Sesame Street

Sesame Street is a long-running American educational children's television series that combines live action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop) and was created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. The program is known for its images communicated through the use of Jim Henson's Muppets, and includes short films, with humor and cultural references. The series premiered on November 10, 1969, to positive reviews, some controversy, and high viewership; it has aired on the U.S.'s national public television provider PBS since its debut, with its first run moving to premium channel HBO on January 16, 2016.

Following the death of Jim Henson in 1990, Sesame Street severely changed. This article will mainly focus on seasons 33-37 and 40 onwards, though some other seasons after Henson's death will be mentioned.

Overall

 * 1) While these seasons are not really that age-appropriate, they lack the charm that made the show special in Seasons 1-24 and 30-32 and (to a lesser extent) Seasons 25-29 and 38-39 for reasons listed below.
 * 2) *The show completely jumped the shark in these seasons, being obsessed with Elmo's World, mh:terribletvshows:Monster Clubhouse, Hero Guy, Journey to Ernie, Traction Jackson, the animated sketches of the Twiddlebugs, Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures, Abby's Flying Fairy School and Elmo the Musical as well as Global Grover, Trash Gordon and Elmo & Tango's Mysterious Mysteries.
 * 3) *These seasons are way too hyper, happy, cheerful, exciting, jumpy, dance-inducing, pure bubblegum, and just sunshine and happiness, to the point where it gets repetitive at times.
 * 4) Overuse of Elmo and Abby Cadabby. Even Baby Bear, Telly, Rosita, and Zoe are overused in some episodes, though this trend started in Season 25.
 * 5) Quantity Over Quality: The series has been running for way, way too long (it started in 1969), as it now has 52 seasons with over 4,631 episodes and counting! The show would often jump the shark because of this by introducing pointless new characters and gimmicks.
 * 6) *Speaking of which, the show has spawned way too many TV and direct-to-video specials, and the quality varies depending on the special.
 * 7) Starting with Season 44, the episode numbers are numbered in seasonal order, rather than the numerical and chronological fashion used since the very first episode. For example, Episode 4401 is the first episode of the 44th season, but not the 4401st episode (it is in fact the 4328th episode). This gets bothered by most people who are trying to figure out how many episodes Sesame Street produced.
 * 8) A few flawed/bad/mediocre/unlikable characters:
 * 9) *Abby Cadabby (introduced in Season 37) was only made because the crew wanted another prominent female Muppet on the show, despite the show already having two prominent female Muppets named Zoe and Rosita prior. She barely even serves any purpose to the show whatsoever before Tango the Dog (who is more likeable).
 * 10) **Being a fairy, there are episodes where other Muppets will be in a situation and Abby will solve them by using magic. This is not how things work in real life since most problems can't immediately be solved by simple things like magic.
 * 11) **When she does magic, she often makes things disappear or turns them into random stuff like pumpkins for no real reason.
 * 12) **Episode 4280 has an unfunny running gag where she comes up with rhymes for Mother Goose's story. She repeats this gag five times in the span of 11 minutes.
 * 13) *Rudy (Abby's stepbrother, introduced in Season 47) likes to take Abby's wand without asking.
 * 14) *Rocco (introduced in Season 30) is just an inanimate rock who does nothing. Zoe's tendency to treat him as if he were a person or even alive in general is also not funny in the slightest.
 * 15) *Zoe (introduced in Season 25) was created to be solely to be a prominent female Muppet and nothing more.
 * 16) **The show also put her in a tutu in Season 33 due to her love of ballet before being used infrequently in Season 49.
 * 17) * Baby Bear (introduced in Season 22) mispronounces his words a lot.
 * 18) *Some of the older characters even got flanderized and derailed.
 * 19) **Elmo was flanderized twice (in Seasons 27-29, and again from Season 33 onwards) and becomes loud, unlikable, hyperactive, and childish. He often shouts "YAY!", laughs too much, constantly forgets lessons taught by the others, and is now a Karma Houdini who gets away with his immaturity. While there are still several good things about him and he isn't nearly as bad as Caillou, he can still be a bad role model for kids because of his behavior.
 * 20) **In fact, Kevin Wong talked about his behavior and prominence in later seasons of the show when he posted an article called "How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street".
 * 21) ***He doesn't even receive comeuppance whenever he hurts Zoe's feelings.
 * 22) ***He barely teaches as many things as the other characters do.
 * 23) ****In Episode 3809, he doesn't even get punished for arguing with Zoe and Rocco.
 * 24) ****In Episode 3981, he gets upset over having to escape Hooper's Store because there's a fire.
 * 25) ****In Episode 4302, he is also a bad sport who gets frustrated all because he lost his game of Hot Potato with Abby and Telly multiple times.
 * 26) **Elmo’s prominent status has made him and the other characters treat the audience like how Angela Anaconda, Blue from Blue's Room, the Little Einsteins, JoJo from JoJo's Circus, Barney the Dinosaur, mh:besttvshows:Pinky Dinky Doo, the narrators and puppets from Baby Einstein, Diego from Go, Diego, Go!, Dora the Explorer, and the Teletubbies would.
 * 27) **Zoe became obsessed with ballet and rocks, which lasted through Season 48.
 * 28) ***After her pet rock Rocco was introduced, she also started treating him like they were friends.
 * 29) **Telly (while still likable) became obsessed with triangles rather than just being fond of them.
 * 30) **The Big Bad Wolf became an immature, whinny bad sport in Episode 4082.
 * 31) Horrible and flawed characters like Zoe (seasons 30-48), Abby Cadabby, Elmo (seasons 27-29, 33-present), Baby Bear, Hero Guy, Rudy, Murray Monster, and the Monster Clubhouse monsters (Googel, Mel, and Narf, Phoebe).
 * 32) While most of the sketches are still good, some of them are mediocre, bad, unoriginal, or even weird:
 * 33) * Abby's Flying Fairy School features dated CGI animation and has way too many episodes where the main characters (Abby, Blögg, Gonnigan, and Mrs. Sparklenose) are depicted as punching bags.
 * 34) ** Blögg's wand is stolen by Niblet in "Niblet's Wand".
 * 35) ** In "Pinocchio Princess", Blögg ends up turning himself into a puppet.
 * 36) ** In "Genie in a Bottle", the genie who Abby unleashes from his bottle sucks up everyone and everything near him.
 * 37) ** In "Sugar Fairy Plum Day", Gonnigan's "Sugar Plum Fairy Dance Shoes" hop away from him whenever he tries to put them on.
 * 38) ** In "Cinderella Challenge", Blögg is forced by Abby to dress up like Cinderella.
 * 39) ** In "Sleeping Blöggy", Blögg eats the Enchanted Apple and falls asleep.
 * 40) ** In "Call it Macaronisaurus", Blögg's macaroni dinosaur wreaks havoc in the classroom using "the Spice of Life".
 * 41) * mh:terribletvshows:Monster Clubhouse is bad, way too loud, and so fast-paced that it barely leaves its audience any time to breathe.
 * 42) * Journey to Ernie is unoriginal at best, as it involves Big Bird searching for Ernie in various places (like Dora from Dora the Explorer and the Little Einsteins). To find him, Big Bird is given three clues (like Steve and Joe along with Josh from Blue's Clues and Blue's Clues & You) and finds him in the span of five minutes.
 * 43) *Hero Guy is a very weird sketch about Baby Bear having an animated sidekick named Hero Guy. (Is that the best name they could come up with for him, by the way?) Not only does Hero Guy mispronounce words like Baby Bear does, but his animation is odd and his voice is too high-pitched.
 * 44) **In the segment "Pirate Ship", Hero Guy cries an entire ocean all because Baby Bear forgot to draw one for their ship and gets praised for it.
 * 45) * There are weird and cringey spoofs of Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never", Icona Pop's "I Love It", and Pinkfong's "Baby Shark".
 * 46) **The "Never Say Never" spoof is called "Measure, Yeah, Measure".
 * 47) **The "I Love It" spoof is called "Me Want It".
 * 48) **The "Baby Shark" spoof is called "Cookie Shark" and features Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Abby Cadabby.
 * 49) Several bad/average episodes, including:
 * 50) *Episode 3981 ("Elmo Visits The Firehouse", which started Season 33 on a sour note and the downfall of the series)
 * 51) *Episode 3982 ("Alan Runs Out of Cookies for Cookie Monster")
 * 52) *Episode 3984 ("The Mail It-Shop")
 * 53) *Episode 3985 ("Baby Bear's New Parrot")
 * 54) *Episode 3986 ("Lost Bird from Paraguay")
 * 55) *Episode 3987 ("Cousin Bear is Afraid of Shadows")
 * 56) *Episode 3989 ("Prairie Dawn and the Oatmeal Cookies")
 * 57) *Episode 3991 ("Emily Moves to Sesame Street")
 * 58) *Episode 3992 ("The Copier at the Mail-It Shop Is Broken")
 * 59) *Episode 3993 ("The Bouncing Box")
 * 60) *Episode 3994 ("Zoe Learns to Play the Trombone")
 * 61) *Episode 3995 ("Telly Takes Care of the Grand High Triangle Lover's Favorite Triangle")
 * 62) *Episode 3996 ("Baby Bear and Telly Get a Letter B")
 * 63) *Episode 4008 ("Lulu Wants to Be a Mail Carrier")
 * 64) *Episode 4077 ("Elmo Feels He's Treated Unfairly By Rocco")
 * 65) *Episode 4078 ("Baby Bear Tries to Make Curly Sleep")
 * 66) *Episode 4079 ("Miles' Band Needs a Quiet Place to Practice")
 * 67) *Episode 4080 ("Elmo Becomes a Bird")
 * 68) *Episode 4081 ("Rosita Dislikes Her Accent")
 * 69) *Episode 4082 ("The Big Bad Wolf Hates Losing Games", which ended Season 35 on a sour note)
 * 70) *Episode 4083 ("Telly Learns How to Catch a Ball", which started Season 36 on a sour note)
 * 71) *Episode 4084 ("Banana in the Stone")
 * 72) *Episode 4085 ("Healthy Food Game Show")
 * 73) *Episode 4187 ("Frankly, It's Becoming a Habitat", which started Season 40 on a sour note)
 * 74) *Episode 4188 ("The Cowmonster Pair")
 * 75) *Episode 4189 ("Baby Bear Is Afraid of Bees")
 * 76) *Episode 4190 ("Wild Nature Survivor Guy")
 * 77) *Episode 4191 ("Abby Makes Seasons Change")
 * 78) *Episode 4192 ("Y a Quest? Y Not?")
 * 79) *Episode 4193 ("The Bears Try to Hibernate")
 * 80) *Episode 4194 ("Stinky's Animal Fever")
 * 81) *Episode 4195 ("Elmo Finds a Baby Bird")
 * 82) *Episode 4196 ("Grouch Messing Machine")
 * 83) *Episode 4197 ("The Cookie Tree")
 * 84) *Episode 4198 ("Mary Mary Quite Contrary Makes a Garden")
 * 85) *Episode 4199 ("Abby's Fairy Freckles")
 * 86) *Episode 4201 ("Amphibian Show")
 * 87) *Episode 4202 ("Chris and Elmo Go Camping")
 * 88) *Episode 4203 ("Squirmadega Car Race")
 * 89) *Episode 4204 ("Jack's Big Jump")
 * 90) *Episode 4205 ("Inspected by 4")
 * 91) *Episode 4206 ("Big Bird Sprains His Wing")
 * 92) *Episode 4207 ("The Planet G")
 * 93) *Episode 4208 ("The Counting Booth")
 * 94) *Episode 4210 ("Abby's Tricycle")
 * 95) *Episode 4211 ("Jack Grows His Own Beanstalk")
 * 96) *Episode 4212 ("The Prince and the Penguin", which ended Season 40 on a sour note)
 * 97) *Episode 4213 ("The Camouflage Challenge", which started Season 41 on a sour note)
 * 98) *Episode 4214 ("The Happy Scientists")
 * 99) *Episode 4215 ("Chicken When It Comes to Thunderstorms")
 * 100) *Episode 4216 ("Ironing Monster")
 * 101) *Episode 4217 ("What's That Noise")
 * 102) *Episode 4218 ("The Furry Four")
 * 103) *Episode 4219 ("The Whoosh & Vanish Mystery")
 * 104) *Episode 4220 ("Music Magic")
 * 105) *Episode 4221 ("Bert Pigeon Search")
 * 106) *Episode 4222 ("Up in the Air")
 * 107) *Episode 4223 ("Snuffle Sneeze")
 * 108) *Episode 4225 ("A Team")
 * 109) *Episode 4226 ("Itsy Bitsy Spider")
 * 110) *Episode 4227 ("Fetch the Letter I")
 * 111) *Episode 4228 ("Rahki Road")
 * 112) *Episode 4236 ("Dirtballs")
 * 113) *Episode 4238 ("Abby Tries and Tries Again")
 * 114) *Episode 4257 ("Failure to Launch", which started Season 42 on a sour note)
 * 115) *Episode 4258 ("Rocco's Boat")
 * 116) *Episode 4259 ("The Bubble Fest")
 * 117) *Episode 4260 ("Observe, Record, Annoy")
 * 118) *Episode 4263 ("Humpty Dumpty's Big Break")
 * 119) *Episode 4265 ("The Good Birds Club")
 * 120) *Episode 4266 ("Big Bad Wolf Huffs and Puffs Away Slimey")
 * 121) *Episode 4267 ("Baby Bear's Doll")
 * 122) *Episode 4268 ("Elmo and the Butterfly")
 * 123) *Episode 4271 ("A Prince of a Frog")
 * 124) *Episode 4277 ("Falling Leaves")
 * 125) *Episode 4282 ("Elmo Wants to Have a Ball")
