Sesame Street Season 40: Can you tell me how to get the heck out of here?
A "new school" resident of Sesame Street, Murray is pretty cool. He does the Word on the Street segment. I always loved it when monsters or Barkley went out into the real streets.
Sesame Street premiered its 40th season yesterday morning at 6am in the Philadelphia area. At least I think I was watching Sesame Street. Maria, Luis, Gordon, Bob, Barkley and Big Bird were there, but so was some monster named Murray, some CGI fairies at a CGI daycare and a whole lot of generically arranged "hip-hop". Absent were trippy animation shorts about aliens, farm animals with names or ladybugs jumping rope that featured scores of every musical genre. Sesame Street is a weird place now. Hooper's has an outdoor cafe and a one episode character like yesterday's sleazy real estate agent for birds that tries to sell Big Bird a new habitat was played by a human instead of a Muppet. Creepy Muppets = funny, creepy humans = creepy. Sesame Street feels off in its present form, which is odd since you'd think a lot of people responsible for making it also grew up on the original. Am I saying that watching classic episodes doesn't leave me compulsively counting in my sleep? Actually no, I'm not, but I don't think the DVD of "old school" Sesame Street should come with a warning that it is not intended for children. Old school Sesame Street simply no longer reflects the accepted
Listen carefully to the lyrics of this classic number about riding the NYC subway. It has an odd combination of honesty, tension, anxiety and silliness. Sesame Street was a kid's guide to urban living; at least it was when I watched it in the 70's and 80's. And I happened to live in a city (Houston, TX) so I thought all the city segments were made just for me and that everything was shot down the street from my house. I was 4. Anyway, check out this classic bit about treacherous transportation for the working class.
This song would never be written today.
You could lose your purse
Or you might lose something worse
On the subway
Wow.
Is the current Disney-fied Sesame Street making kids of today soft? Feel free to weigh in. It seems to me that kids have no choice to be anything else. They're movement is restricted (kids today have less freedom to travel away from home without supervision compared to kids just 20 years ago - I heard in on NPR but can't find the story!), they get less exercise in and out of school and I wouldn't be surprised if they are not as imaginative as less media saturated generations. This is all speculation, I know. But, I can't help but feel that the more recent watered down Sesame Street is a reflection of the behavior of kids today and not the revolutionary new learning tool it once was. Sadly, it just seems like a regular TV show now.
But, happy 40th birthday (yesterday) to Sesame Street. You're still pretty cool even if Maria looks painfully awkward as she struggles to dance in the background of a rap about habitats.
6 comments:
i blame modern toys for the (seeming) lack of imagination (of which i have anecdotal evidence, and nothing more). everything is electronic or battery-operated. they make noise, move on their own, etc. basically kids push buttons or just watch passively.
no doubt that they have far less mobility than our generation - i was allowed to take my bike almost anywhere (way across town when i was like 8 or 9) and the only rule was "be home by dark". i was a latch-key kid at age 10, allowed to be home alone after school, even for hours. i can't imagine anyone i know with children allowing those things now.
Anecdotal evidence is all I have too. And I totally agree with yours.
I rode my bike 1.5 miles to school in 2nd grade. We would disappear into the crappy woods around our development for hours and hours...without the aid of cell phones. It was better then.
I was intially shocked at the changes when I turned on SS again. I watch Sesame Street frequently as I have a little child and I would say it is still cooler than other offerings for preschoolers. Baxter is not so into it though.
I'm happy to say that the lady bugs show up sometimes and the opening credits of the claymation Burt and Ernie simply brings their long term commitment to each other out of the closet (watch it again). But, I get pretty bored watching the Street.
Yo Gabba Gabba is totally nuts and entertaining for adults. It is targeted at our age group (30 somethings as parents) but Baxter loves it. The characters all look like sex toys so that's innovative. Look up Party in my Tummy on youtube, very good.
Kids don't have as much mobility and Leap Frog and Baby Einstein don't teach kthem anything. But now we have reactionary Waldorf schools to take care of that. At least we don't leave kids in "Playpens" all day, or take valium...or let them watch Three's Company.
We get our Yo Gabba Gabba from The Soup and man does it look awesome.
When I was a nanny I showed a 4 year old The Muppet Movie and she just didn't get it. She kept asked what it was and then requested that some awful digitally animated Barbie cartoon be put on instead. I think it was too real and too silly for her. Kids today just don't like Vaudeville, I guess.
Three's Company taught us all about the double entendre. How can that be a bad thing?
My kids don't like the new Sesame Street. They say it's corny because there are not enough Muppets & people doing things. They should just call it "Elmo Street" & get it over with. Season 39 was decent, but Season 40 looks like they don't have enough money to pay puppeteers or the human actors, so they have some lame CGI Abby Kadabby skit. There's really only 20 mins of real Sesame Street. My kids don't pay much attention now & neither do I. When I put on the old classic episodes, they are more excited plus also seem to learn more.
That is encouraging news, Anon! I actually didn't think about the funding part. Good point.
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