Joseph Scarbrough launched what he called "The Scarblog" as a way of cataloging his work over the years, as well as going into greater detail of things on his mind (known as "Unfinished Thoughts").
For a party that is now claiming to be against war, the so-called Grand Old Party sure does seem to have a history of being a party full of war-mongers. They chastised Americans who refused to fight in the Vietnam War and/or protested said war as being traitors to our country; they saw war as the only way to respond to the September 11th terrorist attacks; they complain that M*A*S*H is a, "situation commie hour" for being an anti-war show; and they ripped former President Barack Obama to shreds when he attempted to withdraw American troops from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and bring them home (and yet, sang praises to the Lord above when Dictator Trump claimed he would do the exact same thing). And if it's not some sort of an actual fighting war raging somewhere in the world, they sure do seem to love to fabricate their own little geopolitical war that only they are engaged in - while also pointing fingers and blaming those they are attacking for instigating such fabricated wars, such as their War on Christmas that they claim the left started by saying, "Happy Holidays," instead of, "Merry Christmas" (even though there are other holidays aside from just Christmas that are celebrated during the season), or their War of Christianity that they claim the left started by trying to remove God from everyday life (even though the United States of America have a Separation of Church and State for a reason). But one conflict that the GOP has been waging for decades has been their war on the Public Broadcasting System, or PBS.
You probably have seen the news recently, about Elon Musk (an African immigrant who, somehow, has been given total authority to run our country, despite the big stink that Trump previous raised about Obama needing to prove he wasn't born in Africa, otherwise he legally couldn't be President) and Majorie Taylor Greene (a bleach blonde with a badly built butch body) calling for the dismantling of PBS, as well the cancelation of SESAME STREET (which is now in its 56th season) on the grounds that the show is Communistic propaganda that is indoctrinating our children into an anti-American idealogy. As ludicrous and far-out as their claims may seem, this actually is nothing new from the GOP concerning SESAME STREET in general, or even PBS as a whole; this has been going on for a long, long time, and their tune has not changed in the slightest . . . the only thing that has changed in that, in this day and age of social media and digital connection, they now can spread this sort of poison farther and faster than they could before, not to mention the United States is now also under the iron-fisted ruling of a Demagogue and Dictator who is emboldening the ones who are pushing these absurd agendas.
But why does the GOP hate PBS so much? One of the main reasons seems to be is that PBS, for all intents and purposes, is a non-profit organization, and we all know how much the GOP thrives on profits over people (the fact that just about every other developed nation in the world has some sort of universal healthcare system, while the U.S. still has a for-profit healthcare system that the GOP doesn't want to get rid of certainly tells you something); PBS is sustained by donations from viewers, as well as other government grants and funding provided by taxpayers' dollars - taxpayers' dollars the GOP would rather go elsewhere, like our already well-covered military and police force, both of which are already overly funded from wasteful government spending. This dates all the way back to PBS's inception in 1969, when beloved public television fixture, Mister Fred Rogers, appeared before Congress to defend the funding for programming on public television to cater to the early mental, emotional, psychological development of young children.
It is this funding that the GOP has long been against, and a subject that has been brought up in the political landscape as recently as the 2012 Presidential Election, when then-Democratic President Barack Obama's opponent was Republican Mitt Romney, and one of his campaign promises was to cut government and taxpayer funding for PBS, and turn it into a commercial television network that would be financed through ad revenue, much like other television networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc. While that in and of itself left a bad taste in the mouths of people who support PBS, I think what ended up contributing to Romney's downfall in that election was the attitude he had, as well as the way he worded this campaign promise of his, in that he made it seem as though he not only was going to go after PBS altogether, but he also dragged Big Bird specifically into this talking point of his. Needless to say, it provided a lot of the late-night comedians with plenty of fodder to poke fun at the way Romney made it seem as though he intended to order a hit on Big Bird.
(Indeed, I really hope no children saw this)
Going back to what Musk and Marjorie are proposing, as well as their unsubstantiated claims that PBS programming such as SESAME STREET is indoctrinating children into anti-American idealogy isn't anything new either; this is an agenda that they have been pushing for the better part of twenty years, and their tune has barely changed at all during this time. I know, because I have witnessed this firsthand, even on a local level.
