Sesame Street (Chapter 10)

 

Chapter 10: 50 Years, A Pandemic & Counting...

Not many, if any, TV shows have managed to stay afloat for 50 years. And in 2019, both Sesame Street and Scooby-Doo both made that achievement.

But this biography is not about Scooby-Doo, so let’s focus on Sesame Street’s 50th birthday.

So how did Sesame Workshop decide to celebrate the show that gave us all 50 years of education, friendship, silliness, music, and imagination? Why, the only way you can do that! By having a year long celebration!! And let me tell you guys, there was so much great Sesame-related stuff this year that I don’t think I’ll be able to go through every single thing, and we’re already close enough to the end as it is, so I’ll just highlight the top twenty-five things I loved the most, so try and keep up.

#1: This awesome song by Thomas Rhett called “This Is My Street”, which really really REALLY has to be heard to understand how amazing it is.

#2: An amazing hour-long special that I also did a review on.

#3: SeaWorld opened a new Sesame Street Land, that needs to be seen to be believed.

#4: Speaking of Sesame Street themed amusement parks, Sesame Place would get a new walk-around edition in the form of Mr. Snuffleupagus.

#5: Prior to The Joy Of Cookies (A book written by Cookie Monster) being released in 2018, two other books were released that were written by Oscar, Ernie and Bert.

#6: These cool 50th Anniversary Cookies in the shape of my two favorite muppets at Barnes and Noble.

#7: Remember the temporary street naming ceremony I mentioned two chapters ago? Well there was another street naming ceremony, but this time it was permanent. From May 1, 2019 and onward, hanging at the intersection of West 63rd Street and Broadway, would be a new street sign that read, you guessed it, “Sesame Street”.

#8: A concert held at Lincoln Center that I watched the entirety of online.

#9: Speaking of online, the SS crew also did an NPR Tiny Desk Concert that was also available online.

#10: For the 4th of July, Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Grover and Rosita joined their patriotic friends for the annual PBS special, A Capitol Fourth.

#11: The muppets and Maria made another appearance at San Diego Comic Con and got into some fun shenanigans with Bobby Moynihan.

#12: This magazine by Life that I bought at Walmart.

#13: Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster competed in Lip Sync Battle and won, obviously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hbB8dKWus0&feature=emb_title

#14: That Lego Sesame Street idea I mentioned in the last chapter, which had gone through a couple of updates, finally got enough votes it needed to become an actual Lego product.

#15: The Empire State Building got lit up with green and yellow lights.

#16: These amazing forever Sesame Street stamps.

#17: During the summer, Sesame Street did a road trip, complete with a live show featuring Elmo and Cookie Monster, the actual muppets exploring the destinations, and filming occurred for a new Sesame Street segment for season 50, but we’re not there yet.

#18: Jimmy Fallon and The Roots help the muppets tell us how to really get to Sesame Street.

#19: The cast headlined the beginning of the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, featuring the first ever appearance of Snuffy in the parade.

#20: Oscar learns how annoying websites can be, when he gets introduced to Squarespace. (Which is not sponsoring this, by the way.)

#21: In one of the most hilarious Saturday Night Live sketches ever, SS gets the Joker treatment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpak5lFxvs&feature=emb_title

#22: A collection of videos which features cast members, crew members and celebrities sharing their favorite Sesame Street memories.

https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Sesame_Street_Memories

#23: These awesome Krispy Kreme doughnuts in Japan.

#24: Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Abby, Bert and Ernie learned how to dress to impress, with help from their friends at InStyle.

#25: And last, but certainly not least, the show being one of the 2019 Kennedy Center Honorees, and you can watch their entire section of the show right down below.

Then, on November 16, it was time for the 50th season of the show to premiere. And it was this premiere that would kick off the new segment I mentioned earlier.

In episode 5001, Big Bird’s cousin, Little Bird, invites him to come visit him in California, so Nina offers to drive Big Bird all the way there, and along the way they plan to stop at other states and locations. And before they left, Big Bird promised Elmo that he would check in with him every day and tell him how his trip was going. And that’s what the new segment was, Elmo checking in with Big Bird to see how his road trip was going, and what new stuff he was seeing. Later in the season when Big Bird gets back from his trip, the two friends watch videos of friends Big Bird’s met along the way, as they explain what happens in their home.

Meanwhile, on the street, a new kid would move in. Her name was Charlie, (Played by Violet Tinnirello) and she would make great friends with everyone instantly.

If you wanna know some of my favorite street stories, click this link.

There would be an upgraded version of the season 45 letter of the day song.

And a new number of the day song where Elmo and Abby count Yip Yip Martians.

For celebrity moments, Maren Morris sings a song about making mistakes.

Misty Copeland and Elmo warm up.

Charlie Puth, Grover, Elmo, Abby and Cookie Monster sing a beloved classic.

Chrissy Teigen plays a fruit game with Cookie and Gonger.

Dave Grohl, Big Bird and Elmo sing about taking a trip.

And a bunch of celebrities join Elmo, Abby and the number 50 in counting to 50 by tens.

But this year wouldn’t be all pleasant, as someone wouldn’t make it out alive.

Caroll Spinney passed away on December 8th, and muppet fans everywhere were deeply disheartened. But just because Mr. Spinney was dead didn’t mean the two characters he portrayed were as well. For Matt Vogel and Eric Jacobson would take over for Big Bird and Oscar full-time and would continue to be there for kids when they needed it the most.

Speaking of which, this brings us to our current year, 2020. I don’t think I need to tell you exactly what happened to make this year as infamous as it is, but I will say it’s brought to you by the letter C and the number 19.

