A 'Sesame Street' 'Loser'

[columbear2012]

In fairness, Elmo is(sad but true)the straw that stirred the merchandise drink at Sesame Workshop-could you have even imagined a 'Tickle Me Big Bird' pre-Elmo? Be grateful they turned down one deal for 'Bert and Ernie's Bedroom Set'.

Can the Street survive now without 'the little red monster' on as much? Think about this:Those of us of a certain age were more concerned how Big Bird would handle Mr. Hooper's death than how we dealt with it. WE knew Snuffy was real when all others called him 'Big Bird's imaginary friend' and were overjoyed when Bird proved Snuffy to be real. We saw Luis and Maria fall in love, get married, have a baby, see it grow into a beautiful young woman-all while working at the Fix-It Shop(the less said about the Mail-It Shop, the better).
That, friends, is only some of what makes Sesame Street great.

[imhomerjay]

As a parent who came back to the show when the little ones came along, I have no problem with the show staying "modern." I don't yearn for old clips--they were new back in my day, so why on earth wouldn't it make sense for there to be similarly new clips for today's kids?  Having fond memories of the past doesn't mean I have to live there, thus stifiling opportunites to appreciate what can be equally creative today.

They hit paydirt with Elmo, and good for them. I don't care in the least how quickly he joined the ranks of the other characters--if it works, it works, and there's no reason to enforce some arbitrary timeline that a new character can't be important because some old timers can't get past the way things used to be. My version didn't have Elmo, my kids' version does. My hope is that there is a version for their kids someday, regardless of what characters come and go in the interim.

[Rusty]

I kinda miss the segment where they did the pinball machine that counted "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12".

Pinball Number Count is a classic.  However, that didn't stop Sesame Street from tweaking it a tad.  I still don't know whether I like it or not:

[imhomerjay]

At least this version uses images a child might actually see today, vs. an antique pinball game. 

Joking aside, suppose there were no "original" pinball video. Would this be, in and of itself, a cute piece to demonstrate counting? If so, it deserves to be judged on its own merits, not some 30-something-year-old clip.

[columbear2012]

On its own merits, Pinball Number Count got kids up to 12 and introduced them to pop art. Nowadays, they count up to 40 and get introduced to world culture.

[wink87]

Here is a clip referring to my earlier post. It involves Grover and Fat Blue at the Fast Food restaurant. 

[jwatson2973]

Pinball Number Count is a classic.  However, that didn't stop Sesame Street from tweaking it a tad.  I still don't know whether I like it or not:

Looks impressive. The ones singing sound like the original.

[Flerbert419]

I have no problem with the show staying "modern." I don't yearn for old clips--they were new back in my day, so why on earth wouldn't it make sense for there to be similarly new clips for today's [viewers]?  Having fond memories of the past doesn't mean I have to live there, thus stifiling opportunites to appreciate what can be equally creative today.

Are you sure you're still talking about Sesame Street?

[Axl]

The ones singing sound like the original.

Those are the original vocals, provided by The Pointer Sisters.

And Elmo is fine in a moderate capacity, but to elevate him to the position Big Bird held for so long with such a comparatively short "apprenticeship" just didn't quite seem right to many of the old school fans, to be honest yours truly included.

The Elmo puppet has been around since the late 70s.  The character as we know him today has been around since about 1985.  "Elmo's World" started about a dozen years after that.  Short apprenticeship?

As a parent who came back to the show when the little ones came along, I have no problem with the show staying "modern."

Particularly since the show has always tried to stay "modern."  The segmented format stayed around for a long time, but the focus and tone of the show changed dramatically.  Compare an episode from, say, 1974 to one from 1984.  It started out as a self-consciously urban, jive-talkin' show that basically didn't give a crap whether Middle America kids got it or not, but it was a lot more culturally mainstream by the 1980s.  The whole reason it originally consisted of such quick segments was because focus grouping indicated that's all the kids would pay attention to.  By the late 90s that was no longer the case (something people would probably be happy about in any other context), so the format changed.

[columbear2012]

Leave us not forget "The Mail-It Shop" and howfastlikethis THAT was dumped.

[imhomerjay]

Are you sure you're still talking about Sesame Street?

TV shows, music, movies...the same logic could apply to any number of things. 

[supersaver87]

I grew up on Sesame Street. This pair of songs were two of my favorites when I was a kid. 

I had no idea the latter was a parody until I was a teenager! 

[jwatson2973]

Here's another classic song.