According to a very funny article by New York Times TV writer Virginia Heffernan, there is a warning on the new "Sesame Street: Old School" DVD that reads, "These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child." Baffled, Heffernan writes: At a recent all-ages home screening, a hush fell over the room. "What did they do to us?" asked one Gen-X mother of two, finally. The show rolled, and the sweet trauma came flooding back. What they did to us was hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar's depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn't exist.
It brings up an interesting question: Were those of us who grew up in a time before organic snacks and mandatory car seats and Abby Cadabby really at a disadvantage?
Heffernan suggests that over-protected kids today could learn a little something from old-school Sesame Street:
The harshness of existence was a given, and no one was proposing that numbers and letters would lead you "out" of your inner city to Elysian suburbs. Instead, "Sesame Street" suggested that learning might merely make our days more bearable, more interesting, funnier.
We're with her. Kids today are often presented by kids' programming with a misleading "everyone wins!" version of reality. They could stand a little more misanthropic Oscar, a little less "Prozacky Elmo."
Reader Comments ( Page 14 of 14)
196. You gotta be kidding! More misanthropic messages?! The real life as opposed to the "every one wins" life?! Ridiculous. Look at the world the kids are growing up in today. As a baby boomer our real kick in the collective butt was fear of nuclear attack. And those Russians. Then the VietNam war protest woke us up to another reality. Each generation has its own prominent worries. On today's plate d'jour it's MRSA, terrorism, accelerated decomposition of the planet,drought,pedophiles,manipulation of our constitutional guarantees. Wouldn't you have to agree that these concerns are a far cry from coddling this generation? I can tell you that we are not misleading the kids today with promises of continuing warm fuzzies. These concerns are informing them now and will influence the way they structure and live in the future.
boredwell at 4:29AM on Nov 25th 2007
197. yeah, not to worry. kids today don't have it so easy. mrsa, child abductions,rabid fundamentalism,erosion of constitutional guarantees,decomposition of the planet, drought, free market economy. Let em have a bit of fun. They'll wake up to reality soon enough!
boredwell at 4:44AM on Nov 25th 2007
198. Thanks to Sesame street,I actually enjoyed learning.And I must say I and many others here in Nigeria miss the show.Here's to the Street!
aniekan at 7:28AM on Nov 25th 2007
199. I was born in 1981 and grew up watching Sesame Street. I am now a nanny for toddlers, and I can tell you, Sesame Street just seems less creative now. The article mentioned the "Monsterpiece Theater" and another poster mentioned "Teeny Little Super Guy". There is nothing on the show today that compares to segments like these. The newer characters, like Elmo, Zoe, Rosita, and Baby Bear are nowhere near as good as the classics like Grover, Cookie, and Oscar. Elmo's voice and Baby Bear's lisp are really hard to listen to everyday. Also, why is Kermit no longer on the show? Anybody know?
When my husband and I have kids, we'll probably let them watch some of the newer shows, but we'll also introduce them to classic Looney Tunes, old Mickey cartoons, and maybe we'll even buy the Sesame Street:Old School DVDs!
Amanda at 12:08PM on Dec 1st 2007
200. Kids are just pathetic brats now a days... and yes, I am only 18 years old. haha... Okay. Seriously. Sesame Street innapropriate for children? I love that show, but it's getting dumber and dumber. Parents of young children are dumber and dumber, too. That's why I am not ever breeding - I am not going to be guilty of raising stupid children. I actually used to want to be a teacher, but now school systems are also getting dumbed down. Actually, America as a whole is getting stupider. Period. Oh wow... redundancy. See, what's really funny is kids aren't really kids anymore... me? I'll never grow up. They're turning into programmed machines that watch Sponge Bob and Hannah Montana. You should be so proud. And it's your fault!
catsboyscandy at 9:45PM on Dec 2nd 2007
201. Born in '58, Sesame Street was to late. Different times, different agendas, different rules for viewers and programmers.
JefFlyingV at 11:44AM on Dec 16th 2007
202. this is only a testTM
Mokele-Mbembe at 9:38AM on Dec 20th 2007
203. Mokele, the purple teletubby was gay, Jerry Falwell said, so it must be true?
mac65 at 7:56PM on Jan 1st 2008
204. I remember watching Sesame Street at age 5 around 1969 and/or 70 while living in a rural area of New Hampshire. Rather than seeming seedy and gritty, it gave me a hunger for a brownstone apartment with front steps were I could just walk outside my door and have a community at my feet. Kids at age 5 are too young pick up on the things we see when we look back at older ages. I do not think the shows themselves have as large an impact as the times themselves. My son was born into the age of Barny, and the new Sesame Street and by the age of 8 was much more savvy and cynical than I would have imagine possible for children of that age. Even with the change in tone in children's television, I think, sadly sometimes, that my son and his cohort have still had larger doses of reality overall than we ever did.
Pat5525 at 10:15AM on Jan 5th 2008
205. I miss Sesame street.When i was growing up in Nigeria in the 1980's,Sesame Street was a big part of my life.Once it was 4pm,silence reigned in our house,as i and my sibs crowded around the TV,and laughed ourselves silly,and learned,and afterward recounted all the jokes we heard on the street.
I havent seen any later episodes of the show(ss was discontinued on Nigerian Television in the early 1990's,replaced eventally with Barney,that joke for a kids show),but if it is different from those early episodes i loved as a child,then something is missing seriously.Give me back my old Sesame street.Maybe i am too nostalgic,but it was cool to watch and learn and laugh.
aniekan thomas at 5:20AM on Jan 19th 2008