EVERY Sesame Street Special Ever Ranked

 

So for those of you who haven’t been paying attention all this time, Sesame Street is the biggest, longest running, most well known children’s television program to ever exist. Starting in 1969 and over the course of 52 years and counting, it’s gone to air over 4,000 episodes, 2 movies, 3 spinoff shows with another currently in the works and a ton of specials. 30 to be exact. And in this blog post we’re going to be reviewing and ranking every single one of them.

Sesame Street specials are an interesting bunch, because they each came at different periods of the show, so you really never know what you’re gonna get when you watch one. One moment, you could view a story focused production with heartwarming moments, and the next, you could be watching a light hearted compilation of new content aimed at the younger audience. And because these specials came from such different times in the show, what you get is a collection of time capsules which each have something different to offer to everyone, from the youngest baby to the oldest senior citizen, which makes them the perfect target for me, a 19 year old college kid, to rank them worst to best.

I originally wanted to make this a collaboration between me and many of my other SS loving friends, but due to a lack of volunteers, I decided to scrap the collab aspect and just give my thoughts by myself.

Now, before we get things started, I want to make sure no one is unsure on how this ranking system is gonna work.

First, I wanted to clarify what counts as a special in my eyes. For this list, a special is any long Sesame Street production that aired on TV or a streaming service, so that means:

• No Direct to DVD/VHS releases: (i.e. Elmo Says BOO!, Get Up And Dance, What’s The Name Of That Song?, etc.)
• No Documentaries: (i.e. I Am Big Bird, Being Elmo, Street Gang, 50 Years of Sunny Days, etc.)
• Neither of the two movies: (Plus I’ve already done a comparison on them, and my thoughts haven’t really changed since then.)
• No special episodes from other shows: (i.e. Evening at Pops, The Rosie O’Donnell Show on Sesame Street, etc.)
• And none of those special initiative specials: (i.e. When Families Grieve, When Parents Are Deployed, Growing Hope Against Hunger, etc.)

You’re also probably wondering how I’m planning on putting these specials in a ranking order. Well, it’s pretty simple. I’m just keeping these factors in mind.

• Structure: Does the special have a plot that’s easy to follow? And if it doesn’t, is the stuff it does consist of engaging enough, that it doesn’t matter.
• Character usage: Like I’ve said before, the characters are what make Sesame Street so great and timeless, so how good a job does each special on this list do at making sure each main one gets enough to do?
• Personal Preference: As unfair as some people might think it may seem, the reality of the matter is, I’m a human who has tastes that other people might disagree with, and those tastes are most likely not gonna change in the grand scheme of things. However, with that being said, I want everyone to keep in mind that everything said here is just my personal opinion. If you hate a special I enjoy, or love a special that I don’t love, that’s perfectly fine, and me disagreeing with you will not take away from that. Besides, on Sesame Street, all perspectives are welcome, so try to remember that as you read this list.

And lastly, I wanted to give a spoiler warning. I will be spoiling every special on this list, so if you want to watch any of these beforehand, please do so. They’re all available on either HBO Max, Dailymotion or YouTube, so if you have any one of those, you should be somewhat good.

Anyway, we have quite a lot of stuff to go over, so let’s start from the bottom with the worst, or, my least favorite.

#30

Before I talk about Elmo’s Playdate, I want to say that I don’t hate any of the specials on this list, and I think each one has at least one or two positives to them, but this special unfortunately had to take the fall of being the one I enjoyed the least.

Now, Sesame Street was already making Coronavirus pandemic content ever since March of 2020, but this was their first actual TV outing that year, and not just that, it aired on 6 different TV channels, half of which being channels geared towards adults.

Elmo’s Playdate is exactly what the title says. Elmo hosts a virtual playdate with his Sesame Street friends, and a few other special guests, with his only rule being that we do a silly dance whenever we hear the sound of a horn honking.

Now, I’ll start with the positives, because they do exist. Elmo and his friends are still the same caring, lovable furballs we’ve known all these years, and they each get at least one slightly humorous moment to themselves, whether it be Grover having trouble with his new phone, Cookie Monster’s declaration that he ate all of his cookie baking ingredients, or Abby and Rosita counting to 10, while bouncing off of each other. I also enjoyed the group rendition of Sing. While it wasn’t my favorite version of the song, it was still nice to hear it from everyone. And I really did find comfort in Elmo and Louie’s final message. It feels good knowing the characters you love care about you.

All that being said, on rewatch, I discovered that Elmo’s Playdate doesn’t really do anything to stand out against its predecessors or leave a lasting impact. I think my friend Anthony Strand described this special the best, when he said: “There’s just nothing here. No jokes, no memorable character moments, no real charm. It’s just Muppets you probably recognize, churning out content for 25 minutes.”

And I hate to say it, but he’s right. Most of the material for this special is the most base-level stuff they could do. The celebrity cast list for this special includes musical composer and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda, actress Anne Hathaway, and television producer and director Tracee Ellis Ross, who all bring something to the table in terms of talent, but none of their scenes are written to play to their strengths, it’s all just games of Simon Says, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Old MacDonald.

And while most of the main characters are present, Only six of them, plus Elmo’s dad are actually contributional to the playdate, with the rest of the gang being tacked on at the ending musical number.

You wanna what stuff I would’ve loved to see in this special? Maybe having Bert and Ernie attempt to tell a few jokes, Oscar going on and on about how much he loves the pandemic and how no one is outside, Nina, Alan and Chris talking about what they’re doing to keep safe, heck, you could even have a Honker be the Silly Dance Alarm. So much possible stuff that the writers of this special missed out on.

On its own, I really don’t think this special justifies its broadcasting on 6 TV channels, some of which mostly adults watch. Here’s the list of networks Elmo’s Playdate SHOULD have aired on: HBO, Cartoon Network, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Disney Junior, Disney Channel. At least if it aired only on Kid’s networks, it would get a bigger following, because this special is extensively catered towards them.

Bottom line, Elmo’s Playdate is probably a contender for the most kid-ified SS product in the history of ever. While the characters are the same as they’ve been, what they do is very surface level and will only appeal to 3 to 4 year olds. If there was more thought put into making a memorable 25 minutes of pandemic content from our favorite neighbors, it would be a lot higher, but as it stands, this is definitely my least favorite Sesame Street special. If you happen to come across it, you won’t instantly feel like changing the channel, but you’re probably not gonna remember it, either.

C-

#29

Yeah, I bet some of you thought this would be at the bottom of my list, but surprise surprise, I do like this special a bit more than others do. Don’t get me wrong it does still have some major problems that I’ll get into in a second, but first I should explain what this special is.

A Special Sesame Street Christmas was a CBS special that aired 5 days after its more cherished and remembered brother Christmas Eve On Sesame Street, which will be showing up later on this list. The basic premise of this story is that our street residents, as well as Leslie Uggams are tired of Oscar’s grinchy Christmas attitude, so they stage a prank to reenact a Christmas Carol to scare Oscar into becoming a happy, Christmas-loving soul.

And right away we have our first problem. This special’s plot, while easy to follow, completely goes against who Oscar is as a character and his role on the show. For those of you who weren’t aware, Oscar the Grouch is supposed to be a manifestation of the negative aspects of people: grumpiness, anger, grouchiness, mischievousness, stuff like that. And the reason for that is not just to make him contrast with the rest of the cast, but also to illustrate that these feelings are natural and not bad to feel. It’s okay to want to have people leave you alone, it’s okay to find enjoyment in stuff like trash, mud, dirt and worms, and it’s okay to not be as happy as everyone else in your life. The rest of Sesame Street making this elaborate plan to get Oscar to conform contradicts that philosophy entirely. Not to mention that whenever Oscar DOES try and contribute to the Christmas spirit in his own grouchy way, they just groan it off, as if it doesn’t matter. What is that supposed to teach kids? That people’s contributions to something isn’t valid if it isn’t a certain way? How does that in any way tie into the show’s themes of acceptance and diversity?

It’s also not just contradictory to the show’s themes, but the show itself. Because Sesame Street never ends, Oscar continues to be the same grouch he was at the beginning of the special, in every special and season afterwards, so it makes this special feel rather pointless.

And what about the characters? Well, here’s the thing. The producer for this special only paid to use three of the muppet characters (Oscar, Big Bird and Barkley) and four human characters (David, Maria, Bob and Mr. Hooper.) So, no Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Bert, Gordon, Susan, Count, Linda, Luis, Olivia, none of them. And because of that the special feels kinda empty. Without the rest of the cast there, the community feel that Sesame Street specials usually have, is gone. Not to mention that none of them really get that much time to contribute, as most of the special is devoted to Miss Leslie and Oscar. Don’t me wrong, for most of this special, Oscar is still his grouchy self and it’s great, but it doesn’t feel right that the rest of the street gets shafted as a result.

Also, they have Michael Jackson in this, and they don’t have him sing. That is a crime in and of itself.

But those are the only major problems this story has. Like I said, for a good majority of the special, Oscar is the same as he’s always been. Most of the songs are pretty good. Even if they don’t tie into Christmas all that much, I can listen to them, at the very least. Except for Ethel Merman’s cover of “Tomorrow”, I’m sorry, but her delivery just makes me cringe. And this special does have some pretty humorous moments that are good on their own out of context.

Even so, this isn’t a special, I would recommend you go out of your way to watch, and there are WAY better specials that don’t go against their established themes and morals, which I will get to later on.

C

#28

CinderElmo is better than Elmo’s Playdate, in that it actually tries to use its humor and characters to stand out, and better than A Special Sesame Street Christmas, in that it doesn’t go against what the show established and has most of its cast to work with, but I think this special’s problems lie within how it waters down the story it’s retelling and sort of butchers its main character casting.

But before I get into that I want to highlight some of the things I really liked about this special. The rest of the muppet characters, with what little screen time they do have, are all pretty enjoyable, notably Grover taking on multiple jobs, as usual, and Ernie and Bert being the town tinkers.

Keri Russell as Princess Charming is nice. I love how kind and understanding she is with the muppets, namely E&B, Telly and of course, Elmo. The songs are also really well done. I seriously doubt “Everybody’s Doing This Dance” will leave my head anytime soon. Also the sets are very well-designed. I haven’t mentioned this before, but when a Sesame Street production needs a new set, they go all out making it look like a real place, and it’s no different here. The castle looks especially gorgeous.

Anyway, if you couldn’t already tell from the title, CinderElmo is a retelling of the classic fairytale Cinderella, except with the cast of Sesame Street. Elmo is our star cinder-covered protagonist, Telly and Baby Bear are the two step children, and Kathy Najimy is the evil stepmom. Oh, and Zoe’s there too, for some reason. They never really explain her relation to any of the other characters.

Anyway, the plot pretty much plays out mostly the same way as the original story. On the day of Princess Charming’s 18th birthday ball, the king finds out that according to law, his daughter must choose a husband by midnight or else they’ll lose the kingdom. So the ball goes from just a birthday ball to a birthday AND find-a-husband ball.

So everyone in town hears about this new event and they’re all invited, except for CinderElmo, who the stepmom says can’t go, because he’s too dirty. Later that night, he makes a wish on a star and after a quick song, in comes Oliver Platt as Elmo’s fairy godperson, who says that he can’t do that much magic and finds the aspect of wishing for your problems to be fixed rather silly, and he even launches into a musical number about how you should do something when things get tough, and then later whips up fancy new clothes for Elmo and his pals to wear… huh? I thought you just said we should do something ourselves in order to solve the problems we have. I mean couldn’t Elmo and Zoe make their own outfits and get their own ride to the ball? Eh, never mind.

So, anyway, at the ball, Elmo makes a great impression on the princess. So much so, in fact, that he’s the one she choses for her husband-to-be. And like in the story, when 12:00 A.M. rolls around, Elmo has to make his exit, but leaves behind one of his glass slippers. The next day, when the royal family finds him, Elmo says he can’t marry Princess Charming because he’s too young, but would love to be her friend instead. When the king explains the rule, Grover, despite being the one who told him about said rule in the first place, brings up the fact that he’s the king and can change the rule, so he does and everyone goes to the castle for a playdate. …Does anyone feel a surprising lack of achievement? Cause I do. While this special is nice in terms of character moments and songs, it falls pretty flat in its story structure.

First off, I don’t think Elmo was the right choice for a protagonist for this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that Elmo was terrible, he was his usual lovable self, but that’s just it. An always happy 3½ year old is not the most ideal figure to portray a neglected young lady escaping her abusive household. Because Elmo is just a little kid, he doesn’t have very strong motives and stays pretty happy throughout most of his experiences, sure he gets sad sometimes, but he bounces back, as if they never bothered him in the first place.

In the Disney version, you can tell Cinderella doesn’t enjoy most of the crap that’s flung her direction, but instead of letting herself be jaded and cynical she chooses to be kind and optimistic. She’s unhappy, but she’s making the most out of her situation. Elmo doesn’t seem to have that much of a problem with the situation he’s in and just wants to do something fun. Elmo being the protagonist lowers the stakes quite a bit, because instead of escaping his abusive stepfamily and getting to live a happy life, Elmo just wants to dance with and befriend someone he admires, and doesn’t want to get married.

Speaking of lower stakes, this special really toned down the cruelness of the stepfamily and I think that hurts this story, as well. In the Disney movie, Cinderella’s stepmom and stepsisters are the worst. Constantly belittling and degrading her, piling on more and more laborious work for her to do, and stomping her chances of finding happiness to itty bitty pieces. Telly Monster and Baby Bear, the characters chosen to play the stepchildren, are not the worst. They’re both really nice, funny, upstanding guys, who are close friends of Elmo, which is shown, even in this special. Not once do they ever act slightly cruel towards the red tike. When Elmo gets his ball invitation, they celebrate with him, and Telly even begs his mom to let him go with them. While they are enjoyable throughout the special, and in a way, I am glad the writer didn’t make them act evil, (cause I don’t really want to see them act mean towards their friend.) their attitudes do dilute the tension quite a bit, because it seems like there’s only one person in the household who seems to dislike Elmo.

Speaking of which, the Stepmom. While she isn’t nice to Elmo, she’s not really evil or abusive, rather just a snooty woman who obviously plays favorites and can sometimes get snippy. Sure, she’s somewhat entertaining but she doesn’t really pose as a legitimate threat for the story. 1. Because she doesn’t do anything downright malicious, and 2. Elmo doesn’t seem to be that affected by any of it. And what makes it worse is the fact that she’s never called out for her actions, and the ending plays it off like she never had a problem with Elmo in the first place.

Also, what was their plan with Zoe? In this special, she’s seen to be Elmo’s companion, aside from the dog that he can confide in, but they never explain what her and Elmo’s relationship is! Is she Elmo’s sister? His friend? Another stepchild from another family that the mother doesn’t like? Herself? We don’t know, because the movie never lets us know! I’m not saying I don’t want Zoe to have a large part in this kind of story, I just want to know what that part is.