Steve D'Monster supports PBS
As a lot of you may know, my first job was working for my viewing area's local PBS member station, now ETPBS, then known as ETP-TV from 2004 to 2007. At the time, I was a teenager and couldn't legally work in even a part-time position, so my years at PBS were as an unpaid intern, though I did gain quite a bit of experience in television production, ranging from camera operating to stage managing, and it was even here that I managed to get my feet wet as a semi-professional puppeteer when Steve D'Monster made his debut during the on-air pledge drives we used to have specifically for children's television on PBS, known as The Friends of Sesame Street Club. What some of you may not be aware of is that during all but four weeks of my high school years, I was also homeschooled . . . and yes, homeschool curriculum is far more faith-based than public school curriculum, though contrary to the stigma that is now prevalent thanks to all of these mass shooters who lived in rightwing echo chambers, being homeschool never once inspired me to pick up a gun and open fire in other establishments where I felt the people of said establishments were a threat to my very existence and privilege. Because I was in the homeschool system, I had some insight into what certain morality groups were up to in terms of certain agendas they were pushing, and in 2005, exactly twenty years ago, when it was coming up on time for another one of our PBS pledge drives, these groups were organizing a boycott of PBS children's programming, such as SESAME STREET, BARNEY & FRIENDS, ARTHUR, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, and many others, on the grounds that these programs were, "pushing the gay agenda," and otherwise indoctrinating and brainwashing our children into the LGBTQ+ community. Now, keep in mind, this was the mid-2000s, during the conversative G.W. Bush Presidency, a time in which even international networks that specifically catered kid-friendly programming such as Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network were prohibited from depicting openly queer characters and/or same-sex relationships; groundbreaking shows like THE LOUD HOUSE or THE OWL HOUSE, with their positive LGBTQ+ representations, among other depictions of diversity and inclusion, would never have made it to the air during this time for that very reason. Even primetime programming aimed specifically at adults had to include, "Viewer discretion is advised" disclaimers for "hyper-sexual content" at the beginning of shows that even so much as included a single gay character in its cast (something the GOP now wants the aforementioned shows such as THE LOUD HOUSE and THE OWL HOUSE to include).
A gay Muppet?!
So, where in the world did these religious right groups even get such a wild idea that shows like SESAME STREET were, "pushing the gay agenda"? Sadly, it was born out of something that was blown way, way, way out of proportion just years earlier, when it was announced that an HIV-positive Muppet character was going to be added to South Africa's co-production, TAKALANI SESAME. You see, many other countries in the world have their own localized co-production of SESAME STREET developed specifically to cater to that country's national culture, whether it's Mexico's PLAZA SESAMO, the Netherlands' SESAMSTRAAT, Russia's ULITSA SEZAM, Israel's RECHOV SUMSUM, Palestine's SHARA'A SIMSIM, or even Canada's SESAME PARK. Because of the HIV epidemic that has plagued South Africa for quite some time, TAKALANI SESAME was going to introduce a new Muppet character, a little monster girl named Kami, who, sadly, was born with the virus, as many children in South Africa are. Unfortunately, given how critical thinking skills are in short supply among America's rightwing, the outdated mentality that HIV/AIDS was a virus exclusively spread through sexual relations among homosexuals still persisted among these folks, so when they saw the news about the introduction of a new HIV-positive Sesame Muppet, these simpletons misinterpreted the news altogether as the original American SESAME STREET adding a gay Muppet to the show, which of course just outraged them to no end. Since PBS Kids shows were all about inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance, their way of thinking also drove them to the conclusion that all of these other shows were indoctrinating children into what they dismissed as an evil cult (oh, the irony), and as such, called for a boycott of these shows, as well as any fundraising PBS did for these shows. Of course, this was all hysteria and hyperbole, but another unfortunate thing is that these misguided people have incredibly loud voices that resonate among those who align with their way of thinking, so this boycott quickly gained traction, even before we began our pledge drive for that year. Having seen the writing on the wall for myself, I did attempt to warn my fellow PBS teamsters about this boycott, but given the ridiculous nature of said boycott, not to mention how the right has targeted PBS as a whole for years, they merely shrugged it off as more empty threats from a group of crazies who couldn't actually hurt us . . . except they did actually hurt us. Our pledges took a direct hit, and the station fell quite short of its goal for that year. They attempted to fix the problem the following year's pledge drive by raising the minimum pledge amount from $20 to $25, but even so, the damage had been done, and pledges continued to dwindle. Because of this, that was the last we ever did any on-air pledge drives specifically for children's programming, and they turned to private fundraisers instead.
