Sesame Seeds (Episode 14): Gina Jefferson

 

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Sesame Seeds, the series where we look at the progression of a Sesame Street character from humble beginnings to the present day.

This is another episode I was really looking forward to, because it’s on my favorite human character, and one who doesn’t get nearly as talked about as much as she should: Gina Jefferson.

Now, in the past, I’ve described Gina as the prettiest, most developed, most amazing cast member of Sesame Street, and all of that is still true to this day. But in this episode, like I usually do, I’m going to go into detail on why this is true.

So Gina is played by the equally pretty and amazing Alison Bartlett, who like many of us, grew up watching Sesame Street as a kid. She shared my frustrations of Snuffy never being seen by the adults, and actually got to shake hands with Mr. Hooper during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 1973, or 74.

She started acting when she was 12 on stage/broadway productions, but unlike the character she would go on to be, the characters she was portraying were very tough and edgy. So at 15, her agent brought up the opportunity of a day role on, yep, you guessed it Sesame Street, a role that would contrast with her previous work experience. Miss Bartlett didn’t really wanna do the audition, since she had so many fond memories of Sesame and getting rejected from it would be an all around unpleasant experience.

But her agent did eventually convince her to give it a try, and she made her first appearance in episode 2253 of season 18.

In which she was Gina Jefferson, a forgetful, and somewhat bumbling high school student in Gordon’s science class, who arrived late for a night of stargazing on the rooftop of 123, and while trying to find her teacher, had to deal with Honkers, busy inventors and Oscar the Grouch. Until eventually, she meets up with Telly who was supposed to give Gina a note, but through cooperation, they’re both able to meet up with Gordon, and Gina’s other classmates, albeit after they finished stargazing.

A few weeks later, after the episode was shot and aired, Miss Bartlett got a second call from the CTW, saying they wanted her to keep doing the show. So from then on she was now a full fledged cast member and the first kid to actually grow up on Sesame Street.

At first, Gina just made a few more appearances in some other season 18 episodes, but then in the third episode of season 19, she was hired by David to help out in Hooper’s Store, further cementing her role as one of the big ones.

I think it’s crucial to note that at this point in the series, Gina was a kid in high school, which meant she acted rather differently than she would nowadays. She could be very hyperactive and excited about many things, including her favorite rock band Little Jerry and the Monotones.

Also, not only did she get to interact and become friends with each of the main characters, (Particularly Telly) on occasion some of her fellow classmates would pay a visit, one guy named Mike, would also make his way into the cast and become one of Gina’s closest friends.

For the next few years, nothing really changed for Gina, until season 21, which focused on her graduating high school, with the last few episodes which were all about the process: Learning to drive, studying for finals and the actual graduation ceremony.

From there, Gina would continue to work at Hooper’s as she figured out what she wanted to do in life, still ready and willing to get involved with whatever shenanigans her muppet pals were going through.

Then around season 23, Gina would get another close friend in the form of Savion Glover, and the two of them would often be paired up together. Most notably in episode 3140 of season 25, where they get a call from a racist telling them they shouldn’t hang out together.

In season 26, Gina would gain a romantic interest named Jesse, and the two would actually form a rather cute relationship, with some prodding from Elmo, Rosita and Telly. But despite the clear potential displayed, Jesse did not appear again after this season, which is quite a shame.

Then in season 27, she would take a major step, career wise. She quit her job at Hooper’s to run the Day Care Center Around the Corner, which was previously run by Angela and looked after the various kid and muppet characters. And that’s what she’d be seen doing for the next few seasons.

But, as most of you know, Around the Corner was dismantled, starting with season 30, and so was the daycare. So the writers, still wanting to give Gina a career, decided she should become a veterinarian.

But it wouldn’t happen all at once. For seasons 30 and 31, we’d see Gina going back to school and getting all of her studies out of the way first. Though she wasn’t a vet yet, she was still able to use the knowledge she gained to help her friends with any animal related problems they had.

Until finally, in episode 3918 in the following season, Gina would open up her own clinic in the carriage house and take on vet duties full-time. From then onwards, Gina would help all different kinds of animals, from dogs to cats to worms to penguins to the ever rare and elusive chicken-kitten-cow-bunnies.

