Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sesame Street: Viewer Discretion is Advised

Apparently the earlier episodes of Sesame Street are suitable for mature audiences only:
Just don’t bring the children. According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

Say what? 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.
Sounds pretty intense - from the miserable misanthropy of Oscar to the food addiction of Cookie Monster. I'm only glad that I didn't sustain irreparable emotional damage watching such inappropriate programming. Of course, one wonders how I managed watching something like Today's Special, which featured a store mannequin who would come to life when wearing a magic hat, a far more disturbing depiction of the fragility of existence than is appropriate for five-year-olds.

3 comments:

Ladyjutea said...

Good grief. The overreactions of people, honestly. They may watch the Looney Tunes and argue about how the "excessive violence" may be responsible for all the evil today but I shall be giggling uncontrollably at the banter between Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote.

Dragonquillca said...

Irreparable harm? Oh brother. What harm was there in watching a freaky Count and a couple of closeted guys? How about the harm done by today's Robot chicken??? I was appalled when I saw THAT! I used to be fond of Mr. Hooper and Snuffelupagus.
The truly ironic thing though is that my kids LOVE Teletoon Retro...the same shows I used to watch!

JG said...

Well, clearly the Count is an ethnic stereotype!

I'm not familiar with Teletoon Retro, though - what do they show?