Musk and Marjorie's assault on SESAME STREET and PBS is nothing new whatsoever, and it's not even these properties or outlets that those on the right side of the aisle have been going after for what they perceive to be indoctrination of our youth. You may have seen how the GOP has been actively banning and burning books all across the nation, particularly those that touch on subjects and topics relating to sexuality and gender identity . . . again, this is nothing new either. Going back to the previously-mentioned conservative Bush era, in 2007, these same people began banning and burning HARRY POTTER books after author J.K. Rowling revealed that Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore was gay; again, the accusation was that our children were being exposed to, and groomed and indoctrinated into an, "evil cult." Funny, it seems to me that those who are actively trying to censor certain media and shield children from seeing depictions of diversity and inclusion are the ones who are doing the indoctrination.
Major Ferret Face
As you can see, the Grand Old Party is without question a war-mongering party; if it's not wars involving combat soldiers shedding blood and losing lives while fighting with other countries, it's class and culture wars being incited and fought amongst American people of differing races, sexualities, genders, or religions. They have instigated and dragged the rest of us into such wars for ages. If all of this proves one thing, it's that the GOP and the religious right are among the most regressive people on the face of this planet; they never change their tune, and they continue to steep their closed-minded worldviews in the tea kettles of hatred and bigotry. Want another example? Let's take a look at Major Frank Burns: here is a character on a TV show from the 1970s that was set in the 1950s, yet when you watch him, you realize that he is absolutely no different than any MAGA minion of today: he possesses the exact same backward thinking rooted in bigotry that you see permeate throughout the entire MAGA crowd - it has actually made him an even more frightening character to watch, but again, it goes to show you just how deeply stuck in their ways these people are. So while these assaults on SESAME STREET, PBS, children's education and entertainment are nothing new, they unfortunately are becoming far more aggressive as the likes of Trump and Musk embolden their base and stoke the fires that are spreading across the country (and even the world) that threaten our very democracy, and the people living within our society who don't conform to their idealogies in any way, shape, or form.
These are certainly dangerous times we're living in. Will we ever see an end to these wars? It's hard to say.
EDIT: July 18, 2025
Well, it finally happened. It's official: Dictator Drumpf and his fascist Nazi regime have killed PBS. Remember, this was one of the steps that Adolph Hitler took in taking over control of Germany: silence and censor the media and the press, which is exactly what Dictator Drumpf and the GOP are doing as we speak.
This week's episode of the SUMMER OF SCARBROUGH discuss the origins of Steve D'Monster, and how a poorly-made and originally nameless monster puppet who was void of personality ended up evolving into an actual character over the course of appearing on local public television for a week in the August of 2004.
Oh, and by the way, today also happens to be Steve D'Monster's birthday - talk about incredible timing, huh?
Today's the day. It was on this day, fifteen years ago, when I was but a fifteen-year-old lad myself, that I put my first puppet creation out there for all to see. This poorly put together mess of purple fur with lop-sided yellow horns, out-of-focus eyes, and the badly sewn-together features was Steve D'Monster, making his debut on East Tennessee PBS as part of their Friends of Sesame Street pledge drive, encouraging children watching to have their parents call in their pledges of support to keep the wholesome, entertaining, and educational PBS Kids shows on the station.
And now, here it is, fifteen years later, and that furry purple thing certain looks a lot better than he did then, actually possesses a personality, and has been appearing in all sorts of humorous little videos on YouTube for the better part of nearly thirteen years. Steve D'Monster has been enjoying a week-long celebration of his fifteenth anniversary with some special retrospective episodes detailing the evolution of his appearance, as well as the overall history of his existence:
But curiously of all is what we actually decided to do for his big fifteenth anniversary video . . . parody another popular YouTube channel, Chills!
