From Muppet Wiki

Category Creation

After finding that wikipedia has tired creating a list of guest stars, I wondered why we had collected a listing of people who have been on this legendary show. If anyone should be collecting this data it should be us. So I started one.

Similar to the Muppet Show and Muppets Tonight guest star categories – this category is for celebrities that have appeared on Sesame Street. I limited it to the actual television show (where hypothetically episode numbers could be cited for an appearance). This excludes celebrities from Sesame films or specials. Opening it up things like Follow That Bird, Julie on Sesame Street, Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday, Elmopalooza and the rest would add about another 7-8 dozen people. But this category, as it is now, is for celebrities that have been on the television show – not for anyone who has interacted with a Sesame character on film.

I went through the 860+ articles in the celebrities category to add the people here (so if someone on the wiki has been a guest and is not in here, it's most likely because their article didn't make it clear they were ever on the show).

Thoughts? -- Brad D. (talk) 08:08, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the main reason we hadn't created it is as, as you noticed, how many there are, and because it's really quite different from Muppet Show and Muppets Tonight guests, where the guest stars were credited and generally more of a major focus. On Sesame Street, until the most recent season, they were never announced on the show itself (I was a little surprised to find a recent opening, "You never know who you'll meet... On today's episode, T. R. Knight!) and participation ranged from film inserts to walk-ons to occasionally larger roles in street spots. That said, this is indeed a useful category, and actually takes care of a quandary when dealing with occasional one-shot actors on the series who were guests but really aren't celebrities (Carl Gordon, who played Mr. Robinson in one episode, is a case in point). Although I'm just slightly iffy on including folks like Jason Biggs whose sole connection was My Favorite Sesame Street Moments, though, since those were essentially promo/intro spots outside of the show itself. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 15:10, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, should "guest stars" be counted if they only supplied voice-overs, and generally at a time when they weren't major celebrities anyway? I..e Casey Kasem, Gary Owens, and so on. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 15:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I think "guest stars" should be people (or characters) who are treated like celebrities, and who play themselves. So that would include, say, Robin Williams talking to Elmo, or Sheryl Crow performing, but not Stockard Channing or Casey Kasem, because they were playing parts. Arnold and Luxo Jr don't qualify for me, because they're essentially "cast members" in those inserts. They're not treated as special guests. -- Danny (talk) 16:57, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

PS. Rock on for Brad doing all the work of going through the 860+ celebrities. Good job, dude! I know how tough those long projects can be. I think this is a fun category, and a good idea. -- Danny (talk) 16:58, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

So wait. I sort of agree with you (definitely on Arnold, who was bugging me, and thus Luxo, and Channing was added because of the "Dance Myself to Sleep" celebrity bit, not the painter inserts), but what about Kerry Butler (personally, I think this is probably a better categorization than celebrity anyway, though since her page was added, her Broadway stardom has increased) or Richard Kind? Maybe a secondary consideration should be that if they did appear as a character, the guest stars were promoted as such in Sesame Workshop press releases and so on. Which still sort of leaves Carl Gordon out in limbo, but we don't have any images of his appearance from Episode 4067 anyway.

Oh, and I'm assuming then that "guest" appearances by any folks who later became or peviously were cast members should be taken out, or does it depend on specifics? i.e. Andrea Martin (several guest spots but always as characters), Michael Jeter (twice appearing as himself outside of Elmo's World), Lillias White (former regular returning years later as a different guest character), and Bill Irwin (two insert appearances pre-Mr. Noodle, one of which was in an "all-star" song version, which thus positions him as a celebrity in and of itself). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 17:14, 7 December 2006 (UTC)