Ernie Through the Years

The evolution of Ernie.

Image	As seen in / Year	Notes
	Sesame Street Season 1 (1969-1970)	The first Ernie puppet sports a purple and orange shirt, with a yellow collar and cuffs (resembling that of a turtle neck shirt), and has a purple nose. During the pilot episodes, Jim Henson experimented with Ernie's eye focus; at one point his pupils were set downwards instead of upwards. It's worth noting that in several sketches, Ernie's shirt is missing the cuffs for his sleeves.
	Sesame Street Season 2 (1970-1971)	Ernie wears a red-blue pattern sweater instead of a purple-orange one which becomes his permanent attire design. His skin tone is a slightly faded orange compared to the season one puppet, and his nose changes from purple to red.
	Sesame Street Season 5 (1971-1974)	Ernie has a brighter orange skin tone.
	Sesame Street Season 6 (1974-1976)	Ernie's skin is slightly darker. His eye focus is not as refined, seemingly due to smaller pupils. His hair is also less fluffy.
	Sesame Street Season 9 (1976-1983)	Ernie's skin is now even darker orange antron fleece, instead of blanket fleece. His head is also considerably rounder, and his hair lays flatter than previous versions. Getting closer to (and eventually entering) the 1980s, a revision to this design was done, with more evenly-placed facial features, and his eyes are a bit closer together. A version of this design was also built and used for Follow That Bird.
	Sesame Street Season 16 (1982-1985)	Ernie's head becomes taller and less football-shaped, and has larger cheeks. His skin color reverts back to a more vibrant orange. The collar and cuffs of his shirt also change, making it look more like a regular shirt.
	Sesame Street Season 17 (1985-1994)	Similar to the previous design with a larger space between his eyes and thinner hair.
	Sesame Street Season 30 (1994-1999)	Ernie's skin becomes a light warm orange. He also has a fuller tuft of hair, making it appear somewhat longer.
	Sesame Street Season 32 (1999-2003)	Once again, Ernie has a rounder, more football-shaped head, closely akin to the 1976-1982 version.
	Sesame Street Season 35 (2003-2010)	Ernie's head is now taller and has a flatter, less bumpy shape than earlier puppets. There is less of his thinner hair.
	Sesame Street Season 45 (2010-2020)	For a time, two slightly different Ernie puppets were used interchangeably. One is similar to the previous puppet, but with a less rounded head and thicker hair. As the puppet has aged, the mouth plate has become slightly malformed. The other has a rounder head that is seemingly wider. He also has thinner, more parted hair.
	Sesame Street Best Friend Band videos (2019-present)	Ernie's head is once again more football shaped, and his overall appearance feels closer to the puppets used in the mid 80's. The strip used for his hair is considerably thicker, and is no longer parted. There is also a B puppet used with thinner hair and a slightly bigger head.
Predecessor Puppets and Planning
	Moldy Hay from Sam and Friends (circa 1960)	Distinct from the papier-mâché humanoid characters like Sam, Moldy Hay's orange fleshy skin and wide-mouthed grin are traits that would later be refined into Ernie.
	Design sketches for Sesame Street (circa 1969)	Early sketches bear a closer similarity to Moldy Hay, with messier hair and enormous ears. Contrast is established between Ernie's horizontal stripes and round-faced look and Bert's vertical stripes and leaner appearance.