It's not quite over yet! Steve wants to celebrate his anniversary with you guys! A reminder that his special live stream will be simulcast on YouTube and Facebook at the same time! Tonight, 11pm EDT!
SESAME STREET has always managed to pull off Very Special Episodes that address rather heavy, sensitive, or true-to-life subjects in ways that make it easy for its preschool audience to grasp and comprehend. In 1983, they tackled the subject of Mr. Hooper's death after the passing of cast member Will Lee; in 2001, we saw a week-long story arc involving the destruction and rebuilding of Big Bird's nest after a hurricane blows through - which continues to be rebroadcast today in the wake of particularly devastating hurricanes such as Katrina or Sandy; in 2002, Hooper's Store caught fire in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks; and lest we forget the series of TALK, LISTEN, CONNECT and LITTLE CHILDREN, BIG CHALLENGES videos that cover such topics as parents in prison, parents in the military, and food pantries. I had no doubts that the introduction of the street's newest resident would be handled well, and it was. However, Julia's origins can be traced quite a ways back before we got to see her as a full-fledged Muppet on our screens. . . .
Lexi, Julia's ancestor
Several years ago, Sesame fan Alexandra created a fan-character named Lexi, an adorable and playful little Muppet girl who enjoys drawing, singing, dancing, and being a detective much like her hero, Sherlock Hemlock. Lexi also happens to have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Mild Autism, of which Alexandra also has; taking notice of SESAME STREET's lack of Autism Awareness, she contacted Sesame Workshop about the possibility of incorporating Lexi into the show as an actual Muppet character to help bring more awareness of Autism to the world's most famous street, and to help educate kids more about what Autism is, and how it's dealt with by those who have it, and those who know people who have it, which resulted in the following:
For legal reasons, Lexi could not actually be used in Sesame material, however, after taking initiative, a new character was eventually developed specifically to do just as Alexandra wrote about: to help teach children about Autism and to understand more about it and symptoms they may see in Autistic kids. Enter Julia!
http://autism.sesamestreet.org/storybook-we-are-amazing/
Julia was initially created for exclusive web material, such as the above-linked online storybook, WE'RE AMAZING, 1,2,3! Through the storybook, we learn that Julia likes to do a lot of the same things as her friend Elmo, just a little differently; we also learn that she may not respond to someone right away, and that it helps to repeat yourself a few times. We also see some of the symptoms often associated with Autism, such as Julia's hand flapping when she's excited, or the mild panic attack she has when her sensitive ears hear sounds that bother her. The online storybook and other web material featuring Julia went over well enough that it only made sense that she would eventually become an actual Muppet on the show, and it finally happened:
It's interesting that SESAME STREET hasn't tried doing this before now, considering other children's shows out there have incorporated such characters long ago, with ARTHUR being a good example. ARTHUR has three prominent disabled characters that are featured on the show on a recurring basis: Marina Datillo, an independent blind girl; Lydia Fox, a wheelchair-bound girl who excels at basketball; and Carl Gould, a train aficionado with Asperger's. Each of these characters are depicted in ways that shows that despite having limitations due to their respective disabilities, they are still able to do things for themselves and are not at all helpless - in short, they can pretty much do whatever their friends can, just differently. In fact, when speaking of Julia's Autism, it's explained that she just does things, "In a Julia sort of way." Julia's debut episode aired on both PBS and HBO April 10, 2017, but for the time being, it is available for viewing on YouTube . . . so rather than me typing up a summary, you can just see it for yourself:
There really are no words for me to describe just how precious this episode is. As always, SESAME STREET handled the subject in an easy to understand, yet straight-forward and to-the-point manner that didn't sugar-coat or water-down the subject to the point of making it sappy or maudlin. This is why a show like SESAME STREET continues to be one of the most endearing and enduring children's shows for forty-seven seasons - despite what some naysayers or old, jaded, and cynical fuddy-duddies may say, SESAME STREET never talks down to kids, but presents their specific educational subjects with humor and heart. Through Big Bird, we learn that Julia may do things differently than other people he or we may know, but that doesn't mean that they can't be friends, and it's certainly heartwarming to see that both Big Bird and Julia are able to make new friends with each other. My personal favorite moment from the episode is Julia's case of the giggles as she sees how small Big Bird looks from up on the roof of the community center.