 * 126) *Episode 4301 ("Get Lost, Mr. Chips", which started Season 43 on a sour note)
 * 127) *Episode 4302 ("The Good Sport")
 * 128) *Episode 4303 ("Hansel & Gretel's Playdate with Big Bird")
 * 129) *Episode 4304 ("Baby Bear Comes Clean")
 * 130) *Episode 4305 ("Me Am What Me Am")
 * 131) *Episode 4306 ("The Letter G Song")
 * 132) *Episode 4308 ("Don't Wake the Baby")
 * 133) *Episode 4309 ("Practice Makes Proud")
 * 134) *Episode 4401 ("Telly Gets Jealous", which started Season 44 on a sour note)
 * 135) *Episode 4601 ("Bedtime Story", which started Season 46 on a sour note and furthered the show's downfall)
 * 136) *Episode 4616 ("Rocco's Playdate")
 * 137) *Episode 4619 ("Move It!")
 * 138) *Episode 4620 ("Hooper's Lockdown")
 * 139) *Episode 4621 ("To the Moon, Elmo")
 * 140) *Episode 4625 ("Boo Boo Busters")
 * 141) *Episode 4629 ("Dress-Up Club")
 * 142) *Episode 4631 ("The Good Sport")
 * 143) *Episode 4632 ("Sesame Ocean")
 * 144) *Episode 4701 ("Be Kind to Your Worm", which started Season 47 on a sour note)
 * 145) *Episode 4702 ("The Kindness Kid")
 * 146) *Episode 4703 ("Abby Helps Clean Things Up")
 * 147) *Episode 4704 ("Super Sitters")
 * 148) *Episode 4705 ("Having a Ball")
 * 149) *Episode 4706 ("Elmo's Sweet Ride")
 * 150) *Episode 4707 ("Dress Up")
 * 151) *Episode 4708 ("Norbert's Birthday")
 * 152) *Episode 5022 ("The Disappoint-O-Meter", which ended Caroll Spinney's career on a sour note and dubbed over his vocals for Big Bird and Oscar before the episode aired)
 * 153) *Episode 5023 ("Zoe Breaks Her Arm")
 * 154) *Episode 5024 ("Dog Day Engineers")
 * 155) *Episode 5031 ("Lucky's Unlucky Day")
 * 156) Sometimes, certain Muppets will forget lessons and re-learn them.
 * 157) Prairie Dawn is at her absolute worst in Episode 4629, as she tries to reinforce the "girls' clothes are for girls" and "boys' clothes are for boys" stereotypes.
 * 158) In the Elmo's World segment "Eyes", there is a CGI crocodile flooding Elmo's room with his tears. It's common in cartoons but it's weird right?
 * 159) The show became too silly to be valuable to children and less educational than it used to be.
 * 160) Cheap-looking CGI animation in some aspects, such as in Elmo's World, Hero Guy, Monster Clubhouse, Journey to Ernie, Traction Jackson, the animated sketches of the Twiddlebugs and Abby's Flying Fairy School.
 * 161) Some seasons are mostly filler. In particular, Season 41 consists of mostly repeats.
 * 162) While it's important for children to give up pacifiers when they're no longer babies, Episode 4264 executes this poorly.
 * 163) Episodes are sometimes aired out-of-order.
 * 164) *Episode 4283 (a repeat of "The Cowmonster Pair" from Season 40) aired in October 2011, but the previous episode ("Elmo Wants to Have a Ball") aired four months later on February 6, 2012.
 * 165) These seasons dropped many older sketches.
 * 166) *It was announced in 2009 before Season 40 premiered that the classic (pre-1990) sketches would no longer be rerun on Sesame Street. By Season 43 or 44, all of the pre-HD sketches were retired from the show as well.
 * 167) *"The Alligator King" was last seen in Episode 4114, a Season 37 episode.
 * 168) *"Pinball Number Count" has not been seen since Season 33.
 * 169) * Only a few Bert and Ernie sketches have been seen on Sesame Street since the 2010s; this also caused Ernie and Bert to be reduced to supporting characters.
 * 170) Despite Sesame Street intending to teach its audience of preschoolers letters and numbers, its current incarnation is not as focused on these things as it was in the past.
 * 171) *Speaking of letters and numbers, the only segments that deal with these things in the modern seasons are the Letter of the Day (originally hosted by Cookie Monster) and the Number of the Day (originally hosted by Count von Count), and barely anything else.
 * 172) The show now primarily deals with multiculturalism, kindness, self-esteem, and emotions rather than reading, writing, counting, etc.
 * 173) * Speaking of emotions, there are now way too many times where a Muppet is told by an adult (Nina, Alan, or Chris) or another Muppet to calm down because he/she/they is/are angry or frustrated, which gets tiresome quickly.
 * 174) Bad to mediocre voice acting for some characters like the Count (after Matt Vogel took him over), Zoe (from Season 46 onwards), Abby Cadabby, and Big Bird (in Season 1-2, as well as after Matt Vogel took him over). Not to mention, Mr. Snuffleupagus's voice (before Martin P. Robinson took over) also sounded scary to children.
 * 175) Though rare, there are a few inappropriate moments in a kids' show:
 * 176) * In the Elmo's World segment "Firefighters", two Anything Muppets in firefighter gear and a talking firetruck rush in when Elmo opens the door. This implies that Elmo's room is on fire, which is extremely disturbing and emotional.
 * 177) *In the Journey to Ernie segment "Jungle", Big Bird spots a tiger with almost all of his fur shaved off taking a bath. Not only is this weird and disturbing, but it also implies that the tiger is naked.
 * 178) * The Elmo's World segment "Bath Time" features a cartoon where Bubbles Martin is taking a bath, which is something that shouldn't be shown to children. Thankfully, only her face and arms are shown.
 * 179) Chris and Nina (while likable) tend to act as substitutes and/or replacements for classic favorites like Gordon and Maria, along with Miles and Gabi.
 * 180) Episode 4273 basically shoehorns the Muppets into the fairy tale "The Princess and the Frog". The only differences are that it's set on Sesame Street and Elmo and Abby try to catch the frog, whom the princess is trying to kiss.
 * 181) The show will try way too hard to be hip and cool with the kids at times:
 * 182) *The Season 40 premiere ("Frankly, It's Becoming a Habitat") features a rapper named Freddy Flapman, which is going way too far.
 * 183) *In the HBO seasons, Hooper's Store now offers free Wi-Fi.
 * 184) *Episode 4224 is one of the worst offenders. There are unnecessary iPod/iPad references, like Mack revealing a gadget called the "iPogo" in the episode.
 * 185) *The characters are seen taking selfies in some episodes, like in Episode 4610.
 * 186) *The Elmo's World revival has a talking smartphone named Smartie.
 * 187) Some unfunny and/or mean-spirited moments:
 * 188) *The Noodle Family's attempts at comedy in Elmo's World all fail miserably.
