Sesame Street: Encyclopedia II - Sesame Street - Characters

Sesame Street - Characters

Sesame Street is known for its multicultural element and is inclusive in its casting, incorporating roles for disabled people, young people, senior citizens, Hispanic actors, Black actors, and others. While some of the puppets look like people, others are animal or "monster" puppets of different sizes and colors. This encourages children to believe that people come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors, and that no particular physical "type" is any better than another.

In harmony with its multiculturalist perspective, the show pioneered the idea of occasionally inserting very basic Spanish words and phrases to help young children become acquainted with the concept of a foreign language, doing so almost three decades before Dora the Explorer debuted on Nickelodeon. Perhaps in response to the popularity of Dora, the recently revamped format gives Rosita, the bilingual muppet who "immigrated" in 1993 from the Mexican version of the show, more time in front of viewers, and also introduced the more formalized "Spanish Word of the Day" in every episode.

Each of the puppet characters has been designed to represent a specific stage or element of early childhood, and the scripts are written so that the character reflects the development level of children of that age. This helps the show address not only the learning objectives of various age groups, but also the concerns, fears, and interests of children of different age levels.

Sesame Street - The Muppets

Big Bird, an eight-foot-tall yellow canary, lives in a large nest on an abandoned lot near 123 Sesame Street, located behind the building's garbage heap. A regular visitor to Big Bird is Aloysius Snuffleupagus, known simply as Snuffy. Oscar the Grouch and his pet worm Slimey live in a garbage can in the heap. Friends Ernie and Bert room together at the apartment of 123 Sesame Street, where they regularly engage in comedic banter. Ernie's flowerbox was once a hotspot for Twiddlebugs, a colorful family of insects.

The Bear family of Goldilocks and the Three Bears resides in Sesame Street. This Jewish family, headed by Papa Bear and Mama Bear, welcomed their second child Curly Bear, and Baby Bear became a good friend of the monsters Telly and Zoe, Mexico-born Rosita, and Elmo. Elmo has his own segment near the end of each episode, in which viewers explore topics in Elmo's World, an imaginary version of his house.

Grover's regular segment, Global Grover, follows the self-described "cute, furry monster" around the world as he explores local cultures and traditions. Cookie Monster fights with his conscience daily during Letter of the Day, as he tries to control his urges to eat the letters, shown as icing on cookies. Prairie Dawn often attempts to help Cookie Monster refrain from eating the letters, but never succeeds and always leaves frazzled. Count von Count has fewer problems during the Number of the Day segment, where he indulges in counting until the mystery number is revealed by his pipe organ.

Humphrey and Ingrid ran The Furry Arms with baby Natasha in tow, while bellhop Benny Rabbit begrudgingly helped out.

Kermit the Frog hosted the segment Sesame Street News Flash. The Two-Headed Monster sounded out words coming together, and the Yip-Yip aliens discovered telephones and typewriters. For two seasons, Googel, Narf, Mel and Phoebe hung out in the Monster's Clubhouse.

Incidental characters include television personality Guy Smiley, construction workers Sully and Biff, the large Herry Monster (who does not know his own strength), and The Big Bad Wolf, who is not a terror to the Street. Forgetful Jones, a cowboy with a short-term memory disorder, rode his trusty Buster the Horse with his girlfriend Clementine, and Rodeo Rosie was an early cowgirl.

Sesame Street - The humans

A slate of human regulars pull the zaniness of the Muppets back to reality. They were not always meant to serve this purpose. The show lost test viewers' attention during the Street Scenes, meaning Muppets needed to be added, like sugar into medicine.

Music teacher Bob has been on Sesame Street since its inception. He dated Linda the local New York Library librarian, who was the first regular deaf character on television. Linda owns Barkley, a Muppet dog. The Robinsons are an African-American family that includes schoolteacher Gordon, nurse Susan, and adopted son Miles. The Puerto Rican Rodriguezes include Maria and Luis, who ran the Fix-It Shop, which was turned into the Mail-It Shop; Maria gave birth to daughter Gabby in the 1980s, and her pregnancy was covered on the show.

Candy store operator Harold Hooper was a mainstay, at Mr. Hooper's Store. Actor Will Lee died in 1982, and when the producers opted to help their young viewers deal with the death of someone they loved rather than cast a new actor in the role, the character's death was discussed in a landmark 1983 episode. Afterwards, Hooper's apprentice David took over, followed by later owners Gina, Mr. Handford, and Alan. Gina stopped running the store in the 1990s, to earn a PhD and became a veterinarian.

The Noodles on Elmo's World are meant to provide a vaudevillian perspective on subjects, contrary to most of the show's human characters.

Famous guest stars and various children from New York schools and day-care centers are a constantly changing part of the cast.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki