TSSR- Season 5 (1973-1974)

 

Okay, guys, I am deeply sorry for pumping this one out so late. Life happened, but I found a way to push through. Now let’s get on with the retrospection.

So, Season 5 of Sesame Street is an interesting case. It brings an end to certain things but gives birth to others. And a lot of the experiences in it are hard to describe, but I’m gonna try anyway as we get into this installment.

Production History

Okay, I swear, we WILL get to a season that actually has production history to speak of, but season 5 is not that season. It aired from November 19, 1973, to May 17, 1974. Also, Joe Raposo, the show’s main composer stepped out after this season and wouldn’t come back until after 10 more.

Overview

Season 5 stands out from the seasons so far, in that its curriculum focuses solely on the feelings/emotions we feel every day. And that’s shown greatly in how the characters interact with each other, and the situations they get into, which are ramped up to be more intense than the previous one. Let me just give you a rundown of some of the things our favorite neighbors get into this time around:

-Hooper’s Store catches on fire (And this won’t be the last time this happens.)

-Big Bird is threatened, by a troublemaker, to not be honest

-SAM the Robot actually feels anger

-Maria is cemented to mind games and scorn when asked to guard Cookie Monster’s cookie

-A witch curses Oscar with a nose that he can only get rid of unless he does something nice for someone

-Grover falls in love with a snowman that melts when given warm clothing

-Mr. Hooper and David have a heated spat on how to run things at Hooper’s

-A very intimidating police officer named Officer Krupky is searching for Maria

-And not once, but twice, Big Bird tries to run away from his home.

Heavy stuff, I know. These characters were put into very emotional situations that brought out different sides of them that we hadn’t seen all that often, sadness, fear, or most often, short tempers.

But that wasn’t the only thing worth noting this season. Season 5 was also a season that was heavily snow-focused. It snows for 13 episodes back-to-back, which really hasn’t been done in the previous four seasons.

Season 5 was also the first time where characters from different TV shows would make appearances in street stories. Episode 637 featured two characters from CTW’s other TV show The Electric Company, and… I wasn’t that big on it. The first segment is about a milk lady named Millie who makes Big Bird’s job of not disturbing anyone a chore and the other is about The Count filling Hooper’s Store with newspapers and another character called Easy Reader buying them all. Not really that enjoyable if you ask me.

The muppet segments were also ramped up, but I’ll save that for the character section, which should be coming up, right now.

Characters

Season 5 was pretty much more of the same in terms of how the cast is portrayed and used. However, they’re still finding new things to do with them, and everything they try feels fresh and new.

I’d like to start off with the human cast because they seem to be a lot shorter and snappier than they were previously. It seems like in every other episode, at least one of them has a bone to pick about something. Whether it be with each other, their everyday problems, Oscar, or anything else, our adult figures seem to be choosing to respond with anger more often this season. Though that’s not to say they’re angry all the time, and each of them still feels like their established characters, but their mood change is still rather noticeable.

Big Bird and Oscar are still the main muppet players that take up most of the street scenes. Out of all the seasons so far, season 5 is the one where Big Bird has the most crap he’s ever had to deal with: Getting stuck in his nest area, encountering a bully, his adult friends yelling at him, and that’s not even taking into account all of the near misses with Snuffy. All of Big Bird’s exploits this season help make him become a more sympathetic/empathetic character. Not that he wasn’t already, but these seasonal situations in particular are situations that are more complex and quite a bit scarier than the stuff he’s dealt with before.

Oscar is more or less the same troublemaker he’s been slowly building himself up to be, with his tricks this season being particularly nasty. How nasty you may ask? Well let me explain a certain misdeed of his in episode 660 to help you get the picture:

David is leaving early to take Maria to the movies, but Oscar comes along and gaslights him into thinking Maria doesn’t care about their date and she’s probably already seen the movie they’re seeing. It gets to a point where even when Maria shows up, on time, David explodes on her saying that he wouldn’t go to the movies with her even if she was the last woman on Earth. But wait, it gets even better. After David storms out, Oscar badmouths him, and then HE asks Maria to go out with him.

…So yeah, to say Oscar caused more conflicts this season would be a bit of an understatement.

Cookie Monster also got a significant amount of screen time this season, and he remains a very comforting constant in the cast. Still the gluttonous gutterball we’ll know him as for the remainder of the show.

