Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2009 – “Sesame Street” usually conjures visions of Muppets teaching young children their letters and numbers, but they also teach life lessons to help military children cope with deployments, injuries, and now, loss. Sesame Rooms provide a child-friendly place for military children to play. Sesame Street will send a “room-in-a-box” to 35 locations across the United States, including military hospitals, libraries, child care centers, and family support centers. Photo courtesy of Sesame Workshop  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The newest phase of Sesame Workshop’s “Talk, Listen, Connect” initiative is aimed at helping children cope with the...

The Obama administration has recruited yet another Sesame Street character to help push a policy initiative, this time new efforts to raise awareness about children's health and safety. In an obvious snub at Miss Piggy, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius appeared earlier today with Elmo to launch a new public service announcement designed to encourage families with young children to protect themselves from swine flu. HHS will team up with Sesame Workshop and the Ad Council, which will distribute the PSAs to television stations nationwide. Elmo will appear with Sesame Street character Gordon to instructing children to wash...

The Laura Ingraham show is on.

NEW YORK – Inauguration Day? Nope. First puppy? Negative. Triumphal tour of Europe? Not even. First lady Michelle Obama called her appearance Tuesday on "Sesame Street" probably the best thing she's done since arriving in the White House. At the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, she thanked the diplomats and staff members promoting her husband's new foreign policy of global engagement. "I'm thrilled to be here, but I was just at 'Sesame Street' — I'm sorry," she said. "And I never thought I'd be on 'Sesame Street' with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled. I'm still thrilled....

The recession has spread from Wall Street to Sesame Street. The home of Elmo and Oscar the Grouch announced on Wednesday that it would eliminate a fifth of its 355-strong workforce as market turmoil ate into its income and assets.

NEW YORK – The crisis on Wall Street is plaguing Sesame Street. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit producer of "Sesame Street" and other kids' programs, is cutting about one-fifth of its work force because of the economic downturn. The New York-based company said Wednesday that it's eliminating 67 of 355 staff positions. Declaring it is "not immune to the unprecedented challenges of today's economic environment," the company pronounced a need "to operate with fewer resources in order to achieve our strategic priorities."

For nearly two years, designers at Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price toiled to hide a maze of copper wires and microchips under the plush red fur of the company's newest Elmo toy. The resulting "Elmo Live" is its most advanced ever, able to cross its legs, flap its arms and fluidly mimic the famous television Muppet. All that wizardry, however, comes at a steep price. When Elmo Live arrives in stores on Tuesday, it will cost $60 -- about a third more than last year's model, and above the $50 tag that once was the high-water mark for most toys. Elmo Live...

Freeper Canteen: The Sesame Street Personality Quiz   Today We Want To Know...The Sesame Street Personality Quiz Click here and take the quiz! At the last question, choose HTML, then submit, to get your answer. After you do so, please post your findings in the Canteen!   Have fun! 

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, Aug. 26, 2008 – Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the program “Sesame Street,” and the United Service Organizations joined forces to bring “The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families” to 43 installations across the country. Amanda Moran of Military OneSource, helps Kassandra Chavez, 11, and her brother José, 9, put beading kits into a bag Aug. 10, 2008, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The table was one of many with giveaways and information at the “Sesame Street Experience.” U.S. Army photo by Cheryl Harrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The tour travels for...

WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 – Sunny days will be just around the corner when Elmo and his friends bring “The Sesame Street Experience” to 43 military installations to help children trying to cope with parents’ deployments. Jillian Kules, 13 months, shows Leslye Arsht, deputy under secretary of defense for military community and family policy the new DVD she got June 26, 2008, at the launch of Sesame Workshop's "The Sesame Street Experience." Both the DVD and the live show were developed with the support of Arsht's office to help young military children cope with parents' deployments. Defense Dept. photo...

ARLINGTON, Va., April 29, 2008 – Following a workshop that helped children cope with a military parent’s deployment, the familiar, furry denizens of Sesame Street are starring in a new program focusing on multiple deployments and family adjustments upon a parent’s return. Sesame Workshop, the makers of Sesame Street, today released “Talk, Listen, Connect: Deployment, Homecoming, Changes,” a video workshop that aims to aid children in understanding and unbundling the tangle of complex emotions many feel in the midst of a mother’s or father’s tours of duty away from home, and even broaches the difficult subject of dealing with...

