Take a Walk Down the Street with Me...

This past week I've seen two different clips from season 41 of Sesame Street. And I'm unsure of how I exactly feel about what's going on down the street. Katy Perry ended up on the cutting room floor or rather the rest of her outfit. The other clip "TrueMud" has bounced around the web like wildfire and I thought it at the time it was almost genius. But, now I'm wondering if it really was.

I enjoy parodies as much as the next person, but Sesame Street is stretching it with a HBO TV show parody. You really think the same people subscribing to HBO channels still flip to PBS for the occasionally Antiques Roadshow? Much less tune in to Sesame Street for their children to watch? I don't think so. However, there they were: Sookie, Bill, Sam, Maryann, LaFayette, Arlene, Tara and even Sheriff Bud Dearborne puppets on the set following a opening title sequence for TrueMud. (Way dirtier than the opening of TrueBlood)

I'm not being a grouch, but I was raised on the "Street" watching it religiously as a child, but now it doesn't hold a special place in my heart anymore. As a parent to two boys, I've turned my back on where I was raised and my boys don't watch anything on PBS. They've both seen the few Sesame Street DVDs we've got, but nothing that's been produced in the last 8 years. One morning, I was checking FB on my blackberry before getting out of bed (yeah, my desktop is just for pure blogging now) and came across a WONDERFUL memory of Sesame Street. A friend had posted a link on how crayons were made. I watched it and remembered mornings filled with Super Grover and Mr. Hooper's store. Ayden, my youngest had crawled into bed with me and from the tiny 2x3 inch screen on the BB we were engrossed in awe. "Again, I watch crayons again! " Ayden said and we did.

Ahh memories, sweet memories! Where is the Teeny Little Super Guy and the vintage crayon making videos today on Sesame Street? Where's John-John and Grover counting backwards? Where's Snuffy, Bob and the Twiddle Bugs? Is there a Fix-It Shop on Sesame Street anymore or has it been replaced with a Starbucks or Walgreen's like every other street-corner in America?

So, while I loved Sesame Street and the Muppets growing up, I'm wondering the effect of media will have on our children today. Maybe I'm getting old, (shudder the thought) but why are we so focused on celebrities as opposed to world news or things going right here in America, not just the Jersey Shore. Just two days ago, I received a small 2 sentence tweet on Twitter about four Fort Hood Soldiers committing suicide and I had to type in the search box on CNN to pull up the headline, because everyone was more worried over President Jimmy Carter's case of the BG's (bubbleguts). And what is today's headlines? Oh, they're now focused on questioning JonBenet's brother. WTF? This happened in 1996, 14 years ago this Christmas. Now, I do feel bad about her death, but reopening this case won't bring back that little girl. How about focusing on our current situations at hand? Not Kat Perry's cleavage popping out on Sesame Street or Michelle Obama and Nick Jonas teaming up for fitness. Don't bother yourself with childhood obesity Michelle. It's the childhood brainwashing, name-brand icons and celebrities being implanted in their heads we need to worry about. I'm wondering what the world (or America in this case) is coming to.