And I forgot to mention this when I mentioned the rest of the cast, but CinderElmo suffers from a severe lack of Oscar the Grouch. He was nowhere to be found! And I know that there wouldn’t be that much for him to do, but I don’t see why there couldn’t be a scene during invitations being given where he could pop up from a barrel or a haystack and say something along the lines of:

“Oh boy, are you kidding?! I wouldn’t miss this for the world! NOT!! Now get lost!”

CinderElmo also has a habit of introducing a plot point, and either not following up on it, or finding a lazy way to tie it up.

-There’s a rule that the princess had to be married by the end of her 18th birthday? Let’s have Grover conveniently mention that the king can change that law at ANY given time by the very end of the movie.

-Fairy Godperson says that instead of wishing for things to fix themselves, you should tackle them head-on yourself? Let’s forget that and have him magic up some clothes and a ride for Elmo.

-We have a stepmom who is mean to the main protagonist? Let’s just make her look like a nice person in the last scene, no one will notice.

I think you’re getting what I'm saying. Whereas Elmo's Playdate suffered from not doing anything to leave an impression, CinderElmo did lots of things to leave an impression for its audience, but forgot about the story.

Now, If it was up to me to write a Cinderella retelling for Sesame Street, I would definitely make a few changes, and the first thing I’d do is change the title. Why, you ask? Because Elmo is not going to be the main protagonist in the story. I’m gonna do what Hey Cinderella!, A Muppet Christmas Carol, and Muppet Treasure Island did and have the SS muppets as supports to the main leads, who would be humans. You could still have Keri Russell as Princess Charming and Kathy NaJimy as the Stepmom, but cast real human actors as the step children and the Cinder main character. He can be called Cinder… uh, Evan. Yeah, CinderEvan.

So, CinderEvan lives with his evil stepmom and his two mean stepbrothers and spends each day doing manual labor for them that he does not enjoy. And instead of mice inhabiting the cottage and becoming CinderEvan’s friends, the cottage is filled with Sesame Street monsters, (i.e. Elmo, Cookie, Grover, Zoe, Rosita, Telly, Herry, Frazzle, the Two-Headed Monster and whoever else they can find.) who CinderEvan enjoys the company of, but his stepfamily doesn’t. And just so the princess has her own group of muppets to interact with, The Count can be her father/the king, Bert and Ernie can be royal servants, Big Bird and Snuffy can be the castle’s royal bird and royal snuffleupagus (Cause every castle should have a royal bird and royal snuffleupagus, duh.) and Oscar can just be the grouch who lives in a barrel near the trash pile outside. And while Princess Charming does enjoy their company, she still longs to meet someone special.

The plot would play out much like it did in CinderElmo, except there’s no law stating that the princess has to get married by a certain time or else she’ll lose her home. She just wants to meet someone special, so her dad decides to throw a ball on her 18th birthday to help her out, and also so he can count the guests. Invitations are sent to everyone including CinderEvan, but his stepmom says he can’t go because he’s too dirty. While CinderEvan sulks, Elmo rallies his monster pals together and gives them all a pep talk, and sings the “Do Something” song, and this inspires them all to make a new outfit for CinderEvan from stuff they can find all around the house. After CinderEvan finds out what they did and shows his stepfamily his new threads, like in the Disney version, the stepbrothers notice that he’s wearing some of their stuff and immediately rip his clothes to shreds. Evan and his monster friends sulk knowing that all their hard work was wasted, and that’s when Fairy GodPerson Oliver Platt comes in and tells them that he saw what happened and decided to come in and help make things right. So he fixes CinderEvan’s outfit, turns a pumpkin into a coach, and turns Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster and Telly into horses.

The ball scene will play out much like it does in the original, with each muppet adding their own original bits throughout. Then when Evan leaves one of his glass slippers behind, Princess Charming finds it, and she and her castle muppet pals decide to go find who it belongs to, with King Count counting every subject they test. Eventually, they find out it belongs to CinderEvan, and they invite him and the monsters to come and live in the palace with them. The stepmom questions why Evan would want to leave, he gives her and his stepbrothers a “Reason You Suck Speech” and leaves, with the monsters in tow. And they all live happily ever after. The end.

See? In my Sesame Street story, the plot is easy to follow, it utilizes all of the muppet characters in some shape or form, the plot points introduced actually get followed up on, and it still finds a way to wrap everything up nicely at the end. While Elmo’s Playdate played it incredibly safe, and thus leaves no memorable moments to be looked back on, CinderElmo goes all out in placing its characters in this medieval setting, but seemed to forget it was adapting an actual story, and just clunkily wrote one draft, and that’s not really a problem I can overlook.

If you happen to see this special, you will have a good time with the characters, music numbers and the settings, but if you’re going in to see a good retelling of Cinderella, you’re not really going to get much out of it.

C

#27

I… don’t really have that much to say about Elmo’s World News. It’s kinda just a special that exists. It’s not as safe and kiddie-fied as Elmo’s Playdate, but it also doesn’t really do that much memorable stuff either.

The basic gist is that Elmo and some of his friends put on a news report to inform us of the ways kids all around the world are living throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and it delivers on that pretty successfully. Because this is a world news production, a few of the international SS characters are featured as they give updates on what goes on in their corners of the world. In terms of our American characters we’ve got Elmo, Abby, Cookie Monster and Grover, who each provide at least one laugh and contribute equally throughout the production.

This is a special that feels quite authentic. I feel like I’m actually watching real kids make their own news broadcast, cute flukes included. And it does a really good job of showcasing how life in 2020 isn’t all bad, and there are a lot of things we can do to entertain ourselves while we’re quarantining. Like using your imagination to bring the outside inside, making a “Things That Make Me Happy” box, or just having a dance session.

Though, I think I should clarify why I feel this is better than Elmo’s Playdate. That special felt like it just wanted to do the bare minimum when it came to entertaining kids. But Elmo’s World News felt like the crew actually had more they wanted to say and do with it. It has a more focused structure and actual things that kids could learn.

While this special isn’t the greatest thing in the world, it was still a nice piece of hope Sesame Workshop decided to put out through such a hard time. It’s nice, but I still don’t see myself watching it again anytime soon.

C+

#26

For their first anniversary special, Sesame Street did pretty alright all things considered. A Walking Tour Of Sesame Street was a half hour special made for Sesame Street’s 10th anniversary, and they didn’t do a bad job, by any means, just the least good out of all of them.

For starters, getting their first-ever celebrity guest star James Earl Jones to host the program was a stroke of genius, and he does a pretty decent job of interacting with the characters and getting the information he wants the viewers to know across.

Speaking of which, the character usage here is pretty similar to A Special Sesame Street Christmas, as it only has three of its muppets (Big Bird, Oscar and Barkley, AGAIN), and admittedly more human cast members this time around. (Mr. Hooper, Gordon, Susan, Bob, Linda, Olivia and Luis), but while Maria, David, Ernie, Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster, The Count and Snuffy aren’t on the street, they can be seen in some of the inserts the special chooses to showcase.

In terms of showcasing what makes Sesame Street such a great educational program, A Walking Tour of Sesame Street hits pretty much all of the bases, and the segments shown in between the program are the biggest factor of that. It goes over how Sesame Street teaches kids about basic things like counting, spelling, body parts and opposites, but also other concepts like acceptance of other cultures, sign language, and dealing with negative emotions, and it even remembers to mention that there are different international versions of the program in other countries.

If I had any problems with this special, it would be that I wish the characters present had a little bit more to do. I mean, with A Special Sesame Street Christmas, at least that special felt like it was trying to give the characters parts to play. In A Walking Tour Of Sesame Street, Mr. Jones just very briefly says hi to the human cast, has only one brief conversation with Oscar, and Big Bird only appears at the very end of the special.

Also, I’m not a fan of how this special features the most infuriating example of the grown-ups not believing in Snuffy’s existence. The one where Big Bird takes them to the Metropolitan Opera House, and says that Snuffy’s coming to hear a rehearsal and should be there soon, and when Snuffy actually DOES show up, instead of looking when Big Bird tells them to look, they just stand there condescendingly snarking, until the fountain obscures Snuffy from view. Like, seriously guys, stop being a bunch of know-it-alls for just a couple of seconds and just turn around! JUST TURN AROUND, IT’S NOT THAT FREAKING HARD!!

But besides those, this is a really nice special. And though the ending is also kinda brief, getting to hear Buffy's song to Big Bird, and these two last lines:

Big Bird: You know, I’ve learned a lot on Sesame Street.

James: And I’ve met many friends.

Are still a pretty nice note to end things on. While Sesame Street anniversary specials continued to get better and better, as we’ll see later on, this was a pretty nice start. Wouldn’t go out of my way to watch this, but if I do happen to see it, I won’t complain, and neither will you.

C+

#25

The Magical Wand Chase is another special that I don’t have too much to say about. It’s alright for what it is, but I don’t think it doesn’t have some issues that could be improved on.

Today on Sesame Street, Nina is ready to read Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover and Rosita a book about world travelers, but she forgot to bring the book with her, so instead Abby poofs up three hot air balloons for them to float over the city in. But after a couple of shenanigans, Abby drops her magic wand on the hood of her and Elmo’s balloon, and as if THAT wasn’t bad enough, a bird voiced by Elizabeth Banks takes it, thinking that it’s a stick, so now, the six friends have to go on a quest to get back Abby’s wand, while discovering parts of New York they never knew existed along the way.

Okay, so first off, this is a great premise for a special. Our Sesame Street friends discovering other places located in the city that they call home opens up a list of endless possibilities that sounds way too good to be condensed into 45 minutes.

The stakes are also raised a noticeable amount. No, our innocent muppet pals don’t get mugged in any alleyways or anything like that, but they are raised more than 50 feet high up off the ground. When Elmo tried to get Abby’s wand from off the hood of their car balloon, it dawned on me how close he came to dying.

But despite Elmo’s almost death, he and the rest of his pals aren’t out of character at any part of this special at all. Nina and Oscar also have their brief moments at the beginning. Plus Elizabeth Banks’ character is pretty fun and funny to watch with her different transformations, and she does get a satisfying conclusion at the end.

The songs are also pretty good, as per normal. The ending song is my personal favorite. And I adore the end credit sequence, because it showcases each of the main characters (Except for Chris.) and gives them pretty cool hot air balloon designs.

But, there are a few things that bring this special down a bit. The first one being how half of our main cast gets shafted. When the gang brings their balloons to the ground, the focus suddenly shifts to just Elmo, Abby and Rosita as they do the bulk of the wand-chasing and friend-meeting. Meanwhile, Big Bird is with them for a little while, before he leaves to get the balloons and doesn’t show up until the end, and Cookie and Grover are separated from the group entirely, only getting bits here and there via walkie talkies. These are some really great characters who had great potential to contribute more to this adventure and seeing them sidelined like this is pretty disappointing.

Secondly, this special made me confused about how Abby’s wand works. How it usually works in the show and how I assumed it worked was that whoever’s using it just has to chant some sort of spell to make something happen, but in The Magical Wand Chase, it now runs on Fairly OddParents logic where just saying “I wish (blank)” will grant wishes too. It just leaves me perplexed.

Also, the kid characters the gang meets along the way aren’t that great. They’re not bad, and they do serve their purpose, but they’re really not that memorable. I couldn’t remember any of their names until I looked this special up again on Muppet Wiki.

If I was in charge of writing this special, I would change the structure to allow each character to get an equal amount of screentime. The beginning would play out the same as it does in the actual special, but once they hit the ground, the muppets are split into their balloon groups and each explore a different part of the city. Elmo and Abby get the first part in Chinatown with Carl and Lucy, Big Bird and Rosita get the second part in the Spanish part of town with Sonia, and Grover and Cookie get the last part in the African part of town with Zaki and Onyi. And then they all meet up with each other at the end to catch the bird. This way the audience gets a chance to be with each group equally and they all get a chance to contribute something.

But anyway, this special is an alright way to learn that sometimes the best adventures can be closer than you think. Kids will most likely get more enjoyment out of it than you will, but it’s still a fun experience. Not much else to say.

C+

#24

The Power Of We is a really interesting case, in that I get and admire what they were trying to do, but the way it’s executed falls a little flat.

After their weekly Power Of We club, Gabrielle and her cousin Tamir decide to teach Elmo and Abby what they learned about being upstanders to racism, along the way they talk to some of their friends, sing a few songs and make a couple of signs.

Now, I’ll start with the positives first. Like I said in my top 55 Sesame Street moments list, while I personally can’t recall anytime in my life where people have discriminated against me or been mean to me, because of the color of my skin, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen to other people, and those people need assurance that being a different skin color isn’t wrong, discriminating against people and treating them like you’re better than they are is wrong, and this special does do a really good job of showing and explaining that.

Gabrielle and Tamir are likable enough characters who are proud of who they are and just want to help people like them feel less alone. The same can be said for the guest stars, Christopher Jackson, Andra Day and Yara Shahidi, who also serve as great adult authority figures for this special. Elmo and Abby are as cute and charming as ever, and I really enjoyed the honest conversation Elmo and Louie had about Elmo teaching his dad something. It was really heartwarming. The songs are all bops, especially “Listen, Act, Unite”. But my favorite thing about the special, is how Oscar actually came to the community sing-along and even though he doesn’t sing, he still came and made his own anti-racism sign to hold. I think that’ll probably go down as one of the best Oscar moments in the history of ever. At least for me.

With all that aside, The Power Of We isn’t really as great as it COULD be, and the reason for that is something I’ve stated multiple times before: Characters. This special is lacking many of the original characters we know and love, and I feel like that hurts the impact this special could’ve had.

I mean, yeah, in terms of originals, we do have Elmo, Abby, Alan and even Gordon makes an appearance, and they're all pretty great all things considered, but they’re really the only ones who have any sort of significance to the plot. The rest are just either one line of dialogue (Charlie), cameos (Rosita and Oscar) or just not present (literally every other main character.)

Am I being nitpicky? Probably, and I know that part of it was probably due to the pandemic that was upon us, but I really think that if the crew wanted to create that warm feeling of community, they would achieve it a lot more if they included those most known community members that made this show so memorable and inclusive in the first place. In fact, here’s a list of ideas the writers could’ve used to incorporate the missing members of Sesame Street, while still sticking to the special’s message about standing up to racism:

• Big Bird could pop into the chat and bring up that time his pen pal Gulliver didn’t wanna play with anyone who wasn’t a bird.
• Grover could pop in every now and then and tell the kids that he’s sending love telegrams all over the neighborhood.
• Cookie and Gonger could bake a bunch of snacks for the virtual community sing-along and deliver them to everyone’s house in their Foodie Truck.
• Oscar could let Elmo, Abby, Tamir and Gabrielle know that he’s coming to the sing-along, too. They react in shock claiming that they never knew he likes singing, Oscar assures them he doesn’t and he’s not going to sing, but he is going to support anti-racism, his reason being that people shouldn’t act like they’re better than each other just because they have different colored skin, cause no matter what, they’re all equally terrible.
• At the sing-along, The Count announces the joy he’s having counting all of the different faces who showed up, before Abby reminds him they have to get the sing-along started.
• Speaking of the sing-along, you could have many of the other muppets sprinkled throughout, like Rudy, Julia, Zoe, Prairie Dawn, Roosevelt Franklin, and Herry Monster.
• Bert and Ernie could pop up for a brief second, and Ernie could talk about how great it is that they’re both different colors and still best friends after all these years, like it’s some sort of grand revelation.
• To get some latin representation they could have characters like Rosita, Nina, Maria and Luis (This was before Mr. Delgado died.) talk about THEIR experiences with racism.
• Chris (Who is largely underused in productions like this) could pop in and bring up the time he, Leela and Mando helped Segi feel better about her skin in episode 4503 segueing into the “Color of Me” song.
• And here’s my personal favorite idea: They could have Gina, Telly and possibly Savion join the chat and bring up episode 3140, when they got a racist phone call and how that affected each of them.