November 18, 2007 The Medium Sweeping the Clouds Away By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN Sunny days! The earliest episodes of “Sesame Street” are available on digital video! Break out some Keebler products, fire up the DVD player and prepare for the exquisite pleasure-pain of top-shelf nostalgia. Just don’t bring the children. 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.” Say what? At a recent all-ages home screening, a hush fell over the room. “What did...

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2007 – A television special that looks closely at challenges military families face when a parent is deployed has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program. In the Sesame Workshop’s Emmy-nominated, primetime special, “When Parents Are Deployed,” Elmo talks to his dad about his dad’s upcoming deployment. Photo by Richard Termine, used by permission of the copyright holder, Sesame Workshop  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Defense Department officials were thrilled to hear the program, called “When Parents Are Deployed” and produced by Sesame Workshop, received such recognition. “We were delighted to hear...

It's amazing that I remembered these after not seeing them in 15+ years. Do any of you remember these? Sesame Street - the yo-yo master & lost kidSesame Street - F is for Flea CircusSesame Street - Typewriter Guy - CSesame Street - How Crayons Are MadeClassic Sesame Street - U Really Got a Hold On MeYip yips meet the telephoneSesame Street Hungry Cat Cartoon

Taking a trip down Memory Lane today...The FReeper Canteen asksWhat's your favorite Sesame Street memory? A favorite song? Rubber Ducky, You're The One Sesame Street Theme Song  A favorite character?Big BirdErnieElmo SnuffleupagusOscar The GrouchCount Take this quiz and tell us What's Your Sesame Street Personality?Make sure to choose HTML for your results and post them here!Have at it folks!And don't forget to thank a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine or Coastie today.  They are why we're here!        

Click here for a video demo of what apparently is going to be this Christmas's big toy: (Warning: Excessive Cuteness Ahead) TMX Elmo

AT LONG LAST there's a new girl moving to ``Sesame Street." The hopes of mothers everywhere rest on her little shoulders. Will she be smart? Will she be computer savvy? Will she love sports or play an instrument? Will she explore like Dora or love books like Hermione? What will she teach our daughters about growing up girl in the new millennium? <- snip -> It's true. Abby Cadabby is being sold with gusto in the same way stereotypes are sold everywhere to girls -- as a choice.<- snip -> Girly is more than a type these days, though --...

Joel Stein, columnist for The Los Angeles Times, thinks he has found the culprit behind our civilizational decline -- Elmo. That's right, Elmo of Sesame Street fame. "Yes, I know the children love Elmo," Stein admits, adding: "But children are idiots." Single-handedly, Elmo may not be totally responsible for the decline of a great civilization -- buy I think Stein is on to something here. In his column, published August 15, Stein quotes Sesame Street parodists Vernon Chatman and John Lee: "Elmo doesn't grow. People show him something and he laughs. He doesn't learn a lesson," says Lee. "It's the...

Oscar the Grouch loves reading "Trash." He's not the only critter, though, who expects a little "mean-girl" controversy with a new Muppet fluttering into "Sesame Street." Meet 3-year-old fairy-in-training Abby Cadabby, the first new character in 13 years to be introduced on "Sesame Street," where there have never been too many girl Muppets. Of course, there's Elmo's tomboy friend, Zoe, who hangs out in a tutu and barrettes, and the emerald-blue, bilingual Rosita. The pink and sparkly Abby, who flutters around with dragonfly wings and a magic wand, is decidedly more girlie than her peers. To be expected, there's a...

Bert and Ernie Packing Heat on Sesame Street BROCKTON, Mass. (AP) — Brockton High School has banned T-shirts with Sesame Street characters. But these are no regular pictures of Bert and Ernies. On some, Oscar the Grouch emerges from his garbage can, wielding a 9 mm handgun. On others, Bert and Ernie are standing in a gang posture, armed with automatic weapons. "We were amazed," said the school's principal, Susan Szachowicz. "You focus on the Sesame Street character. But the more we looked at it, the more we saw the things in it, the guns, the gang stuff." There have...