The Horrible Reality of Sesame Street (And Chuck Norris)

[happydalek]

Smoking
Depression
Addiction
Poverty
Poor diet

These are just a few of the "inappropriate" behaviors my generation can now blame on having watched too much old school Sesame Street.  Or so DVD makers would have you believe.  Indeed, if you've watched Sesame Street lately, you'll find it's a vastly different beast than it was 15 years ago.  And while a certain amount of change is inevitable, when the producers start doing things like eliminating Cookie Monster's cookie obsession in favor of fruits and veggies (which they did in 2005), they're going too far.  Yes, Sesame Street did include naughty things like eating too many cookies, and the occasional bit of pipe-gobbling, but hello!  Back when I was a kid, I had these things called parents, who were not on TV, and who made sure I knew the difference between make-believe and reality. 

And while we're on the topic of questionable behavior being presented as "wholesome entertainment," what do you call it when a character spends vast amounts of his time at home, talking to no one but his goldfish and assorted inanimate objects that he believes are alive, and devoting an entire day to one single, all-consuming field of interest to the neglect of everything else?  All I'll say is that someone better intervene quick, before Elmo winds up like Mr. Noodle (assuming, of course, that Mr. Noodle isn't just another figment of Elmo's deepening psychosis).

EDIT:  And based solely on this ad, I have now made up my mind who to vote for in 2008:

Comments

[bibliophile1887.livejournal.com]

I hate Elmo simply because he's not one of the original muppets on the show and has single handedly managed to corrupt and pervert what was once a fine show.

[happydalek.livejournal.com]

Oddly, the only thing that has ever bothered me about Elmo is that no one ever corrects his third-person speech. I've known kids that did that who were not handicapped, and old enough to know better, but their parents apparently thought it was "cute" and let them do it anyway (Possibly because it made them sound "just like Elmo"? Hmmm). Talk about poor influences!

But I was absolutely gutted to find out that Cookie Monster was now eating fruits and veggies. I mean, he's a cookie monster, for crying out loud! I always assumed that cookies were a balanced diet for him. How do we know eating fruits and veggies won't make him malnourished and sickly?? *Hugs and comforts weeping childhood*