![]() ![]() Since there wasn’t much in the way of competition, a parent could plop their child in front of the TV and then go out to smoke a joint and come back an hour later, confident that their child would be sufficiently entertained and educated by whatever random grooviness the show had to throw at them that day. When Sesame began in the late ’60s and ’70s, it was funky and free-form and trippy, about as close as popular children’s television could get to visual jazz. It can never be replicated and the show suffered terribly, as did the rest of humanity, from Henson’s premature death in 1990.īut the show’s decline is also attributable to the changing rhythms and preoccupations of American life. The chemistry between Jim Henson and Frank Oz was central to the show’s early greatness. Part of this is attributable to changing times and the loss of performers like Jim Henson, Oz, or Kevin Clash, who made Elmo a cultural force before leaving the organization in the heat of a sex scandal. I’ve been watching the many random early episodes of Sesame Street to be found on YouTube from throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and oughts with my ten month old son before he goes to daycare every morning and while each of these eras are markedly different (the disco era was a thing of beauty) one thing they all share is that they’re all clearly superior to the show in its current incarnation. It’s still good but it used to be brilliant, transcendent, a goddamned work of art, the gold standard of children’s entertainment, one of American entertainment’s all-time greats. It’s still an extraordinarily well-made children’s show but as Oz asserted, it’s overwhelmingly a show for children, and small children at that, and a shadow of what it once was. Sesame Street in its current incarnation is not bad by any estimation. And I’m unhappy about that.” Is Frank Oz right? Is Sesame Street in the 21st century, not the pure and perfect bastion of children’s media it was in years past?Īs someone who became unhealthily obsessed with Sesame Street following the birth of my first son four years ago, I have to reluctantly agree with Frank Oz. “Unfortunately ‘Sesame Street’ is only a shadow of what it was,” Oz said during SXSW this year. He made Darkest Elmo’s World Episodes which shows what he thinks are the most deep topics on Elmo’s World (March 11, 2021).Frank Oz, the brilliant puppeteer behind such beloved staples of pop culture as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Grover, Bert and so many more, has recently thrown down a gauntlet.The episodes Big Bird’s Big Move, Elmo’s Fear of Clowns/ A Song for the Letter ‘G’ and Indoor Picnic were #10, #7, and #5 respectively on Worst PBS Kids Episodes (November 8, 2020).He made Darkest Sesame Street Episodes with BlameitonJorge, which shows what he thinks are the creepiest episodes of the show (May 14, 2019). ![]() Hooper was #6 on Darkest PBS Kids Episodes (January 13, 2019). The 9/11 Episode and Snuffy Parents’ Divorce episode were #10 and #6 on Darkest Kids Show Episodes (June 20, 2018).The character Limbo was #2 on Creepiest Kids Show Characters (November 26, 2017). ![]()
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