ToughPigs

It’s been a long-lasting art form. A little bit of mud, a little bit of paint, a camera and a whole lot of patience and you’ve got yourself a claymation cartoon. From Gumby to Davey and Goliath, from Wallace and Gromit to The California Raisins, everyone’s favorite characters end up embodied in clay-form eventually. Ok, maybe not every single one of your favorite characters, but we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Those Pixar guys are making it look easy.

Starting later this year, millions of Sesame Street viewers will be treated to new versions of Bert and Ernie. They’ll be popping right out of the screen in The Adventures of Bert and Ernie, a new 5-minute program in which the duo will appear as moving sculptures as they travel the world through their imaginations.

So now you’ve heard the good news. Are you ready for the bad? Do you want to sit down for this? Maybe have a cup of hot cocoa?

The Adventures of Bert and Ernie will not be available in the United States. It will be shown in Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Denmark, Spain, The Netherlands, Israel, Norway, Sweden, and parts of Asia as a separate program (meaning, not during their regular local Sesame Street). Two seasons are being produced as we speak, 26 5-minute episodes in each. Thats four hours and 20 minutes worth of stop motion comedy.

Now, you may ask yourself, “Why am I talking to myself?” And you may then ask yourself, “Why aren’t these being shown in America, the greatest country of them all?” Good question, me. With the ever-lasting possibility that the Republicans-that-be might cut funding to Public Broadcasting, Sesame Workshop needs to find more ways to create funds outside of merchandising and Viewers Like You. One of these ways is to produce a new program and sell it to other networks. It’s unknown to us if they tried to sell it in the United States, but if they did, and if it didn’t sell, then they’re sure to make a buck or two overseas.

No word yet on where Clay Bert and Clay Ernie might be going with their imaginations, but now that they’re animated, the limits are possibilityless. No wait, scratch that, reverse it. They may travel to the far reaches of Egypt. Or perhaps they’ll pretend to be knights who fight dragons. Or maybe they’ll want to live on the moon! (But somehow I doubt it)

My selfish hope for this program is that one day, several years from now, production will end on The Adventures of Bert and Ernie and it will cease to air on foreign networks. Then, with all of these episodes collecting dust, Sesame Workshop will slap them in new episodes of Sesame Street right between Roman Numeral Of The Day and Elmo’s Subconscious.

Though it might be better if Sesame Workshop just kept making money so Sesame Street stays on the air forever and ever. Yeah, I like that idea too.

Labels: other muppet/henson shows, Sesame Street

posted by Joe Hennes  # 1:29 PM