Street Knowledge (Chapter 5)

 

Chapter 5: Just Around The Corner

It had been 24 years since Sesame Street first made its debut. And it’s a well-known fact that if a TV show has been around for two years or more, there are gonna be people trying to copy your style.

So, it came as no surprise that in 1993, the street was facing some ratings competition from another kids TV character who was making his way up the ranks. Now, I’m not gonna name names, but he was a purple dinosaur from our imagination, and when he’s tall, he’s what we call, a “Dinosaur Sensation”.

So, the people of the CTW, saw this and realized, that if they didn’t do something soon, the show would fall into obscurity, never to be seen again. After all, this was their 25th season. If there was ever a time to shake things up, now would be the time.

So shake things up they did. The first thing they had to change was the set. I mean, sure for 24 seasons, an apartment building, trash can, nest, arbor, general store and Fix-It shop, is serviceable, but this is Sesame Street, a place full of wonder and endless possibilities, so why not extend the street to include a few more of those possibilities?

So, for the 25th season, we’d get to see what Sesame Street looked like from Around the Corner. Many of the new locations, included...

• 456 Sesame Street, another apartment building that featured a daycare center run by a new couple named Jamal and Angela.
• The Furry Arms Hotel, a hotel that anyone, mainly muppets, could visit.
• Birdland, a club that was seen in the previous seasons, but now had an actual location underneath the FA.
• 10 Sesame Street, a two story building that featured both a dance studio, and Finders Keepers, which was basically a fairy tale thrift shop.
• A entrance to the subway.
• A newsstand that Oscar opened and managed himself.
• And last but not least, a park, complete with a playground that the kids of the cast went to visit in the season premiere.

Miss Manzano said herself:

"By expanding the street and going around the corner, we will have other places to hang out beyond the stoop of 123 Sesame Street, and we will be able to explore family issues which we think are so important to kids today."

And she was right. For not only were there new locations, there was also a new surplus of characters.

There was Ruthie, (Played by Ruth Buzzi) the humble owner of Finders Keepers.

Celina, (Played by Annette Calud) the equally as humble, dance studio owner.

The previously mentioned couple, Angela and Jamal (played by Angel Jemmott and Jou Jou Papailler, respectively.). The latter of which is a park ranger and the former is Gordon’s cousin.

New kids who became actual main players, including Carlo (played by Carlo Alban), Tarah (played by Tarah Schaeffer), and Lexine (played by Lexine Bondoc)

And finally, Gabi would now have herself a new big kid actor in Desiree Casado.

And of course, there were new muppets, too, but here’s the catch. Sesame Street, at this point in time was getting some criticism for having way more male muppets than female ones, which was kinda true. So, starting with this season, they decided to even out the gender ratio a bit more.

Along with the already known Rosita, Prairie Dawn, Roxie Marie, and Merry Monster, there was also…

The monster who was first known as Mona, would now gain a concrete identity as Ingrid, wife of purple monster, Humphrey, and mother of baby magenta monster, Natasha, who would work alongside Benny Rabbit for the owner of the Furry Arms Hotel, Sherry Netherland.

Betty Lou, who was just a background anything muppet who was mostly known for appearing in books, now became a major player in the street scenes, where she would be known for having an affinity for dolls.

And most importantly, a little orange monster named Zoe, who, like others I previously mentioned would become more popular as the show went on.

Also, remember how in the last chapter, I said Steve Whitmire would perform Ernie later, this was the later I was talking about.

Oh, and one last thing, there was no way Sesame Street could do all of this in their tiny, rinky-dink Teletape studio, so they moved their production to Stage G of Kaufman Astoria Studios, and they’ve stayed there ever since.

So with new characters, new locations and a new stage, season 25 of Sesame Street was ready to broadcast.

This season pleased both kids and fans of the show alike, with its bright colors, still-lovable-after-all-these-years characters, and still finding great ways to educate and entertain at the same time.

Speaking of which, I have to mention a very special episode (Episode 3140, to be exact.), where Gina and Savion get a racist call from some anonymous person, with Telly right beside them to witness it.