When the Covid-19 outbreak got deemed too dangerous in March, with over 100 people getting the disease, and some even dying from it, we all had to go into quarantine. And naturally, we were really scared about this unknown virus with no cure infecting the human race. But then, out of nowhere, on the 23rd, a video of Elmo in his home and giving us a virtual hug was uploaded to YouTube.

And so began Sesame Street’s newest initiative “Caring For Each Other”, an initiative designed to help kids and their families get adjusted to the new normal the Coronavirus brought upon us, reminding us to wear our masks, wash our hands and that no matter what happens we’re in this together.

The neighbors we’ve trusted and cherished for so long were still there and still the same as they always were, they were just in different settings, and in those settings they produced YouTube videos, eBooks, coloring pages, PSAs, 3 TV specials (One of which aired on seven different TV networks), and 4 town-halls with CNN. (One of which was specifically made for the major surge of racial injustice that was going on at the time)

Though that’s not to say all Sesame content this year would be specifically catered to Covid. To prove my point, let’s talk about HBO Max, the new version of HBO that premiered on May 27th this year. (And hopefully the one that my Aunt TJ will get her subscription renewed for at least before my birthday week.)

HBO Max would not just feature tons of classic SS episodes, as well as premiere new episodes for the next upcoming five seasons, but they would also make brand new content specifically for the streaming service.

Currently the only one available right now is The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo, a spinoff where Elmo hosts his own talk show before his bedtime with the help of his friends. And yes, it’s as hilarious as you think it is.

For upcoming stuff, there’s another spinoff called Mecha Builders, with "favorite Sesame Street characters as heroes in a robot-animation style." being the only thing we have of it to go off of.

And The Monster At The End Of This Story, which I think you can guess from the title is going to be an adaptation of the famous book I mentioned in the second chapter.

And so that brings us to the present day where I am currently typing all of the words you just read. If it seemed like I went through a lot, I did. And believe it or not, there’s still quite a bit of stuff I didn’t mention. And that’s the thing, when you have 50 years worth of content, most of which predates to the 60s-70s, it’s pretty obvious no one can go through every single thing.

But with this I wasn’t trying to go over everything that happens, just everything that I think is the most important. Like I said in the first chapter, I know many people are aware of the history of the show, but I wanna go over it my own way, to pay tribute to how far it’s come. 50 years is a phenomenal milestone for any TV show, kids or adults.

And do you know what the best thing about it is? Unlike other shows, Sesame Street never went bad. Not every episode was the best, but as a whole there were no seasons that were downright terrible, or even just bad. And because of that, I don't think I'll ever stop watching new episodes of Sesame Street. Even if it's not the same Sesame Street I grew up watching, it is. Sure, it may not look the same as it used to, but we've still got the stoop, Big Bird's nest, Oscar's trash can, Hooper's Store, and all of the muppet characters I loved the most, so it does, in a way. The great people at Sesame Workshop all do great work to keep this show afloat and it works. Very well. So, if you wanna pay a visit to the friendliest street on earth and hang out with Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster and everyone else, just buy a DVD, VHS, or tune in to PBS Kids or HBO. They’ll welcome you with warm, fuzzy arms, and that’s a promise.

Well guys, that’ll do it for this biography. It was definitely fun to make. Will I do something like this again in the future? Maybe. Maybe not. But only time will tell. But, before I go, I just wanted to tell you that this biography was brought to you by the letters S, and by the number 50.

Thank you for reading, now SCRAM!!!

Well guys, this is it. The Sesame Street biography I’ve been working on is finally complete.

And now, I would like to say thank you to some very important people.

Thank you to my family, who don’t mind that I love a kids show about monsters, a grouch and a giant bird. And always encourage me to make my work better.

To three of my closest online friends, TheMaxOfTheMaximum, IronRaphRa and Ezmanify, who also like Sesame Street and give some very good insight on the show.

Thank you Alison Bartlett, Sonia Manzano, Chris Knowings, Roscoe Orman, Loretta Long, Bob McGrath, Alan Muroaka, Emilio Delgado, Linda Bove, Nitya Vidysasagar, Suki Lopez, Violet Tinnirello, Desiree Casado, Olamide Fasion, and all of the other cast members for making us laugh, teaching us, and providing comfort when we need it most.

Thank you Carolyn Anthony, the person who made my existence known to one of my favorite people ever, and is also a good friend, in general.

Thank you Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Fran Brill, Joey Mazzarino, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Martin P. Robinson, Carmen Osbahr, Pam Arciero, Stacey Gordon, Matt Vogel, David Rudman, Eric Jacobson, Steve Whitmire, Ryan Dillon, Peter Linz, Tyler Bunch, Frankie Cordero, and any other puppeteer I didn’t mention, for bringing life to the characters everyone knows and loves to this very day.

Thank you to Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, Caroll Spinney, Richard Hunt, Jon Stone, Joe Raposo, Will Lee, Northern Calloway, Alaina Reed, and anyone else involved with Sesame Street that passed away, for all contributing in making Sesame Street what it is today.

Thank you writers, producers, animators, camera crews, caterers, music composers, marketing directors and everyone else who did their part. This show wouldn't be here, without you.

Thank you to all of the Sesame Street fans, whether they be kids, parents, or adults who run Muppet Websites, it’s because of people like you that Sesame Street has lasted all of these years.

And last but certainly not least, thank you Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett for getting the idea for Sesame Street in the first place. We are eternally grateful.

With all of that being said, thank you all so much for reading and I’ll see you, in my next post.

Chapter 9: https://thomperfan.blogspot.com/2020/10/street-knowledge-chapter-9.html

Chapter 1, if you want to read again: https://thomperfan.blogspot.com/2020/10/street-knowledge-chapter-1.html