The Count also softens up more in season 5. As he spends more time out on the street he starts becoming more and more of a well-meaning annoyance, which greatly contrasts with his first few appearances in the last season.

Ernie and Bert were mostly confined to their segments this season, and they get some pretty good ones. Like Ernie drawing Bert’s face, Bert helping Ernie play the drums, Ernie getting emotional during a movie, Ernie failing to get Bert unflavored soda water, and probably the most memorable of all, Bert’s brother, Bart, coming to visit. Once you see Bart, you’ll most likely never forget him.

Despite what I just said, Bert did get his own street story (Episode 612) that revolves around him getting amnesia, and despite not seeing it, I know it’s fundamentally flawed because after reading the plot synopsis, Ernie does not appear whatsoever. He’s mentioned by Big Bird once, but that’s about it. “Why is this a problem?”, some of you who haven’t been paying attention to this retrospective or any of my other SS essays may be asking. Well, Ernie is Bert’s best friend, whom he is pretty much never separated from for the majority of his screentime, so if this episode is really telling me that Ernie is not present for such a tragic moment as his closest pal losing his memories, and isn’t doing everything in his power to get Bert to remember who he is, I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that for a second. I know the reason for this is probably because Jim Henson wasn’t available the day they filmed the episode, but if that was the case, then don’t write an episode where his presence is crucial to the plot.

Anyway, that’s that tangent over with, let’s move on to the next character.

SAM the Robot actually got a ton of moments here, and from the ones I’ve seen, he still retains that charm that he had in the previous seasons. My personal favorite moment is the one where tries to interact with a mailbox.

Frustrating near misses aside, Snuffy was actually pretty good here, the two biggest reasons for that being that he’s cheered up a noticeable amount, being much more willing to go on whatever adventure comes his way, and he and Big Bird are really wholesome together.

But the muppet who had the biggest break this season was our cute and adorable pal Grover, who gained an alter ego this season, as a monster who’s faster than lightning, stronger than steel, smarter than a speeding bullet, and on top of all that, is cute too.

Yep, season 5 was the triumphant debut of Super Grover, joining the likes of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in the line-up of popular superheroes. Super Grover is probably one of the most recognizable and beloved Sesame Street concepts in the history of ever, but why is that? I think it boils down to two reasons:

#1: Grover being a superhero is a perfect fit for his character - Grover, at his core, is a monster who loves to help others, and superheroes are people whose job it is to help others, so really, this persona goes hand in hand with Grover’s personality.

#2: His segments are simple but versatile - The premise of every SG segment is simple: Someone has a problem, Super Grover comes in to fix said problem, he tries a ridiculous solution, which fails, and the person eventually solves the problem themselves, and if written poorly, this format could get bland, boring and tedious, but the writers have constantly found new ways to not only keep the formula intact but find new ways of delivering said formula every time. The problems the other characters face can range from being scared of a haircut to trying to exit a park, and Grover himself is such a dynamic presence that makes every interaction he has, even if his ideas are bad and don’t work, you don’t care because SG is so funny and endearing. Plus, kids can see themselves in whoever SG is interacting with, as they figure out the most logical way to fix whatever issue they’re dealing with. The concept of Super Grover’s existence is funny, doesn’t grow stale, and helps kids work on their problem-solving skills. It really couldn’t be more genius or enjoyable This would continue to be the case for Super Grover’s rebirth further down the line, but that’s a story for another day.

Grover wasn’t the only one to get his own segment, though. Prairie Dawn would continue to make her presence more known by starting her career as a producer. Starting with this season, alongside Ernie, Bert, Cookie, Grover, Herry, and other characters down the line, Prairie would start hosting pageants, where she plays a song about a certain topic, and the other characters act out and sing about said topic, and hilarious hijinks ensue. Like Super Grover, this is another simple and formulaic plot that stays fresh each time it plays out because of the writers taking advantage of the endless possibilities that present themselves. These characters are all enjoyable on their own, but when you have them trying to do something together, that’s ripe for situational comedy and character banter, things that this show knows how to do.

There was also a small selection of new characters that were introduced this season as well.

Biff the construction worker made his debut in season 4, but this season is when Sully, his silent partner made his first appearance, which is why I didn’t mention Biff in the last installment. Biff and Sully aren’t the most iconic characters the show has ever made, but they are fun to watch and they bounce off of each other greatly. With Sully bringing physical humor and Biff bringing verbal humor.