Again, there's really no words I can use to describe the excellent job they did - you just have to see this episode for yourself. I certainly hope that not only will Julia continue to be seen on the street, and be utilized in other ways to show just how capable she is of doing a lot of the same things as her friends, just in her own Julia sort of way, but that this may help pave the way for further Muppets with disabilities to populate the street.
Let's face it, eBay is a fascinating website (at least, it used to be, before it became Paypal exclusive): whatever you may be looking for in the way of forgotten old treasures, eBay was the place to look for them, and at the same time, you never really knew what you might have turned up when browsing through the site.
Every once in a while, however, there will be some kind of joker who tries to sell off really odd and unusual items on eBay, such as a piece of toast with Jesus' face on it, or a teenaged girl selling her virginity...
But this really is something you have to see to believe: some joker on eBay is selling what he claims to be actual Muppet puppets that were used by Jim Hanson [sic] and Fronk [sic] Oz on SESAME STREET, and that they were given to him by the former vice president of PBS... so, are they for real? I don't know, you tell me...
Oh, well, this right here must prove that these things are legit!
What do I think of these?
My only guess is that puppet builder, Don Sahlin, was in a hurry and in a bad mood that day.
It's all over the internet right now that the Teletubbies have turned nineteen, which means next year, they will be twenty... I guess that will be twenty years since they were first originally created, because I know they didn't arrive in America until 1998... but, that's besides the point. Ah, Teletubbies, I remember them well; vividly well, in fact. All things considered, TELETUBBIES was pretty much the H.R. PUFNSTUF of my generation.
Well goll-ll-ly, Jimmy!
If there's one thing that H.R. PUFNSTUF was known for was it's immediate following from an audience much older than it was targeted at; being a Saturday Morning show in 1969, H.R. PUFNSTUF was aimed at younger children who enjoyed getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and other such fare... however, it turned out that H.R. PUFNSTUF's biggest audience when it first aired was college kids (and, particularly, stoned college kids at that). It couldn't be helped: H.R. PUFNSTUF was bright, vivid, colorful, and trippy... and TELETUBBIES pretty much had the same effect on us as well. I'm not saying we were a bunch of stoned college kids, but I was eight-years-old when TELETUBBIES was first broadcasted in the U.S. on PBS - a wee bit older than the show's apparent targeted audience of 1-3-year-olds... but we were all intrigued by what we were seeing. How could we not? This show was weird (in a good way), you couldn't not watch it... you had four ridiculously adorable and brightly colored alien-like creatures with TVs in their tubby tummies, and like H.R. PUFNSTUF, it was such a bright, vivid, and trippy show, we were just mesmerized.
You know, now that I think about it, the ARTHUR episode, "That's a Baby Show!" really speaks volume, as it pretty much satired the effect TELETUBBIES had on us older kids when it came along... just see how the parody THE LOVE DUCKS seems to almost hypnotized Arthur:
I know Ragdoll Productions, the company behind TELETUBBIES, have come out with a few new shows since TELETUBBIES, I've glanced at them, but honestly, they're considerably less cute, less comprehensible, and less mesmerizing when compared to TELETUBBIES.
The performers inside the Teletubby suits. I heartell the guy who played Dipsy only did so because he needed money.
So, happy birthday to the Teletubbies... everybody? Say, "Eh-oh!"
As you probably already know, today is SESAME STREET's 45th anniversary; to celebrate, here's a nice little number all the way back from their 35th anniversary special:
It's almost kind of hard for me to believe that it was ten years ago today that Steve was officially born to the world; I think of this as something of a milestone, if only because Steve is, so far, the only character I've ever developed that has survived for this long.
Steve's genesis is kind of an interesting one... it really isn't a stretch for me to say that when he was first developed, he wasn't anything like he is today, mainly because his personality wasn't really fully established. In fact, he really didn't have much personality at all... the only thing that was established from day one that's still in use today (albeit seldom) is his disdain for anyone calling him, "Stevie."
