Elmo's World



Elmo's World is a segment on Sesame Street starring Elmo. It ran consistently from Season 30 to Season 37 (and less regularly through Season 42). Each segment, or episode, runs approximately 20-minutes long following the same, basic format. Regular features include inserts featuring the Noodle Family, Elmo asking questions of a baby and email messages which feature other Sesame Street regulars. The segment takes place in a crayon-drawn apartment.

Each segment focuses on a specific topic - ranging from Balls or Jackets to Fast and Slow or Hands. The segments follow a series of skits and interviews centered on that topic. The skits and interviews are essentially the same every day, only changing the subject matter.

Production on new installments of Elmo's World was discontinued by 2009, and the segment was replaced by Elmo the Musical starting with season 43 (2012). However, Elmo's World segments still appear in rerun episodes as well as new video releases. Modified versions of past segments were reintroduced to the show in season 46.

Season 47 re-introduced the segment, with 25 all-new episodes, now 5 minutes in length. Each five-minute segment features Elmo in a newly designed "world," still accompanied by Mr. Noodle and Dorothy, but joined by Smartie, an animated smartphone.

Format
One characteristic feature of "Elmo's World" is that every episode has the same segments, in the same order. Research has shown that the formula appeals to young children's attraction to ritual and routine, and that children's participation with the program increases with repetition.


 * Guess what Elmo's thinking about today: Elmo introduces the episode topic, which leads into a film montage of the subject.
 * Dorothy has a question: Dorothy's bowl has a decoration related to the topic, Dorothy relays something factual about the subject and has a question.
 * The Noodle Family: Skits featuring Mr. Noodle, his brother (known as Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle), or his sister (known as Mr. Noodle's sister, Ms. Noodle), or any combination of the above, attempting to answer Dorothy's question, but usually fail. The segment is intended to be comical, demonstrating that the Noodles aren't all too bright.
 * Kids and Baby: Kids answer Dorothy's question, followed by Elmo asking a baby with a prop related to the topic.
 * Elmo Has a Question for You: Elmo asks the viewer to help him, often counting items in a CGI animation.
 * Home Video/Video E-mail: During the first few seasons, home video footage shot by Elmo of other Sesame Street characters. Later replaced by video e-mail, in which Sesame Street characters demonstrate something related to the main topic.
 * Quiz: Elmo asks different questions about the main topic, often with multiple choice answers, and kids, in voice-over, provide the answer. Usually, at least one Sesame Street character appears in each segment. The segment usually begins with Elmo failing to open the Drawer until it finally opens up on its own, often pushing him offscreen.
 * Film Insert: Live action films, usually involving a child and their experiences with the subject.
 * TV: Animated segments, seen on a channel devoted to the topic, and usually featuring the Lecture Lady.
 * Expert Interview: To learn more, Elmo talks with an expert, often an inanimate object related to the topic or activity. Book is featured in certain segments.
 * Tickle Me Land: Usually occurring during the guest's speech, Dorothy imagines a version of Elmo as a specific animal or in an occupation/activity.
 * Closing Song: Elmo and the guest(s) sing the topic word(s), usually to the tune of "Jingle Bells".

Episodes

 * See Elmo's World episodes

Elmo's World has spawned more than 64 episodes and two hour-long direct-to-video specials. Wild Wild West! was released in 2001 and Happy Holidays! in 2002. Elmo's World was also the featured setting for the 35 anniversary special The Street We Live On, in which Elmo takes on Sesame Street as the topic of the day for an hour-long episode. The Sesame Place amusement park has featured various Elmo's World Live! stage shows based on the segment.

In the Season 37 episode "Cookie World," the plot features a spoof of the segment with Cookie Monster in place of Elmo.

Inside Elmo's World
As shown in the Elmo's World: Happy Holidays! home video special, Elmo's World takes place inside one of Elmo's crayon drawings, which explains the scribbly look and bright colors of the digitally-generated set. While Muppet representations of the day's topic have always appeared inside Elmo's World, it was not until the season 35 special The Street We Live On that major Muppet characters also visited Elmo's World in person. Most segments usually feature cameos by at least two other recognizable characters (one of whom usually appears in sequences where Elmo asks a yes or no-type question).

