Discount Sesame
Thursday, April 18
Discount SesameHey there, play friends. You know how yesterday I was rambling on about how Play With Me Sesame doesn’t really have a geography, except for that default-setting TV-studio webspace background? The thing I didn’t talk about yet is how the show is constructed, which explains why it doesn’t have a setting.
There’s this technique that Henson and Sesame Workshop are using called Banking, which helps them to produce shows really cheaply. TV production costs are going up all the time, ad revenue is going down, and they have to make shows as cost-effective as possible, and Banking helps them do it. Basically, banking is modular TV production — a show is divided into separate pieces, and then they “bank” a whole slew of pieces all at one time.
The new season of Sesame Street uses a lot of banked segments. Frank Oz came in to the studio and recorded 26 “Letter of the Day” segments all at once, Jerry Nelson performed the Count for 40 “Number of the Day” segments, they made let’s say 15 new “Elmo’s World” segments, maybe 12 “Journey to Ernie” segments — and then they mix and match this limited number of pieces to make however many episodes to fill out the season. The banking technique means that they can schedule the performers to come in for short, intense shooting schedules, and they also save money by using the same sets, costumes and props over and over for each segment. Telling Stories with Tomie dePaola used the same technique — all the Strega Nona pieces were recorded in one block, all the woodland-animal band segments in another.
Sesame Street has at least one non-banked segment every day, which is the street story — that’s the one unique element in every episode. Play With Me Sesame seems like it’s made up entirely of banked segments — and if you watch a bunch of episodes in a row, you’ll see some of the same segments two or three times. So far this week, that Prairie Dawn blues-riff segment was in both the Tuesday and the Wednesday episodes, and I’ve seen the same intro to Bert’s “pigeon patterns” game twice. It’s all cut and paste, and when you watch more than one episode, it’s pretty obvious what the recipe looks like. Every episode starts with a game of Ernie Says, then a film clip of kids playing, then an old Sesame clip, then Prairie Dawn’s art show, and so on. Pick one from Column A, one from Column B, add water and broadcast on cable.
Now, just because a show uses banked segments doesn’t necessarily make it a bad show. If the individual segments are tedious and awful, like they were on Tomie dePaola, then yeah, it’s pretty much a soul-deadening experience. But if you’ve got funny, lively segments — like they have on Play With Me Sesame — then it’s fine to mix and match them, and you can get a completely enjoyable half hour of TV out of it. And that’s what they’ve done, they’ve made a totally fun little half-hour of TV.
The problem is that then every episode is a lot like every other episode. There’s not a lot of surprise, and there’s not a lot of reason to tune in today as opposed to tomorrow. It’s like eating potato chips — it’s fun to pig out on chips sometimes, but one individual chip isn’t particularly more satisfying than any other, and it’s not the same thing as eating a meal.
A banked show like Play With Me Sesame is just never going to be as satisfying as a non-banked show like Bear in the Big Blue House. Each episode of Bear follows a pretty standard formula, but it still tells a different, complete story every day, and if you tune in tomorrow, you’ll see a different story. Play With Me Sesame is more of a babysitter, a clock-watcher. It’s just trying to keep you occupied for a half-hour, as cheaply and efficiently as possible.
So, here’s my interactive message of the day for Henson and Sesame Workshop: Listen to me, kids. You pulled this little cost-cutting banking stunt with The Animal Show, and with Tomie dePaola, and it’s wearing thin. I’m allowing you the new Sesame Street format, and I’m allowing you the discount Play With Me Sesame, because the mix-and-match pieces are so adorable and fresh. But you can’t get away with this forever. If the new prime-time Muppet show is all banked segments… there will be trouble, playfriends. That’s all I’m saying.
by Danny Horn
