While browsing through the children’s dvds at my local library- I caught sight of a couple of Sesame Street videos made for me, not my children. What caught my eye was the lack of Elmo on the front covers. Don’t get me wrong, I like Elmo- he’s cool in my house. He kept my two oldest children entertained back in the day when Tickle Me Elmo didn’t hit the floor in a TMX conniption fit. Whenever my two youngest see Elmo they seem pretty enthralled too and I don’t mind… but remember when?
Remember when Kermit the Frog was your favorite nightly newscaster and his scariest news was about the Big Bad Wolf, not terrorists and sex offenders. Or what about Mr. Snufflelapagus, remember when the grown ups always just missed him. The Old School videos have the old school Cookie Monster too, the monster who pillaged Sesame Street eating cookies and pieces of the Alphabet. Old school Cookie ate cookies- not vegetables and if he was going to rap it would not be about healthy foods. The Count was allowed to be a tad more spookier too. Back in the day- Oscar was a bit more gruff, Gordon was hipper, and half the show didn’t revolve around one single character.
Watching Old School Sesame Street brought back fond memories. Being a product of the seventies- I loved looking at the clothes and hairstyles the children wore. As a child I didn’t wonder if Bert and Ernie were gay- they aren’t (but maybe Grover is). I didn’t know that all the musical numbers in between Muppet skits were actually warming me up to be the first rock video generation… I really thought I was learning my numbers and alphabet.
How did my children take Old School Sesame Street- they didn’t. It just didn’t have the same Elmo and Zoe goofy shtick they were used too.
I love Old School Sesame Street- it’s vintage Muppets and Sesame Street at it’s best.
well i was a child of the 80s and i don’t know if it’s the same ol’ school sesame street you’re talking about… but i grew up with sesame street and watched it all the time!! cookie monster definitely went crazy on cookies and not health foods, oscar was the biggest grouch and my favorite character was the count.