Sunny Day, Sweepin' the Clouds Away...

I watched the 40th Anniversary episode of Sesame Street yesterday. Partly because Michelle Obama was on, but mostly because all the talk about the anniversary stirred up fond memories from my childhood. Sesame (as we called it - just one name, like Cher), then Mr. Rogers, the Electric Company, School House Rock. All awesome educational shows.

I heard a show on NPR where they were talking about some of the changes in the modern version of the show, so I thought I would see it for myself.

The lyrics of the classic opening song are the same, but the tune is slightly jazzier. Many of the same characters are there, Big Bird, Snuffleupagus (were his eyelashes always that long?), Grover, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie. Oscar the Grouch wasn't in the episode but he's still around, I'm sure. And get this, Bert and Ernie are in CLAYMATION now! What's up with that? They had a whole little segment where they were detectives. It was about whistling, I think. And ducks. Cookie Monster is still the same, but now cookies are a "Sometimes Food" because we're all healthy. Even Kermit made a cameo appearance in a segment about frogs. We didn't have Elmo when I was a kid, and I find him kind of annoying. What's with the referring to himself in the third person? Don't teach kids that! So obnoxious.

Most of the human characters are still there, too. Mr. Hooper died - he's an Asian guy now. Bob is a feeble (I mean really feeble) old man with dyed hair, but he's still there. Gordon is bald, Maria's past menopause, but they're all there, plus a bunch of new people.

So the show started with Big Bird complaining about being cold, and this guy who's a "bird real estate agent" tries to get him to move to a new "habitat." That was the "Word on the Street" - Habitat. Good educational stuff there. The real estate guy raps about habitats - there's something you didn't see in the old version - rapping. Oy.

They still do a letter and a number of the day, too. The number, of course, was 40. The letter was H. H as in Habitat, Hair, Hula Hoop, Hands and Head. H could also stand for "Hardly any Honkies." There were like two white kids on the whole show. The forced diversity is actually kind of funny. In the segment with the First Lady they talked about planting a garden and eating fresh vegetables, and she had one white kid, one black kid and one Asian kid. Most of the segments had blacks, Asians and the brownish kids that could pass for either white or Latino. There was exactly one blond girl and one redhaired boy. And kids in wheelchairs, of course. I joke, but this is a good thing. You have to start early to teach kids that there are many kinds of people in the world.

In addition to claymation Bert and Ernie (still living together, still sharing a bedroom - ahem) the segments with Abby Cadaby the little girl fairy are completely CG animation. It was a pretty cute little segment where they're chasing a Gerbilcorn (a mix between a gerbil and a unicorn) at the preschool for fairies. I think it was about social interaction or something. Not a lot of learning going on.

There were plenty of references that only parents (and maybe the gay kids) would get - "Open the Door Zsa Zsa Gabor" is one of Abby's spells, and the frog segment featured Jumpy Garland singing "Come on Get Hoppy." Super corny but cute.

Overall, still one of the best shows on TV for children. They learn about computers and email - Grover appears via a Youtube-like video in a distance learning program from the rainforest and there's a progress bar at the bottom of the screen drawn in crayon. Good attention to detail!

The funniest thing, though, was at the end. Some orange muppet who acted as the host and emcee says "See you next time on The Street. Peace." Awesome.