And again, instead of telling you about this, I feel I should just show you, so you can see how great it is.

But this wouldn’t be the only thing that would happen this year, for on December 29, Sesame Street released its first New Year’s Eve special, (Sesame Street Stays Up Late, or Sesame Street Celebrates Around The World if you have it on DVD/VHS) which not only featured all of our beloved American SS characters, but also some of the characters from the international versions of SS, like Moishe Oofnik from Rechov Sumsum (Israel), Samson from Sesamstrasse (Germany), and some of Elmo’s cousins from both Mexico and Japan.

Before we knew it, it was 1994 and Sesame Street had reached 25 years of existence. So to commemorate this occasion, there was not just one, but two anniversary specials.

One was about the street residents trying to stop a guy named Ronald Grump (Try and GUESS who he’s a parody of.) from demolishing Sesame Street and turning it into Grump Tower, and the other is about the gang spending a day outside, putting on a show. They aired on both PBS and ABC, respectively.

Now, it was time for season 26. Now this season had a literacy campaign known as “Let’s Read and Write”, and that’s what most of the episodes were centered on. Granted, they weren’t specifically about the characters reading and writing stuff, but in the street scenes and inserts, there would be certain letters and words incorporated into whatever adventures they were getting into.

There were also some new songs/shorts that aired this season.

One where Zoe would spell her name for us.

And one where Oscar explains how complicated grouch emotions are.

And also, this season would feature the debut of shorts featuring a young animated girl named Suzie Kabloozie and her cat, Feff. Both voiced by Ruthie.

And also three segments about this cardboard-cutout James Brown look-alike singing about different letters.

Lastly, a new human was added to the cast. His name was Jesse, (played Randy Pearlstein) and he and Gina actually had a thing for each other, which we saw in a few episodes. But, it must not have worked out, because he doesn’t appear again after this season. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Now, we’ve come to season 27, and changes were going to happen. For example, Jamal and Angela, along with Savion, would not be appearing on the show, starting with this season. And with Savion, it was easier to write him off, but Angela actually had a place on the street that she was in charge of: The Day Care Center. If she couldn’t take care of the kids, then who could?

Gina. It was Gina.

Yeah, apparently Gina really wanted to work with kids, so in episode 3397, she quit her job at Hooper’s Store and opened up her own day care center, which was also Around the Corner. And coincidentally, Carlo was able to land Gina’s old job at Hooper’s, so everything worked out.

But there weren’t just new jobs, the show itself would be getting a new format. Here’s how staff member Valeria Lovelace described it.

"lessons on one topic are to be clustered during an hour rather than spread out through the show as they have been. One show in January, for example, will portray the letter "D" in three consecutive segments: first it's marked out in candles, then it's depicted in a sand animation, and finally it's shown growing out of the ground. This will be followed by three segments on another topic, rain. First, Ernie and the Twiddlebugs go out in the rain, then there is a rain dance in clay animation, and finally rain and wind are rendered in Chinese calligraphy. In addition to being clustered, these segments are in tune with the new approach because they stress not only the visual and the verbal but also musical, interpersonal and spatial relationships"

To summarize, the show would be showing certain segments of things at once, instead of scattering them all throughout the episodes.

A new muppet would also be introduced this season. His name was Stinky the Stinkweed, and he would go on to possibly be the most underrated Sesame Street muppet of all time.

Miles, who had been played by Mr. Orman’s actual son for 12 years, had now gotten HIMself a new big kid actor, Imani Patterson.

Now onto guest stars. First, there was Ellen DeGeneres, who shared two scenes with Elmo. And ignoring all the controversy that’s been going on with her and her show lately, these were actually pretty cute.

And one where Chris Barron sings a song about cooperating with Elmo, Zoe and Telly.

Speaking of Elmo, Zoe and Telly, they, along with Rosita became Elmo-saurus, Zoe-ceratops, Telly-dactyl, and Rosita Raptor, otherwise known as the Super Morphin Mega Monsters, who would always stop their enemy Zostic from getting kids to do bad stuff. Unfortunately, this segment only lasted three segments, and one of them didn’t even make it to TV. It’s a shame, because I really enjoyed it. It was a great parody of the source material. And trust me, the parodies are just gonna keep getting better from here.

