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They spent some time joking around with the Today Show cast as well:

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Disney’s acquisition of the Muppets caused a great deal of stir among Muppet fans. The company was immensely adept at using synergy to promote its various properties:  Promoting their movies and TV shows in the Disney parks, the theme parks in various TV specials and parades, and cross-promoting their characters across all forms of media from TV and movies to music, books, and toys/gifts. There was excitement in the air. Muppet fans eagerly awaited the ambush of Disney promoted Muppet releases. They had to wait a little while.

As with any major acquisition, the Muppets were tied up in existing contracts when Disney purchased them. Disney had to wait a bit, to allow those contracts to run their course, before doing anything extensive with the properties. In addition, the Disney company had another problem. The Muppets were no longer relevant to today’s culture. They had been absent long enough that newer, younger generations were not as familiar with the characters, or as interested in getting to know them. Older generations of fans remembered the Muppets with nostalgia, but could Disney recapture that fandom AND gain new fans at the same time in a culture that grew up with CGI rather than puppetry? Disney attempted as early as 2005 to rejuvenate the Muppet brand, but the company had not yet figured out how best to do so, and instead most projects either died on the drawing board or were lost among the flotsam and jetsam of entertainment promotion.

In 2008, Disney stepped up efforts to reintroduce the Muppets. It’s taken nearly a year to do so, but it really seems as if their efforts this time were successful. Take a look at the recent YouTube video of the Muppets performing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. The video quickly went viral, and now has over 7 million (yes, that’s MILLION) hits, with nearly 40,000 reviews and a five-star average rating. It was a trending topic on Twitter for a couple of days, and has been the subject of many a blog post (including on this blog!). The Muppets have a history of over-the-top parody and just plain fun. This video brings us back to those days of Muppet humor and Muppet glory.

Now we’re beginning to see the true value of Disney synergy. Kermit the Frog performed a duet with Disney Channel star Tiffany Thornton during the 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Macy’s Boston Tree Lighting ceremony. Last year’s Christmas special, “Muppets: Letters to Santa” has recently been released on DVD and the music is available in MP3 format from Amazon.com. (The special re-airs this Friday on NBC as well)

In the theme parks, the Muppets are also getting some much needed attention. Rumor has it that Muppet Vision 3*D is due for a makeover to Disney Digital 3D in the near future. Updates to the pre-show and queue areas of the attraction in both Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida and Disney’s California Adventure in California are also rumored. David Gumpel, who directed the original pre-show, has posted in his blog that he directed a new pre-show for the updated attraction in November of 2008, but he had no further information on when it would debut. In October of 2009, the queue area of the attraction received new movie parody posters. With titles like “Beak-e” and “Hammah Montana”  the new posters are representative of what happens when Muppet humor meets Disney humor face on!

One can only hope that the current excitement over the Muppets will lead to bigger and better things. Updates to the existing theme park attractions, future performance videos and guest appearances, and an untitled movie in the works for some time around 2012 appear to be in the Muppet’s future. If they continue with the same quality as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” they should snowball into a return to popularity for the Muppets. After all, everything old is new again. Although computer animation is popular, Disney has returned to the good-old-days with hand-drawn animation in “The Princess and the Frog” and 20th Century Fox has returned to old-fashioned Claymation (puppetmation) with “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” both to critical acclaim and audience approval, so perhaps the time is right to return to good, old-fashioned puppetry as well. I certainly hope so!

You can view the Parody posters here:

In case you’ve been under a rock for the past few days, you may have missed this terrific video of the Muppets performing the classic Queen song, “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

This YouTube video went positively viral via Twitter and other social networking feeds yesterday. There’s a reason:  It truly brings us back to the days of classic Muppet mayhem! It has everything – the classic characters intermixed with the newer and lesser known Muppets. It has clucking chickens, Beauregard playing air guitar on a mop, and the Mahna-Mahna guys singing backup. Who couldn’t love that!

I also love the fact that, as they did historically, the Muppets have taken a song with lyrics that might be questionable for their characters (or at least not necessarily appropriate for all ages) and changed them to suit their needs. For example, the entire, “Mama, just killed a man” sequence features Animal simply shouting “Mama!” over and over again (ending in a very Muppetesque and Animal-appropriate punchline). Brilliant!