I don’t want to come off like I’m bragging, but I really believe that these ideas I came up with would really elevate the special into something much more enjoyable and still educational, because all of these characters contribute the underlying message, that it takes a bunch of different beings to make up a community, and this way they can strike a balance between the originals people love so much, and the new racial characters created to teach these new lessons and families can get a chance to soak in both sides, and realize that this is a huge community of different people, monsters, fairies, birds and grouches coming together to be upstanders to racism.

But, as it is, The Power Of We still does a better job at teaching people about racism than Dhar Mann will ever do. And it is a special I would recommend. Your kids will still walk away with the message that racism is bad and that though we’re all different we’re all the same. Though, I would also recommend that you start off with episodes 3140 and 4503 before you get to this one, because those do a phenomenal job at teaching what racism is and how to deal with it, and to be proud of who you are despite what other people say. The Power Of We does a passable job.

C+

#23

Now we can get into the really good specials, starting with this one. Stars and Street Forever was one of two specials made for SS’s 25th anniversary, and is the inferior one of the duo.

In it, millionaire real estate man Ronald Grump (Just guess who he’s a parody of.) who wants to tear down Sesame Street to create Grump Towers, so our beloved street residents have to find a way to save their home before it's gone for good.

I’ll start with the negatives, to get them out of the way. For a special that’s supposed to be a celebration of Sesame Street, we don’t really get to spend that much time on it. Yeah, it’s the main location, but we focus a lot on the celebrities featured, so we don’t get a chance to soak in the idea of our regular characters actually doing stuff to save their neighborhood.

Speaking of which, while this issue isn’t as prevalent as some of the other specials I’ve previously gone over, Stars and Street Forever suffers from character lackage. This time, we’re missing Cookie Monster, Gina, Linda, Bob, Susan, Miles, Grundgetta, Barkley and Snuffy, among others, and that really sticks out to me, because their home which they’ve lived on for 25 years is about to be torn down for good. I really think an event that big should require all of your cast to be present so it feels like a proper experience that everyone is going through.

Also, having just Sully with Barbara Walters in the beginning and end with no Biff, just feels wrong to me. They can get away with that in episodes and home videos, but not in a special that’s meant to commemorate a 25 year milestone.

But other than that, this special is actually pretty good. The celebrities, while they do hog the screen time quite a bit, are enjoyable, most notably Joe Pesci, who did a great job with his character, and his banter with Oscar, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who has a cute dynamic with Elmo, and later Zoe.

Speaking of Oscar, he’s pretty awesome in this, and he also ends up unintentionally being the hero of the story. Oscar is the only one brave enough to openly fire back at Mr. Grump, and has his own reasons for not wanting to leave. And because Oscar’s trash can is located on city property, and he won’t move it, Grump can’t build his resort. Oscar is the grouchy chad that we don’t deserve.

Benny Rabbit is in this as well, and I like how they portrayed him as the realist of the group. When Grump gives the town the news about his plans. He’s the first one to accept it, because as he says, “You can’t fight city hall.”, and figures if the neighborhood’s going down, might as well get a new job working for the man to get some more dough, but when Grump explains that Grump Tower has robotic doormen, Benny realizes he HAS to fight for his home, otherwise he’ll be out of a job. Benny acts like how a real jaded adult would act in this scenario, knowing he can’t fight the system, unless it directly involves him and his line of work, and I really like that. It makes me wish he stuck around longer. He was also the only one to bring up the completely valid and true idea that Grump knew how happy Sesame Street made people, and that’s why he wanted to destroy it. But did anyone listen? Noooooo…

Celina: Maybe Ronald Grump doesn't know how much good stuff has happened here!

Benny: Maybe he DOES know! That’s why he’s tearing it down!

Telly also gets one of his most hilarious moments, as he calls John Goodman from the Tough Guy Helpline, and tries to use the advice he gained to stand up to Mr. Grump, but fails miserably. When Pesci pushed Telly to the ground, I burst out laughing.

The montages are also used to great effect in showcasing what gives Sesame Street its appeal. The first montage is about funny and silly moments, the second montage is about all the heartwarming moments that tug on your heartstrings, the third montage is about Oscar and some of his greatest moments, because of course Oscar needs his own montage, the fourth montage is of the many accomplishments our street friends have made, the fifth montage features some of the greatest songs from the Sesame catalog, and the last montage is a nice variety of clips set to the Madrigal Alphabet. (Featuring a very cute scene of Oscar hugging Elmo that I still wonder which episode it came from.) Each of these montages showcases an aspect of Sesame Street as great as it is, so it gives fans a chance to reminisce on classic moments and new fans can pick up on why the show is so beloved. That’s pretty cool.

While this special is lacking in terms of character usage and focus, it makes up for that with funny moments, a great villain, a very nice ending, and montages that remind us why we love this show in the first place. Definitely not the worst way they could have celebrated this milestone.

B-

#22

See Us Coming Together is the latest Sesame Street special, and the formal introduction to the newest character to represent the Asian community, Ji-Young.

It’s Neighbor Day on Sesame Street, and Ji-Young is eager to play some music for her fellow neighbors, but then she runs into someone who tells her to “Go back home”, and it upsets her pretty badly, so while the festivities begin, Alan decides to introduce her to some of his friends, who also happen to be Asian themselves, to help remind her that she does belong on Sesame Street.

Now, I’ll start off by saying that Ji-Young has a lot of potential as a character. I see her as a younger version of Luna Loud from the Loud House. The wild musician who’s super passionate about rock and roll. Of course, Ji-Young would be sure to differentiate herself from Luna in some ways, but if they made music her thing, I think she has a pretty good chance of becoming memorable. Sesame Street has never really had an energetic musician character before, at least not to my knowledge, and Ji-Young could be just the character to play that role.

And I did really feel bad for her when she explained what the kid said to her, because it’s really hard to hear someone say that you don’t belong in a place you love. Plus, when Ji-Young explains what happened, Elmo asks the obvious question:

Elmo: Elmo doesn’t understand. Wasn’t Ji-Young just AT her home?

Now, that’s the kind of muppet innocence I enjoy.

Speaking of Elmo, this special does a really good job of dishing out screen time for the show’s four most popular and marketable muppets (Plus Gonger) and pairing them with each of the Asian guest stars. Elmo is seen primarily in the first few minutes of the special, and tags along with Alan and Ji-Young throughout most of their neighborhood journey. Abby is featured making crafts in the community play area with Jim Lee, Gonger and Padma Lakshmi are in Hooper’s looking for bowls. Cookie Monster is making dumplings with Melissa King, and Big Bird and Simu Liu are practicing for a potato sack race. While I do wish more main characters were included in this special, I also think it’s great this one used the ones it did have to good effect.

I also really liked Alan in this one. Ever since he took over Hooper’s in season 30, he’s been a constant figure of knowledge, joy and comfort, and it’s no different here. Alan knows exactly how to make Ji-Young feel better about herself and her culture, and like always, it feels genuine.

The songs were all pretty good, even though I prefer other versions of them better, and it really does feel like an earnest attempt to give Asian people their time in the spotlight, and it’s definitely gonna help at least a few kids feel like they’re being seen.

Not really that much to say on this one. See Us Coming Together is just another special that knows what it is and what it wants to say, and executes it very nicely.

B-

#21

You know, I think Elmo’s Playdate: Scavenger Hunt might be the greatest sequel since Toy Story 2. …Okay, it’s not that great, but it aces the concept of learning from the mistakes made in the first one and improving on them to make a better experience for viewers.

While Elmo’s Playdate: Scavenger Hunt is nothing revolutionary, it fixes many of the problems its predecessor had. The gist here is that Elmo and Abby are hosting a summer scavenger hunt, with the audience, along with the other characters playing it. The special already starts off good with a clear narrative mind. In the previous EP special, there wasn’t really any storyline going on, it was just the Sesame Street characters doing random kiddie activities for 25 minutes, but with the added plotline of just one game for the special to focus on (A scavenger hunt) allows it to put more focus on letting the characters be themselves, while also contributing to the game.

Speaking of which, while the cast for this playdate special isn’t massive, it still features new and old lovable faces, and each of them gets a chance to contribute to the scavenger hunt with their personalities on display. You’ve got Elmo and Abby as the hosts, which is a no-brainer, but you’ve also got Ernie referee-ing a race between Bert and a tiger, Cookie and Gonger make corn ice pops for Big Bird and Rosita’s virtual picnic (Because Cookie Monster ate all of the fruit), Oscar begrudgingly shows off one of his trash pieces as something on the scavenger list, and Grover is trying his best to find something, but can’t. Meanwhile, on the celebrity side, Amy Sedaris gets a chance to show off some fun painted rocks, as well as having an item on the list, and while Gabrielle Union singing Wheels on the Bus is kinda out of place, at least it’s coupled with her telling Elmo about her kids going to summer camp, so it still manages to tie into the theme of summer.

The reason this special works and the original doesn’t is because while the latter is just 25 minutes of random extremely kiddie shenanigans, the scavenger hunt storyline in the former allows it to have a more focused structure, and in turn, allows for each character present to contribute something while staying true to their personalities and the spirit of the summer season, which will definitely be able to appeal to kids, but still be something that adults can get at least one or two chuckles out of as well.

Again, not much else to say except this is a pretty good example of learning from your mistakes and improving your work. I’d definitely recommend this one, especially during summertime.

B

#20

The way I’d describe Elmo’s Christmas Countdown is this: What it lacks in framing material and plot, it makes up for in good character moments, great songs and a heart that’s clearly in the right place.

Stiller the Elf, voiced by Ben Stiller, tells a story to the audience and Stan the Snowball about the time when Christmas almost didn’t come. On this particular eve, Stiller pays a visit to Sesame Street, because according to his market research, Oscar has the most Christmas spirit out of everyone, so he’s chosen to be the bearer of the Christmas Counter-Downer, a magical advent calendar that helps count down the 10 days before Christmas Eve. Now, if Oscar being the one chosen to carry out such a task sounds ludicrous, that’s because it is, and Oscar proves it himself by breaking the Counter-Downer and sending the boxes flying all over Sesame Street, so now it’s up to Elmo, Stiller, and later Abby to track down the boxes, fix the Christmas Counter-Downer and get the holidays back on track.

Now I think this special’s main problem is that it’s relying on you to not think about the plot, so you don’t question certain story bits and plot elements. Like, how in the world did Stiller come to the conclusion that Oscar the Grouch has the most Christmas spirit in the world? I assume it was supposed to be a joke revolving around irony, (Y’know, cause the most negative being on the show is being tasked with helping with a holiday he hates.) but it doesn’t really work, because we never learn how exactly Stiller came to this conclusion. It could be easily fixed with a quick throw-away scene showing Stiller doing his research and instead of finding who has the most Christmas spirit, he finds the person with the least Christmas spirit, but he thinks he found the most.

It’s also expecting you to buy the fact that without the Christmas Counter-Downer, Christmas would… never happen? Sorry, but I don’t buy that. Because I’m sure the world knows what Christmas is, and would continue to celebrate it, even if Santa didn’t come. In fact, now that I say that out loud, I think that would be a better theme for this special: That you don’t need an advent calendar to celebrate the holiday season.

Now, the main thing Elmo’s Christmas Countdown wants you to take away is that believing is important, especially when things are at their very lowest, which is a very good lesson for kids to learn, but it’s not executed that greatly, because throughout the special, while Elmo and Abby almost never lose their faith at any point, Stiller is constantly bemoaning that all is lost, and things aren’t gonna magically fix themselves, and only changes his mind near the very end, and while that dichotomy does provide for some humorous interactions between the three characters, it kinda weakens the lesson, because it feels like Stiller changes his mind, because the plot needs it to happen when it does, so the special can wrap up when it needs to. But I feel if the message was nothing can stop you from celebrating Christmas, then that would be a better lesson that it could execute.

Like, suppose Elmo’s Christmas Countdown plays out the way it does, but this time, a greater focus is put on the other characters and what each of them are doing for the holidays as Elmo, Abby and Stiller search for the boxes, and after Cookie Monster eats the Christmas Counter-Downer, Stiller bemoans the fact that Christmas will never come again, but Elmo points out how they’ve been going all over Sesame Street and all of their friends were celebrating and didn’t have any knowledge of the Christmas Counter-Downer, and all three of them come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter that the Christmas Counter-Downer is destroyed, because people can celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and every other December holiday however they want, and they could end the special doing a group rendition of “Keep Christmas With You”. Doesn’t that sound like it would be a better theme and lesson to get across?

Ah well. While the story itself is pretty flimsy, it's nowhere close to being the worst, either. And like I said, the special makes up for it, by giving us a good character balance, fun musical numbers and the fact that it has better intentions than something like A Special Sesame Street Christmas did.

Elmo’s Christmas Countdown, while putting Elmo and Abby in the leading roles, still gives enough screen time to enough of the other main players, whether it be through running into them on the street and giving them a box for the Christmas Counter-Downer or being part of one of the segments in said boxes. Some of the highlights being The Count adding more ships to the song “I Saw Three Sailing Ships”, the previously mentioned part where Cookie Monster consumes the Christmas Counter-Downer because it has a cookie inside it, and Ernie and Bert giving Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa lessons on how to act like them. Though I said enough of the main players, because Telly, Rosita and Zoe do get kinda shafted, which is a shame, because they each had something they could add to this special, (Rosita especially) but luckily, they are present for the ever rare, decidedly Oscar-free, main character group shot.

I suppose I should probably talk about my thoughts on Stiller the Elf now, and he’s pretty good. While his pessimism can get a little annoying after a while, he does have a few funny moments that balance it out, and Ben Stiller did a good job at voicing him.

The songs are also pretty entertaining, from Sheryl Crow’s opening number to Brad Paisley’s country rendition of Jingle Bells, from Oscar and Stiller’s contrasting version of I Hate Christmas to Big Bird and Anne Hathaway singing about the Christmas present they want more than anything: A Snuffleupagus, these songs all manage to tie back to Christmas in some way, and there’s a guarantee you’ll like at least one in the lineup.

The set design is pretty good, too. Namely the set for the framing material. Since this is a story being told to us through the form of a pop-up book, the crew found a way to translate the pop-up version of 123 Sesame Street into the real thing, and it really does look like an illustration come to life.