 * 189) **In the same segment, the shade often messes with Elmo whenever he wants to talk to the Noodle Family by refusing to move when pulled or flat-out not letting him grab it. The Drawer will also knock down Elmo in the process of getting out the photo quiz.
 * 190) *In Elmo's World: Happy Holidays!, the Door harasses Elmo with its mistletoe and insists upon being kissed each time that Elmo answer the door thereafter.
 * 191) There are several episodes where Elmo loses his mind over Zoe's pet rock. However, this has become a viral internet meme as of 2022.
 * 192) In some of the Season 30 episodes, Zoe rudely interrupts Elmo by yelling "TWELVE!", and Elmo later declares that he's no longer friends with Zoe and Rocco. He also plans to move to Alaska as he screams to the top of his lungs.
 * 193) False Advertising:
 * 194) *The 2009 DVD cover of Sesame Street: Follow That Bird has Elmo on it, but he only made a brief cameo appearance in the movie.
 * 195) *In Episode 4221 ("Bert's Pigeon Search"), Bert only appears at the beginning and end of the episode. And instead of looking for her himself, he leaves Elmo and Abby to look for his pigeon Bernice.
 * 196) Over the years, many people who were key to the show's creation and/or songwriting have either died or left, including but not limited to:
 * 197) *Will Lee (deceased in 1982)
 * 198) *Joe Raposo (deceased in 1989)
 * 199) *Northern Calloway (deceased in 1990)
 * 200) *Jim Henson (deceased in 1990)
 * 201) *Richard Hunt (deceased in 1992)
 * 202) *Jon Stone (deceased in 1997)
 * 203) *Jeff Moss (deceased in 1998)
 * 204) *Frank Oz (retired by 2000)
 * 205) *Kevin Clash (fired in 2012)
 * 206) *Jerry Nelson (deceased in 2012)
 * 207) *Desiree Casado (retired in 2013)
 * 208) *Fran Brill (retired in 2014)
 * 209) *Joey Mazzarino (retired in 2015)
 * 210) *Sonia Manzano (retired in 2015)
 * 211) *Loretta Long (retired by 2016)
 * 212) *Alison Bartlett (retired by 2016)
 * 213) *Bob McGrath (fired in 2016)
 * 214) *Roscoe Orman (fired in 2016)
 * 215) *Emilio Delgado (fired in 2016 and deceased in 2022)
 * 216) * Caroll Spinney (retired in 2018 and deceased in 2019)
 * 217) **Without any of them, there barely is any Sesame Street.
 * 218) Some gross-out humor:
 * 219) *One Abby's Flying Fairy School segment exists where Blögg's stinky sock comes to life and turns everything that it touches dirty and stinky. The students then conjure up a washing machine to clean his sock.
 * 220) *In Episode 4614, Penelope the Penguin gives the other Muppets some fish to go with their ice cream cones, much to their disgust.
 * 221) *In Elmo the Musical: "Prince Elmo the Musical", a dragon spreads his bad breath everywhere and Elmo defeats him with his by gulping down some garlic and Limburger cheese wedges.
 * 222) Some characters, such as Rudy and Abby Cadabby, feel like they were made to capitalize on Elmo's success since their personalities are near-identical to his.
 * 223) Much of Sesame Street's cast have been reduced to side characters or reused sketches, with some even being written out altogether:
 * 224) *Miles and Gabi were dropped from the show in Seasons 40 and 43 respectively without a specific explanation.
 * 225) *Gordon, Bob, Maria, Luis, and Gina were mostly reduced to supporting characters after Season 29 and made gradually fewer appearances until they were completely dropped in Season 46 (although Sonia Manzano publicly announced her retirement in 2015, after Season 45 ended).
 * 226) * Susan only made one new physical appearance per season by the early 2010s and was reduced to a background extra by Season 44 before retiring from the show.
 * 227) **Bert and Ernie have been supporting characters on the show since the late 2000s, appearing only in a few episodes. The same goes for many other anything Muppets like Prairie Dawn, the Amazing Mumford, Guy Smiley, and Sherlock Hemlock; even before these seasons, some of them were reduced to supporting and minor roles.
 * 228) **Many of Jerry Nelson's characters were recast or were dropped from the show by the mid-2000s, due to his failing health and eventual death in August 2012.
 * 229) **Kermit the Frog permanently disappeared from the show after Season 32 and is now only used whenever Sesame Workshop has permission from Disney (who purchased the rights to The Muppets in 2004), most notably in the Elmo's World segment "Frogs" and Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration.
 * 230) Sesame Beginnings is basically a "baby-ized" spin-off version of this show, considering it's based on merchandise.
 * 231) *The babies aren't even that likable for the most part, as most of them come off as inconsistent or incompetent. Most of them are also very bland, forgettable, and one-dimensional.
 * 232) *The baby spin-off is way too predictable because of the stories they go for, and why? It is a baby-ized version of the show it's spun off from.
 * 233) The Noggin spin-off Play with Me Sesame involves the hosts of the show (Bert, Ernie, Grover, and Prairie Dawn) treating the audience like how Angela from Angela Anaconda, JoJo from JoJo's Circus, the Little Einsteins, the narrators and puppets from Baby Einstein, Diego from Go, Diego, Go!, Dora the Explorer and the Teletubbies would.
 * 234) Elmo's playmates serve as substitutes for older Muppet cast members like Big Bird and often interact exclusively with other Muppets their age.
 * 235) Barely any development for some characters.
 * 236) The show can be hypocritical at times. For instance, Elmo will get angry at Zoe for treating Rocco like a friend, yet he treats his goldfish Dorothy like a friend.
 * 237) Some street stories (like one where Abby gets the "Sparkle Speckle Fairy Freckles") barely teach anything and/or have enough educational value.
 * 238) The show became way too bright and colorful, more so than in Seasons 25-29.
 * 239) Nursery rhymes have become much more prevalent in the series than they originally were.
 * 240) Some cringeworthy moments, such as the Muppets taking a selfie with Chris in Episode 4610.
 * 241) A few plot holes or continuity errors:
 * 242) *Baby Bear says that Curly Bear hasn't eaten a banana before in Episode 4084, but she is seen eating one in Episode 4059.
 * 243) The international versions have similar problems, like overusing Elmo and Abby Cadabby or having their own versions of the characters (like Lola from Sesamo, for instance) who are also overused.