Watch the end of the video carefully, too. Note that Kermit and Scooter are using a computer that combines Windows 7 and Mac OS, running a program that appears to be a hybrid of FireFox and Adobe programs as well. It’s that kind of smart, subtle humor that the Muppets have been missing lately. Kudos to them for bringing it back (in HD no less!).

In case you don’t know some of the Muppets included in the video, Muppet Wiki has identified them all.

Prepare to LOL!

I’m moving a bit slower than normal due to life issues, and I’m currently working on two projects at once.

I know — excuses, excuses!

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.

Today we honor that show. So, happy birthday to all the Sesame Street gang. Happy birthday to Big Bird and Ernie and Bert, to Grover and Oscar, to the Count and Cookie Monster. Happy birthday to Elmo and Zoe and Abby, the relatively new Muppets, and to Prairie Dawn and Herry Monster, the older ones. Happy birthday to Kermit the Frog and happy birthday to Bob, and Susan, and Luis, and Maria, and Gordon, and Linda, and Buffy, the grown-ups.

Happy birthday to those who will be missed:  Will Lee, Richard Hunt, Northern Calloway, Michael Jeter, and of course Jim Henson.

Happy birthday to Kevin Clash, and Caroll Spinney, and Frank Oz, and Jerry Nelson, and Marty Robinson, and Brian Muehl, and Fran Brill, and Michael Earl, and Eric Jacobson, and Steve Whitmire, who labor all day hidden behind foam and feathers, sometimes in bird legs.

Happy birthday to Bob McGrath, and Loretta Long, and Matt Robinson, and Emilio Delgado, and Sonia Manzano, and Linda Bove, and Buffy Saint-Marie, and Roscoe Orman, and Hal Miller.

Happy birthday to Mr. Noodle and his brother, and to Miss Noodle. Happy birthday to Bill Irwin, and to Micahel Jeter, and to Kristin Chenoweth.

Happy birthday to the poor baker who couldn’t seem to hold onto those cakes as he came down the stairs, to the counting pinball machine, and the King of Eight. Happy birthday to water skiing hippos, and ladybugs on a picnic. Happy birthday to worms in space, imaginary Snuffulupuguses (and real ones), and Grouchkateers.

Happy birthday to John John, and Erik, and Hunter, and Maya, and all the kids who grew up on the street, or who live there now.

Happy birthday to Amazing Mumford and his magic, to Don Music and his piano, and to those aliens who like the sound of a telephone ringing.

Happy birthday to Joan Ganz Cooney, and Edward Palmer, and Gerald S. Lesser, who started it all.

Happy birthday to anyone I missed. We all have our favorite memories, and there were so many people involved in the show, it’s impossible to remember them all by name. We appreciate them all the same.

Most importantly, happy birthday to all of us; the viewers who grew up on Sesame Street and who now share it with our children, and our children’s children.

It’s been 40 wonderful years, Sesame Street. We’ll help you count out 40 more, and 40 more after that. We can, you know…You taught us how!

The Count was introduced in the early 70’s in season 4. He was first introduced to teach numbers and basic mathematical skills, notably counting. In fact, the Count counts obsessively. Voiced by Jerry Nelson, the Count is strangely reminiscent of Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula.

As he originally appeared, the Count’s obsessive counting was always followed by maniacal laughter, thunder, and lightning. He had hypnotic powers, and could stun people with a wave of his hand, giving him the ability to count without interruption. In the mid 70’s, his character was softened to make him more friendly, and less frightening, to children. Still counting, even to the annoyance of others, the Count no longer laughed with an evil laugh, changing to a more triumphant chuckle. He lost his hypnotic powers, and became more friendly with other characters, including the human characters.

I suspect that a lot of the Count’s popularity, besides his uniqueness as a character, stems from the accomplishment that children feel when counting. The alphabet is difficult to learn in order, but once mastered leaves no place to go (Except, of course, for learning to rearrange the letters into words and rearrange those words into sentences, and of course learning sounds and meanings. What I mean is strict memorization of the letters. Once you know all of your ABCs, you know them all.). Learning to count is different. Accomplishments are continuous, at least up to a point. How many parents proudly declare “My child can count to 10!” then “My child can count to 20!” and so on. Getting up to 100 is a major accomplishment! Like the Count, children love to count things – to show off this new knowledge. They may not do it as obsessively, but they still like to count.

