It would have been interesting to explore characters as they age throughout the show. Given the shows longevity it could have been really interesting to have a varied set of characters age right along with the viewers.
Children could identify with Elmo for their entire lives. The Elmo of today would be finishing school and starting a job, and only visiting occasionally. He would take a very different role than that of 20 years ago.
Aren't these characters those like Maria, Gordon, and Mr. Hooper?
For logistical reasons, not really. It's easier to maintain puppets vs trying to keep the same human actors tied to the show.
The point is, Maria and Gordon __have__ been with the show for decades, and now their characters have kids. Similarly, some of the kids in earlier years still are involved as older kids. It's one thing I have really liked about the show, as it lets them show nuanced relationships (both in terms of jobs and family).
Ah, I see. I'll admit to not seeing the show for the past few years. Good to see that they're still there!
But they have. And to agree with both you and the parent post, watching with my child the other day, I noticed an adult actor that looked familiar. I looked it up, and he had originally been one of the child actors when I was watching as a kid.
Granted he wasn't anywhere near as frequent as the puppet characters, but still amazing.
Re:How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street
by goatforce5 on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @03:51PM
(#10699401)
That would make reruns tricky to do and/or confusing.
So Elmo coming to Sesame Street is basically like Twitter changing stars to hearts.
Re:How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street
by Apocryphon on Tuesday December 08, 2015 @03:45PM
(#10699342)
The Time When Sesame Street Was Disrupted
It is evidence of an emergent media phenomenon (albeit a slow one) - that a single character on an iconic platform changed its dynamic enough to cause its identity to come into question.
Because Sesame Street leveraged novelty and maturity, the emergence of a cutesy, immature, "it's all about MEEE!" type of character represents a sort of test case, and in this case, the evidence is that the show changed as the result.