Your Thoughts: Sesame Street Season 40

Another Game show episode, but the first one without Mr. Gameshow or whatever his name was. That was like a joke that was funny the first time, and after the third time you never want to hear it again. No mouse climbing up anything to ring bells... no nothing like that. But I really wish they picked different characters besides Elmo and Abby... Elmo has been a featured character in 12 episodes already. Abby and Telly, Abby and Rosita... just enough Elmo and Abby stuff.

Nice to see Wanda Cousteau and Buster the Horse... nice line about an Alligator with awkward teenage photos of himself.

Not loving these celebrity words of the day segments. Sure, some of them seem to know that they're on Sesame Street, and know what to expect... but a lot of them are like "I have kids and I'm on a Baby show! I better talk in baby talk and say how fun saying the word is a hundred times is" This one was no exception. Really... have FUN with it... don't use it as good PR.

You know, I'd like Abby's School a LOT more if it wasn't constantly repeated. It gets repeated amongst the reruns of the reruns. I know there's a budget crunch, and I was expecting them to show everything twice... but three times is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure even the youngest kids are squirming around seeing the same 10 minute segments over and over.

And of course, the only other major highlight of the episode, Ricky Gervais's "N" lullaby. I wonder how much of that was actually scripted. He just seemed to have a LOT of fun with that segment... a lot more fun than it deserved. A Quintillion times better than Andre Botechilli's "Hey Look! I'm-a- on-a da Sesame Street" segment from years ago. Really, these songs featuring Elmo this season are a LOT funnier than they need be.

Well, the ones now are certainly better than the season 38 ones. Adding Muppet helpers really made them funnier. I think my favorite one so far is the "Machine" explanation, solely for the most-likely, ad-libbed ending.

Definitely... but it seems the ones that get stuck with the cutesy characters just think "I'm on a preschool show, so I'll just blankly deliver me lines like I'm talking to 2 year olds."

Plus, I REALLY hate the "This word is fun to say... say it... say it again..." I'm sorry... but that's Barney/Teletubbies type stuff.

Seems the ones that really get it are comedians or actors that usually play comedic roles... And it really is better with a Muppet alongside them. Joey did some great improvising with Rico the robot and the Octopus ("OW! You twisted my tentacle!") A lot of these guys tend to actually have FUN with the skit. I would like to see more of that and less "I'm doing this for PR!" And I'm sure kids would too.

Someone mentioned that we've had Elmo is 12 episodes already.
Anyone think this is the same reason we see Murry so much. Joey and Kevin are on staff, a lot of the rest of the team are free agents. It's cheaper to use staff Muppeteers?

Yeah. It seems like the principal stars this season are Elmo, Murray and Abby. Though Rosita has shown up quite a bit.

BTW, did anyone ever try Gordon's experiment from the rainbow ep? If someone could get me a list of step-by-step instructions, I might give that a try.

I tell yah... there are times when I watch this show, and I just mutter, "I'm gettin' to old for this..." Stuff... I say stuff... This was one of those times.

The opening segment was more dull Elmo stuff... Chris and the puppeteers had about as much fun as they could... you could tell what stuff was improvised... but all and all... very very very dull... even for a little kid.

And YAAAAAWWWWNNNN more rerun Abby that's been rerun 3 times in new episodes that I'm sure every kid who watches all the episodes has seen all of these double digit times by now. Hey, Sesame Workshop... if you want to have a segment that appears in every single episode, you need at least 13 of them.

No really... if there's one thing I would like to see, regardless of my age, when I have to wait weeks for a new episode, it's old stuff I've already seen before.

Murray's school thing again. I love these segments and all, but there's NO excuse for not alternating it better with Ernie and Bert's Great Adventures. There are episodes we HAVEN'T seen yet that have already been produced. And frankly, they're a lot more interesting than half of the newer Ernie and Bert segments.

And... oh... celebrity singing meh parody of his own song. Remember when I used to dislike when celebrities did covers of older SS songs? I say, we need more of that and less of this. Just not that Arron Nelville one with Ernie. I guess I'd probably at least enjoy the segment if I actually heard of this guy or heard of his music. Really, they need to get Chris Cerf back on the payroll... or at least give ol' Weird Al a call... at least give the job to someone who can do a parody right.

