LTPHarry
Joined Jun 2015
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LTPHarry's rating
So, one of ITV's Christmas commissions for 2025 was this TV special where Ant and Dec send Stephen Mulhern to places he doesn't want to go. Hmmmmm, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?
And yes, I'm not the only person who noticed the similarities to An Idiot Aboard; in fact, I noticed the similarities straight away as soon as this was announced. And watching it myself, it's safe to say that it didn't disappoint me on that!
Was there anything I remember from it? No, I don't. This special, in all honesty, was severely lacking! All I really remember from it was a part where Stephen touches a live octopus, and some surreal parts, as expected for anything Mulhern-related. None of the jokes were anything to write home about, and all in all, it just feels like ITV attempting to revive An Idiot Aboard but not knowing what made that show a cult classic. To be honest, I wonder what Karl Pilkington and Ricky Gervais thought of this?
The only good thing, if I could think of one, was that Stephen, Ant, and Dec appear to have had a good time making it. It's not like it was a passion project or anything, but they must have seen something.
In fact, I theorise on how this came to be. One day, the threesome watched An Idiot Aboard and thought they could do their own version. ITV commissioned it, and that's how Accidental Tourist came to be. Sure, that's likely not what happened, but its obviously that it could have been the case.
Overall, this special was boring, bland, and forgettable. It's nowhere near as bad as the TikTok Top 100 2024 special from last year, but it's just another spit in the face of ITV's terrible Christmas schedules.
And yes, I'm not the only person who noticed the similarities to An Idiot Aboard; in fact, I noticed the similarities straight away as soon as this was announced. And watching it myself, it's safe to say that it didn't disappoint me on that!
Was there anything I remember from it? No, I don't. This special, in all honesty, was severely lacking! All I really remember from it was a part where Stephen touches a live octopus, and some surreal parts, as expected for anything Mulhern-related. None of the jokes were anything to write home about, and all in all, it just feels like ITV attempting to revive An Idiot Aboard but not knowing what made that show a cult classic. To be honest, I wonder what Karl Pilkington and Ricky Gervais thought of this?
The only good thing, if I could think of one, was that Stephen, Ant, and Dec appear to have had a good time making it. It's not like it was a passion project or anything, but they must have seen something.
In fact, I theorise on how this came to be. One day, the threesome watched An Idiot Aboard and thought they could do their own version. ITV commissioned it, and that's how Accidental Tourist came to be. Sure, that's likely not what happened, but its obviously that it could have been the case.
Overall, this special was boring, bland, and forgettable. It's nowhere near as bad as the TikTok Top 100 2024 special from last year, but it's just another spit in the face of ITV's terrible Christmas schedules.
The whole premise of this 1993 New Year's Eve special, which was funded by six broadcasters who created their own Sesame Street co-productions or aired the original show, is to give an overview of how different countries in the world ring in the New Year. However, the main focus is in the United States within Sesame Street itself.
The synopsis is that while most of the adult residents are at their own parties, Gina and Savion stay behind to help the kids celebrate, with help from Big Bird and the other muppets. All in the meanwhile, worrywart Telly Monster, who doesn't understand the concept of the New Year, is paranoid about the year ending, and Oscar doesn't help matters. This leads to fun antics, like where he disguises himself as a human and fools the kids and muppets, and "hides away from the New Year", but Gina shows him that there's nothing to worry about. Good stuff indeed.
All in the meanwhile, Elmo hosts the "Monster News Network", where he showcases how the New Year is celebrated in Israel, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Mexico, and Japan. The first four represented by the respective co-productions, the last two represented by Rosita and two original characters named Cousin Pepe (Mexico) and Elmo-noske (Japan).
This is one of my favourite New Year specials. It perfectly represents what the holiday is meant to be, and it just makes you feel good. To hardcore Sesame Street and Muppet fans, it's also neat seeing the characters from a small selection of co-productions as well.
