I Heart Sesame Street

Call me crazy, but I really enjoy watching Sesame Street, with or without Max. This one in particular makes me laugh and laugh.



Some fun things you might not have known about Sesame Street:

Each idea for an episode was extensively researched and tested by educators, child psychologists, and curriculum experts. When Mr. Hooper died in 1982, they decided to have Big Bird talk about it with the other grown-ups instead of recast the role or say that Mr. Hooper moved away. It was a powerful episode. Poor Big Bird also has had to deal with his nest getting destroyed by a hurricane and nobody believing in his friend, Snuffleupagus.

However, when they were testing an episode in which Snuffy's parent Snuffleupaguses (Snuffleupagi?) were going to separate, the children became extremely upset and completely missed the message of "it's okay, it's not your fault" that the show was trying to convey. They never aired the episode. I'm impressed that they didn't. They weren't in it to get an emotional reaction like many television shows do, but to help the kids. Good for them, I say. 

You also probably didn't know that Jim Henson (who also played Kermit and Guy Smiley) originally was going to play Bert and Frank Oz (who also played Grover and Cookie Monster) was going to play Ernie, but they were much funnier when they switched. I saw some backstage footage of Jim Henson talking, and I couldn't get over how much he sounded like Ernie and Kermit.

If I were a movie star, I wouldn't consider myself famous until I had been on Sesame Street.