The one worthwhile bit in the entire show was that Cedric the Entertainer word of the day. You see? HE gets it. He had fun. He even had a fun spin on the "say the word 3 times so you'll learn it" bit. I swear, comedic actors or anyone that works in comedy KNOWS how to do this right. Not to mention I really like ol' Cedric.

Oh yes, Elmo and Abby are SW's big moneymakers these days. Murray is just another Telly - a great character but extremely underrated. And it was obvious it would be many Elmo/Abby street stories, as from the episode guide in the press release.

As for Rosita, I'm glad she's gettig more airtime. She's also an underrated character in my opinion. It seems Abby and Rosita are featured more than Zoe this season too. It's deja vu, since when Zoe first came on the show, she sort of took the place of Prairie, and now that Abby is here, Zoe is now in the background.

Really, Season 40 seems really...distinct to me. The block format is killing the airtime of other muppets. I know it's an old rant, but really, the show is all about Elmo and Abby...literally. Nothing else.

Sort of random, but if it were a poll voting for the best season since the format change, I would either choose Season 37 or Season 39, IMO.

I agree. The season premiere ep was really good, but after that things seemed to go downhill. You'd think because it's an anniversary year there would be more to look forward to, I mean we have those hidden gems but sometimes you really have to look hard for those, aside from that, well things seem to be getting worse instead of better. I have noticed the lack of Zoe this season. It's a shame because they make a new Zoe puppet and don't really use her. That's a waste of puppetry. I don't care much for the puppet's new appearance anyway. Still it seems like Abby and Rosita have taken her place as the main femaile Muppets on the show.

To me, the best format since the 2002 change is the one used in season 38. It was still structured, but still unpredictable. Plus, we got more non-Muppet cartoons/films in five episodes than we would a whole season. Season 39 sort of had it, but adding Murray and His Little Lamb every day didn't help.

I keep saying it, but this entire season screams "Budget Crunch" in every aspect. The streets are almost deserted, segments are getting way too much rerun time (Abby's especially. I thought they made 26 of them, not 6 of them for 26 episodes), and Elmo seems to be in every episode because they could have just shot every single episode in the matter of a few days. And frankly, I see what Carol Spinney's pay cut is all about. Oscar was only on the show twice (we saw his empty can more) and Big Bird hasn't been featured much.

Is the lack of Eric and Steve (and you could even say David Rudman) characters partially due to all the Muppet Publicity work, or some project that will happen later? It really seems this seasons very Elmo heavy because we basically see the most of Kevin, Martin, Leslie etc.

Thursday's episode really spoke to what's wrong with the Elmo focus... he isn't even really a character anymore. he a mascot, devoid of personality... why couldn't it be more like the Ricky Gervais segment where Elmo actually... you know... emotes? Really... had Telly been in it instead of Elmo, there would have been a lot more instances for tension and comedy.

I've said it a billion times by now, but I like the idea of Murray hosting the letter and number segments, but the demonstrations of up and down (over/under, inside/outside...etc) seem to be there to waste time, and I think we can do without the show idea of announcing segments coming up next. What TV kid's show are they trying to emulate with this anyway? Last time I checked, Nick Jr. abandoned the whole "Face" concept when Clinton left office.

Not quite a case of making a new puppet and not using it - kind of the opposite: they took a puppet that was probably going to be used once and never used again (the Zoe the made for Abby In Wonderland) and found a (ridiculous) excuse to get more milage out of it. It would be like if they all of a sudden decided to replace the regular Elmo wih one of those Elmo varients in Elmo's World when Dorothy imagines Elmo as a shark or elephant.

Well put... sort of like that random episode where Telly mothered a baby duck and turned into his exact puppet from "Peter and the Wolf" (or was it Elmo and the Wolf?) Everything is an excuse to save money... reusing segments all too much, long segment intros... less and less puppet characters in the background. I've said it before... inspired by the announcement of "The Muppets Cheapest Movie" Sesame Workshop just produced "The Sesame Street's Cheapest Season!"