But the best part about Elmo’s Christmas Countdown in my opinion is that it had way better intentions than A Special Sesame Street Christmas did. Whereas that story tried to go against what they established for one of their core characters, and didn’t even give that much time for the others, this story is a story that pretty much has Elmo’s name on it. He was born to help an elf track down missing bits of an advent calendar, and even though he’s the central focus, the special still gives plenty of time for its other main players, and for that, I get a lot more enjoyment out of it than others do.

It’s not a fantastic Christmas special, but it’s a pretty good one. Would definitely recommend you give it a viewing, especially on Christmas.

B

#19

When it was announced that Elmo was getting a new puppy, I had my doubts. I mean, was Sesame Street forgetting that Elmo already has a pet? A very loyal goldfish who’s been by his side for the better of 22 years now? A goldfish who provided love, friendliness and an imagination like no other?! A goldfish who managed to not say a single word ever and yet became such a lovable part of the Sesame Street family, anyway?! Is this dog supposed to be a replacement?!

Thankfully, she wasn’t. Tango is not a replacement for Dorothy, she’s just a new, more mobile animal for Elmo to interact with. She’s adorable, like most puppies are, she’s brilliantly performed by the ever talented Mrs. Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, and she had an organic, heartwarming introduction, which is the next special on this list I want to talk about.

During a playdate, Elmo and Grover come across a puppy in a box in the community center, and the three of them hit it off immediately. Realizing this puppy, later dubbed Tango, doesn’t have a home, the two decide to take her to a local pet fair to see if they can get anyone to adopt her, and get into all sorts of crazy hijinks along the way.

Right off the bat, I can tell you the thing that makes this special as good as it is: It's a natural introduction to a new character. They could have easily just plopped Tango into the show, with no explanation or just a quick throwaway line, but they didn’t. They actually gave themselves enough time to properly introduce her and build the relationship she has with her owner, Elmo. Elmo and Tango meet, develop a friendship, go on an adventure together, and by the end of it, decide that they want to be together. It doesn’t feel rushed, forced, or contrived, it feels like a natural way of bringing these two together, and I really like that.

This special also does a pretty good job with its character usage. While only the 7 most popular muppets along with Elmo’s parents are present, they each get a reasonable amount of screen time. You’ve got Elmo as our lead and Grover as the deuteragonist, (Who’s shown to be a bit more competent than usual) but they run into Cookie Monster at the park selling dog treats, Abby helps them give Tango a bath in the community garden, complete with super strong magic bubbles, and Oscar gets moments in both the beginning and end to complain about how sappy this all is. The only character who kind of gets shafted is Big Bird, who only appears in the beginning song and its reprise at the very end, and that’s kinda disappointing, because I’m sure they could’ve added a scene where he helps Elmo and Grover find out what Tango likes to play with, or something like that.

The songs are also very well done as well. “That’s Home” is the right amount of heartwarming and uplifting, “Hooray For Getting Clean” while obviously not on the same level as “Rubber Duckie” is still a nice bath time song, and “Cookie Monster’s Doggie Treats” is never going to leave my head.

And I just want to confirm that I felt such a wave of relief, when I saw Dorothy floating around in her fish bowl, when Elmo and Tango came into their apartment. Tango and Dorothy are co-existing in Elmo’s life, and I’m totally down with that.

Again not that much to say on this one. Furry Friends Forever: Elmo Gets A Puppy is a cute little origin special about how Elmo met his new puppy. It’s short, sweet and to the point, and it’s just really adorable.

B

#18

This was a follow-up to another special that we’ll see later on this list. And while I do like that special more, this one still has its great qualities.

Big Bird in Japan follows Big Bird and Barkley (And none of the human characters) taking a tour of Japan, and after a few minutes of meeting the locals, they end up missing their tour bus. Eventually they come across a mysterious woman named Kaguya-Hime, who offers to help them get back with their tour group, and the three of them get to see more of the beautiful Japan, along the way.

First off, I’m a little curious as to why NONE of the other grown ups decided to accompany their 6 year old child on this journey to a country that is 6, 378 miles from where they live. That’s my biggest problem with the “Big Bird in” specials. Did they not think anything bad was gonna happen with no one planned in advance to take care of him? And for those of you saying:

“But Noah, Big Bird went on a trip by himself to Camp Echo Rock! I don’t see you complaining about that!”

Yeah, because in those episodes, Big Bird was going to a singular location, with people who mostly spoke the same language as he did, and there was someone there who made sure he felt comfortable, his camp counselor, Mickey. Yeah, you could make the argument that their tour guide was supposed to fill that role, but she didn’t really feel as comforting as Mickey or his grown-up friends do, plus, if Maria, Bob or Gordon went along with him, at least he’d still be with a grown-up when he got lost.

Speaking of which, the scene where the bus leaves without Big Bird and Barkley felt like it could’ve been easily avoided. I mean, the two of them weren’t THAT far away from it when it started, so I think they could’ve easily ran after it, got the bus driver’s attention and gotten on. And that kinda removes a bit of the tension, when you realize the conflict could’ve been solved way faster than it did.

But even so, that doesn’t mean it’s bad or not engaging to watch. We still feel bad for Big Bird now that he’s lost in some new country, we still feel like we’re going on a grand journey with him and Barkley taking in the wonders this country has to offer, and we still feel satisfied when he finally gets on the plane to go back home.

I think that Kaguya-Hime, while not my favorite, is still a really good character, and her role in the story is pretty well handled. She starts off as a friendly nameless stranger that has a habit of appearing when we least expect it, and not staying as long as we would expect. We hear her talking about saying goodbye to many of her friends and we see her sing a song about how she’s gonna leave. Then later, we’re given an exposition dump in the form of a school play that she’s a bamboo princess from the moon, but we don’t suspect that it’s the same lady, because we don’t know her name, then when she finally does tell us her name, the dots start connecting in our heads, and finally our thoughts are confirmed at the very end when we see her walk away with all those black and white guys.

The only issue I have is that the ending feels pretty anticlimactic. When Big Bird finally pieces together who his friend is, he and Barkley rush to find her, claiming she needs them now, but she disappears as soon as they get there, and Big Bird concludes that it was all in his head. …Am I the only one who feels like we kinda got gypped here? That scene really felt like it was building up to something, and I still wonder what it could be.

Anyway, the four songs featured in this are also fantastic, and each feel distinct from each other. “Off to Kyoto” is a fun travel song, “Moon Moon” is a beautiful song that explains KH’s feelings without revealing her identity, “Homesick” could rival “I’m So Blue” in the category of “Soul-Crushing-Songs-Big Bird-Sings-When-He’s-Lost-All-Hope”, and “Ichni, Ni, San” is the right balance of catchy and educational.

Speaking of which, Big Bird in Japan does a great job of teaching us things about the titular country it takes place in. Re-watching it, I learned some things that I didn’t know beforehand.

This special also has its share of funny moments, most of which come from the titular bird as he struggles to understand the culture that he’s been exposed to. His tirade when he misses the bus is extremely comical.

Big Bird: (To Barkley) Do YOU have any money?!? Aw, of course not!!! You’re a dog!!!

The scenery is also quite beautiful to look at. It really makes you feel like you’re experiencing this beautiful country with Big Bird and getting immersed in its culture.

And I think that’s the best word to describe this special: Immersive. It knows about the country it's focusing on, and is able to create a real experience that will stick with kids long after they’ve seen it. Definitely recommend you give this a watch, especially if you’re planning to take a trip there, yourself.

B+

#17

Oddly enough, The Cookie Thief is one of the only specials on this list that actually feels more like an extended episode of the show. Complete with the usual theme song and end credits. That doesn’t really matter, in the grand scheme of things, because this special is still pretty great. And why shouldn’t it be? It stars my favorite character of the whole show.

The Cookie Thief is about Cookie Monster, along with Elmo and Chris going to check out the Museum of the Modern Cookie, an art museum consisting of nothing but cookie art, which is the best kind of art there is. Naturally Cookie Monster is having trouble keeping himself from consuming the entire museum in one sitting, but just before he can get some real cookies he can munch on, he finds that one of the pictures is missing. As more and more art gets stolen, Rachel Dratch, the security guard, keeps assuming Cookie was the one who stole it and sends the whole Cookie Patrol after him. So now the three guys (And later Abby) have to clear Cookie’s name and figure out who’s REALLY stealing the cookie art, before it goes missing forever.

When it comes to characters, this special doesn’t have a lot of them, but it uses the ones that matter the most to the best of their ability. Elmo, Cookie Monster and Chris are a trio of characters I really enjoy, and it’s no different here.

First, let’s talk about the MVP, Cookie Monster. He’s at his top form in this special. Still the same gluttonous bottomless pit we’ve known all these years, showing an appreciation for art relating to the thing he loves most. But he’s also a victim of circumstance. He really was trying to keep himself in check, he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he’s suffering for something he didn’t do. I still stand by my statement in my top 55 SS moments list that his lament towards the end of the special is one of his best moments, because it showcases that he doesn’t just want to catch the thief so he can enjoy the cookie art, but so that all cookie art lovers can enjoy it as well, and that’s showcased very nicely with his talk with the real cookie thief, a little cookie.

Elmo and Chris are also a great support system for Cookie, standing by him all the way, and doing their best to help find the real thief. They also each get their comedic moments as well. Chris, especially with his reactions to the music that plays every time someone says “Catch the cookie thief!”

As for Rachel Dratch… she kinda rubs me the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that she was just doing her job, and given the fact that she doesn’t know CM like we do, I can see why she would assume he was the culprit, but her constant berating of the poor guy is still pretty hard to watch, especially the apology scene. I was just as frustrated as Chris was.

Rachel: Looks like I owe someone an apology.

(beat)

Chris: …Well?

Rachel: Well what?

Chris: What about the apology?

Rachel: Oh, right! (to a patrol penguin) Sorry, Ethan. You were right. It wasn’t Cookie Monster and his friends, it was the cookie.

Ethan: It’s okay.

Rachel: Well, I feel a lot better.

Me and Chris: Hey! Aren’t you forgetting an apology?

Rachel: …For Whom?

Me and Chris: COOKIE MONSTER!

Also, as I mentioned earlier, Abby is featured in this, but here she’s really just used as a way for the trio to get back into the museum and find the cookie by poofing them into a painting and taking said painting inside. But it does serve the plot, and she’s still in character, so it’s alright.

Now, I wanna talk about how this episode handles Prairie Dawn. She is quite entertaining in this, and considering this was Fran Brill’s last performance before her retirement from the show, she did a great job here. But I can’t help but thinking she should’ve had a bigger role in the story. Prairie has a job as a museum tour guide, and throughout the special, she pops in to give Elmo, Chris and Cookie facts on the different paintings they come across, and she also provides Cookie Monster something to eat in the form of her museum accessories (He was really hungry and needed something to eat. SOMEONE had to make a sacrifice.) and that’s fine, but I can’t help but think she could have had some stakes in the situation.

Suppose, Prairie Dawn was giving a tour and came across the missing painting the same time as Cookie Monster, and when Miss Dratch is accusing Cookie Monster, then Elmo and Chris stand by him, Prairie Dawn hesitates to believe CM is innocent for a minute, but ultimately chooses to in the end, mainly because she knows Elmo and Chris wouldn’t be standing up for Cookie if he was really guilty. But that just makes Miss Dratch turn her hostility to Prairie as well, and she attempts to fire her, but luckily she manages to escape the Cookie Patrol with her trio of friends, and she’s now part of the mission, has a reason for helping out, and is still being a good friend to her friends. Just some food for thought.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about the cookie art. My goodness, is it beautiful. Whether it’s cookie recreations of famous art pieces, or cookie recreations of Sesame Street animated segments, the art chosen to be showcased in this special is worth being showcased in any museum. And those artist flashbacks with Grover were also pretty humorous takes on what the painting process must have been like.

Being an artist myself, I also really liked the notion of the characters making their own art. Speaking from experience, making art is a really fun thing to do, and it’s even more fun when you make something that you’re really proud of.

Bottom line, The Cookie Thief is another fun experience with good character moments, tons of visual eye candy, and funny gags. Plus it gives Cookie Monster some much needed time in the limelight. Definitely check this one out if you can.

B+

#16

With a title as generic as the one you probably just read, you might think this special is just a borefest, but rest assured, this pledge drive special is pretty entertaining.

It starts off with one of the best performances of the Sesame Street theme song ever by Gladys Knight and the Pips, and then Phil Donahue gets to interview our SS pals on what they love about their home, which is entertaining because it gives the cast many opportunities to bounce off of each other, Oscar complains that there’s too much positive vibes with Maria quickly countering his statement, The Count says they need more counting, Ernie wants to let Rubber Duckie say something, which is followed by Uncle Wally passionately rallying for RD to do so, and every so often, Gina rushes up to excitedly say hi to camera. I love you, Gina.

We’re also treated to Bob performing a special TV version of “People In Your Neighborhood”, Kermit gets Oscar to like pledge drives, and Cookie Monster is put on trial for stealing Gordon and Susan’s cookies.

As for segments, this special has some good ones. 39 steps is one of the best Monsterpiece Theater sketches, and so is the Mexican restaurant sketch with Grover and Mr. Johnson. Patti LaBelle’s X song is very nice, Sign Your Synonyms is quite an underrated song, and we get two, count 'em, two renditions of Put Down The Duckie. One during the special, and one during the credits.

I also realized how old this actually was. This is a pledge drive that was aired during PBS, and I kinda wish I could’ve been there to experience it on TV when it came out. I’ve spent so much time watching content on YouTube and Streaming Services that I’ve kinda forgotten the cable experience.

This is another one that I don’t have too much to say on. It has good character usage, tons of funny moments, great songs, and stuff you can learn. And that’s really all any Sesame Street special needs to be good in my eyes. Definitely check this one out if you can.

A-

#15

Big Bird’s Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake is another special that sort of feels more like an extended episode, but it’s still entertaining, nonetheless.

As you could probably tell from the dual title, this special has two plots. The first one is exactly what it implies. It’s Big Bird’s birthday and his friends are taking him to a roller skating rink, to go roller skating, where Big Bird helps Snuffy learn how to do it for the first time. The second part of the title is referring to what happens on the street while everyone else is away. Cookie Monster happens to come across Big Bird’s birthday cake, and knowing that he has to wait to eat it until it's served to everyone, eats everything else on Sesame Street to pass the time.

Now first, I wanna tell you something interesting that I found while analyzing this special. Despite the former half of the title, Big Bird isn’t really the central focus. Yeah, the characters are celebrating his birthday and he is heavily featured, but he’s also kinda put into a secondary role, since the main crux of the special, not counting Cookie Monster’s part, is about Snuffy overcoming his fear of roller skating, and Big Bird is just helping him out. While it was a very nice plot and showcases the true bond these two gentle giants have, I think they should’ve gone with a plot centered around the birthday bird. Like maybe the special could be about Big Bird thinking that since birthdays are when you turn older, he has to act like a grown up and give up on all the things he loves, like roller skating, ice cream and Radar, and his friends help him realize that if you love doing something, it doesn’t matter how old you are. It’s what you love that makes you who you are, not your age. Sure it may be a bit cliche, but it would still let Big Bird be the star of his own birthday special.