That is until season 37, where Gina’s character would take another huge step: Adopting a child.

In a three episode story arc, Gina would travel all the way to Guatemala to adopt a baby boy named Marco and become his full-fledged mother. The first episode was about Gina explaining the process of how it was going to work and actually going and doing it, the second episode focused on Gina coming back with Marco, and her neighbors giving him the super-deluxe Sesame Street welcome, and the third episode, which is kind of the odd one out, is really just about Big Bird and Snuffy learning about what babies can and can’t do. Don’t really see why that one had to be part of the adoption arc, it would’ve worked a lot better as a stand alone episode.

Okay, now I’m gonna go a little bit of a tangent here, but try to stick with me. As much as I love the idea of Gina adopting a kid, and think it was executed very amazingly, I really wish it had more of an impact on the course of the show.

I mean, as cute as Marco is, he never really got to grow into his own character. He only appeared in like, 8 episodes and 6 segments, he barely even spoke in any of them, and the episodes themselves are more focused on how his mother and neighbors react to and cherish him, rather than concocting scenarios based on his personality. He feels more like a plot device than an actual person, and that’s really a shame, considering he’s the son of the most real character on the show.

In Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years Of Life On The Street, the author mentions how kids watching the show in its current period would be able to grow up with Marco, as they did previously with Gabi and Miles, and I find that so sad, because whereas those two were able to leave a real impression because of the good writing and performances, which helped them stand out and stick around longer, Marco feels like he was just needed for the adoption story they wanted to tell, and they didn’t have that much to do with him afterwards. Though, part of that is possibly contributed through the declining use of the human characters, in general.

Speaking of which, Gina would still make appearances in a few episodes per season, all the way up to season 45, where along with most of her castmates, she was dropped with very little fanfare. Unlike characters like Maria and Gordon, though, she wouldn’t really have that many other appearances in any Sesame media after that. She did appear at certain live events, and even returned for the 50th Anniversary special, where she would share a very moving scene with Alan and Julia.

But, other then that, Gina’s character has remained in limbo for a while now, but on the bright side, on January 24th of this year, she made a live appearance at GalaxyCon among other Sesame Street stars, and brought dozens of smiles to many fans' faces. Including this guy.

Now that we’ve covered Gina’s complete show arc, it’s time to talk about my experiences with her and my thoughts on her as a whole.

First I just wanna acknowledge that Miss Gina Jefferson was the apple of many boys’ eyes before the Rachel Greenes, Kelly Kapowskis and Annie Edisons of the world were making themselves known. I’m not knocking on them, just saying Gina came first.

And when I was first viewing the show, I didn’t really pay that much attention to her, or even really remember that she existed. Of course, this was because I hadn’t hit puberty yet and my focus was shifted solely on the muppets, but now that I’ve grown, I come to truly appreciate Gina (And Miss Bartlett), not just for her stunning beauty, but because of the long and interesting journey she went on. I mean, you try and think of another human cast member who we saw not just graduate high school, but take on three different jobs, as well.

… Well yeah, I guess Maria did go through the same process, but that actually brings up a good point of contrast-ment.

Gina and Maria both went through arcs that centered around them growing up, but whereas Maria had finished high school when she started and settled down and had a family when her arc ended, Gina just kinda kept going from thing to thing without anything ever really sticking. (First, it was her job at Hooper’s, then it was her romantic relationship with Jesse, then it was running a daycare, then it was running a vet, then it was adopting Marco, etc.) I’ve said before I’m shocked that she never got married, and I still am. I mean come on! She’s the most amazing woman on the planet! You’re telling me no one even, at least asked?

But even so, the fact that Gina was able to do all of these things, and still also managed to be funny, witty, sweet, compassionate, and charming, should show you how good the writing for her character was, and how great of an actress Miss Bartlett really is.

In short, Gina is Best Sesame Street Human. And always will be.

Well, that brings us to the end of another episode. (Oh, and by the way, Miss Bartlett, if you’re reading this, happy early birthday.)