The one thing that really bugs me, we should see more of Ernie and Bert's Great Adventures. I do like Murray had a Little Lamb and everything, but we're seeing reruns of stuff they showed twice last year... and after over a year for a new season they must get very boring to little kids. These aren't like 30 second cartoons that are supposed to be repeated over and over... a 5-10 minute segment that's been used over and over is going to cause a LOT of channel changes. Where as all the Ernie and Berts are done with... and there are around 30 of them.

In fact, E&B can have one episode in every SS episode and not have to rerun older segments until the next season. Why we're seeing only one every 2 or 3 episodes and we're seeing Abby School in every episode when they either don't have all 26 episodes of it ready, or want to stingily hold off on new episodes for next season is beyond me. No offense to Abby or Murray... I really do love these segments... just not as much after the third or fourth time.

All I can say is...that SUCKS.

Yes, I have to agree with you there. The only problem I had with Season 38 (at the time) was it was just lacking a lot of Big Bird, lol. But looking back, the pros out weighed the cons and it was a decent season, with the two EW free episodes and all. Definately better than our current season...sad to say.

Yes indeed. It was looking to be a promising season at first. I admit I've enjoyed most of the street stories(espicially with Cookie Monster), and AFFS is good for the first time you see it, but after it gets boring with the constant repeats. However the show overall is just...blah. They've really slaughtered it this season.

Sorry to sound so negative about it.

I still feel this season is leaps and bounds above the dreaded first season of the segmentation and routine-i-ness from 2002. Though, that one DID have that great Oscar and Telly segment. I mean, even the fifth time of seeing an Abby segment is better than Monster Clubhouse or Hero guy... bleehhhh.... I feel the coolness of that segment is wasted on cheapness, showing repeats of segments seen in the repeats of the older episodes from the season to bulk out 26 episodes to last 4 months.

I would agree with the slaughtered thing completely, but a LOT of it really seems like circumstances beyond their control. Seems like we would have gotten a LOT more if that stupid Elmo Live toy sold last Christmas.

I'm trying to think, wouldn't it be the opposite? After all, the reason Noggin stopped airing unpaved was because of all the Chicken Dance Elmo's that were sold. Their belief was that they stopped airing older stuff since they were making more money with newer stuff so wouldn't things have been worse if the Elmo Live toy sold? Just a little confused here.

BTW, I thought I'd make a comment on the 'Mary, Mary Quite Contrary' episode since yesterday was the first I saw that. It's nice to see an Oscar centered episode, since his role has been kind of light early this season. Plus it was good to see Fluffy, she hasn't been around much lately. It's neat that Bob made a second episode in season 40. I thought like Susan he was only in one ep per season. Maybe we would see those characters more if they'd change the format around and have more time to show more characters, both humans and Muppets.

No no no... One of the reasons they stopped airing Unpaved was that they were starting to politic with SW's partnership, and they were starting up the whole "The N" segment. Don't forget that.

Secondly, you were talking about Noggin's airings of an older show, where I'm referring to the current budget situation with SW. A lot of their income comes in from their profits of the merchandise, which they put back into Sesame Workshop products. They aren't getting all that much from PBS anymore (their budget is tied up with trying to buy up bad British shows before BBC America does, littering their once fruitful Britcom line up with crappy CSI knockoffs with a British accent). SW WAS counting on Elmo Live to be a big hit, and add the profits to their ever dwindling budget. But a 60 dollar toy in a Recession Christmas is a luxury buy. I'm trying to do my part, but frankly, I don't have all that money, and most of the SS products are just Elmo-centric trash.

Well, it's not as bad as when Elmo's World debuted. Each week, the same episode would be played for every episode. And there was 65 episodes!

Okay. I get it now. I guess it's hard to comprehend because I never got Noggin. But I guess it's one of those network changes (ex: WB to CW, Kids WB to 4kids TV, PAX network to ION television,) sort of a deal like that.

I just noticed that Bip Bipadotta maded a cameo in today's epsiode, and it looked like he actually said something, thouhg I couldn't tell who did the voice.

I'm not sure who performed him, but it sounded like he muttered "Manah Manah".