As for Cookie Monster’s plot, I’d say it’s another one of his best shining moments in the show. For the simple reason that when he first comes across the cake, he, himself, without any of the other grownups telling him, figures out the cake is for Big Bird and that he shouldn’t eat it. You can call Cookie Monster a lot of things: A glutton, an animal, a slob, but a heartless jerk that doesn’t care about his friends, he ain’t.

I’d definitely say that CM was the main source of humor for this special, but that doesn’t mean the other characters don’t get any funny moments. Matter of fact, this special does a pretty good job of character usage. The opening number is a pretty catchy tune that gives most of the cast something to say, but when we get to the roller rink, we get even more funny moments from the muppets doing their thing in this new setting. Oscar wants to fall down, but instead he gets really dizzy, courtesy of Bruno, Gina hangs on to Telly, while he rattles off everything that could go wrong, Elmo falls over after getting his gear on, Forgetful Jones at some point hangs onto a girl’s ponytail instead of Buster’s real tail. And afterwards during cake time, the Count gets his moment, where it’s revealed he put as many candles as he could on the cake, despite the fact that Big Bird’s only six year old, because of course he did. He’s the Count.

But it still doesn’t end there, because before the credits can get rolling, Cookie Monster appears at the end to claim the slice of cake that he deserves, at this point, as well as the letter and number of the day, that Gina gives to him. I’d also like to point out that this, along with episode 4407, are the only times in the show that Gina and Cookie Monster interact with each other, and that kinda bums me out. I’m a firm believer that Gina and Cookie Monster needed more one on one moments, and I’m not just saying that because they’re my two favorite characters in the whole show, I genuinely think their personalities would make for hilarious interactions, especially in the era this special was made in, where Gina was more hyper and confrontational.

If there’s anything else I would like to see from this special, it would be moments for Ernie, Bert, and Grover. They are present, but only as part of the crowd. I would’ve liked to see a scene of Grover working at the rink and failing to get the right type of skates for Mr. Johnson, or even a scene where Ernie and Bert compare their skates, and while Ernie gets skates that have a lot of colors on them, Bert just got plain white ones.

But even so, the things I just went over are not enough to ruin the experience. Big Bird’s Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake is a fun Sesame experience and a pretty good tribute to the bird we all know and love. Definitely worth your time.

A-

#14

The one word I’d use to describe The Street We Live On is: Straightforward. It’s a special that knows what it is and doesn’t stray too far away from that.

So this 35th Anniversary special is basically an episode of Elmo’s World-

(Booing)

Wait, hang on! I wasn’t finished yet! It’s an Elmo’s World episode, but this time, Elmo’s thinking about… Sesame Street! So all the usual bits are tailored to be about our favorite neighborhood. Dororthy’s question is “How does Cookie Monster eat a cookie?”, TV shows Elmo the Sesame Street Channel, (No, I’m not calling it the Grover, Maria, Big Bird And All Of Elmo’s Friends Channel, because that’s a stupidly long title.) and when Elmo wants to learn even more about Sesame Street, Grover takes him back in time to see Sesame Street back in the day.

Now first, I want to say that making an Elmo’s World on Sesame Street was the most genius thing they could do. Considering that this was around the time where Elmo and his world were the thing Sesame Street was most known for, it makes sense that they’d use the format for a 35th anniversary special, and they did a pretty good job, all things considered. They cover all of the usual bases of a typical EW episode, even if some of them are moved around, and it moves at its usual pace, so it doesn’t feel off.

Character-wise, this special is pretty great. I’ve mentioned this before, but the opening sequence, as well as the ending song, could rival The Loud House in terms of cramming all of its main characters into a short time frame, yet still managing to give each of them a moment. I really wish we had more moments like them in the show.

Also, fun bit of trivia, The Street We Live On also manages to give each of its most popular characters a part in the episode. You have Elmo as the lead, obviously, but Big Bird gets the Journey To Ernie bit and the video email, Oscar is the catalyst for the beginning sequence and appears at the end of the quiz section, Ernie has JTE as well as the Dance Myself to Sleep song in Dorothy’s imagination, Bert has a brief scene with Elmo to set up Dorothy imagining the musical number I just mentioned, Cookie Monster disguises himself as a baby during the question portion, The Count gets the counting portion, obviously, and Grover is kinda all over the place in this special, which to be fair, is true to how he usually is.

But even though this special has great character usage, it’s not perfect. For starters, Prairie Dawn is nowhere to be seen in this special. She isn’t even present in the finale, which is quite a bummer.

Also, aside from the beginning, end, and the time travel sequence, none of the human characters get anything to do, which, I know there wasn’t really that much for them to do, but I think it still would be nice of them to get at least one portion of the special to themselves.

But even with that, I still had fun appreciating Sesame Street alongside my favorite little red buddy, which is pretty sure what the creators had in mind when making it. “The Street I Live On” on its own is such a great song, and the ending montage that played when this special aired on TV was pretty spectacular. If Michael Jeter was alive to see it, I’m sure he would really enjoy it.

Like I said in the beginning, The Street We Live On knows what it wants to do, and despite a few hiccups, pulls it off successfully. Definitely worth a watch. And my re-written version of it will definitely be worth a read, as soon as I get around to finishing it.

A-

#13

So this is the first special where Big Bird and Barkley leave to explore a foreign country, still with no human grownups, and it’s the one I prefer for reasons I’ll get to shortly. But first, plot summary!

Big Bird finds a scroll in a local Chinatown store that tells a story about a legendary bird known as the Phoenix. Being an American bird himself, Big Bird decides that he’s the best candidate to track this bird down, ask her about China and report his findings back to his USA peeps. So he and Barkley travel to China and along the way meet a little girl named Xiao Foo, who helps them with all the Chinese stuff they didn’t know.

Right away, the biggest difference between this special and Big Bird in Japan is that there’s a bigger, clearer goal in mind. In Japan, Big Bird was just going on a tour and accidentally got himself lost. In China, Big Bird is actively trying to find someone, with a map and clues, and everything. Speaking of which, those clues actually have thought put into them, and you’re most likely not gonna come to the answer until the characters figure it out or unless you really think about it.

Also, unlike Japan, everything concludes in a satisfying manner. Big Bird finds the Phoenix, she reveals she set his whole journey up from the start so he could get the whole experience, he gets to hear her sing, he heads home, and he even returns the scroll he borrowed. All the loose ends are tied up, and it’s really satisfying.

However, like Japan, Big Bird in China does a great job showing and telling you about the country it takes place in. It’s like the Phoenix’s plan for Big Bird also worked on the audience as well, because we too know a lot about China by the end.

And whereas Big Bird in Japan only has Big Bird and Barkley throughout the duration of the feature, the rest of the muppet cast (Cookie Monster, Grover, Telly, Ernie, Bert, Oscar and the Two-Headed Monster) do get a brief moment in the first musical number where they wish the two safe travels and list off many of the things they’ve heard about the place. There’s also a tiny subplot where Telly and Oscar dig a tunnel to China themselves, and while it is relatively funny, it doesn’t affect the main plot in any way, shape or form. I dare say Telly and Oscar’s tunnel scenes were rather pointless in the grand scheme of things. I read on the Muppet Wiki that there was originally going to be a subplot about Grover making a Chinese travelog and running into water buffalo, and I think that was a great idea of what to do with the other characters, have them have their own bits throughout the show through Grover’s travelog, Cookie Monster could have a segment going over Chinese cuisine, Ernie and Bert could have their own bit, and so on. And since all of these other characters would have their own part, Oscar and Telly’s tunnel bit wouldn’t feel so out of place.

Now, let’s talk about Xiao Foo. While she may seem no different from other characters I mentioned previously, she actually is, because unlike the kids in The Magical Wand Chase, she actually spends enough time with Big Bird that even if she doesn’t have that much of a personality, it doesn’t matter too much, because she has great chemistry with her screen partner. They’re like a real life version of Sully and Boo from Monsters Inc. And unlike Kaguya-Hime, there’s no sadness to her end of the story. Xiao-Foo isn’t a princess that’s cursed to stay somewhere far away or anything, she’s just a little girl, who Big Bird happened to run into, and is just along for the ride. The only mystery with her is whether or not her parents were worried about their daughter going to all of these far away places with only a bird and a dog for company, but that’s neither here nor there.

Speaking of which, I got to rewatch I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story, and the scene at the end where Mr. Caroll and his wife, Miss Debra reuniting with Lisa Ouyang, the girl who played Xiao-Foo was such a heartwarming thing to see.

Big Bird in China works for me because it’s concrete. It’s a concrete story with a concrete goal, a concrete third party who has a great relationship with Big Bird, and it has a concrete ending where everything gets resolved, and sometimes that’s all a special like this needs to be. Give it a watch, especially if you’re planning a trip to China.

A-

#12

I will never understand why the modern Sesame Street seasons (Pre season 51) get so much disdain from fans, because they have so many good aspects of it, and this special is one of those aspects.

On Christmas Eve, Elmo wonders why people leave cookies out for Santa Claus when he comes to deliver presents, so Elmo’s dad, Louie, decides to concoct a story to answer that question. A story about Sesame Street when it wasn't as virtuous as it is today, (So un-virtuous in fact, that Santa never came) and how a little red monster helped change that.

Now, I really like how different the set up for Louie’s story is. The question of why we leave cookies out for Santa is one that not a lot of TV media brings up, so kudos to Sesame Workshop for shaking up the status quo.

As for characters, Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas is a special case. See, the characters in the story are basically the ones we know already, with the twist being that they’re all their great great ancestors and all of them fit the roles they were given.

• Elmo is the wide-eyed, innocent newbie who wants to bring Christmas joy to his new neighborhood.
• Grover is a traveling salesmonster, who’s also pretty adamant about bringing Christmas to Sesame Street.
• Cookie Monster is a greedy chef, who doesn’t want to share the cookies he bakes, but comes around in the end.
• Mr. Johnson is a grumpy constable, who also takes some time to come around.
• Big Bird is a visitor who’s just along for the ride, happy to do his part.
• Bert and Ernie are a pair of traveling performers, who help by singing carols to the neighbors.
• And in an extremely funny twist, Oscar the Grouch is now Oscar the Malcontent, and the nicest being on Sesame Street, by default.

And of course, you can’t have an Elmo-centric story without a Leslie Carrara-Rudolph character for him to be buddied up with. This one is called Smudge, and she’s a welcome change from the usual mold. She’s the tough girl whose bitterness and cynicism clashes with Elmo’s kindness and optimism, and after going on the journey with him and helping him, she softens up, having figured out how nice being kind really is. She even gives him the last epiphany he needs to truly give Sesame Street the Christmas spirit.

There’s also Holly and Bella, a magical lady and, uh… lighting device that serve as progress trackers. So Holly has the five lights that light up whenever a street has enough spirit to land a spot on Santa’s delivery route, and throughout the special we check in with them to see how many of Holly’s lights are lit. These two are alright. They serve their role, but they’re not really THAT noteworthy.

The songs are also pretty great to listen to. Holiday Time is a good opening number, with my only nitpick being that my boy Chris is nowhere to be found. Let Santa Know We’re Here is one of the greater Elmo and Grover duets. B&E get to sing a catchy rendition of the Two Song, and Kindness is a great song to tie everything up and I think it’s one of Elmo’s best songs in the show.

I also really enjoy the set for the old Sesame Street of Louie’s story. Everything looks so old fashioned and features enough details to help it stand out, like a fire station in the arbor. Oscar even gets his old setup back, even if it’s in a different location.

Once Upon A Sesame Street Christmas, while nothing majorly awesome, is still a very feel good Christmas special, it uses its characters to good effect, it has some really great songs and the message is delivered loud and clear in a way that kids will get. And it’s definitely one that will stick with me longer than others will. Definitely check it out if you can.

A-

#11

This was the other 25th anniversary special Sesame Street made, and the superior one, because whereas Stars and Street Forever put a little too much focus on the guest stars it featured, and not the characters we got to know and love over the years, Sesame Street Jam shifts the focus back to them as well as one of the show’s greatest aspects: Its music.

This special actually takes place outside of the usual street set and in a real outside park, where Big Bird, Telly and Prairie Dawn decide to put on a show with singers, dancers, and most importantly la-la-ers, but it turns out to be a little harder than they initially thought it would be.

First off, I wanna go over something very interesting I found out after doing my research. This special, and its home release differ quite greatly from each other. While the story structure for both was the same, when this special first aired, it mainly used songs and versions of classic songs from the 25th season, but when it was released on DVD and VHS it actually featured more of the original classics, and that makes for two completely different viewing experiences that affect the way it uses its characters and songs.

In terms of characters, the TV version does a pretty good job, sure there’s no sign of characters like Snuffy, Baby Bear, Zoe, or Benny, and characters like Cookie, Ernie, Bert, Grover, Rosita have just small bits throughout, heck, Oscar only gets one line near the beginning, but those aforementioned characters are still there, and we still have characters like Big Bird, Telly, Prairie Dawn, Elmo, Count, Mumford, Joey and Davey and the Yip Yip Martians, so it’s not a total loss. But in comparison, the home video version having as many classic songs as it does actually gives the characters more to do, as many of the segments are their most popular hits, so you’ve got Oscar singing I Love Trash, Cookie Monster singing C is for Cookie, Ernie and Bert get a ton of THEIR songs, even Kermit gets to sing Bein’ Green.

When it comes to human characters, this special is quite limited, as the only ones we see are five of the people introduced in seasons 21-25 (Celina, Carlo, Angela, Jamal and Savion) and only three of our originals. (Gina, Maria and Bob) So no Gordon, Susan, Linda, Luis, Mr. Hanford or Ruthie, and that’s a bit of a bummer. But, our present human friends made up for it near the end, especially Savion and his sick tap dancing skills.

In terms of songs, the televised version does have great ones. Queen Latifah’s O song is a total bop, and so is En Vogue’s Adventure. You’ve also got some classics like Monster in the Mirror and A New Way To Walk, Little Richie and Aaron Neville’s covers of Rubber Duckie and I Don’t Want To Live On The Moon, respectively, are also pretty great, My Name is cute little ditty, and Elmo and the Lavender Moon is quite the experience. As for the home release, it has the ones I just went over, but it also has Count It Higher, Batty Bat, We Are All Earthlings, Fuzzy and Blue, there are a few live action segment songs, and even an animated song with The Alligator King.

But the thing that both versions share is the finale where the cast come together to sing Sing, and it is easily the best part. From the calypso beat it presents, to how well it works as an ensemble number with the cast present, to Savion’s cool tap dancing break in between. It’ll go down in my mind as the third best version of the song in the show’s history. Which is the best version? You’ll just have to wait and see.

Sesame Street Jam, while still having some flaws, is a better 25 year commemoration, because the original cast is the main focus, and a good majority of the special is spent on its catalog of awesome songs, new or old, depending on which version you watch. I’d say the home video version is the one I prefer, because it gives more of its core characters screen time through the inserts, but I’d recommend you watch both and come to your own conclusion on which one you like best.

A-

#10

Okay, we’re down to the top 10, and boy, what a doozy of a special we’re starting off with. It’s also the first Sesame Street special that’s ever been released.