Then it was 1996, and time for season 28, and what is the premiere episode about?

Maria going to the hospital. …

BOY, this season’s looking good already!

But seriously, in the first episode of the season, Maria gets stomach pains, and has to go to the hospital. But not to worry, she gets better after the second episode, which is a continuation.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the season, a few things happened.

Frazzle appeared in a lot of episodes this season, and showed that he could be just as kind as any monster.

Big Bird’s cousin Abelardo, who’s a regular on Plaza Sesamo, paid a visit to the American street, in an episode that aired on Cinco De Mayo.

There were also some new segments. One where Big Bird, Baby Bear, and Papa Bear, take a look at art pieces at the Museum Of Modern Art.

And one about this guy named Milo Counting, who had segments where he would showcase different numbers one by one.

In terms of guest stars, there was Melissa Etheridge, who sings a song about the way U does things.

And Jason Alexander plays a game with Big Bird, Lexine, and some of the other kids.

But the biggest thing that happened in between the season revolved around a certain muppet in particular: Elmo.

Now Elmo was slowly starting to climb his way up the popularity ladder, starring in more and more street scenes and interacting with more and more celebrities, he was even the star of the 1996 Christmas special, Elmo Saves Christmas, but a certain toy company named Tyco, was about to make a product that would rocket boost Elmo 1000 steps up said popularity ladder.

It was called the “Tickle Me Elmo”, an Elmo doll that, if you push his tummy three times, he’ll shake and laugh uncontrollably. I know that might not sound like much, but if you were a little kid, who loved Sesame Street in this time period, nothing else in the world would make you happier.

This would prove to be right, as Tickle Me Elmo became the hottest toy on the market that year. And to prove it, let me just list some of the casualties that came with its release to the public.

• Toy stores all around the country ran out of TMEs in 2 hours.
• A million TMEs were sold by Christmas, and over 5 million were sold between 1996 and 1997.
• There were many reports about fights, trampled store clerks, and mob bosses taking some for their own gain.
• There was even a black market online, with some parents spending over a hundred dollars for it!

And after all of that madness, one thing was clear to everyone: Elmo was now the most popular Sesame Street character of all time. No ifs, ands, buts, or two ways about it. Name one other SS character that had a product that resulted in the casualties I just went over. That’s right, you can’t! And once the CTW staff found this out, they made plans to keep pushing Elmo up, but we’re not there yet.

For now, let’s move on to season 29, which featured another multiple episode story line, where… Actually, you know what? I’m gonna let you guys guess what you think the story line is, first. So, just take some time to think of your answer, then say it out loud, okay?

Did you guess yet? You did? Okay, I’ll tell you what it really was. This multi-episode story arc of Season 29 is about: … Slimey going to the moon. No, seriously, that’s the actual story line. There was a six episode plot, with minor mentions in every episode in between, about Oscar’s pet worm, becoming an astronaut and going to the moon. And it works! It totally works! We got to see Slimey go through training, we got to see everyone watch as he finally got there, we got to see Oscar going through all sorts of emotions that grouches don’t usually feel, and you can bet, there was a celebration for him, when he got home.

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything happening on the street this season, too. Bill Nye came over to do some see-saw science with Big Bird and Elmo.

Wynton Marsalis stopped by to teach Elmo, Telly, Zoe, and some Honkers how to play music.

The Sesame Street sign goes missing for an episode. (And it would again, for a certain special.)

Tony Bennett sings a song about Slimey going to the moon with Big Bird.

The four most well-known girl muppets of the street at the time sing a song about how they’re proud to be girls.

And the whole season was dedicated to Jon Stone, who passed away the year the season ended.

But the good people of the CTW couldn’t grieve for too long, as some more changes were just on the way.

Chapter 4: https://thomperfan.blogspot.com/2020/10/street-knowledge-chapter-4.html

Chapter 6: https://thomperfan.blogspot.com/2020/10/street-knowledge-chapter-6.html