its recent predecessors, with Elmo: the Musical being vastly better than Elmo's World. But Grover's 'Spider Monster' bit sort of captures what I find lacking nowadays: it's lots of fun to watch, and the high definition and professional sound arranging give it an epic feel compared to classic SS, but at the same time it's all so slickly produced and scripted. A classic Grover vs Mr Johnson sketch didn't *look* as impressive, but the wacky dialogue of Frank and Jerry had such a spontaneous, improvised feel, much like old Bert & Ernie, and that was just so much funnier than anything today.

I miss the overall calmer feel of the show- it's so in your face now. It's louder and the humans have gotten so hammy. It doesn't feel as real and down to earth as it used to.

I miss the longer stories, and I miss the humans playing a bigger role- the street scenes were always my favorite. You used to see all the adults regularly. Nowadays, we are lucky if we see more than one at a time.

I agree about the diminishing roles of the adults on the show in recent years. Such a shame.

On another note, anyone remember when Rosita used to have wings? Lol.

I miss Herry Monster. I don't think he's been on recently.

Yes. I don't quite understand why that concept was dropped, unless it was just simply easier to build and to work her without wings of any kind.

Makes me kind of wonder too, if she was originally conceived as a fruit bat, why didn't they make her a fruit bat? That probably would have made for an interesting character, unless they felt she would probably be constantly mistaken for being associated with Count.