The basic premise is that Julie Andrews decides to visit Sesame Street and recruits the muppets (As well as Perry Como) for some fun, games and songs. That’s literally the only way I can describe it.

Now, my mom is a HUGE Sound of Music fan, so growing up, I had a vague idea of who Julie Andrews was, and now that I’m older and know more about her, I can definitely say she’s someone who fits the Sesame Street mold. She’s funny, she’s charismatic and she can sing, so you’re definitely gonna be fine spending an hour or so with her.

What’s also great is that even though Miss Andrews is pretty much the center of attention, the muppet cast gets plenty to do, whether it be witty banter or a good song performance, the characters that made Sesame Street Sesame Street are still very much a part of this special.

When it comes to which characters are present, it’s pretty much almost all of the mains: Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie Monster, Kermit, Ernie, Bert, Grover, Snuffy, but surprisingly, no Count. Which is a little weird, especially considering he was introduced a year prior. He could’ve definitely been used in that scene where Miss Andrews and some other guys count to 10 while dancing.

The songs are also really great, Miss Andrews’ renditions of Bein’ Green and Sing are really beautiful, and a good chunk of this special is devoted to her and the muppet cast doing their own renditions of broadway hits, so you know those are going to be awesome.

I also realized how mature this special is. If Elmo’s Playdate was the most kid-ified special, Julie on Sesame Street is the special most catered to adults. Of course there’s no sex, drugs, swearing or anything like that, but seeing stuff like Miss Andrews firing a shotgun, Cookie Monster digesting a stick of dynamite and it going off in his stomach, and the constant laughtrack you hear throughout the program is enough to make you realize that they were leaning more towards the grown-up side during the writing process for this.

Another thing of note is the set. It looks a bit different than the one we’re used to seeing, that’s because it’s not the one we’re used to seeing. Apparently, Miss Andrews didn’t want to fly over to the US, so she had Jim Henson, his crew, and the muppets flown over to the UK and film on a recreation of the original set built specifically for this special. That’s pretty cool.

Not a lot to say on this one. It’s just a fun time with these characters and a British legend clowning around and making us laugh, and that’s really all it has to be.

A-

#9

I think everyone reading this post has either seen and/or read The Monster At The End Of The Book at some point in their life. It’s the most popular piece of Sesame Street merchandise aside from Tickle Me Elmo. If I had a nickel for every time someone I’ve met in real life told me how much they loved that book… I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it only happened twice, but when I go on social media, I see thousands of people stating how they read that story all the time growing up, or are now reading it to their kids. So, I guess it was pretty telling that eventually it was going to get its own TV adaption. And, as crazy as this sounds, it might actually be better than the book.

(Booing)

Now hang on! Let me explain.

We all know how the original book goes. Grover finds out he’s in a book with a monster at the end of it, and he instantly freaks out and spends a majority of the book trying to stop the reader from turning the pages, with little success. When they finally get to the end it’s revealed that Grover was the monster, leaving him very embarrassed. The End. The TV version of this story is basically that, but with more added on.

The Monster At The End Of This Story starts out generally the same as the book does. Grover finds out he’s in a story, he finds out there’s a monster at the end, tries to escape, and then tries to prevent the audience from watching any further, using many of the tactics he used in the book. It’s not until 7 minutes and 34 seconds in, where something new is added to shake things up, and it’s one of the things that makes it better than the original book.

There, it was just Grover and the reader. There were no other characters for him to interact with, but the TV version adds Elmo, and later Cookie Monster, Rosita and Abby to mix, so now Grover has a support system to help him out with his issue, and boy are these guys a great support system. Throughout this whole special, Elmo, Cookie, Abby and Rosita are nothing but reasonable, kind and supportive of their adorable blue friend, calming him down, cheering him on, and listening to what he has to say, and it’s because of them that the ending feels a lot more satisfying. Whereas the first one was just Grover being forced to confront a situation all on his own, the second feels like Grover actually facing his fears with the ones he loves beside him.

The second thing this adaptation does that makes it better than the original is that it actually explains why Grover is so afraid. In the original, Grover states that he’s scared of monsters, despite the fact that he IS a monster, and knows MANY other monsters, and when you figure that out, it’s pretty hard to ignore. Not helping is the fact that it’s never questioned at any point. Luckily, the special manages to bring that issue up and give a good reason for why Grover’s scared despite that.

Elmo: But Grover IS a monster! And Elmo is too! And we’re not scary.

Grover: Well, of course, WE are nice and furry and friendly monsters, it is the OTHER monsters that worry me! Monsters that are big and scary, with sharp teeth and claws! And an attitude./I do not know ANYTHING about the monster at the end of this story, and not knowing is very scary to me!

Because of this, Grover is more endearing and relatable to the audience, because I’m pretty sure we can all relate to being scared of new situations that we know nothing about, and that makes it all the more relieving when Grover actually does see who the monster really is.

I heard someone online say that Abby was unnecessary for this special, because she’s not a monster and didn’t contribute anything, and while I see where they’re coming from, I’m gonna have to respectfully disagree. I’m sure this wasn’t intentional, but while Abby doesn’t really have any major moments like her friends do, I think that plays into a different type of lesson this special teaches: That people not like you are still of value and can still be there for you. Elmo, Cookie Monster and Rosita are all monsters, so they can talk to Grover on a bit more of a personal level, which is why they all got moments talking about their fears and such. Even though Abby doesn’t have a moment like that, she’s still offering to help Grover if she can, and she’s still giving him nothing but love and support, and sometimes that’s all some people can give. Even if they didn’t intend it, I still give kudos to the writers for letting people know that even if they’re not the same skin color or gender as their friends, that doesn’t mean they can’t still offer support, even if they don’t get what they’re going through.

The songs in here are also pretty good. The first song, and its reprise are a catchy way to begin and close the story, the Afraid song is a cute Elmo and Grover duet, and the Courage song is a nice song that offers some good strategies for getting over nervousness.

All of this plays into a greater lesson than the one the book teaches. Whereas that one was sometimes things seem like mountains, but they’re really mole hills, that lesson is still present here, but additionally, it also teaches us that it’s okay to be scared of things, but as long as you have good strategies and people who care about you, you can get through anything. And especially after the rollercoaster that was 2020, that’s something we all can learn.

I really can’t say more here. The Monster At The End Of This Story is a great adaptation of a cute storybook that expands on the aspects that need expanding. It gives Grover a reason for being as scared as he is, it gives him characters that he can bounce off of and that can support him, and it gives a more satisfying conclusion for him. I’ll end by saying you don’t have to have read the book to enjoy the special, but as someone who has, I can say I enjoyed it a lot more because of the improvements I noticed. Either way, this special is great and I definitely recommend you check it out.

A

#8

When You Wish Upon A Pickle is a special I’ve reviewed in the past, and my opinion on it hasn’t changed much since then. It’s one of the greatest modern Sesame Street specials there is.

When You Wish Upon A Pickle is basically three stories, one about Elmo and Chris, one about Ernie and Bert and one about Abby, and the plot of a wishing machine in the form of a pickle arriving on Sesame Street is the thing that connects them. All three plots get an equal amount of screen time, and they each get solid endings, with each party learning something.

Elmo and Chris’ lesson is that it’s great being who you are. Elmo wants to help Chris at a decidedly Alan-free Hooper’s Store, but he’s too small to reach things on high shelves and Chris, who’s feeling very overworked, wants to take a break, but his job won’t let him. When they find the Wish Pickle they both wish to be each other, and he makes them swap bodies, and after spending some time in each other’s shoes, they realize how good they had it being who they originally were.

Ernie and Bert’s lesson is that facing your fears just takes a bit of practice. Bert wants to be a weather forecaster, but doesn’t want to try, because of how camera shy he is, so Ernie decides to use his wish to help him out, but because he wasn’t specific enough, Bert ends up getting trapped in the TV, going from channel to channel, but while he’s there, Bert gains a bit more confidence in each channel he’s on, and eventually when he gets out, comes to the realization that he just needs to practice in order to achieve his career goal.

Abby’s lesson is that she has what it takes to be an awesome detective. After reading a story about her favorite book character, Natalie Neptune, Abby unknowingly pushes the Wish Pickle button, wishes that she could solve a real mystery with her, and wishes her out of her book. So together, the two try to figure out how she got out in the first place, and throughout the special, not only does Abby do some brilliant clue finding and deducing, but she also ends up solving the mystery that will fix everything.

And at the end, all three plots come together and are resolved in a satisfying conclusion.

I love all three dynamics that are on display here. They’re all just so wholesome. You’ve Chris and Elmo’s big buddy-little buddy friendship, Ernie is 100% supportive of Bert’s aspirations, (Which means it’s perfect material to show to people who think Ernie is a bad friend.) and Abby and Natalie have one of the greatest hero-idol relationships I’ve ever seen on TV, probably because Natalie herself is one of the greatest celebrities/famous in-universe characters I’ve ever seen on TV.

I also really like how this special utilizes Oscar. His scenes are brief, and you don’t think they’re gonna go anywhere, until the end when you realize they DID go somewhere. And eventually, Oscar ends up being the only one who can save everyone, and he does. Even though he won’t admit it, Oscar does love his friends and will do anything to make sure they’re safe.

The three original songs for this special are very catchy and some of Sesame Street’s greatest late 2010 bangers. There’s also the hilarious scene of Chris imagining himself in the new Elmo’s World, which I already covered in my top 55 SS moments list, so I’ll summarize by saying that it works so well, because it switches up the usual formula, while still servicing the plot.

That being said, this special does have a few problems. The first of which being Cookie Monster’s subplot of wanting more cookies but accidentally wishing for more of himself, while funny, doesn’t play into the other three plots in any way. You cut all of Cookie’s scenes out of the special and nothing would really change. Not helping is the fact that it doesn’t even get resolved at the end. And that really sucks to me, because the advertising made it seem like he would have a bigger impact, and Cookie Monster is my favorite character, so I wanted him to have more of an impact. But as it stands, his role in the special doesn’t feel like it goes anywhere.

Another issue is that while some characters like Grover and Mr. Johnson have decent amounts of screen time, characters like Nina, Big Bird and the Count, only have one or two scenes and don’t appear again afterwards, which also stinks, because there’s more that they can do. Like, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to have The Count constantly pop in to count how many weird things on Sesame Street there are, similar to Mr. Johnson and his spoon, or Nina or Big Bird helping out in any of the three main plots.

And this last one is something I just noticed on a re-watch, but Elmo and Chris also changing voices when they switch bodies, is rather off-putting after a while, and it would be better to hear them sound the same, but try to imitate each other’s dialect.

But those don’t take away too much of my enjoyment of this special. When You Wish Upon A Pickle is a great special that utilizes its characters to tell three wholesome stories, provides an actual mystery for kids to solve at home, has some of the best Sesame Street songs since 2015, and is another really feel good experience. Definitely something you can show to help convince people that the HBO era isn’t trash.

A

#7

Elmo Saves Christmas is a special I didn’t fully watch until deciding to make this list, and in hindsight, yeah, I definitely should’ve checked it out sooner, because it’s pretty awesome.

I’ll start off by saying a more accurate title for this special would be “Elmo Saves Christmas, Then Ruins It, And Then Saves It Again”... Let me explain. On Christmas Eve, Santa gets stuck down Elmo’s chimney, and after pulling him out, Santa rewards Elmo with a magic snow globe that can grant him three wishes. First, Elmo wishes for a glass of water, but then the next day, after witnessing the joy in the people around him, Elmo decides to use his second wish to wish for what every kid who discovers Christmas for the first time wishes for: To have it every day. To show Elmo the consequences of his wish, Santa has reindeer-in-training, Lightning, take him into the future to see what Christmas every day would really be like, and BOY, is it not pretty.

Now this is another plot that has Elmo’s name written all over it. Being the most kid-like character in the show at the time, of course he’d want to wish that one of the greatest holidays in the world would happen every day, and over the course of the special, Elmo actually learns why his wish is so detrimental to the function of the world.

Speaking of which, the ways things progressively get worse are mostly realistic scenarios that probably would happen. Santa and his elves are overworked and rarely get any breaks, The Fix-It shop is constantly closed with toasters piling up everywhere and mascots of other holidays like Easter, have to find ways of tying what they do back to Christmas.

Lightning is a good enough sidekick for Elmo in this one. Him wanting to prove himself to Santa is pretty endearing, and I was happy to see him get to help Santa near the end.

Also, while Elmo is the star, the special manages to balance out the rest of the main cast greatly. The plot itself is a story being told by Maya Angelou to Telly, Baby Bear, Zoe and the kids, so that takes care of them, but Big Bird has a heartwarming subplot of him missing Snuffy who’s visiting his grandma in Cincinnati, Cookie gets a brief scene near the beginning, Grover and Mr. Johnson have their bit with Christmas trees, we get to see Luis and Maria dealing with their issues, Oscar is relishing how miserable everyone is getting, Kermit is on the news, as usual, The Count eventually gets tired of counting Christmases, (Shocking, I know) even Ernie and Bert, while they don’t speak, get at least one joke/reference relating to the cop and taxi driver they were coincidentally named after.

My point is, I can’t think of a character from the main muppet roster that didn’t get at least a portion of screen time. And while not all of the human characters were present, enough of them were to where the street didn’t feel empty.

But anyway, this is actually a very good segue into the humor, because this special is very funny. The main reason being that a lot of the jokes are a perfect fit for the characters delivering them.

Maria: I'm sick of having fun, Elmo!! I wanna fix toasters! I’m gonna fix one right now! (grabs a waffle iron)

Luis: …That’s a waffle iron.

Maria: I know that!

Cookie Monster: Oh well. What the hey. Nothing ventured. Nothing gained.

Elmo: Elmo was going to wish for rollerblades, but now Elmo’s gonna wish for Christmas to go back to the way it was! One day a year!

Oscar: No! Go for the rollerblades!

Telly: I’d wish for a pogo stick with chrome handles! And world peace.

The songs are also quite the home run. “It’s Christmas Again!” is a song that starts off merry, but gets progressively more depressing as the Christmases continue. “Every Day Can’t Be Christmas” works as a cautionary tale Santa sings at the beginning of the story, and then a great way to showcase the growth Elmo has gone on over the journey he just went on, “The Easter Egg Song” is a fun little demonstration of improvisation and versatility. “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (Not the Mariah Carey version!) is a song that illustrates how much Big Bird misses his best friend, and “Keep Christmas With You” is a great way to end the special, with the cast congregating by the Christmas tree in the arbor.

But above all, Elmo Saves Christmas successfully gets its message across to its audience, and that message is too much of a good thing is not a good thing at all. The reason Christmas is such a cherished holiday is because it’s the one day when the world becomes the nicest and happiest it's ever been, and if it happened all the time, it would lose its significance and its meaning. But that doesn’t mean we can’t keep the spirit of Christmas alive year-round by putting good into the world whenever we can.