The Blocks Era (Seasons 33-37)

 * 1) Beginning with these seasons, the show's format was changed completely, being modeled after preschool blocks like Nick Jr., Playhouse Disney, and PBS Kids. New recurring segments like Journey to Ernie, The Spanish Word of the Day, The Letter of the Day, and The Number of the Day were introduced. More sketches such as Global Grover, Global Thingy, Trash Gordon, and This Is the Game Today were later added. The main problems with the format for these seasons are 1.) that it's too structured and predictable and 2.) there isn't enough room for variety like there was with the original magazine format.
 * 2) *On top of that, the street stories are now resolved in 11-15 minutes.
 * 3) The funding credits in these seasons can look weird with the extremely cheap computerized animation of the logos, the letters and the purple background.
 * 4) *To make matters worse, the music and the narrator can both sound sappy, boring, cringe, emotional and sad that makes Sesame Workshop getting its wish to ruin Sesame Street and kill the entire franchise.
 * 5) Hoots the Owl tries to get Cookie Monster to change his diet in one sketch from Season 36, which caused enormous controversy. While he has been seen eating foods other than cookies in the past, this really takes the cake.
 * 6) Annoying/mediocre transitions.
 * 7) In Episode 3981 (the Season 33 premiere), Elmo expresses his fears principally through body language and silence rather than asking questions that many kids would need the answer to. The resolution of the episode is also too simple and immediate, with him being scared of Hooper's Store almost burning down and then happy again when the firefighters take him around the firehouse to show him there's nothing to be afraid of.
 * 8) Abby Cadabby was introduced in Season 37, which caused the show to become less realistic and more fantasy-based.
 * 9) In Episode 4081, Rosita flat-out hates her own accent for no real reason.

