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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.”

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….

In East Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1978, 95 percent of households with kids ages 2 to 5 watched “Sesame Street.” The figure was even higher in Washington. Nationwide, though, the number wasn’t much lower, and was largely determined by the whims of the PBS affiliates: 80 percent in houses with young children. The so-called inner city became anywhere that “Sesame Street” played, because the Children’s Television Workshop declared the inner city not a grim sociological reality but a full-color fantasy — an eccentric scene, framed by a box and far removed from real farmland and city streets alike. [The New York Times via Digg]

It’s quite sad looking back at what once was and the Sesame Street that is running today in the States, and in it’s modified version around the world. That show invented the concept of edutainment, and I’m quite sure has touched many people in the last couple decades. Of course, you want to portray the “correct” image to young children, and I understand why they’ve made many changes to the characters over the years.

However, I found one of the quotes above particularly interesting, about they they wanted to point out the good parts of the inner city of communities, considering it was designed for the “poor black kids”, and at the same time change perception of such areas to the “suburban white kids”. I suppose, to a degree, that situation has progressed in the States. Povery isn’t nearly as bad, not to mention the efforts for years in restoring the downtown’s of cities, bringing a new mix and vitality to these “inner city” areas.

It is annoying though, seeing the show change, perhaps for better or for worse, especially when it’s so tightly knit to so many people’s childhoods. The perfect example of screwing around too much with a show is what ended up happening to Sesame Street Canada. The CRTC wanted so much Canadian content, the producers ended up removing so much of what made Sesame Street: the Street and it’s wealth of characters - human or Muppet. Eventually, it became so far removed from the original that they completely overhauled the show, bringing in all new “Canadian” Muppets, and set is around a park: thus the name Sesame Place. Suffice to say, it didn’t last too long, and Canadian kids have been missing out on the Sesame gang for almost ten years now. Let’s just hope that American producers don’t make the same mistake with the original Sesame Street.

Thanks to TV Squad for the trip down memory lane. I know there’s a few readers of the blog who might recognize these. How come we don’t have such awesome PSAs anymore?!

Alright, sing with me now!

Don’t cha put it in your mouth! Don’t cha put it in your mouth! Don’t cha stuff it in your face! Don’t cha stuff it in your face…

The Trisha Tanaka episode was awesome, to say the least. It was classic Lost. Not only did it combine great drama and some new humour, it was also a Hurley episode (which automatically means it’ll be great), Charlie didn’t die, Kate and Sawyer talked openly about their relationship, and we met back up with Danielle. They crammed so much into this episode, but pulled it all off superbly. Almost everything outstanding on *this* island was addressed.

After what I felt were somewhat mediocre episodes for Jack and Juliet, and kind of interesting but not mindblowing episode for Desmond, I feel that the producers have really redeemed themselves with this one. And because of the hiatus, while normally we’d be in for two weeks sans Lost, there’s a guaranteed new episode next Wednesday! :D