The synopsis is that while most of the adult residents are at their own parties, Gina and Savion stay behind to help the kids celebrate, with help from Big Bird and the other muppets. All in the meanwhile, worrywart Telly Monster, who doesn't understand the concept of the New Year, is paranoid about the year ending, and Oscar doesn't help matters. This leads to fun antics, like where he disguises himself as a human and fools the kids and muppets, and "hides away from the New Year", but Gina shows him that there's nothing to worry about. Good stuff indeed.
All in the meanwhile, Elmo hosts the "Monster News Network", where he showcases how the New Year is celebrated in Israel, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Mexico, and Japan. The first four represented by the respective co-productions, the last two represented by Rosita and two original characters named Cousin Pepe (Mexico) and Elmo-noske (Japan).
This is one of my favourite New Year specials. It perfectly represents what the holiday is meant to be, and it just makes you feel good. To hardcore Sesame Street and Muppet fans, it's also neat seeing the characters from a small selection of co-productions as well.
"Kids' Guide to Life - Learning to Share" was the first in an installment of Sesame Street direct-to-video releases by Sony Wonder that were aimed at teaching children important life lessons through the appearance of a special celebrity guest star. This installment focuses on cooperation, for instance.
We start with Elmo playing his all-time favourite toy, his train. He sings a song about it, and afterward, Zoe, his best friend, comes up and asks if she should play with it. Elmo, being the furry-red three-year-old that he is, doesn't want her (or anybody) to touch it. Meanwhile, Maria and Tarah take note of Elmo and Zoe while the former is fixing a television set, and take note of them, not realizing the two muppets are arguing.
Afterward, Maria turns on the television, and it heads into a program called "Cooperation Today", a parody of NBC's Today. The celebrity guest star and then co-host of the actual show, Katie Couric, tries to interview Jack and Jill, but the two of them won't cooperate, and it heads into chaos.
We head back into Elmo and Zoe's argument, and to represent how much he won't share the train, he enters into an epic song explaining such! Zoe is upset, and as such, Elmo decides to let Zoe take part in his train game. When they take notice of two Banana peels, they decide to take them to Oscar... through the train!
After a segment with Cookie Monster and his friend (What is Friend?), Katie Couric is now interviewing the Three Little Pigs, who are having trouble cooperating and allowing the Big Bad Wolf to destroy their houses. Eventually, the Wolf leaves to annoy Red Riding Hood instead.
After another segment involving Herry and the Two-Headed Monster (Two Heads Are Better Than One), we head back to Elmo and Zoe. She now says it's her turn to push the train, but Elmo is hesitant and suggests they both operate the train; however, this ends up leading to disastrous consequences after the next segment featuring Grover and Prairie Dawn (Sharing).
We see Big Bird, who has just finished constructing a tall block tower and is proud of it, but when he hears Elmo and Zoe playing with the train, and the ramp facing right in front of the tower. Big Bird tries to stop them, but as Elmo and Zoe were not listening, it was too late. Big Bird gets upset with the two, and Elmo and Zoe realize the trouble they caused and how hurt their fine yellow friend was.
This leads to Big Bird taking note of the train, and suggests that he could make some tracks with his blocks to allow Elmo and Zoe to deliver the banana skins to Oscar. They then sing a song about sharing.
We go back to Katie Couric, and this time, she's in the studio and gets a report about what Elmo, Zoe, and Big Bird are doing. She heads into a taxi cab ("Sesame Street, please, and STEP ON IT!") in a flash. Meanwhile, the three muppets have finally reached Oscar's trash can, and there goes Katie interviewing the three of them! Oscar pops up with Grundgetta, and the three of them give the Banana peels to Oscar. Even he gets to know how to share as well, when he gives the other peel to Grundgetta! When Oscar takes note of being on camera, he is embarrassed by doing a nice thing.
After he and Grundgetta leave, Jack, Jill, and the Pigs return and find out how much that cooperation worked. Everyone then sings the final song, "So Much Better When We Work Together" i.e., "Cooperation Song".
The last scene has an interview with Katie Couric, where she discusses in detail the life lesson that the feature has to offer about how to share and cooperate, with a "little help" from Elmo and Zoe.
