Season 44 (2013-2014)



Sesame Streets 44th season' began airing on September 16, 2013.

Season overview
The season's main focus and curriculum is self-regulation and executive functioning skills. New stories, tune-ins and other inserts promote such themes as strategizing, memorization, patience and regulating and managing emotions.

The season also features a smaller, secondary curriculum on Hispanic heritage. As a result of the growing Hispanic population in the United States, a new human character was created to reflect the change. At an open audition held in August 2012, Ismael Cruz Córdova earned the coveted role of Armando, a Puerto Rican writer who makes his debut this season. His appearances include a Spanish remake of the song, "I Love My Hair."

The season introduces a new parody segment, "Cookie's Crumby Pictures," placing the fuzzy and blue monster in various film spoofs that teach him to self-regulate. "Elmo the Musical" also returns this season, featuring three new episodes.

As with previous seasons, skits includes parodies of hit shows, this time Homeland (portrayed as "Homelamb") and Sons of Anarchy (as "Sons of Poetry").

The season also includes posthumous performances by Jerry Nelson (including in the season premiere) and one episode pays special tribute to him. Matt Vogel performs the Count in newly created material for the season otherwise. The season also features material recorded by Kevin Clash before resigning from the show. Ryan Dillon performs Elmo in scenes recorded following his departure.

Production
The season began production on September 20, 2012, and wrapped on December 14. The second half of season 43 was also filmed during this production period. Additional inserts were filmed in late April and May. The "What's the Word on the Street?" and other tune-in segments began filming in May 2013. The celebrity Word of the Day segments began filming in a Los Angeles studio in early June 2013.

Episodes
Beginning with this season, Sesame Street no longer numbers episodes by how many have been produced since Episode 0001, instead using the season number followed by the episode number for that season. Episodes 4401-4427
 * Episode 4401 - Telly Gets Jealous
 * Episode 4402 - Don't Get Pushy
 * Episode 4403 - The Flower Show
 * Episode 4404 - Latino Festival
 * Episode 4405 - Simon Says
 * Episode 4406 - Help-O-Bots (repeat)
 * Episode 4407 - Still Life with Cookie
 * Episode 4408 - Me Amigita Rostia
 * Episode 4409 - Leela's Cell Phone Addiction
 * Episode 4410 - Firefly Show (repeat)
 * Episode 4411 - Count Tribute
 * Episode 4412 - Gotcha!
 * Episode 4413 - Big Bird's Nest Sale (repeat)
 * Episode 4414 - The Wild Brunch
 * Episode 4415 - Rosita's Abuela
 * Episode 4416 - Baby Bear's New Sitter (repeat)
 * Episode 4417 - Grandparent's Celebration
 * Episode 4418 - The Princess Story
 * Episode 4419 - Judy and the Beast
 * Episode 4420 - 3 Cheers for Us (repeat)
 * Episode 4421 - The Pogo Games
 * Episode 4422 - Jack's Big Jump (repeat)
 * Episode 4423 - Baby Bear Hates Tee Ball
 * Episode 4424 - The Wedding Planner
 * Episode 4425 - Lights, Camera, Bert!
 * Episode 4426 - Every Plant That Ever Was
 * Episode 4427 - Elmo's Christmas Countdown

Characters
Elmo, Telly, Rosita, Baby Bear, Abby, Cookie Monster, Grover, Zoe, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, The Count, Ernie, Bert, Snuffy, Prairie Dawn, Two-Headed Monster, Murray, Ovejita, Rosita's Abuela, Curly Bear, Papa Bear, Butch, Bela Pogolyi, Guy Smiley, Luca, Judy, Segi.

Cast

 * Maria: Sonia Manzano
 * Alan: Alan Muraoka
 * Gordon: Roscoe Orman
 * Gina: Alison Bartlett
 * Luis: Emilio Delgado
 * Bob: Bob McGrath
 * Susan: Loretta Long
 * Chris: Chris Knowings
 * Leela: Nitya Vidyasagar
 * Mando: Ismael Cruz Córdova
 * Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar

Muppets™ Of Sesame Street
 * Pam Arciero, Jennifer Barnhart, Rickey Boyd, Fran Brill, Tyler Bunch, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Kevin Clash, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Ryan Dillon, Eric Jacobson, John Kennedy, Peter Linz, Jim Martin, Joey Mazzarino, Jerry Nelson, Carmen Osbahr, Frank Oz, Martin P. Robinson, David Rudman, John Tartaglia, Matt Vogel, Steve Whitmire, Bryant Young

Credits

 * Executive Producer: Carol-Lynn Parente
 * Supervising Producer: Nadine Zylstra
 * Coordinating Producer: April Coleman
 * Senior Producer: Benjamin Lehmann
 * Line Producer: Stephanie Longardo
 * Producer: Mindy Fila
 * Directors: Ken Diego, Joey Mazzarino, Scott Preston, Lisa Simon, Matt Vogel, Nadine Zylstra
 * Head Writer: Joey Mazzarino
 * Writers: Molly Boylan, Annie Evans, Christine Ferraro, Michael J. Goldberg, Emily Perl Kingsley, Luis Santeiro, Belinda Ward, John Weidman, Ed Valentine
 * Film Producer: Kimberly Wright
 * Puppets, Costumes, Props: The Jim Henson Company NY Creature Shop - Jason Weber with Connie Peterson, Rollie Krewson, Polly Smith, Anney Ozar, Jane Pien, Lara MacLean, Elizabeth Hara, Sierra Schoening, Carole D'Agostino, Doug James, Erin Slattery Black, Sarah Lafferty, Victoria Ellis, Henri Ewaskio, Colette Nickola, Dorothy Shestak, Ulysses Jones, Debbie Lucas, Michelle Hickey, Laura Manns, Mari Tobita, Ann Marie Holdgruen, Carla Muniz, Jim Kroupa, Tim Daly, Jason Seck, Melissa Creighton, Joseph Roddy, Alana De Matteo, Jonathan Ehrich, Rachel Mercer
 * Music Director: Bill Sherman
 * Director of Music Arrangements and Orchestrations: Joe Fiedler
 * Vocal Director: Paul Rudolph
 * Music Coordinator: Rigdzin Pema Collins
 * Composers: Eli Bolin, Joe Fiedler, Chris Jackson, Alex Lacamoire, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Justin Paul, Kathryn Raio, JP Rende, Bill Sherman, Loren Toolajian, Russell Velazquez, Michael Aarons, Chris Cerf, Jake Huffman, Jason Robert Brown (uncredited), Michael Kosarin (uncredited),
 * Band Members: Randy Cohen, Michael Croiter, John Deley, Doug Derryberry, Joe Fiedler, Rob Jost, Gary Meyer, Kenny Rampton, Loren Toolajian, Anja Wood, Antoine Silverman
 * Production Designer: Bob Phillips
 * Art Direction/Graphics: Pete Ortiz
 * Prop Coordinator: Keith Olsen
 * Sound Effects Editor/Re-recording Mixer: Dick Maitland, C.A.S
 * Technical Director: Tom Guadarrama
 * Cameras: Frank Biondo, Jerry Cancel, Shaun Harkins
 * Vice President of Education and Research: Rosemarie T. Truglio, Ph.D.
 * Special Thanks To: Definition 6, Hyperactive Pictures, Magnetic Dreams, Tony Testa, Yellow Sound Lab
 * Taped at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York