When I first built Steve in August 2004, I didn't intend on really using him in the manner of which I did. I was fifteen-years-old at the time - still young, still ambitious, still immature, and had my head in the clouds far more than I do now - I really had my sights set on someday being a Muppet Performer on SESAME STREET, and I thought if I was able to move up in the ranks and establish myself as a performer, that Steve could be a signature character of mine (which, to me, made sense, as I am now publically admitting for the first time that Steve's overall character design is pretty much borrowed from an Anything Muppet monster seen at least once or two on SESAME STREET in the 1970s, though some of you either already knew that, or already figured that out... and for the record, that's the only time I've done such a thing). To the best of memory, Steve's character, at the time, was that he was a wannabe comedian. I could see it now: he had a makeshift comedy club on the roof of 123, but the jokes and routines he told were so corny or cliched, that nobody really found them funny; Grover would have been his best friend, since somehow, Grover never managed to drive him crazy (that, and I was on a Grover kick at the time), though he would have a habit of calling him Stevie, resulting in Steve snapping, "Don't call me, Stevie!" (Interestingly, my fellow puppeteer, Missey Wright, thought the routine was a nod to the movie AIRPLANE!, but I hadn't seen the movie at the time, and I wasn't aware of Leslie Nielsen's iconic line, "Don't call me Shirley.")
Speaking of which, I was an intern at ETPBS (East Tennessee PBS, then known as ETPtv) at the time, and we were just getting ready for the summer 2004 Friends of Sesame Street Pledge Drive to help support and fund children's programming on PBS (we did two a year, one for two weeks in March, and other for a week in August). I had heard that Missey - who was their regular puppeteer for pledge drives - was unavailable to attend, and that they were thinking about trying to find somebody else, or foregoing puppets altogether; I offered to be a substitute. I wasn't officially a puppeteer at that point yet - I had a strong interest in puppetry, and a desire to be a puppeteer, but I wasn't actually performing yet (Kids on the Block had expressed interest in hiring me to be a performer, but I never heard back from them). They agreed to give me a shot, but there was just one problem: I needed a puppet to actually perform. I was already in the process of building Steve, just to play around and practice with, so I rushed to finish him (and boy, did it show in the beginning). The Friday before we were to start, I brought Steve in to give a little demonstration for Chris Smith, my supervisor; I don't even remember what I did as a demonstration, but they were impressed enough to let me do it. Monday finally came along, and considering this was going to be live on the air, broadcasting in multiple viewing areas (East Tennessee, southern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia, and the western ends of both Carolinas), I was a little uneasy about possibly not being quick enough on my toes to pull this off, but amazingly, so much of my focus and attention was drawn down to the monitor between my knees, that everything else around me was a void of nothingness; I was separated from the rest of the world, and in a world of my own that felt so natural, that I can't remember ever having any major catastrophes... a few errors, perhaps, but I was learning as I was going.
Chick magnet
But this isn't about me, this is about Steve. On Monday, August 9, 2004, Steve made his debut as a fill-in for Missey's character - a girl named Karla - to show his support for his favorite programs on PBS Kids (this pre-dates the PBS Kids GO! era). At the time, however, Steve still didn't have any personality to speak of, he was really just a generic monster puppet appearing on TV screens to inform kids to have their parents phone in their pledges of support, and they, in turn, would receive thank you gestures, such as t-shirts, bouncy balls, frisbees, circus tickets, Chick-fil-A coupons, among other little goodies; but one day, that all changed. Another one of my ETP colleagues, Russ Manning - who has contributed some terrific input to my work - had this wild idea: he saw something potentially funny in having Steve be something of a casanova wannabe. Every now and then, Russ would have Steve flirt with one of the phone girls, or one of his fellow on air personalities, and as it turned out, it was funny; that was a personality trait that ended up sticking, which is why even to this day Steve likes to think of himself as quite the ladies' monster.
Even then, Steve had an active imagination.