My fondest memories of the Count from my childhood, though, involve his musical interludes. All of his songs, no matter what style of music, have a Romani style background. His background chorus of bats never ceased to amuse me! My favorite was “The Batty Bat,” a dance number with a wicked beat. I jumped rope to this song!

First of all, it is a common misconception that Elmo is somehow “new.” He was first introduced to the Street in the early ‘7os. Elmo was originally puppeteered by Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch) and then later by Richard Hunt until Hunt’s death in 1984. So the story goes, someone tossed the little red monster Muppet to puppeteer Kevin Clash, saying “see what you can do with this.” Clash played around with the character, and made him what he is today. Prior to Clash’s involvement, Elmo had never really developed a notable character or personality, but Elmo has been a minor part of the show since almost the beginning. It was Elmo who helped hold Snuffy in place (by grabbing him by the trunk!) so the adults could finally see him for example.

One of the reasons for controversy is Elmo’s way of speaking. Elmo always refers to himself in the third person:  “Elmo play now!” rather than using correct grammar. Critics chastise the character, and the program, for “teaching” this incorrectness. Sesame Workshop defends this decision. “Elmo mimics the behavior of many preschoolers. Like 3-year-olds, he doesn’t always have the skills or knowledge to speak proper English. Cast members and many of the other Muppets, however, do demonstrate proper usage of the English language.” You know what? They’re correct.

The show has historically portrayed characters as realistic, even if flawed. Big Bird is naive. Ernie is sometimes annoying, and Bert is boring (he collects bottle caps for goodness sake!). Grover is persistent and frequently a little dim. Even the adults on Sesame Street make mistakes. They say things they don’t mean. They take things for granted. Kids relate to the show for precisely this reason. They see themselves in it somewhere, and they see the adults and children they interact with in real life in there too.

The other controversy surrounding Elmo is his prominence. Other characters, favorites of my generation, have taken a backseat to the little red furry monster. Where is Cookie Monster, or Grover? Why are the animated shorts we so loved reduced to make room for “Elmo’s World?” Why is Elmo basically the ONLY Muppet from the Street to appear on talk shows and news programs? What about Big Bird? Didn’t the show used to focus on him? Wasn’t HE the one we were teaching as a surrogate for the viewing audience?

Well, yes. Those are all good questions. But the truth is, things change. Children change. Schools change. Educational philosophies and curriculum change. Times change. Elmo speaks more to today’s kids. They have numerous resources for learning numbers and letters. Their attention spans are shorter now that they have media overload. Longer segments help build their attention spans and more emphasis on imagination, art, music, and play fill voids that kids miss out on in today’s highly academic schools. Elmo’s younger than Big Bird (Elmo’s 3 1/2 according to him, and Big Bird is usually considered to be around 6), so his development is more in line with the ages of the children watching the show.

Big Bird and his fellow Muppet characters have not been replaced. As times change, so does the show. Even within the past few years, Elmo’s hold on the show has lessened. He no longer holds reign as the central character, even though he is still prominently featured. He’s popular, and when educating children, popularity is key. Kids learn better when they love and trust the teacher. Right now, they love and trust Elmo.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

It turns out I was right in a way. The gag ended in season 17 when Snuffy was finally revealed to the rest of Sesame Street. Episode 2096, which first aired on November 18, 1985, had Big Bird sick and tired of the adults not believing him. He concocted a plan to get everyone to his nest to finally see Snuffy. After one more missed opportunity, Bird finally gets Snuffy to stay in one place long enough for the adults to see him. Everyone apologizes, and Big Bird even has a chance to “I told you so” the adults.

The decision to reveal Snuffy to everyone else was brought on by an ever increasing number of pedofile reports and a need for children to feel that they could tell adults anything, no matter how fanciful, and be believed. Kids needed to be able to tell their parents or teachers about abuse, without feeling that they would be chastised for making up stories, or chided for overactive imaginations.

One of the things that makes Sesame Street special as educational programming is the reality that it depicts. Children have imaginary friends, and sometimes those friends become scapegoats for bad behavior. “I didn’t knock over that vase, Mommy – Mr. Monster did!” is not uncommon in childhood. And how parents handle those imaginary friends is not always unlike how the adults of Sesame Street handled Snuffy:  with humored tolerance sometimes, but often with impatience and annoyance. The people of Sesame Street are just that:  People! They are human and make mistakes. They sometimes make assumptions that they shouldn’t, and sometimes let their own feelings get in the way of understanding a child’s feelings. Parents do that. Kids need to learn that it will happen. It’s just another life lesson from our favorite street.