The Chalks Era (Seasons 40-45)

 * 1) In Episode 4280, Mother Goose orders some pickles to think (which is very weird).
 * 2) Abby Cadabby gets even more screen time than she did in Seasons 37-39.
 * 3) Murray can be a little bit annoying. He is also an extremely hammy host because he gets way too excited over everything and yells or screams his lines.
 * 4) The format changed again in these seasons, being modeled after preschool blocks. Murray Monster (who debuted in Season 36) also started hosting the show because that's definitely what it needed from the get-go.
 * 5) The segments have become lethargic, and some of them run anywhere from five to ten minutes.
 * 6) *The worst offender is Abby's Flying Fairy School, which takes up almost a quarter of the show's runtime in these seasons. When counting Elmo's World (running at 15 minutes), nearly half of the entire show consists of these two sketches.

The HBO Era (Season 46-present)

 * 1) The sponsors are no longer announced at the end of each episode, due to the show moving to HBO (a commercial premium cable network).
 * 2) The show has severely scaled back its parental bonuses (jokes/references in kids' shows that only adults will catch), as less than 30% of parents now watch the show with their children.
 * 3) Caroll Spinney recorded his lines for Big Bird and Oscar in Episode 5022 ("The Disappoint-O-Meter"), but they were dubbed over by his successors Matt Vogel and Eric Jacobson before it even aired.
 * 4) Pandering to political left-wingers in a kids' show:
 * 5) *For some reason, despite the praise of the character Julia, created with the help of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Sesame Workshop decided to work with Autism Speaks, an organization that dehumanized autistics by claiming that they could cure autism (before 2016), which caused the ASAN to end their partnership, although it is likely that Sesame Workshop did not know this.
 * 6) *The infamous Black Lives Matter special, especially Elmo's interview with his dad about the movement, basically shoves political correctness down everyone's throats. While this topic should be taught to children, it isn't well-executed here.
 * 7) *Subject matter like pipe-smoking, kids playing in construction sites, and even kids dancing on the street has been cut from HBO Max prints of classic (pre-1990) Sesame Street episodes because times have changed. Due to many realizing these things are dangerous for kids to do, SW now deems these things "unsuitable for children". However, that decision might be excusable since other kids might imitate those actions and injure themselves.
 * 8) Oscar is more mean-spirited than usual in Episode 5022, as he detects how disappointed everyone on Sesame Street is with the Disappoint-O-Meter.
 * 9) The costumes worn by the Muppets in Episode 4610 are disturbing and slightly creepy to look at.
 * 10) They have gotten a mediocre CGI animated spin-off series called the Mecha Builders.
 * 11) *It is pointless, as Sesame Street has been running for over 50 years and still continues to air new episodes today. It would be easier to just continue that show than to risk making another spin-off.
 * 12) *The only Muppets from Sesame Street confirmed to return in this show are Abby, Cookie Monster, and Elmo (as robot superheroes).
 * 13) *Elmo always says "Mecha" before his name.
 * 14) *There is barely any real or exciting action, due to the series being made for preschoolers. There's also no violence, again, due to the series being targeted at preschoolers like Sesame Street.
 * 15) *The episodes are predictable and way too simplistic. Mecha Abby, Mecha Elmo, and Mecha Cookie Monster find ways to solve a problem, they test their ideas to solve the problem, and then they find a solution. The problem is solved and the episode ends to celebrate.
 * 16) *Mediocre CGI animation, even for 2020s standards.
 * 17) *The episodes all end with the heroes spoiling what they did earlier.
 * 18) *The show was only made because Sesame Street started only premiering new episodes on HBO Max in 2020 and there have been no plans to broadcast it on Cartoon Network as part of Cartoonito.
 * 19) The show has been focusing more on Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and several post-1990 characters since season 51, with characters like Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch making only punctual appearances and characters like Snuffy and Telly being nearly forgotten.
 * 20) * Elmo, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and several other characters who are overused treat the audience like how Angela Anaconda, Blue from Blue's Room, the Little Einsteins, JoJo from JoJo's Circus, mh:besttvshows:Pinky Dinky Doo, the narrators and puppets from Baby Einstein, Diego from mh:besttvshows:Go, Diego, Go!, Dora the Explorer, and the Teletubbies do.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Several good episodes, such as Episodes 4276, 4279, and 4282.
 * 2) Despite its downfall, Sesame Street is still the most-watched preschool program. In fact, every new preschool audience can still enjoy the show, especially its later seasons, because the love of the show that likely never gets old.
 * 3) *These seasons, like all the other seasons of the show, still make daycare, preschool and kindergarten seem fun to children.
 * 4) Several of the sketches are still good and have their share of strong points:
 * 5) *Despite being a bit repetitive, Trash Gordon is not a bad segment.
 * 6) *The sketch where Jack Black shows the audience and Elmo an octagon is hilarious.
 * 7) *Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck is an interesting skit since it teaches kids about food and cooking.
 * 8) *Journey to Ernie teaches children how to play hide and seek, despite its similarities to Blue's Clues, Little Einsteins, and Dora the Explorer.
 * 9) The voice acting is still great for the most part.
 * 10) Some of the mediocre/bad specials like Elmo Saves Christmas have good and heartwarming moments.
 * 11) The special effects and puppeteering are still outstanding.
 * 12) The majority of the characters are still likable, except for the flawed ones mentioned above.
 * 13) *Even the flawed characters have their positives. People can always think about their positives, and some of them are mentioned in the Trivia section.
 * 14) *In fact, Season 26 introduced Suzie Kabloozie—one of the greatest Sesame Street characters of all time; the character was created by Mo Willems, who would go on to create The Off-Beats (which aired on Nickelodeon as part of KaBlam!) and Sheep in the Big City.
 * 15) **Speaking of which, the series was also a launch pad for other animators such as Craig Bartlett (who went on to create Hey Arnold!) who made "Arnold Rides His Chair" (involving an early version of the title character) and John R. Dilworth (who went on to create Courage the Cowardly Dog) who made "Noodles & Nedd".
 * 16) Some of the occasional celebrity appearances and cameos are quite clever and fun, such as when Fred Newman of Doug and Between the Lions fame made an appearance in the Elmo's World episode "Mouths".
 * 17) The 2010 version of Shalom Sesame is great.
 * 18) Despite them now being few and far between, there are still parodies like Sharing Things, Sesame Street Presents the '80s, and Pre-School Musical—the former two of which were released online.
 * 19) Charlie, despite being a Mary Sue and a know-it-all, is likable and friendly child, like Miles and Gabi during their childhoods.
 * 20) The remixes of the theme song sound really good and catchy.
 * 21) Unlike Abby, Rudy isn't that overused and has only appeared in 38 episodes as of Season 52.
 * 22) Unlike Dorothy (who does nothing but swim in her fishbowl like other fishes do), Tango is a major improvement, since she is more active and playful.

