My Thoughts About the Sesame Street Season Premiere

With the 40th Anniversary of Sesame Street now behind us, and this season underway, I wanted to share my thoughts about yesterday’s season premiere. Let me preface my thoughts by saying this: It’s been a long time since I watched Sesame Street from start to finish. I’ve watched segments, seen clips, and read reviews, but I hadn’t actually watched the program on TV in 15 years or more.

This was episode 4187. Yes, you read that right. The four thousand, one hundred and eighty-seventh episode. What causes a show, any show, to last that long? I think there are two answers.

First, the show’s original concept was good. The research in child development and curriculum before the show aired, and the continuing research into what children were gaining from the show after its debut, helped to keep it alive for all these seasons. A house built on sand won’t last long. You need a solid foundation. The same is true with educational television. A solid foundation is what has kept this show standing all these years.

Secondly, the show is flexible. Change is inevitable, and not accepting change can mean the difference between survival and obsolescence. Sesame Street has continued to research new educational trends and studies, and has continued to survey those who watch, thus ensuring that the program is always fresh, and always current.

The show has changed a lot in since I watched it in the early 90s. I was studying to be a teacher at that time, and wanted to be a professional puppeteer so I watched the show from that perspective. In reality, it was also still engaging and entertaining, even to a 20-something adult.

Yesterday’s premiere was not nearly as engaging. I spent the better part of the evening trying to figure out why. Was it because I’m now a 40-something adult? I doubt that. I still watch as an educator and puppeteer, even though I’m no longer a teacher. I don’t think my personal tastes have changed that much. I still like humor, and still enjoy good puppetry and animation.

The show still has a sense of humor. It still tells jokes over the kid’s heads for the benefit of their parents. In Abby’s fairy school, the word door can be rhymed with “Zsa Zsa Gabor.” Not too many kids caught that (or understood it). Even Elmo’s joke about everything he encounters having a “frog in its throat” is really more for the grown ups watching than the kids. The show still understands that parents are watching and yearning to be entertained along with their children.

There were fewer Muppets, or so it seemed. Cutting the show into only a few longer segments leaves less time for random Muppet moments. Ernie and Bert as claymation were not as bothersome as I thought they might be, but I missed their Muppet forms. Grover makes a brief (and typically silly) appearance, and even Kermit has a cameo, but for the most part the Muppets featured are Elmo, Big Bird, Murray, and a few Muppet animals discussing habitat. With the exception of Murray, the Muppet / Kid interactions are gone. Gone are the days of Erik rhyming with Grover it seems.

I finally decided, though, that my problem with the show today from an adult standpoint was that there were no surprises around the corner. It was predictable. There was a street segment, then today’s letter, then something else, then something else again. The original format, with its live segments interspersed with “commercials” selling letters, numbers, and concepts was more fun.

There, I said it! I have a short attention span! I found myself wishing that they would cut the individual segments shorter, interrupt them with the unexpected. Sesame Workshop has explained that the show’s current style is indicated by current studies in education. Children, it seems, can watch longer segments, and even get confused when story-lines are interrupted or broken up. The constant switching from letters, to street scenes, to cartoons, to numbers, to Muppets was distracting to children and they lost focus on the main lessons.

I can agree with this. The same, however is not true for adults. We like variety. We get bored if a show isn’t engaging us directly. Sesame Street’s original quick-cut format was entertaining to us as adults because we weren’t the intended audience, so we didn’t need to focus on the lessons. Hopefully most 20-somethings already can count to 10 and understand near and far. Our focus was on entertainment, and variety entertains. We never knew which clip was coming next. Would it be a favorite?

I can see Sesame Street surviving another 40 years, and even more after that. It has proven to be capable of following new trends and new understandings about how children learn and develop. What I don’t see happening in another 40 years is an anniversary celebration to rival the one this year. Blogs all over the Internet jumped on the bandwagon with this celebration. They are full of lists of top ten favorite moments. One even did a top forty.

There were a lot of classic moments to choose from and we all had our favorites. The current format doesn’t seem to be made up of moments. Short story segments are better for learning, but the repetitive, colorful, musical, and whimsical “commercials” and snippets from the Sesame Street of my day are much more memorable. How many kids will fondly remember Abby and friends chasing a gerbilcorn or Elmo discussing frogs. I may be wrong, but those elements seem like lessons you learn and then move on.

I’ll continue to watch sporadically this season. This was one episode out of many, and hopefully some of the classic clips are used in the show still. The classic clips are out there as well, on the Sesame Street website, YouTube and even in DVD and video format. A new DVD released yesterday celebrates 40 years of the show with commentary, classic clips, and behind the scenes interviews and is a must-have for any fan.

It will be interesting to see what the future brings. As I mentioned previously, Sesame Street continues to be well-researched. Changes in format are necessary to keep kids up to date with current educational and curriculum trends. I only hope the producers don’t forget that for every child watching, there’s probably an adult in the room too. And those children will eventually grow up and share memories with their children. Keeping the show fresh and engaging will help, but keeping a bit of nostalgia alive won’t hurt either.