@Rectilinear Propagation:

"Mommy, the priest is touching me in a bad way."
"He couldn't possibly be doing that, he's a good christian man!"

@dotorg greg:

Uh, the "accumulated body of child behavior research that has informed changes to the show over the years" is the same "research" that brought us the "Baby Einstein" videos. And we know how well those have worked.

Penn & Teller and Levitt/Dubner tackled this. Your kids do well if you pay attention to them and demonstrate that you value education. Television, school, and "peer pressure" have very little to do with how your children are raised.

Freakonomics also points out that numbers are frequently crap, and that people aren't clones - they learn and act according to their unique brains. What's appropriate for one child could be useless for another.

@lim:

Ah the miracle of life was a Nova documentery, I think?

This is absurd and insane. It's as if every day I find a new reason to be even more libertarian.

And not to defend CTW too much, because I, too, am subjectively nostalgic about my own childhood watching, but the "suit the needs" part is a reference to the accumulated body of child behavior research that has informed changes to the show over the years.

I remember reading about Don Music that they found kids were modeling behavior they saw on TV; i.e., the show was teaching kids to pound their head on furniture when they were frustrated. In the absence of positive role models or proactive parents, such as in the "slum" families The Street was originally intended for, that's the only message they got.

Now let's resume our collective self-praise for making it into the top half of society.

The Corporation For Public Broadcasting (a private corporation funded with public money- what kind of bullshit is that?) doesn't get a dime from Sesame Street sales.

@Rectilinear Propagation: I don't know. I don't watch Sesame Street anymore.

@maddypilar: Why not send that message? It's true!

@DrGirlfriend: Haven't they already made Cookie Monster stop eating cookies?

I hate the nanny state.

I guess these days I'd have been taken away from my mother. She showed me a very detailed and clinical film about child birth, I think it was called "The Miracle of Birth" maybe it was "life", and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" before I hit Jr. High. I was allowed to ask questions about both, and did so.

I didn't mistake fantasy with reality though, and the stupidest things I ever did was when I was trying to do things I saw adults do in real life, like hammering nails and cleaning fish. Opps.

Wow.

Just...wow.

I guess kids whose brains have been liquified by "Elmo's World" just can't comprehend...anything at all, I guess.

While I grew up watching Monsterpiece Theatre and also smoked for 10 years, I can't say that a) correlation = causation, or that b) I've ever even smoked a damn (tobacco) pipe.

My most favorite show as a kid was Pee Wee's Playhouse. This show really is crass and has plenty of stuff for adults in it, yet it was fine when I was 5 years old. I got mad when it was taken off the air and to stop me from asking questions my mom told me that he went to the bathroom in public and thats why it was off the air. I still have my Pee Wee's playhouse lunchbox..

Does anyone know if this is real? I can't find any mention of it being "Adult's Only" anywhere except for this article. It doesn't say so on Sesame Street's website, unless I missed it somewhere.

I mean, by that logic, kids shouldn't watch Sesame Street today either, because Cookie Monster sets a bad obesity and Type II diabetes example. Children should stay in their rooms all day, getting one hour of strictly supervised playtime outdoors. But only if it's sunny, and only if they are wearing 100 SPF sunblock. And a helmet.

I miss how sesame street used to be back in the late 70s & early 80s (when I was a kid). It just isnt the same today.

Now if you WANT to get rid of or censor an old kids tv show..... "The Letter People" is the one to do it to! That show terrified me as a kid!

The real shift came along when Snuffy became visible to everyone. It's not that everyone could finally see him, it's the reason why they chose to do it.

@homerjay:
I still miss Mr. Hooper... I always get a bit weepy at the end of "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street"...

(I own both my weepiness and my choice of holiday movies.)

You mean I wasn't supposed to go home with that man for cookies and milk? But he had snickerdoodles...and a puppy!!

Sesame Street has lost its heart. It lost what it was at its core.

@theblackdog: Watch Peewee's Playhouse. It's rife with innuendo. Like Terry sitting atop the big blue chair staring down the redheaded lady's shirt as they discuss the view from the clubhouse, and commenting on the view from up there being great. Complete with a Terry's POV shot from the camera.

I wonder what they will slap a warning label on next

@ARP: Maybe you expect TV to raise your kids, but I don't. Or were you talking about all those *other* people?

In any case - don't fret people. It's really just the TV regulating industry that makes it seems like kids are wusses. DVD players and parental guidance are the way forth.

My 4 year old is all up on her Gumby, Fraggle Rock, Gummi Bears, Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes...and anything else old, cool(and potentially inappropriate) we can find.

I was the first generation weaned on Sesame Street and couldn't wait for my daughter to start watching it a few years back. Maybe my perspective has changed, but it's seemed to have lost -something-. There used to be a sense of community on the show...now, not so much. Plus, the last 20 minutes of each show were strictly Elmo. Words cannot describe the hatred I have for that f'n puppet.

The problem is that we expect TV to raise our kids. The key is "controlled exposure." You can't shelter your kids from everything (if you do, they usually end up creepy bible thumpers or go the opposite direction, rebel, and become bimbo/mimbo tweakers). So the key is to RAISE YOUR KIDS. Limit their TV, When they do watch TV, watch stuff with them. Explain to them what is real, what is not, what is appropriate, what is not, what's right, what's wrong. TV can't do it, you have to.

P.S. Just because they can only watch Veggie Tales (or other religious shows), doesn't mean they'll be well adjusted. Involved parents of any (or no) religion beats all the values (usually Christain)stuff combined.

@chouchou:

Gotta be careful, though. Cucumbers, zuchinni squash, carrots and banannas are full of sexual innuendo. Hell, if you try hard enough, almost any seemilgly innocent thing can be made inappropriate.

Unless Captain Vegetable is a Genetically Modified Organism :)

When we were kids, we watched a lot of horror and science fiction movies (ignoring whatever warnings there was), and none of the people I know turned out to be violent-bloodsucking-murderous creature.

On the other hand, a girl I know, who's parents sheltered her from all ''for adults'' movies, well she's not just weird, she's outright creepy.

When I was a kid, for a short time, I believed that when you turned the TV off, and you came back, it would be at the same place. Wow, I thought of Tivo back in the early 80's.

@Falconfire: I was just writing the same thing. (A lot of) Today's kids are so just so sheltered and protected.

Sesame Street made us strong kids!

In response Im going to buy these JUST to show my children. I grew up on this and loved it, they will to!.

It's almost as if my parents taught me better and instilled a sense that TV is not real and that it shouldn't be emulated when you know better. Hmmmm, I wonder if that is even an option today, or do children have to obey the babysitter, TV?

@vr4z06gt: 70's

Dude, Monsterpiece Theatre was the shit. What is wrong with these people?

I wonder if they're putting CAUTION: ACID TRIP AHEAD on their "Electric Company" DVDs.