This special is another special that does so much right. It balances the main cast well and gives each of them screen time, it has great songs, it isn’t afraid to delve into dark and depressing territory, and the message it sends is one of the greatest messages they could ever send. Christmas may only come around once a year, but this is a special I recommend you watch year round.

A

#6

Man, the 90s was a REALLY great time for Sesame Street specials, wasn’t it? Sesame Street Stays Up Late takes what made Elmo Saves Christmas so great and makes it 10x better, somehow.

So this special takes place on New Year’s Eve, and while the grown-ups have their own party to attend, Gina, Savion and the muppets and kids in the neighborhood decide to throw their own party on the street. Meanwhile, Elmo, along with his international cousins, Grover, Cookie Monster, Rosita, and a few other monsters have put together a news report on television covering how New Year’s Eve is being celebrated all over the world, with some characters from international versions of Sesame Street pitching in to help, as well.

The first thing I wanna discuss is how good a job this special does at teaching you about the holiday it revolves around. I honestly did not know other countries did so many different things to celebrate New Year’s Eve before this special, but each one presented to us makes sense, and ties into the central idea of out with the old and in with the new. Plus, it’s a perfect way to tie back to the show’s core principles of acceptance of diversity, and is bound to make kids around the world feel seen and heard. And the enjoyment is amplified by the inclusion of the international characters. My personal favorite was the Norway part, especially the candle song.

When it comes to character usage, Sesame Street Stays Up Late passes with flying colors, because it manages to include EVERY MAIN CHARACTER from its roster, at the time, and I do mean EVERY MAIN CHARACTER. Not just that, but each of them gets something to contribute. You’ve got Elmo and his monster pals with their news broadcast, Big Bird is desperately trying to wake a sleeping Snuffy, Baby Bear is having trouble waiting to shout “Happy New Year!”, The Count is counting down every second for 12:00 to hit, Oscar calls up some of his relatives, Wolfgang the Seal is tasked with dropping a beach ball to signify the new year arriving, Prairie Dawn gets a chance to interview Telly in disguise, the grown-ups while gone for a majority of the special do have a reason for being gone, and they do come back at the very end to join the festivities, and unlike previous specials, they’re all here, as well!

The only ones I feel got somewhat shafted were Ernie and Bert, who only get lines in the final song. I would’ve liked to see them do something like this: The two pals have made a bucket list of stuff they want to do before the New Year ends, and they spend the majority of their allotted screen time doing that. But hey, at least they got actual lines this time, so can’t complain too much.

But the one character that drives the special’s heart and message is Telly. When Telly finds out that New Year’s Eve is a time to celebrate an old year ending, he starts to feel a little nervous about it, because he likes the old year. Oscar, being Oscar, just adds a gallon of fuel to Telly’s fire and freaks him out so much that he tries to do everything he can to stop the new year from coming, like a more petrified version of the Grinch. Hm.. How The Telly Stole New Year’s Eve. That has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? But anyway, we can totally understand where Telly’s coming from, because we do create lots of great memories and moments with every year we experience, and the thought of having to leave all of that behind isn’t really the best thought in the world. So we can still laugh at how ridiculous Telly is being, but we totally understand why that is: Because he’s afraid that all of the great memories he had over the years will be gone forever… and because Oscar is a prick. A lovable prick, but a prick nonetheless.

But, it also leads into one of the most heartwarming scenes in the entire show, where Gina calmly and gently explains to Telly that New Year’s Eve isn’t just the end of an era, it’s also the beginning of a new one, and how we can do things like make resolutions to make things just a little better. And if that wasn’t enough, she even promises to stay with Telly and hold his hand all night long until the new year starts. If that doesn’t convince you that Gina is the best Sesame Street human, then I don’t know what will. I genuinely think that Gina and Telly’s conversation is one of the greatest moments in the show’s history. If I had watched this special before I made my top 55 moments list, it would’ve definitely landed itself a spot.

The songs are also a great aspect of this special. The first song is a nice little intro to what the characters are gonna be doing, the songs that play out during the international bits are also very nice to listen to and help tell you more about the traditions being showcased.

And “Faces That I Love” has to be one of the greatest songs in the show’s history. I really regret not listening to it sooner. Everything, from the melody, to the lyrics, to how each cast member, except Oscar, gets a part, to those sweet sax solos by Hoots, it’s just such a beautiful number that I could listen to on repeat.

Sesame Street Stays Up Late is another special that features everything I like about Sesame Street, it uses all of its characters to great effect, it has great lessons that kids can learn, and some that I didn’t even know of, and it actually makes you feel like welcome and present. You feel like you're celebrating this holiday with these friends that you love so much, and for that, this special will always hold a special place in my heart, and yours too, if you decide to give it a watch.

A

#5

Okay, only five more specials to go, and oh boy, do we have a good one right here. Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting follows the same format as A Walking Tour Of Sesame Street, but it actually fixes a lot of the issues with the latter and improves on it in so many ways.

First off, the host. Putting aside the controversies he got himself into later on in life, considering the decade this special was released, Bill Cosby was kind of the perfect candidate, and he does a way better job at hosting than James Earl Jones did. Whereas JEJ was rather serious and treated the whole process like he was at a business meeting, BC actually treats hosting this special as what it is, a fun lookback with friends, and he actually interacts with the audience and the other characters like they’re just friends along for the ride.

Secondly, this special does a WAY better job of handling its characters. On the muppet side, we have two subplots. Bert and Ernie attempt to film Sesame Street with their new video camera, while Kermit ventures off into the real world to ask real people a certain question, and runs into Grover at every turn. Also, Big Bird gets his own montage, The Count gets to count all of the commercial breaks, and Oscar, Telly, Elmo and Cookie Monster all show up enough to leave an impact.

But it’s not just the main characters who shine here, we also have a nice selection of side characters, who were VERY prevalent in this era of the show, like Herry Monster, Don Music, Baby Natasha, and most notably Placido Flamingo, who gets to join his real-life inspiration, Placido Domingo in singing a great song about new experiences.

This special is also quite the celebration of the humans that helped make the show what it is. I mean, sure you’ve got our beloved human cast, who all make appearances here, and we even get to witness Bob McGrath, Dr. Loretta Long and Roscoe Orman sit down and reflect on their experiences on the show, not as their established TV characters.

But we also get to see some of the crew that helped contribute to the show, and fans who learned from it. The muppet man himself, Jim Henson, introduces the special, and later gets a chance to interview the Sesame Street woman herself, Joan Ganz Cooney. We get to see a montage of real people who state the things they liked the most about the show when they were growing up. And speaking of growing up, if everything else I mentioned wasn’t enough, both Kermit and Herry actually get to reunite with kids they hung out with more than 10 years ago. How many times can you say Sesame Street brings its kid extras back when they’re grown up? Not often, I’m sure.

This special also does a good job of recapping moments from the actual show, I mean the beginning montage itself was a nice trip down memory lane, but the 80s was a time where some of the show’s biggest and most groundbreaking moments occurred, as shown to us by Cosby near the end. The special brings up the ever popular “Mr. Hooper is dead” scene, but it also touches upon the most significant moments of the two main human couples of the show. First Luis and Maria, with their wedding and Maria’s pregnancy, and then Gordon and Susan get their turn with their adoption of Miles.

Something I almost forgot to mention was that this whole special was dedicated to Joe Raposo, Sesame Street’s main composer, who died 2 months before this special was released, and as a tribute, this special is also very wonderful. He wrote two original songs for it, the one I previously mentioned with the Placidos and the one that plays over Big Bird’s montage. But it’s not just that, this special also features a special version of “Bein’ Green” sung by the great and late Ray Charles, and backed up by many of the SS monsters, and it’s a treat, but not as much of a treat as the finale, which, just like Sesame Street Jam, is the whole cast (Except Oscar) coming to together to sing Sing, arguably Raposo’s best and most popular song. If I had to pick which version I’d like better, it’d probably have to be this one, because it does a better job of giving each main character a part, and you know how much I love that.

When it comes to going over what the show does and what it’s about it touches upon all of the bases. Sesame Street uses its muppets to help get what it wants to say across to its audience, it uses commercial techniques to help kids learn letters and numbers, there’s stuff in it that adults can enjoy, each season there’s a different curriculum with new lessons, there are people of all kinds in its cast roster, it’s not afraid to tackle serious subjects and there’s a different version of it in each country. It even manages to sum up perfectly why it keeps going and will continue to go until the world ends:

“There’s always something new to teach and always someone new to teach it to.”

I could not put that into words better if I tried.

I don’t think I really have more to say about this one. Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting was the perfect anniversary special for the time period it came out in. It uses characters that were the most active during its era, it had an entertaining and welcoming host, amazing songs, and it was a loving tribute to the man it was dedicated to. I’m proud to put this one in my top 5.

A

#4

Don’t Eat The Pictures is physical proof that you can place these characters in almost ANY setting and have a good time. They’re just that entertaining.

This special is about our entire main cast (Except for Luis, due to scheduling reasons.) spending the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but when it’s time for them to head back home, Big Bird tells the grown-ups that he has to meet up with Snuffy. Since this special was made before Snuffy met the grownups, they don’t believe Big Bird, so he decides to track Snuffy down himself, but that leads to the rest of the cast having to find him and eventually getting locked inside, so now they have to spend the night in the museum, and this special documents their time inside.

Now the main reason I adore this special so much is because it’s such a good character showcase, especially when it comes to the street as a singular unit, but I’ll talk about that later. Right now, I want to talk about what each character does individually.

The main plot revolves around Big Bird and Snuffy meeting up with an Egyptian prince named Sahu and his invisible pet cat, who've been trying to solve a riddle for 4,000 years so he can reunite with his star parents in the sky, (Heavy stuff, I know.) so being the great guys they are, BB and Snuff decide to help him out. Now, much like Xiao-Foo, it’s not that Sahu has the greatest personality, it’s that he has great chemistry with the two gentle giants he’s paired up with. Even though they just met, we believe the three of them are friends, and we believe that they love each other, and when it’s revealed their love is the thing that lifts Sahu’s heart, so he can get in, yours can’t help but be lifted as well. In fact, now that I think about it, Sahu’s journey is like Kaguya-Hime’s story, except more satisfying, because we get to see Big Bird and Snuffy help him achieve it, and him having a happy ending with his parents.

But just because Big Bird and his shaggy brown pal have the bulk of the special doesn’t mean that the other characters don’t get anything to do.

Cookie Monster, much like in The Cookie Thief, has to control himself from chowing down on the artwork, and he actually manages to get through the whole night without doing so, (I don’t know what he ate in that time, but the important thing is it wasn’t the art.) and the next day he gets rewarded with the perfect treat to have after spending a night in a museum: A hot dog stand.

Also, Oscar gets a moment to take in some broken Greek statues, Grover befriends a suit of knight armor, and E&B get a moment to discuss the perils of George Washington. The Count and Telly also get their moments, but I would’ve liked to see them get their own scenes as well. Like, there could be a scene where the Count states his progress counting every work of art in the museum, while Telly runs into a certain painting or sculpture that freaks him out. Speaking of which, a previous draft of the special includes a scene where Bert and Ernie admire different parts of the museum, Ernie looks at the art, while Bert looks at the benches, that would’ve been nice to see, as well.

The humans work as a singular unit in this one. Bob is the one reigning in Cookie Monster, Maria brings Grover back to reality, and Olivia even gets to sing a song at one point. It’s just a shame that Luis couldn’t be present to complete the roster. And as this fellow Facebook commenter pointed out:

“Woulda been nice if there was some explanation where Luis was. And not simply keeping the Fix-It Shop open either, 'cause that opens up the plot hole of why didn't he call the museum or the police when they didn't come home.”

But anyway, as I mentioned before, Don’t Eat The Pictures is great at showcasing all of our main characters as an ensemble. The scenes of them altogether are great, because it gives them opportunities to bounce off of each other, in a very entertaining manner. The most standout of which being Oscar and his quips.

Gordon: Well, the back door’s locked, so we’ll have to go out the front door and get help.

David: Oh yeah? The front door is locked.

Oscar: Can anybody fly?

Oscar: (blowing a trumpet) Okay everybody, rise, but don’t shine!

Oscar: (As they set out to find Big Bird) And I thought this was gonna be boring!

Telly: What are we gonna do, now?!

Oscar: Well, I’ve got a suggestion: Let’s panic!

And I’ve already talked about how genius that scene where the entire cast sneaks past the guard is in my top 55 moments list, so I’ll summarize my thoughts on it, by saying that it’s a type of scene that we don’t get in a lot of Sesame Street material.

The songs, as usual, are a treat. Oscar, Grover and Cookie’s songs are entertaining and funny in their own rights. Oscar’s is a moment where finally gets to express his happiness for art he actually likes, Grover’s is a cute way to try and get to the armor to say something to him, and also a nice way to show how he’s grown, considering previous material, and Cookie’s is a way for him to teach us something that’s basic knowledge to literally everyone watching, but we know who he is, and the song is so catchy, that we don’t care.

Olivia’s song is a nice way of noticing themes in certain artworks, in this case, moms and kids, and Big Bird’s song to Sahu is a nice way for the bird to motivate his new friend.

This special, much like others, does a great job of getting you excited about the location it takes place in. While art museums are not high on the list of places I like to spend multiple amounts of time in, Don’t Eat The Pictures did make the Metropolitan Art Museum sound like a place I’d like to visit at some point. All of the paintings and sculptures they showcase are beautiful and interesting to look at, and the museum itself even finds a way to tie back into the main story, specifically the riddle that Sahu has to solve. I won’t say what it is, but once you hear it, it’ll definitely make a lot of sense.

As you probably figured out, I think Don’t Eat The Pictures is fantastic. It has stellar character usage, great songs, an interesting story and eye candy, and you’ll probably feel like going to your local art museum after watching it. In fact, I’d go as far to say that this special is a work of art itself.

A

#3

Elmopalooza is another special that I didn’t watch until I decided to do this list, and once again, I was missing out. This special just does so much right.

Elmopalooza was made to celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary, which is also what the plot itself is about. Everyone is gathering at Radio City Musical Hall to view a Sesame Street music show hosted by Jon Stewart, but while backstage, Elmo accidentally traps Mr. Stewart, Prairie Dawn and the rest of the crew inside the dressing room, by closing the broken door. So Elmo comes up with the obvious solution of taking over the program with his fellow muppet pals in tow.

Now first off, I wanna say that this is already a genius plot. Having our beloved Sesame Street characters put on their own version of the Muppet Show, complete with music numbers they share with guest stars, funny jokes, and stuff going wrong at every turn, it’s a perfect way to give all of the characters something to do.

Speaking of which, the character usage. My god, the character usage. DO NOT the title fool you, this special is not just about Elmo. He gets the most attention and he has the main plot line, but everyone else in the main muppet roster gets screen time: Big Bird, Oscar, Slimey, Cookie, Bert, Ernie, Grover, The Count, Snuffy, Prairie Dawn, Kermit, Rosita, Zoe, Telly, Baby Bear, they’re all here and all get moments at some point in the production, mainly Prairie, who’s as uptight as ever, and Grover who’s tasked with driving the grown-ups to the show. Now, not all of the humans are there, (It’s just Gordon, Susan, Bob, Gina and Mr. Hanford, and Maria and Luis in one of the musical numbers) but the most recognizable ones are, and they each get their moments as well. We also get moments from the Yip Yips, The Two Headed Monster, Horatio, Biff and Sully, Frazzle makes an appearance, the cast roster of Elmopalooza is large and enjoyable, and because of that it really feels like a proper tribute to the street and neighbors we all know and love so well and so much.

