Elmo's World

Background

By the early 1990s, Sesame Street had been on the air for over 20 years and was, as author Michael Davis put it, "the undisputed heavyweight champion of preschool television". The show's dominance began to be challenged throughout the decade by other television shows for preschoolers such as Barney & Friends, by the growth of the children's home video industry, and by the increase of thirty-minute children's shows on cable. Sesame Street's ratings declined, so the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the organization responsible for putting the show on the air, responded by researching the reasons for their lower ratings.

For the first time since the show debuted, the producers and a team of researchers analyzed Sesame Street's content and structure and studied how children's viewing habits had changed. The analysis was conducted during a series of two-week-long workshops and was completed in time for the show's 30th anniversary in 1999. The CTW found that although the show was produced for children between the ages of three and five, their viewers had become more sophisticated since its debut and began to watch the show sooner, as early as ten months of age. The producers found that the show's original format, which consisted of a series of short clips similar to the structure of a magazine, was not necessarily the most effective way to hold young viewers' attention. They also found that their viewers, especially the younger ones, lost attention with Sesame Street after 40 to 45 minutes.

The first way the CTW addressed the issues brought up by their research was by lowering the target age for Sesame Street, from four years to three years. In late 1998, they created a new 15-minute segment entitled "Elmo's World", hosted by the Muppet Elmo, that was shown at the end of each episode. The segment used traditional elements (animation, Muppets, music, and live-action film), but had a more sustained narrative. "Elmo's World" followed the same structure each episode, and depended heavily on repetition. It focused on child-centered topics such as balls and dancing, from the perspective of a three-year-old child, and was "designed to foster exploration, imagination, and curiosity". Instead of an adult providing narration, Elmo led the child through the action.

In 2002, Sesame Street's producers went further in changing the show to reflect its younger demographic and increase in their viewers' sophistication. They decided, after the show's 33rd season, to expand upon the "Elmo's World" concept by, as San Francisco Chronicle TV critic Tim Goodman called it, "deconstructing" the show. They changed the structure of the entire show to a more narrative format, making the show easier for young children to navigate. Arlene Sherman, a co-executive producer for 25 years and one of the creators of "Elmo's World", called the show's new look "startlingly different".

Development and filming

Long-time Sesame Street writer Judy Freudberg came up with the idea of creating a segment with "an entirely different format" from the rest of the show during the CTW's workshops, and writer Tony Geiss further developed the idea with her. Freudberg stated that the concept "was radical because we had never veered from that magazine mosaic and had never given any character more than another character to do".

Animator Mo Willems came up with the idea of creating a less-realistic setting compared to the rest of the show. The segment presented Elmo moving between and combining two worlds of live action and computer-generated animation, which looked like "a child's squiggly crayon drawing come to life" created by the host, and with "a stream-of-consciousness feel to it". The segment was filmed at a different time than the rest of the season, much of it in front of a blue screen, with animation and digital effects added later. Kevin Clash was Elmo's principal puppeteer for "Elmo's World". For more complicated shots that showed Elmo's entire body, a puppet called "Active Elmo" was operated with assistance from other puppeteers; the puppet was also filmed in front of a blue screen and edited later.

In addition to Freudberg and Geiss, other writers of "Elmo's World" included Emily Kingsley and Molly Boylan. The theme song was based upon a song Geiss wrote called "Elmo's Song", with lyrics changed to fit the segment. Writer Louise Gikow and The New York Times called it "a show within a show". Clash called it "a playdate between the child and Elmo", and felt that its intimacy provided an effective teaching tool. He also called it "an instant success". Davis compared "Elmo's World" with the long-running children's TV show Peewee's Playhouse.

The CTW, as it has done throughout its existence and for all the shows it produced, conducted extensive studies on "Elmo's World". They found that the segment had high appeal for children, regardless of their age, sex, and socioeconomic background. Attention and participation such as hand-clapping, moving along with the music, and counting along with the characters increased with repeated viewing.

Characters

The Muppet Elmo, who represented the three- to four-year-old child, was chosen as host of "Elmo's World" because he had always tested well with Sesame Street's younger viewers. Elmo was created in 1979 and was performed by various puppeteers, including Richard Hunt, but did not become what his eventual portrayer Kevin Clash called a "phenomenon" until Clash took over the role in 1983. Elmo became, as writer Michael Davis reported, "the embodiment" of Sesame Street, and "the marketing wonder of our age" when five million "Tickle Me Elmo" dolls were sold in 1996. Clash believed the "Tickle Me Elmo" phenomenon made Elmo a household name and led to the "Elmo's World" segment. Clash called "Elmo's World" "a colorful, lively celebration of creativity" and "one of the most imaginative endeavors I've ever been involved in". He stated that the segment provided him with new challenges and opportunities for "creative risk-taking".

According to Clash and Gikow, Elmo's pet goldfish Dorothy and the members of the Noodle family were silent in order to allow Elmo to do all the talking, and to give children the opportunity to respond to what they saw on the screen. Dorothy's silence allowed children to fill in the blanks, and her curiosity, which was created and enhanced by Elmo's imagination, allowed the writers and researchers to insert the curriculum lessons they want to convey. Up to nine goldfish were used per episode, so they could be replaced when necessary. Several fish were needed each season, and the surviving Dorothys were given good homes afterwards.

Mr. Noodle was played by Broadway actor Bill Irwin, who had previously worked with Sherman in short films for Sesame Street. When he became unavailable, Sherman asked her friend Michael Jeter to replace Irwin as Mr. Noodle's brother Mr. Noodle. Jeter was in the role beginning in 2000, until his death in 2003. Kristin Chenoweth played Mr. Noodle's sister Ms. Noodle, and Sarah Jones played Mr. Noodle's other sister Miss Noodle. According to Freudberg, "Mr. Noodle, who never speaks, is all about trial and error. When you throw him a hat, he acts like he's never seen one before. Kids feel empowered watching him because they can do what he can't".

Muppet performers

End of production

In 2009, when "Elmo's World" temporarily ceased production, the producers of Sesame Street began taking steps to increase the age of their viewers and to increase their ratings. By the end of the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, 3-year-old viewers had increased by 41 percent, 4-year-olds by 4 percent, and 5-year-olds by 21 percent. According to The New York Times, executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente "was itching to revamp the final segment" even before production of "Elmo's World" ended, but was prevented by the apparent satisfaction of the viewers and by tight budgets. They were also reluctant to replace the segment; as writer Joey Mazzarino explained, it was "an emotionally charged process" because Freudberg had become ill and was not present for the discussions about it.

"Elmo's World" was replaced by "Elmo the Musical" in 2012. "Elmo's World" continued to appear on repeats of Sesame Street, on DVDs, and on the show's website, which sold products related to the segment.

Reboot

It was subsequently announced that season 47 in 2017 would feature a revamped version of the segment. Each segment runs five minutes in a newly designed world, where Elmo interacts with Smartie, an animated smartphone, and his old friend Mr. Noodle (along with his two new brothers). The segment's new intro song, a slight remix on "Elmo's Song," was written by Christine Ferraro, Bill Sherman and Jenna Lankford.

Works cited