Old School Sesame Street: Adults Only

[ramsey37]

I'm still waiting for the day they put warning labels on air and water...
George

[Adam West]

This sort of nonsense reminds me of Shrek. Is it a kids movie or an adult movie?

There are parts that the kids get and they laugh and things that just go completely over their heads and the adults laugh. It is humorous to watch a Shrek movie at the theater and watch when the kids laugh vs. when the adults laugh and I think it's good programming.

How about H.R. Pufnstuf? High Rolled Pufnstuf....and Lidsville? As a kid, I never would have given it a second thought because I knew nothing about drugs, now I think it's kind of humorous. My kids don't know much about drugs. They have heard of pot, crack, etc. but all they know is that it affects your brain and it's not good for you. They wouldn't be able to identify a pot leaf if you showed them one mainly because my wife and I do not overly focus too much unnecessary energy on it.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I bought the old school DVDs for my kids, I was horrified at how many times the "F Word" sneaks in there and the blood, my God, the blood!

I almost spit out my bottle of water over that!

I thought the warnings on the Tom and Jerry and Droppy DVDS were bad. This is nuts.

Cookie Monster isn't to blame for overweight children. Over-indulgent and/or irresponsible parents are.

Chris

[ctc]

>I'm still waiting for the day they put warning labels on air and water

They do. Check out a bottle of water and note how they make a point of telling you the lipid count is 0%. (Lewis Black did a GREAT routine on this.)

The warnings are put on things to protect the company from ANY potential lawsuit. The Cookie Monster flap scared a lot of folks I bet; so rather than re-edit stuff (and honk off the parents who're buying out of personal nostalgia) they slap on a warning.

I had a friend explain it to me. Standards and Practices is there to alert the producers to ANYTHING that MIGHT offend someone. As we all know, that's pretty much ANYTHING! And as the years go by, more stuff gets added to the pile, since S&P personnel have to justify their own positions. Sesame Street is a great example; SO MANY things would NEVER be done today. (Has anyone complained about the Count's accent yet?)

My favourite was: PBS passed a rule banning the depiction of bird nests a few years back. Why? 'Cos they were afraid kids would want to climb into trees to see them, and fall out, get hurt, and sue? Nope! Birds are unclean, and they didn't want kids playing with the nests, CATCHING SOMETHING, and suing.

Don C.

[ramsey37]

>I'm still waiting for the day they put warning labels on air and water

They do. Check out a bottle of water and note how they make a point of telling you the lipid count is 0%. (Lewis Black did a GREAT routine on this.)

Don C.

RIP, Common Sense. We hardly knew ye....
George

[PCofmisfittoys]

I love the sesame street line all the way through . I'll buy the DVD's for sure. It's like the old Looney tunes that you can watch that where pulled. great TV and the junk today is too tame .

[Wee67]

Pacing?!?! Kids aren't born with innate sense of pacing. At that age, they are exposed to soem things, but I don't think they've adjusted to a certain pacing.

A lot of research into child psycology went itno created Sesame Street. Admittedly, that's 40 year-old science, but its not like there's been lots of major reversals in that time. I remember really liking Sesame Street whe I was a kid because a lot stuff happened on city streets. I mean, the kinds of places I grew up on. Not crime-filled urban jungles, but city streets where kids played stick ball, etc. I really liked their efforts with diversity, too. It wasn't rammed down your throat but rather it just existed, like an assumption. I think it had a bigger impact on me than I might have realized.

I really believe it is one of the greatest products ever created for television.

[megoscott]

Not to be too simplistic, but the early Sesame street was produced by sixties era educators and hippie animators . Now it's focus-grouped to death by corporate suits.

[mitchedwards]

I'm glad they put the warning on the DVDs. I'm still traumatized from the episode where Big Bird got liquored up and went on a crime spree through Seseme Street.

[Wee67]

Not to be too simplistic, but the early Sesame street was produced by sixties era educators and hippie animators . Now it's focus-grouped to death by corporate suits.

That's a shame. I haven't seen since the late 80's. I worked at theme park called Sesame Place for two summers (a blast). They had us read the background on the creation of the show and, although it did lean propaganda, of course, it was very interesting how the show came about. It was a really great product.

[huedell]

I'm not convinced 1970s Sesame Street is immensely good or bad for kids...

To me its simply a solid children's show---- not beyond reproach----but
certainly not to blame for anything significant

It is interesting to note however that I learned to read incredibly early
and that my parents credit SS for helping me to do so---as well as to spike
my IQ early on in my development

Secondly, I love the Muppet characters from the 70s SS show and I don't
see why today's kids shouldn't have an opportunity to love them too

Certain skits and bits stay with me to this day---my faves are on YouTube
including Bumble Ardy, Daddy Dear, THe Yo Yo Master and a mess of Muppets
interacting with pre-schoolers---my favorite kid being John-John

People can put warnings on anything they want as far as I'm concerned--
-doesn't irk me---special interest groups do what they feel is nescessary to
"rate" product----and its ultimately up to parents to mold their children anyway

[jwyblejr]

One has to wonder how different Sesame Street would be today if Jim Henson was still alive. Would he have kept it the way we remember it or would he have left it the way it is now or would he have said "everyone at PBS is nuts and I'm gone"?

[HardyGirl]

One has to wonder how different Sesame Street would be today if Jim Henson was still alive. Would he have kept it the way we remember it or would he have left it the way it is now or would he have said "everyone at PBS is nuts and I'm gone"?

He's probably turning over in his grave right now! (RIP Jim, we wish you were still alive and working your magic!)

[megoscott]

I'm no expert, but how much effect did he have over it beyond the Muppets?

I also can't intelligently criticize the current Sesame Street, other than disliking Elmo. I don't actually watch it, so I'm being a cranky "It was better in my day" man. I'm sure it's still better than most anything else for kids. (Except Higglytown Heroes of course. )

[ABMAC]

Henson was always careful to give credit for Sesame Street to the Children's Television Workshop. He and his crew built the Muppets and operated them, but they followed scripts written by CTVW, and had no part in the non_Muppet content of the shows.