This special also features a fair amount of celebrities, but unlike Stars and Street Forever, they don’t overstay their welcome, and they don’t get more screen time than our beloved main cast. Jon Stewart is a nice figure of support, David Alan Grier has the right amount of manic energy to make his character entertaining, and Chris Rock talking about his dirty mud jokes, and Oscar begging to hear them still makes me chuckle. Many of the other celebrities in this special are the ones performing the musical numbers, and that’s what I’m gonna talk about next.

Seeing as how this takes place at Radio City Music Hall, there’s bound to be songs that need to be sung, and all of the songs featured in this special are lifted directly from the show itself. Elmopalooza not only manages to feature the show’s most recognizable hits, (Which can be heard towards the end.) but also one-time songs that no one really thinks about. Gloria Estefan, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Jimmy Buffet’s covers of the songs they sang blew the original performances out of the water, and while I still prefer Kingston’s version of Happy To Be Me, The Fugees version is still catchy as heck. While I’m not too crazy about Shawn Colvin and En Vogue’s covers, I can’t deny they were a treat nonetheless, Elmo and Rosie O’Donnell’s rap version of Nearly Missed was catchy enough, and provided some funny visuals of the monsters unintentionally causing chaos, and One Small Voice was just a beautiful number all around.

And the ending medley, don’t even get me started on the ending medley. The way the characters all congregate to the stage, and the way each song leads into another and then back to the main one, is so smooth.

Elmopalooza is a sneaky special. The title and cover make it seem like it’s gonna be a very Elmo-centric special, and you go in expecting mostly him and not much of anyone else, but instead you get a production that does feature quite a bit of the red menace, but also nearly the entire roster of main and supporting characters, songs from every corner of the Sesame catalog performed by talented celebrity musicians, and jokes and references that people of all types can enjoy. And I have no shame in calling it one of the greatest Sesame Street specials in the history of ever.

A+

#2

I am fully aware that many of you think it’s blasphemous that I didn’t put this at number 1, I mean this is the Sesame Street special that everyone seems to point to as the one they remembered and enjoyed the most, and trust me, I know that’s for a reason. Several reasons to be exact, that I’ll get into, as we continue.

So what is Christmas Eve On Sesame Street, and why do so many people have so many great memories of it? (And why do people like it more than A Special Sesame Street Christmas?) Well this special was actually the very first special done entirely by the Sesame Street staff, and on top of that, it’s a Christmas special, and a special about the most known holiday in the USA for the most known kids show in the USA is bound to turn a few heads.

But what makes this better than A Special Sesame Street Christmas, is that it feels much more like the Sesame Street we know and love. The biggest reason for that being that it probably does the best job of balancing out almost all of its main characters (Luis couldn’t make it for this one, either.) and giving each of them a significant role.

The most obvious ones are Big Bird and Oscar, who get the special’s main plot. Big Bird tells Oscar that he’s excited for when Santa comes down chimneys and delivers presents to everyone, to which Oscar responds with the question of how Santa gets down chimneys if he’s so gosh darn fat? (Which is honestly a good question for whoever came up with Santa in the first place. If you’re gonna have your holiday mascot be someone who goes down chimneys, why make him fat?) Oscar even goes so far as to state that if Big Bird doesn’t figure it out, Santa may not come at all, this makes Big Bird determined to do anything to find out the answer. And when I say anything, I mean anything, including staying on the rooftop of 123 and freezing his giblets off, which kickstarts the second part of the story, where everyone sets out to find him. Why they didn’t check the rooftop first is anyone’s guess, but they do eventually, so it all works out.

What makes Big Bird and Oscar so great, especially with each other, is that they’re complete opposites. You’ve got the big, kind-hearted, naive kid who wants everyone to be happy and the grumpy, cynical, bitter old man who delights in trolling people. And this could not be more accurately depicted than in this special.

All Big Bird wants is for Santa to be able to give presents to everyone. He’s not really doing this for himself, he’s doing this for everyone around the world, because he feels they all deserve Christmas joy, which is very noble of him, and even though he doesn’t see Santa, it doesn’t feel like a copout, because Big Bird actually gets to see that presents WERE delivered and Christmas is still happening, and really that’s all you can hope for. Inversely, while Oscar is his usual conflict-instigating self, it makes sense why that is, because he’s Oscar the Grouch, the one being on Sesame Street who hates joy and loves negativity, and like I went over in my top 55 moments list, Oscar never means to cause ACTUAL harm to his friends, he just likes to see them squirm. But if actual harm DOES come their way, you’d better believe he’ll drop everything to make sure they’re alright, before immediately going back to messing with them afterwards. And what’s even better is that unlike in A Special Sesame Street Christmas, no one is telling Oscar that his view of Christmas is wrong or that he should change, and when they DO get mad at him, it’s only because he might have had something to do with Big Bird getting put it harm’s way. Even then, they still include him in their group activities, and they even go to the trouble of making sure he and his trash can are alright and standing back up again. Oscar may be a jerk, but he’s still a valued member of the Sesame Street family, and I really like that.

Ernie and Bert also have a sizable plot here, and it’s even more proof to give people who claim they shouldn’t be friends at all. In the same spirit of the Gift of the Magi, these two pals trade in their most prized possessions to get last-minute gifts for each other relating to said prized possessions, but still get them back courtesy of their great friend, Mr. Hooper. THIS is why Bert and Ernie are still friends, people. You don’t just trade the thing you love most for anyone. That type of gesture is only reserved for the tightest of friends, and that’s exactly what E&B are. No matter how much they may argue or disagree, they still love each other. When you love someone, differences and annoyances don’t matter. What matters is that you appreciate having that person in your life, and you cherish the memories you make together. And that’s precisely the relationship that Bert and Ernie have with each other, and this special is a great portrayal of that.

Cookie Monster also gets a side plot where he tries to write a wish list for Santa, but fails every time, because he lets his appetite get the better of him and eats all of his methods of communication. This is what I love about Cookie: While he’s an eating machine, he’s not trying to mess things up on purpose. He tries his best, but most of the time, he can’t help but give in. And we even see that at the end of the special, where he eats all of the pine needles on Gordon and Susan’s Christmas tree and spends the last few seconds of the special burping.

We also have Kermit and Snuffy, who both contribute to Big Bird’s plot but in different ways. Kermit interviews a bunch of kids to see if any of them know the answer, and Snuffy provides a visual aid for what it would look like if Santa were to go down a chimney. (Spoiler Alert: Very cramped)

Grover and The Count also get small roles. The former interviews kids with Kermit, and the latter is only seen in the beginning at the ice rink. But they still appear a significant amount to where I feel they still did something and made an impact.

The humans, once again, are used as one single unit throughout the special. We get to see Linda sit in on Bob’s singing class, Mr. Hooper interacts with Ernie and Bert, Maria has her confrontation with Oscar, Gordon comforts Cookie Monster and later Big Bird, and Susan, David and Olivia still have their moments near the beginning and end. They each get to contribute.

The beginning Ice Skating montage with the cast, and the big costume versions of Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster and The Count is such an iconic scene. Once you see Oscar getting flung into a wall and falling down multiple flights of stairs, you can never unsee it.

The songs are also phenomenal. True Blue Miracle is a great cast number that captures the levity of the holiday season, Oscar’s “I Hate Christmas” song is one of my personal favorite Oscar songs in the history of ever, and… do I even need to explain why Keep Christmas With You is such an amazing song that explains that the joy we feel on holidays doesn’t have to go away?

The kid extras are also used pretty well here. I like to rag on them, because they don’t have that much personality, but at the end of the day, they all give real kid reactions to everything going on. Whether it’s Patty’s buddy relationship with Big Bird, them singing and signing a song with Bob and Linda, or them coming up with crazy theories of how Santa gets presents into houses, the kids provided the right amount of naivety and imagination for this special.

If I could use one word to describe this Christmas Eve On Sesame Street, it would be: Cozy. And I think that’s the reason why this special is so beloved by so many people, because it feels like a cozy Christmas invite from Sesame Street. Throughout this special, we feel like we’re really celebrating Christmas with these characters we love so much, and actually having fun with them. And in the end, that’s what Christmas is really about: Spending time with your loved ones and making great memories together. This special hammered that theme home perfectly, which is why I think it truly deserves the number 2 spot on my list.

A+

Okay, by now, I’m sure at least some of you reading this are probably very confused as to what could possibly overtake Christmas Eve On Sesame Street as my favorite Sesame Street special ever, but those of who’ve been keeping track or those of you who have heard my thoughts and opinions before, will already know what it is, so let’s not waste anymore time and get right down to it…

And the #1 best Sesame Street special is…

Yeah, yeah, predictable pick, I know. I am fully aware that I have talked about my love for Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration. I watched it multiple times after its release, I made a list of 12 things that made it so amazing, I even put it as the definitive best Sesame Street moment on my top 55 list, so I’m gonna try and not sound like a broken record here. First I’ll summarize what it’s about.

To celebrate Sesame Street turning 50 years old, the entire neighborhood is holding a huge party, with their special guest, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but during the festivities the street sign that Joe really wants to take a picture under, goes missing, so Elmo, Abby, Rosita and Super Grover have to find it, before Joe finds out.

Now, first I want to address some complaints that I found some people saying online. Now if you feel that the criticisms I’m about to dissect are right, that’s totally fine, but I’m just trying to offer my take on them.

The first one I wanna talk about is someone who said that they wish more characters got more to do than just their “remember me” moments, and while I’m sure that would be nice, I think how they structured it is perfect for the kind of show Sesame Street is. Think about it, Sesame Street is a neighborhood, and all of the characters are technically neighbors with each other, so a block party where these characters, many of which, mind you, haven’t appeared in over 20 years, all make appearances, is probably the most ideal way they could’ve incorporated them into this. It’s like a family reunion, you’re getting to see faces you haven’t seen in such a long time, even if it’s for a little while. The same thing applies for the celebrities, since I heard some people complain that some of them were unnecessary, and again I get where they’re coming from, but it doesn’t really matter to me, because like I said, this is a party, and these were people they decided to invite, and for what it’s worth, they all look happy to be there. (Besides, whether it was necessary or not singing “Count Me In” was exactly the kind of thing Meghan Trainor would do.)

Another thing I heard people saying was that there was too much Joe, I say he appeared just enough. I’ve said it before, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the Walter of Sesame Street, he is THE definitive Sesame Street fan. Just the way he interacts with all of the characters just feels like he gets them on a whole different level, and his talk with Cookie Monster at the Kennedy Center Honors just cemented that idea even more. (Seriously, if you haven’t seen the Sesame Street portion of the 2019 KCH, please do so by clicking here.)  But also, he’s the stand in for all of us Sesame Street fans, because he’s reacting the same way I’m sure many of us would react if we were at a 50th anniversary celebration for this show, and because of all of that, I’ll say he’s my favorite Sesame Street Anniversary host, with Bill Cosby at a close second.

But the one criticism I will whole-heartedly agree with is that I wish that there was more of the special for us to consume, more characters, more songs, more of the intro, more references, this is the curse of having such a great 50 year show, with so much great content, you just want more and more and more.

But that does not mean in any way that what we DID get was not amazing. This special manages to appeal to both young Sesame Street fans AND old ones, too. It manages to allot time to both its main and popular characters, as well as its minor and retired ones, it has a plot that’s simple and easy for kids to follow, it has gags and references that all land, even if not all of the main characters get something to do, they, at the very least, appear, it features many of the classics we know and love, as well some other ones that still feel like a great fit, it features my favorite version of “Sing” in the history of ever, it features Kermit for the first time in god knows how long, it features a credit sequence that has so many animated characters in it, there’s just so much this special does, that if I tried to list all of it, we’d be here all day.

But I will tell you the biggest reason I love this special so much: The experience I had viewing it, and my experience with Sesame Street’s year-long 50th anniversary, in general. I will never understand people who say that 2019 was the worst year ever, even before the 2020s happened. I mean, it’s okay to not like it, and if bad things happened to you during it, I get that, but, the worst year ever? Hello! We had a year-long anniversary for one of the greatest TV shows of all time! Doesn’t that raise it up, just a little bit?

But anyway, 2019 was probably my best year. I was still in West Ranch, the Coronavirus didn’t exist, I was going to the Paseo regularly, and I was enjoying all of the Sesame Street that was being pumped out, I distinctly remember preparing for viewing this special by getting my Sesame Street stuff, baking cookies to watch during it, and rounding up my family to watch it with me, and you know what? They actually enjoyed it, too! And even though I didn’t get all the references, that just made me want to look into them so I COULD get them. You’re getting my point right, this special enhanced my love for Sesame Street even more. So in a way, I have this special to thank for that. Without it, I probably wouldn’t be typing these words you’re reading right now.

So there you have it. Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is not just an excellent tribute to 50 years worth of educational and entertaining content, but it’s also the spark that ignited my love for Sesame Street even more than I did before, and for that, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

While all of the other specials on the list range from okay, to good, to even great, none of them will ever reach the same amount of perfection that this one achieved I still truly believe that this is the peak of Sesame Street content, and nothing before or after it will ever ever EVER come close to its awesomeness.

So it is with great pride, honor and 0% shame that I, Noah Darden say that Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is the best Sesame Street special in the history of ever. PLEASE check it out if you haven’t already.

A+

And there you have it, folks! That’s my list and my thoughts on all 30 Sesame Street specials, and just like we addressed at the beginning, they are all as different as different can be. From adaptations that are better than the source material, to a cozy Christmas party, to a watered down retelling of Cinderella to a cute origin story of how Elmo got a puppy, to the kiddiest the show could ever be to the best tribute to the show ever. Whichever one you like the most will depend on what you enjoy the most in a Sesame Street production. Me? I like it when Sesame Street gives its main characters all a chance to be themselves, has a good story that isn’t complicated and doesn’t go against its philosophy of teaching kids in an entertaining and humorous manner.

I’m actually really glad I decided to make this list myself, because otherwise, I never would’ve gotten to figure out my feelings for certain specials, and broaden my taste for what this show has to offer. And I hope that even if any of you reading disagreed with anything or everything I said, you still had fun looking back on these specials and discovering new ones. As much fun as I had viewing them all for this list.

While the way the series is being handled nowadays isn’t the worst, it is kinda disheartening that we might not get specials like the ones we had back in the day. The ones that really left an impact with character moments, funny jokes and wide appeal. But even so, that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy what we have right now, because most of these specials are worth your time and will show you that Sesame Street is more than just a kid’s show.

Well, that’s all the time we have for today. Thank you so much to those of you who read to the very end, I know this was a long one. But before you go, I have one more thing to say. This ranking list is brought to you by the letter S and by the number 30. Anyway, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time! Bye!