Learning to Share is a lot of fun and gives good development to Elmo and Zoe's friendship, which can be rocky at best on the show (no pun intended). I honestly would say that their portrayals in the life moral are done in a realistic way that toddlers their age would act, or even people on the autism spectrum or other disorders. This shows because, being autistic myself, I can be a bit protective of my belongings and find it hard to share or cooperate with other people.
Elmo, Zoe, and Big Bird provided good roles, and Katie Couric worked out as a good foil for the muppets. Even Oscar had some funny moments.
This is a good special and a definite recommendation to those who have children or are just wanting a throwback of older Sesame Street material.
We start with Elmo playing his all-time favourite toy, his train. He sings a song about it, and afterward, Zoe, his best friend, comes up and asks if she should play with it. Elmo, being the furry-red three-year-old that he is, doesn't want her (or anybody) to touch it. Meanwhile, Maria and Tarah take note of Elmo and Zoe while the former is fixing a television set, and take note of them, not realizing the two muppets are arguing.
Afterward, Maria turns on the television, and it heads into a program called "Cooperation Today", a parody of NBC's Today. The celebrity guest star and then co-host of the actual show, Katie Couric, tries to interview Jack and Jill, but the two of them won't cooperate, and it heads into chaos.
We head back into Elmo and Zoe's argument, and to represent how much he won't share the train, he enters into an epic song explaining such! Zoe is upset, and as such, Elmo decides to let Zoe take part in his train game. When they take notice of two Banana peels, they decide to take them to Oscar... through the train!
After a segment with Cookie Monster and his friend (What is Friend?), Katie Couric is now interviewing the Three Little Pigs, who are having trouble cooperating and allowing the Big Bad Wolf to destroy their houses. Eventually, the Wolf leaves to annoy Red Riding Hood instead.
After another segment involving Herry and the Two-Headed Monster (Two Heads Are Better Than One), we head back to Elmo and Zoe. She now says it's her turn to push the train, but Elmo is hesitant and suggests they both operate the train; however, this ends up leading to disastrous consequences after the next segment featuring Grover and Prairie Dawn (Sharing).
We see Big Bird, who has just finished constructing a tall block tower and is proud of it, but when he hears Elmo and Zoe playing with the train, and the ramp facing right in front of the tower. Big Bird tries to stop them, but as Elmo and Zoe were not listening, it was too late. Big Bird gets upset with the two, and Elmo and Zoe realize the trouble they caused and how hurt their fine yellow friend was.
This leads to Big Bird taking note of the train, and suggests that he could make some tracks with his blocks to allow Elmo and Zoe to deliver the banana skins to Oscar. They then sing a song about sharing.
We go back to Katie Couric, and this time, she's in the studio and gets a report about what Elmo, Zoe, and Big Bird are doing. She heads into a taxi cab ("Sesame Street, please, and STEP ON IT!") in a flash. Meanwhile, the three muppets have finally reached Oscar's trash can, and there goes Katie interviewing the three of them! Oscar pops up with Grundgetta, and the three of them give the Banana peels to Oscar. Even he gets to know how to share as well, when he gives the other peel to Grundgetta! When Oscar takes note of being on camera, he is embarrassed by doing a nice thing.
After he and Grundgetta leave, Jack, Jill, and the Pigs return and find out how much that cooperation worked. Everyone then sings the final song, "So Much Better When We Work Together" i.e., "Cooperation Song".
The last scene has an interview with Katie Couric, where she discusses in detail the life lesson that the feature has to offer about how to share and cooperate, with a "little help" from Elmo and Zoe.
Learning to Share is a lot of fun and gives good development to Elmo and Zoe's friendship, which can be rocky at best on the show (no pun intended). I honestly would say that their portrayals in the life moral are done in a realistic way that toddlers their age would act, or even people on the autism spectrum or other disorders. This shows because, being autistic myself, I can be a bit protective of my belongings and find it hard to share or cooperate with other people.
Elmo, Zoe, and Big Bird provided good roles, and Katie Couric worked out as a good foil for the muppets. Even Oscar had some funny moments.
This is a good special and a definite recommendation to those who have children or are just wanting a throwback of older Sesame Street material.