Examples of Good/Decent Home Videos & Specials

 * Kids' Favorite Songs: A video series (consisting of Kids' Favorite Songs, Kids' Favorite Songs 2, and Kids' Favorite Country Songs) that encourages kids to sing and dance.
 * Sing Yourself Sillier at the Movies: A video with a well-written storyline about various characters watching Sesame Street songs and Telly Monster and Oscar ranking them with the catchphrases "wow" and "phooey".
 * Elmo's Musical Adventure: The Story of Peter and the Wolf: A solid adaptation of Peter and the Wolf featuring the Sesame Street cast, with the characters being appropriately redesigned to fit their roles and the subplot of Baby Bear watching an orchestra with his father serving as a great father-son bonding experience.
 * Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration: A great way to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary.
 * A Sesame Street Christmas Carol: A nice adaption on the Christmas Carol novel by Charles Dickens.
 * Do The Alphabet and 123 Count with Me: Videos that teach kids about the alphabet and counting numbers.
 * Quiet Time: A video that encourages children to perform appropriate activities during periods of silence.
 * Zoe's Dance Moves: A video that teaches kids to do some various dances.
 * Happy Healthy Monsters: A video that teaches kids to move and groove to the music and eat healthy.

Examples of Mediocre/Bad Home Videos & Specials

 * Kids' Guide to Life: Learning to Share: A video where Elmo initially refuses to share his toy train set with Zoe, which makes him rather out-of-character since he is supposed to be a kind Muppet.
 * CinderElmo: A retelling of the fairy tale Cinderella with the Sesame Street Muppets shoehorned into the story.
 * Elmo Visits the Firehouse: Basically Episode 3981.
 * Elmo's Christmas Countdown
 * Elmo Saves Christmas: A video where Elmo wishes that Christmas occurred every day without fully realizing the consequences of his actions.
 * Being Green
 * Elmo's Potty Time: A potty training video based on the show that is littered with gross-out, such as multiple scenes of Baby Elmo and some kids using the potty, a King Kong-esque segment where a giant gorilla needs to pee and chases a giant toilet, a sketch where kids shout synonyms for pee and poop, Baby Bear saying "wee-wee" and "woo-woo" when helping Curly Bear use the potty, and a weird ending where the characters sing "You'll Use the Potty" (a song about everyone using the potty).
 * Abby in Wonderland: A shoehorned version of Alice in Wonderland.
 * Play All Day with Elmo
 * The Monster at the End of This Story: A sickly sweet, overly sentimental special about how the support of Grover's friends help him get through everything.

Reception
Seasons 33-37 and 40-present received mixed reviews for the show's changes in format. However, these seasons are still found decent by many people.

One IMDB review titled "Rest in Peace, Sesame Street (1969-1998)" reads:

"I title the review as 'Rest in Peace' only because if you, like me, are a child born of the early 1980s (or earlier) that grew up with Sesame Street, then you know now, as you watch it with your children, either on Netflix or PBS in the morning, that the Sesame Street we grew up with is long gone.

In 1998, a Muppet monster that had, for the majority of its lifespan on Sesame Street, been nothing but a background character with virtually no lines or significant appearances in the show's history, became the undisputed center of the show. Over the course of the following decade, that character would continue to dominate the show, becoming its very face and voice. That character was Elmo.