What sets the adults of Sesame Street apart from many is their willingness to apologize. All this time, Big Bird was right. They’re sorry. They’re appropriately appologetic and chastised themselves. They’ve learned too. Adults can be taught!

Aloysius Snuffleupagus was a perfect character to use in this ongoing story arc. A brown furry elephant without ears or tusks, more like a dinosaur or mastadon but still not quite, he was exactly what a child would create for an imaginary friend. He even had an imaginary-friend-sounding name:  Snuffleupagus. Performed originally by Jerry Nelson, then in later seasons by Michael Earl and Martin P. Robinson, he had that gravelly slow voice that matched his body perfectly. His slow shuffle made him all the more lovable. He’s still a popular part of Sesame Street and a favorite character. Who wouldn’t want Snuffy as a friend – real or imagined?!

One of my favorite non-Muppet characters as a child was Mr. Hooper, who ran the corner store. As played by actor Will Lee, Mr. Hooper was gruff but not unfriendly. According to Joan Ganz Cooney, president of the Children’s Television Workshop, “He gave millions of children the message that the old and the young have a lot to say to each other.”

That was especially true of Mr. Hooper and Big Bird. Since Big Bird was aged at around 6-years-old, his relationship with Mr. Hooper was exactly what Cooney was speaking about. Big Bird never managed to get Mr. Hooper’s name right, calling him “Mr. Looper,” or “Mr. Dooper,” and other humorous similar sounding names. This always brought an exasperated and exaggerated “It’s HOOPER!” from Mr. Hooper. I suspect that it’s just this running joke that made Mr. Hooper the most recognizable human character on the show according to a survey done during his time on the air. Children would run up to him on the street, wanting to know how he got out of the television set or whispering “I love you.”

Lee himself spoke of the longevity of playing a character like Mr. Hooper in a 1970 article in Time Magazine. “I was delighted to take the role of Mr. Hooper, the gruff grocer with the warm heart. It’s a big part, and it allows a lot of latitude. But the show has something extra, ­that sense you sometimes get from great theater, the feeling that its influence never stops.”

Although I remember bits and pieces of Mr. Hooper’s appearances on Sesame Street from my childhood, the episode I remember the most is the one he’s not in. When Lee passed away in 1982 from a heart attack/cancer, Sesame Street was faced with a challenge. It was not uncommon for shows to deal with the death of an actor by either replacing them with another actor in the same role, or simply writing them out. Many a character had suddenly “moved away” after the actor portraying them had died.

But Sesame Street was an educational program, and it took this role seriously. They decided to deal with Lee’s death in a straightforward and honest manner, by dealing with Mr. Hooper’s death as well. Episode 1839 aired on Thanksgiving Day (November 23) 1983, a year after Lee’s death. Parents were encouraged to watch the episode with their children to answer any questions they might have. Episode 1839 was quickly chosen by the Daytime Emmys as one of the 10 most influential moments in daytime television. The original script was so intense, the cast shot the episode in one take so they wouldn’t have to do it again.

The episode begins with Big Bird entering with a funny walk. When asked why, he answers “just because.” Later, Big Bird has drawn pictures of the people on Sesame Street, and he is handing them out. Left with only the picture of Mr. Hooper (actually drawn by Big Bird’s puppeteer Caroll Spinney), Big Bird begins searching for him to present his artwork. Sadly, the human characters remind him that Mr. Hooper has died. He won’t be coming back. The episode is brilliant in its simplicity. There’s no attempt to gloss over death. The group’s explanation of death doesn’t invoke, or rule out, any religious or scientific beliefs. The answer to why someone dies is simple:  “Because. Just because.” Nothing more needs to be said.

The episode ends with Big Bird and the gang hanging the picture of Mr. Hooper behind Big Bird’s nest, where it still hangs today. The way to deal with death, whether you’re an adult or child, is to embrace your memories of the deceased. We love Mr. Hooper and remember him fondly.

Here is the segment from episode 1839. Make sure you have a box of tissues handy when you watch it!

This article is dedicated to the memory of Will Lee (August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982). We’re sure gonna miss you, Mr. Hooper!