Karla and Steve
I think Steve went over fairly well his initial week on ETP - he seemed to be something of a hit with everyone in the studio, and I think there may have been an occasion or two where a kid phoned into the station to try and talk to him. Whatever the case may be, it seemed to warrant an invitation to have Steve return for further pledge drives. Missey returned for the March 2005 pledge drive, and after getting acquainted, they had Karla and Steve on air together; it worked pretty well for both Karla and Steve, to have another puppet character to interact with... at first. From a technical aspect, apparently there were too many mics on that particular set for the control room, so Karla and Steve were later separated, and Steve was given Karla's old position, while Karla was promoted to her own newsdesk segment (something that was proposed for Steve for station bumpers and promos, but never materialized, though the idea was later recycled for the MONSTROCITY NEWS entries of Steve's YouTube series).
THE KARLA REPORT and MONSTROCITY NEWS
Steve made his internet debut on YouTube, December 26, 2007.
There was no question in having Steve return for the August 2005 pledge drive, but after that, ETP quietly ceased having on air pledge drives for rather sound reasons, and as such, Steve ended up being put to rest for a while. At that time, I hadn't quite made up my mind whether to persue a career in puppetry, or animation: I was taking an animation course my senior year, but by the time that was over, I was so burned out on animation that I swore it off forever, and decided to go with puppetry instead: it came more natural to me, and it felt far more satisifying to manipulate a puppet in real time and get instant results, as opposed to manipulating a drawn figure on a computer screen, frame by frame, and only getting a few second's worth of results that took hours (and sometimes days) to achieve. By then, I also started getting ideas for other shows and characters, so it made sense to stick with puppetry; but there was still a matter of Steve: what was I going to do with him? By the end of 2007, I had a thought: YouTube was still relatively new (Google's fascism hadn't set in for another couple of years), and I had a camcorder, with a pull-out LCD screen that could serve as a monitor; why not take advantage of using a pre-social media YouTube to do something with Steve, and put both him and myself out there? I didn't have a whole lot to work with at first: most of those earlier entries on YouTube were mostly reactions to what was in the news (such as the survey conducted in London that children don't like clowns), or just having Steve lip-sync to a song. It was fun to do, and slowly but surely, Steve started getting a little attention from people who appreciate puppetry - especially the film and television style of puppetry Jim Henson innovated with the Muppets - and it all seemed to snowball a little from there. As time went on, Steve's small yet dedicated fanbase seemed to grow, and at the same time, so did Steve's personality: no longer was he just a generic monster character; the more I played around with him, the more I was able to find his character, and he grew into the little self interested and self absorbed prima donna, with the slight little mischevious streak, and a love for the ladies, that people know him as today (and it's interesting that at one point, his fanbase was largely female).
D'Monster for 2012
YouTube was certainly a wonderful tool in helping spread Steve's exposure to a far broader scope, taking him from a nice-sized viewership just in the East Tennessee and surrounding areas, to an even nicer-sized viewership that spans not just across the U.S., but also Canada, the U.K., and Australia. In those years, as the series progressed, more effort was put into the entries: while Steve still maintained his little intimacy with viewers, more and more entries were planned in greater detail, with some reflecting current events, holidays, and at times, the series even got topical with reviews from movies to politics, to Steve even running for President in 2012. Later still, entries were given actual plots and scenarios for Steve to act in. But, as the old saying goes, "There's a little bad in everything good." Eventually, Google's control over YouTube became far more biased - YouTube began favoring partner channels that generate revenue for them (therefore, putting money in their pockets), and as such, smaller channels began being swept under the rug; a combination of a serious decline in Steve's viewership on YouTube, and feeling I've done as much as I could, I decided to end Steve's YouTube series in the spring of 2013 - after seven seasons, and 63 entries. This was also going to allow me to ponder on trying to focus on other projects within The Joseph Scarbrough Universe, including the ambitious anthology special, PUPPET POWER (for which Steve served hosting duty).
