The Right Choice

Last week, the most widely viewed children’s television show in the world; Sesame Street, turned 40 years old.  In 1968, the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the United States Government gave a combined grant of 8 million dollars to the Children’s Television Workshop to develop a kid’s television show.  Today, Sesame Street is viewed by kids and parents in over 120 countries and broadcasted in 20 different languages.

When we were kids, it was hard to understand how influential Sesame Street really was.  Today, I look back and think about not only what was learned on Sesame Street but who was teaching me.  Just to list a very modest few of the famous faces that has appeared on Sesame Street: Kofi Annan, Barbara Bush, Johnny Cash, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Sally Field, Whoopi Goldberg, Rod Howard, Eric Idle, Michael Jackson, B.B. King, Spike Lee, Ziggy Marley, Ralph Nader, Conan O’Brien, Regis Philbin, Dennis Quaid, Sally Ride, Diane Sawyer, Joe Torre, Tracey Ullman, Barbara Walters, and Trisha Yearwood. (Did you see what I did there, one name for almost every letter of the alphabet in order, I wouldn’t have been able to do that without Sesame Street.)  Just last week, Michelle Obama stopped by for the big anniversary.  Seeing celebrities stop by on Sesame Street keeps parents interested in watching the show.  In most cases, kids couldn’t care less about which actor or singer stops by, in their eyes they would probably rather see Mr. Hooper or Gabby on talking to them.

Now, can you believe that Sesame Street has even caused a bit of scrutiny and controversy over the years.  I’ve heard the age old, million dollar question numerous times.  Are Bert and Ernie gay?  No, I don’t know the answer, but who cares, come on, but it was pretty funny when I first thought about gay Bert and Ernie; it never occurred to me that they might be.  Another problem for some was that of gender.  Until recently, there were 10 male characters on the show and only 4 female characters.  Then, in 2006, for the first time in 13 years Sesame Street introduced a new character whose name is Abby Cadabby.  Abby then got bashed because of her stereotypical pink fur and other features that may (or may not be) attributes to a female Muppet.  One other eyebrow raiser was the introduction of Kami to the Sesame Street in South Africa.  Kami was the first HIV positive Muppet to live on Sesame Street.  Kami’s critics thought that HIV was too complicated for a 3 to 7 year old to deal with emotionally.  In my mind, criticisms of children’s television show characters are all bogus.  Learning is never a bad thing no matter what the children are learning about.  There were a bunch of things that I saw on Sesame Street that didn’t affect me in any way until I got older. (Like the gayness of Bert and Ernie)  Gay couples just weren’t an issue for me at the time. I was more interested in being entertained by Big Bird, Snuffy, Oscar, and of course my favorite characters, the two-headed monster.

I partially decided to do this post to talk about public broadcasting.  As a child, I didn’t have cable TV, so a good amount of my time during the day was spent watching PBS.  PBS was the keystone of my education, and I’m glad it is.  PBS day programming is kid’s perfect fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.  I watched them all:  Sesame Street, Barney and Friends, Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood, Lamb Chop’s Play Along, Square One, and of course my favorite Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? I enjoyed every one of these shows and I still enjoy them today.  Yes, while most of my PBS viewing is during the evening, I do still turn on Mr. Rodgers once in a while, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

So happy belated birthday Sesame Street, you have stimulated children’s minds for 40 years now, and yes even at the age of 23 you still have at least a little bit of an impact on my life.  Here I sit searching through a bunch of Sesame Street clips on YouTube trying to find a good clip for this blog post.  I think I found a good one.  NAPOLEON!!!!!!  HaHa.

Trivia: What was Suffy’s full name? (First and Last name)  Who ever gets this question, (without the help of the internet) will now be dubbed the king of Sesame Street knowledge, and in turn quite possibly the smartest person of all time.  Good Luck.

Last Week’s Answer: Adam Smith