and one of the creators of Elmo's World, called the show's new look "startlingly different". Development and filming Long-time Sesame Street writer Judy Freudberg came up with the idea of creating a segment with "an entirely different format" from the rest of the show during the CTW's workshops, and writer Tony Geiss further developed the idea with her. Freudberg stated that the concept "was radical because we had never veered from that magazine mosaic and had never given any character more than another character to do". Animator Mo Willems came up with the idea of creating a less-realistic setting compared to the rest of the show. The segment presented Elmo, first portrayed by Kevin Clash and then by Ryan Dillon after its revamp in 2017, moving between and combining two worlds of live action and computer-generated animation, which looked like "a child's squiggly crayon drawing come to life" created by the host, and with "a stream-of-consciousness feel to it". The segment was filmed at a different time than the rest of the season, much of it in front of a blue screen, with animation and digital effects added later.Herman, event occurs at 2:53 For more complicated shots that showed Elmo's entire body, a puppet called "Active Elmo" was operated with assistance from other puppeteers; the puppet was also filmed in front of a blue screen and edited later. In addition to Freudberg and Geiss, other writers of Elmo's World included Emily Kingsley and Molly Boylan. The theme song was based upon a song Geiss wrote called "Elmo's Song", with lyrics changed to fit the segment. Writer Louise Gikow and The New York Times called it "a show within a show". Clash called it "a playdate between the child and Elmo", and felt that its intimacy provided an effective teaching tool. He also called it "an instant success". Davis compared Elmo's World with the Saturday Morning children's TV show Pee-wee's Playhouse. The CTW, as it has done throughout its existence and for all the shows it produced, conducted extensive studies on Elmo's World. They found that the segment had high appeal for children, regardless of their age, sex, and socioeconomic background. Attention and participation such as hand-clapping, moving along with the music, and counting along with the characters increased with repeated viewing. Characters The Muppet Elmo, who represented the three-year-old child, was chosen as host of Elmo's World because he had