Like many children who grew up in the 1970’s, 1980’s and beyond, I watched Sesame Street. Aside from Big Bird, Ernie & Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster and the ever underappreciated Herry Monster, there were the human characters like Bob, Gordon & Susan, Luis & Maria, David and Mr. Hooper.
Well, the actors who play Bob, Luis and Gordon (Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado & Roscoe Orman) have been given the heave-ho as the show moves from PBS to HBO. McGrath had been with the show since its debut in 1969 while Delgado and Orman have been mainstays since 1971 and 1974, respectively. Delgado and Orman are in their 70’s while McGrath is 84.
OK, it’s been years since I’ve been a regular viewer and the few times I have tuned in I find Sesame Street to be a shadow of its former self. Of course, it could be just the case that things are never as good as they were when you were young. While I understand that all things must pass, but given their longstanding contributions to Sesame Street, the three actors deserved a far better send off than a pink slip.
Today, a whole lot of people are feeling like Oscar The Grouch.
UPDATE: Sesame Workshop issued a statement on Twitter indicating that reports of McGrath, Delgado and Orman being dismissed were inaccurate. Yet the statement reads that they “continue to represent us at public events” and “you can still expect to see many of them in upcoming productions.” That sounds quite ambiguous to me. And if the actors haven’t been dismissed why would McGrath say they have?
This ounds like a job for Sherlock Hemlock, the world’s greatest detective. Or perhaps Super Grover?