Within a few years, the entire format of Sesame Street would change. Elmo's World became a full 1/4 of the show, airing every single episode. Appearance by favorites, familiar faces and mainstays of Sesame Street began to slowly phase out. Big Bird, formerly the face and "host" of Sesame Street was replaced in time by "Murray" who, like Elmo, was also a background Muppet that had virtually no presence on the show in the 35 years leading up to his first appearance as host. Murray, like Elmo, dominates roughly 1/4 of the show with various segments. Joining Elmo early in the 2000s was Abby Cadabby, a feisty and rather irritating purple fairy that's a huge hit with girls. She has her own segment, comprising the 3rd 1/4 of the show, Abby's Flying Fairy School. Murray, from the very opening moment of a Sesame Street show, immediately begins reassuring kids that Elmo's World will be coming up, 'but we have a few other things to get through first.' Ultimately, Sesame Street itself is now reduced to a mere 10-minute segment. The problem that is posed in the beginning of the show, once taking the full hour of the show to investigate, understand and solve, is now resolved in only 10 minutes (sometimes 15, but rarely). Occasionally, one of the familiar adults may show up, like Gordon, but it's otherwise Elmo, Abby Cadabby and the dreaded Baby Bear, a talking teddy bear with an insufferable speech impediment. Likable, new adult characters such as Gordon's nephew Chris and Alan, who both run Hooper's Store, appear often enough to break up the monotony of Elmo, Abby and Baby Bear's childish antics. On the rare occasion that a classic character, such as Bert, Ernie, Big Bird or Snuffy will show up, Elmo will make his appearance within minutes to take over the show. I recall watching an episode recently with my daughter in which Bert lost his pet bird. Three minutes after this situation is announced, Elmo and Abby show up and take over the segment. Bert is not seen again, his bird is never found... the entire segment consists of Abby and Elmo picking up random objects and asking 'Is this a bird? Is that a bird? Why isn't this a bird?'

Sesame Street, I fear, is simply too childish to be of any value to children at this point. When I was a toddler in the early '80s, Sesame Street helped me learn how to read, count, differentiate colors and shapes and objects... all things my parents helped me with, Sesame Street did too. It was truly a valuable, educational tool. Now? We have Elmo running around his house like a lunatic, screaming at inanimate objects, displaying narcissistic tendencies by referring to himself in the third person and imagining himself as different animals and objects. His own house seems to hate him, as he is constantly yelling at his window shade to cooperate with him, and other objects, such as his desk drawer, repeatedly bash him over the head when he starts yelling at them. Where's the educational value in Elmo running around in circles yelling at everything?

Parents are strongly advised not to utilize 'classic' Sesame Street (pre-1990) as educational tools, as they 'no longer have any educational value and should not be utilized by your child.' Very sad that this warning comes on the DVD box sets of pre-Elmo Sesame Street. Frankly, I'd rather have Gordon sing 'Who are the people in your neighborhood' to my daughter, rather than having Elmo cannibalize the melody to Jingle Bells and repeat 'Trucks, trucks, trucks, trucks, trucks, trucks' over and over again.

Sesame Street was great for our generation, but for our children? I wouldn't recommend it. It hurts me to say it. My daughter loves it... she's 15 months, and she loves the characters. I'm not going to take that from her... but as she gets older I will due my duty as her father to make sure she is educated properly. Sadly, Sesame Street, in its current state, cannot be a part of that experience."

Trivia

 * Sesame Workshop and the Muppet Wiki stated, "Elmo is the greatest teacher in America. He educates children and they don't even realize it. They just want to say the alphabet or count to ten with their friend Elmo. He's a teacher, he's a friend, he's a comic, he's a straight man, and he's everything in between."
 * Abby has learned many skills like drawing letters, counting, and prompting her catchphrase "That's so magic(al)!"
 * She frequently uses her wand cell phone to call her mommy. When she's asked to return home, she says that she's "gotta poof" or "disappear." In recent years, she has used the phrase "Zippity-zap!" when casting a spell.
 * She can speak a language called "Dragonfly" and is teaching Rosita the language while Rosita teaches her Spanish. She also claims to speak "Butterfly" and "Puppydog."
 * Tony Geiss conceptualized her as a way to simultaneously introduce a major female character to the show and add someone from a different culture, without "having consciously to introduce somebody from Indonesia or India".
 * Abby's design is an intentional departure from the typical Muppet look because she's not originally from Sesame Street. The implication is that the fairies in her old neighborhood look like her. Carrara's audition with Abby was a 15-minute long improv with Fran Brill as Zoe, about fairy castles.
 * She was added to the cast of Plaza Sésamo in 2008.
 * By Season 46, she developed an interest in gardening and maintains a fairy garden where she grows magical plants. The garden features prominently in Episode 4611, in which she and Elmo are coaxed by her kooky friend Jerome the Garden Gnome into playing some games.
 * Her love of gardening inspired a wardrobe change in Season 49. Her original dress was replaced with a blue T-shirt with a flower emblem, and a purple/blue skirt decorated in flower petals. She also now wears a floral bracelet, a firefly necklace (nicknamed "Hope" by builder Sierra Schoening after her younger sister) and ladybug barrettes in her hair. For Season 50, she was given a smaller, simplified skirt.
 * To make room for newer sketches, the street stories have been shortened considerably.
 * Due to budget cuts and time constraints, the series has been shortened to a half-hour as of Season 46.
 * According to Dr. Rosemarie, Journey to Ernie was discontinued after Season 36 due to the crew feeling that it wasn't "Sesame enough" and didn't fit in with the rest of the show.
 * Tony Geiss and Judy Friedberg died in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
 * Elmo adopted a dog named Tango in Season 52 and became friends with her.
 * The show spawned the segments Abby's Amazing Adventures and Elmo & Tango's Mysterious Mysteries in Seasons 49 and 52, respectively.

Comments
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