Elmo said in a video that he got help from all his Sesame Street friends, in crayoning his apartment. Chris claims that his pants got messed up in the process.

The basic look of Elmo's World has been replicated by the Indian co-production's segment The Word of the Day, also hosted by Elmo.

Characters

 * See Elmo's World Characters


 * Elmo
 * Dorothy (Elmo's pet goldfish)
 * Mr. Noodle (Bill Irwin)
 * Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle (Michael Jeter)
 * Mr. Noodle's sister, Ms. Noodle (Kristin Chenoweth)

Origins
The idea for an Elmo-centered segment came just before the 30th season of Sesame Street. Research was showing that the average viewing age of the program was getting younger and was more popular with viewers under the age of three than ever before. Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, vice president of Education and Research for Sesame Street, attested that tests showed younger viewers were losing interest around the show's 45-minute mark. Producers came up with the idea for the original format to end around 45 minutes, and that a shorter, and very different styled, segment that was specially designed to engage the younger viewers, would air during the final 20 minutes of the show. Judy Freudberg, Tony Geiss, Emily Kingsley, Cathy Turow, Annie Evans and Molly Boylan created and developed the concept along with Arlene Sherman.

Executive producer Michael Loman describes the format: "Each [episode] is about a specific subject, on dancing, or food - things that are of interest to kids. The hope is to increase the child's curiosity about finding out more about those things...Elmo's World" is a self-contained 15-minute segment with its own opening, song and set. It looks at the world through the eyes of a 3-year-old and can be described as a crayon drawing that comes to life with sophisticated special effects."

The first episode of "Elmo's World", which was about balls, debuted on November 16, 1998 (in Episode 3786). "Elmo's World" has undergone a few changes since its conception. In the beginning, the same "Elmo's World" segment was repeated on all five shows for the week, but by the end of the initial season the practice was dropped. When the segment first appeared, Elmo introduced "Elmocam" home videos. In 2001, Elmo's computer began delivering video e-mails from other Sesame Street characters on the topic of the day. These computer segments replaced the home video portion of the show used in the first two seasons. Also, the film portions featuring kids were originally narrated by Elmo, but later on were switched to being narrated by the kids themselves.

Production
Elmo's room is a simple raised set comprised for three walls (painted scenery flats) with crayon drawing designs. The episodes are produced outside of the regular seasons' production schedules.

Early on, many of the animated characters who interacted with Elmo were performed in real-time alongside the puppet through the use of motion-capture puppeteering. Rick Lyon served as motion-capture puppeteer for Elmo's drawer, shade and door when the segments first started. However the use of motion-capture performances was dropped as production got more complicated. Now, simple stand-ins and markers are used and the animated characters are added in post-production using traditional key-frame computer animation techniques.

Kevin Clash is Elmo's principal puppeteer for Elmo's World; for more complicated shots that show the use of Elmo's entire body, a puppet known as "Active Elmo" is used and additional puppeteers assist and are matted out along with Clash in the final shots. Matt Vogel, John Tartaglia and others have served as assistants.

Retirement and Reboot
The last new Elmo's World episode, about frogs, aired in 2009. Repeats continued to be a regular feature in new Sesame Street episodes up until season 42. In a 2011 interview with the fan website ToughPigs, Kevin Clash revealed that the segment would be replaced by a new, 11-minute Elmo segment created by Joey Mazzarino and the writers. The resulting segment, "Elmo the Musical," debuted in season 43.

While Elmo's World has largely been retired since then, Sesame Workshop has continued to release new DVD compilations of past segments, including All Day with Elmo, All About Animals and Elmo Wonders. In 2015, an Elmo's World app titled "Elmo's World and You" was released. The app recycles older footage and adds newly-filmed interactive content featuring Elmo and a new animated crayon-drawn character named "Tablet."

Beginning in the fall of 2015 (in both half-hour edits of older episodes on PBS and season 46), past segments were trimmed to a 7-minute run time, cropped into widescreen with altered footage and music scores.

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.

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