Ernie and Bert gained some new roommates in the form of the Twiddlebugs, tiny little creatures that lived in a milk carton in the window box of the duo’s apartment. They’re basically tinier versions of the Martians, in that their sketches mainly focused on them interacting with/discovering certain things that we use on a daily basis and they were also rather entertaining for the most part.

There’s one more character I want to go over, who stands out from all the rest. His name is Bad Barney, and he’s the first actually bad character the show has ever made. He’s not just grouchy like Oscar, or mildly antagonistic like the season 1 monsters, or even tough on the outside but good on the inside like Tough Eddie, no he’s just a straight-up bad dude. A guy who commits horrible deeds just for the heck of it. I don’t think it’s any shock why he didn’t stick around long. While I don’t think he would have corrupted kids watching, and convinced them that being bad is something that they should do, placing a rotten apple in a grove as fresh and clean as Sesame Street is just not something that worked well. Sesame Street is a place where no one is truly bad or evil, while the characters I mentioned before had many vices, none of them ever felt like they kicked puppies in their spare time, Bad Barney, on the other hand, does, and I feel like if he had become a recurring character, with him constantly picking on the characters we know and love, trying to get them in trouble, threatening them, and never learning anything, it just wouldn’t be a pleasant experience for anyone watching. Especially not kids.

But other than him, the characters this season were pretty great. Now let’s move on to my top 5s.

My Top 5s

My Top 5 Favorite Street Stories

#5: (Episode 614) The One Where Oscar Gets A Giant Trash Can*: This one just seems like a really fun episode about Oscar coming up with a new scheme to get more trash. Also, I’d really like to see him get thrown into that thing.

#4: (Episode 595) The One Where Maria Goes Skiing: This is my favorite of the snow episodes, mainly because of Maria herself. Just watch her tell David about her skiing trip, or Big Bird trying to help her walk and you’ll see what I mean.

#3: (Episode 536) The One Where It’s a “Quiet” Day: This is another great season opener, solely for the opening scene, which is just a long panning shot of the characters just going about their day and the amount of noise it generates. When people say they miss when Sesame Street felt like an actual street, this is the kind of thing they’re referring to, as we don’t really get moments like this in the later seasons.

#2: (Episode 584) The One With Cookie’s Cousin Apple Monster: I think Apple Monster is the first of Cookie’s family members to actually make a physical appearance on the show. (If not, then someone please correct me.) But it’s just really funny to see a different version of my favorite character obsessed with a different type of food. Though, I do think it’s a little strange that David and Luis thought CM was having them on, I mean, he specifically said that his cousin was coming and that he had cookies to attend to, and I don’t think he would lie about going to check on his favorite thing in the world.

#1: (Episode 540) The One Where Hooper’s Store Burns: You know what I just realized? This episode wouldn’t be too out of place if it aired during the first season. The biggest reason for that is that it stars all 6 of the original street characters, (Big Bird, Oscar, Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Mr. Hooper.) and boy are they used to great effect. Big Bird acts like most kids would in an emergency such as this, Oscar wants every burnt/destroyed item for his trash collection, and Bob, Gordon, and Susan offer comfort and support for Mr. Hooper, who is understandably at a loss for words at the wreckage and extremely grateful for the firefighters who saved his store, even going so far as to let them have whatever they want for free. It’s just a very nice, not-too-serious episode, which shows off just how much of a tight-knit community Sesame Street really is.

Honorable Mentions: Episode 542, Episode 554 Episode 558, Episode 568, Episode 574, Episode 588, Episode 592, Episode 593, Episode 594, Episode 596, Episode 597, Episode 600, Episode 581, Episode 657, and Episode 660

My Least Favorite Street Story: (Episode 578) The One Where Oscar Gets Cursed By A Witch: It was tough picking my least favorite for this season, but I decided to go with this one because much like a certain Christmas special that came after it, Episode 578 goes against one of its main philosophies, and punishes Oscar the Grouch just for being himself. No seriously, this episode starts with Oscar spraying a lady with water, far from the most despicable thing he’s done before or after this, and certainly not on the same level as the David and Maria scene I described in the character section. But still, the lady reveals herself as an evil witch and gives Oscar a human nose, which he can only get rid of, if he does something nice for someone, (Kind of ironic that this evil witch is making people do nice things.) and what follows is a lack of communication on both sides.

What do I mean by this? Well, I think the most logical and enjoyable solution to this problem would be for Oscar to let his friends know what just happened to him from the get-go, and in turn, they would help him do a good deed (Which I know they’d do because they’re his friends and have helped him in the past), but that doesn’t happen. Oscar doesn’t tell anyone about the witch (Until presumably near the end), and none of the other characters question where his new nose even came from, so what we get instead is Oscar trying and failing to be nice, and it’s not pleasant or satisfying to see, because Oscar is suffering for no other reason than being who he is. The scene of David and Maria yelling at him for an earnest attempt at fixing Maria’s scratched record but accidentally making it more broken was especially unpleasant.

But that’s not the worst part, no, the worst part is the ending, where after asking Susan how she’s feeling, therefore doing something nice, his nose finally disappears, so you’d assume that Oscar would just go back to being a grouch, right? Well, he does, but then his nose pops back up again. And I don’t see any other way to interpret this other than unless Oscar the Grouch stops being Oscar the Grouch, he’ll never get rid of his unwanted nose, and honestly, that’s really sad. As many people, including myself, have said previously, Oscar’s whole existence as a character is to demonstrate how we should accept others who are different from us, even those who are mean, grouchy, and thrive on misery. But here, with what happens to Oscar in this episode, it’s almost like they’re trying to say that if Oscar wasn’t grouchy he wouldn’t be stuck with something that’s been forced upon him and that’s something that doesn’t sit well with me. If you want to see this kind of scenario done right, watch the 1991 Disney version of Beauty & The Beast. The character with the curse put upon them isn’t someone whose whole personality is being grouchy, and the curse put upon him isn’t reset when he’s mean again. (At least from what I know.)

My Top 5 Favorite Songs

#5: Three Whipped Cream Pies: Who says you can't mix silliness with elegance? Clearly, people who haven't watched this song.

#4: How Do You Do?: A cute song that shows off a more vulnerable side of Grover, and features the great Lena Horne.

#3: Fat Cat: This is another example of the power of simplicity. All this song consists of is three faceless nobodies and a furry scatter just saying words that rhyme with each other, and people still remember it to this day.

#2: Doin’ The Pigeon: There’s a reason this is Bert’s most iconic song, it’s a stepping stone in Bert growing into his lovable nerd personality. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who gets as into these birds as Bert is, and that’s the beauty of it. Bert loves the most mundane things that Earth has to offer, be it pigeons, paper clips, bottle caps, oatmeal, you name it, but he never lets the fact that he’s usually the only one in the room who likes boring stuff get him down, and continues to march to the beat of his drum. And boy can he march, I mean just look at him get down in the video above this paragraph.

#1: Count It Higher: This song is just so fun, and that’s mostly thanks to the singer Little Chrissy who put in 110% in his vocal performance, which turns a simple song about counting to ten into a soulful boogie beat that will be stuck in your head long after you hear it.

Honorable Mentions: Nasty Dan (Yeah, season 5 didn’t have a lot of new songs.)

My Least Favorite Song: None, Some, All: This is far from the worst song, or even a bad song, it just doesn’t reach the same level of iconic as Fat Cat.

My Top 5 Favorite Segments

#5: First and Last with Pencils: The beat is catchy and the pencils are somewhat humorous.

#4: Bicycles: It’s cool to see bicycles in action.

#3: Number Voyage: A fun counting short with a good punchline ending.

#2: Hamburger Bun Factory: I like seeing how food gets made.

#1: Madrigal Alphabet: The music is soothing, the character designs are all different and interesting, and it’s just a really pleasant experience.

Honorable Mentions: Sand letters, Kids Sliding, Shadow Puppets, Rough House, and Meet me at the Bridge

My Least Favorite Segment: Etienne Delessert Face Morph: Just something that’s not my cup of tea.

Conclusion

I remember when I uploaded the season 4 installment of this series, my pal Michael Wermuth told me that he thought season 5 had less going on than the previous seasons, and now having gone through this installment, I can totally see where he was coming from.

While this season does have great episodes, 5 great songs, fun new characters, and alter ego that has stood the test of time, it really felt like a business-as-usual kinda season, with not a lot to make it thrive on the memorability meter.

Ah well, there’s always next season, season 6 to be exact, so we’ll see what lies in store for us there. (And hopefully, it won’t take me as long to make.) Anyway thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next installment.

*(Images from Tony Whitaker, Muppet Wiki, and Google Images)