Steve hosted the webspecial PUPPET POWER
And now, here it is, 2014, ten years since Steve first graced TV screens (seven since he first graced computer screens). In all these years, one thing that I've recently come to realize is Steve is actually the hardest character for me to write for... I guess I've performed him in such spontaneity for so many years, that any dialogue for him feels more natural and in-character if it comes off the cuff, rather than off a script page; it's hard to describe, but if a line is written for him, even if it's a line he would probably say, it still feels artificial doing that line, rather than doing a line on the spur of the moment. But, all that aside, it's an interesting feeling to be looking back on ten years of Steve being in existence; I've certainly enjoyed what I've done with him, and there's even more areas I'd certainly would have liked to explore with him... but has Steve stood the test of time? Has he left an impression on the public? I honestly don't know, and I don't even really think it's my place to answer that, I think that's up to the people to decide.
I would like to thank those of you who have been watching all of Steve's exploits and escapades these past ten years, whether you've watched him show his support for public television, or get himself into unusual situations on the internet, or host faux news programs and web specials; I certainly hope you've enjoyed all of this. If you have a favorite moment from all of this, please feel free to comment, I appreciate getting feedback, and I'd like to know what you've personally enjoyed.
I think any artist will agree that one of the questions people ask them the most is "Where do you get your ideas from?" I can't speak for others, but for myself, I have found that most, if not all of my better ideas for shows and such come to me in my sleep, as I dream; however, other times, ideas can come quite by accident, if you will, and that's how much of Steve's personality came into fruition, which is what I'm reminiscing about today.
Most fans know by now that Steve likes to think of himself as a little babe-magnet (and he actually is, lol), but how did that fascet of his personality come to be? Actually, I give a great deal of credit to my friend and colleague, Russ Manning, of ETPtv (now East Tennessee PBS) for coming up with this one. I believe it was the end of my first day of performing Steve for our old Friends of Sesame Street Club pledge drive, and just before we were about to go live for our last spot for the day, Russ got together with myself, and one of our young female phone operators, coming up with the idea for the break to have her and Steve sort of flirt with each other on camera... "So, Steve, I was just answering the phones over there, and I saw you on TV, and you know what? I think you're kinda cute," the girl said, as she tickles Steve's chin, making him feel about ten feet tall. In a similar anecdote, on another day, Russ suggested that I have Steve sort of flirt with one of our human characters, Toulouse (as played by Evelyn Clarke), and ask her if she's married, "'Cause I'm not". Even years later when I had Steve at an event, one little girl was entranced by him, and once again, I found myself being prompted by someone to have Steve ask the little girl if she's married. Apparently, there's just something particularly funny about this little guy trying to act like a big shot for the ladies, so as I further developed his character years later when I attempted to make him an obscure YouTube celebrity back in 2007, I knew that I just had to make being a ladies' monster part of his personality, and of course, when he needed a sidekick, what better character to give him to play off of than a girl monster? Enter Bethany Crystal (sorry purists, but "Mona Monster" from the old Valentine's Day video wouldn't have worked). It worked, because Steve does, indeed, have fangirls, who knew women loved purple monsters? Again, I give thanks to Russ for this one, as he has an incredible ability to dial into characters, and this turned out to be a genius idea.
Steve's love for corn dogs. This is something that happened quite by accident, but I love how it turned out; it was an unseasonably warm day in early March of 2005, this particular day was turning out to be an absolutely miserable one, and the only thing I had to look forward to that day was performing Steve down at ETPBS. At the beginning of our pledge drive day, our human characters Toulouse and Catwoman (Evelyn Clarke and Cathy Wilson) mentioned to Steve that they were going to talk about a new special entitled The World's Largest Concert, when we come back. Suddenly, I was struck with a funny thought, and when the cameras came back to us, a confused Steve asked to hear more about this "World's largest corn dog you guys were talking about". This too turned out to be a stroke of genius; it became a running gag for the rest of that day, as any chance I got, Steve would somehow work corn dogs into the conversation, and everybody thought this was so funny... even by the end of the day, a lot of people in the studio had a hunger for corn dogs because of Steve. It's amazing how a poor day was made into something special because of a whim. Needless to say, I knew I couldn't keep doing it, because it would've been overkill, and wouldn't be funny anymore; even though some of the guys off camera kept trying to get me to have Steve talk about corn dogs again the next day, he didn't. I think he may have uttered the words only once that next day, but never again. It was certainly one of the best days I had.
This goes to show you that good ideas can come from anywhere.
