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Sweeping the Clouds Away
New York Times ^ | 11/20/2007 | Virginia Heffernan

Posted on 11/20/2007 11:01:53 AM PST by drew

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 they do to us?” asked one Gen-X mother of two, finally. The show rolled, and the sweet trauma came flooding back. What they did to us was hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: genx; sesamestreet
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Comment #1 Removed by Moderator

The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

No, but Jim Henson did. Coincidence? You decide.

2 posted on 11/20/2007 11:05:31 AM PST by Steely Tom (Steely's First Law of the Main Stream Media: if it doesn't advance the agenda, it's not news.)
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To: Steely Tom

I asked Carol-Lynn Parente, the executive producer of “Sesame Street,” how exactly the first episodes were unsuitable for toddlers in 2007. She told me about Alistair Cookie and the parody “Monsterpiece Theater.” Alistair Cookie, played by Cookie Monster, used to appear with a pipe, which he later gobbled. According to Parente, “That modeled the wrong behavior” — smoking, eating pipes — “so we reshot those scenes without the pipe, and then we dropped the parody altogether.”


I can’t tell you how many pipes I’ve eaten because of that parody!


3 posted on 11/20/2007 11:06:59 AM PST by Hoodlum91 (I support global warming.)
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To: Hoodlum91

I know. And for some reason, today, all that lead would be bad for you. Go figure!


4 posted on 11/20/2007 11:09:23 AM PST by Tatze (I'm in a state of taglinelessness!)
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To: Gabz; Eric Blair 2084; SheLion

Nanny Ping
Sesame Street DVD “Adult rated”
Cookie Monster seen holding a Pipe
...The horrors...


5 posted on 11/20/2007 11:09:43 AM PST by libertarian27 (Land of the Fee, Home of the Shamed)
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To: Steely Tom
“Jim Henson had a wait-and-see attitude. Now look what we got. Wrong-sounding Muppets.”

- Stewie Griffin at the doctor’s office

6 posted on 11/20/2007 11:13:24 AM PST by PCBMan (We hit a snag when the universe imploded. But Dad seemed cautiously optimistic.)
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To: libertarian27

If he was holding a condom, it would probably be okay.


7 posted on 11/20/2007 11:14:34 AM PST by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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To: Steely Tom
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.”

It's true! The episodes of today are so different.

The Cookie Monster, having been ostracized as an overweight, sugar industry tool, has been replaced by the Cocaine Monster. A little blow, a little dough and you're ready for a day of lounging on the couch!

Oscar is now a pimp, running Miss Piggy and Big Bird (who knew?!!) and Bert and Ernie are, well, we ALL always knew what Bert and Earnie were but today's episodes will help you celebrate it!

8 posted on 11/20/2007 11:15:04 AM PST by VeniVidiVici (No buy China!!)
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To: VeniVidiVici

I heard Burt joined al queda. Something about internet photos.


9 posted on 11/20/2007 11:24:10 AM PST by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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To: drew

10 posted on 11/20/2007 11:34:26 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: SheLion; Gabz; 383rr; libertarian27; traviskicks; CSM; valkyrieanne; altura; TheKidster; ...

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junky, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi

This is an extremely low volume ping list. 6 per week max. To be added to or deleted from this ping list, please click one of the following:

Eric, you are a genius add me to your ping list or Eric, you are a jackass, take me off this ping list

To request that I stop using these gay html colors and fonts, please send me a private message below.

____________________________________________________________________

Constitution of the Left Wing Nanny State of Liberals:

Picture courtesy of unixfox. All rights reserved. Copyright MMVII. Any use of the pictures descriptions or accounts of this ping without the express written consent of unixfox, Eric Blair, or Major League Baseball is strictly prohibited. Some restrictions apply. Ping not available in all states. For erections lasting longer than four hours, call the Guiness Book of World Records. Use only as directed.

Preamble:

We the People Sheeple of the United States Nanny State, in Order to form a more perfect Union Socialist Utopia, establish Justice Socially engineer a country of non smoking, physically fit, tea totallers, insure domestic Tranquility Smoking bans in bars, limits on unhealthy food and social drinking, provide for the common defense Universal Healthcare, promote the general Welfare health of the population whether they like it or not, in order to save above mentioned Universal Healthcare entitlement program from bankruptcy, and secure the Blessings of Liberty Dependency to ourselves progressive liberals and our Posterity Hitler Youth who we brainwash through public school education, do ordain decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Nanny State of Liberals.

12 posted on 11/20/2007 11:49:22 AM PST by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: Eric Blair 2084

That’s great EB, I don’t remember seeing that before, thanks for the link back to the site.


13 posted on 11/20/2007 11:56:22 AM PST by libertarian27 (Land of the Fee, Home of the Shamed)
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To: meowmeow
I heard Burt joined al queda. Something about internet photos.



14 posted on 11/20/2007 12:06:23 PM PST by 300magnum (God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it. D.Webster)
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To: Steely Tom

Liberalism is a form of psychosis.


15 posted on 11/20/2007 12:25:02 PM PST by pabianice
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To: qam1; ItsOurTimeNow; PresbyRev; Fraulein; StoneColdGOP; Clemenza; m18436572; InShanghai; xrp; ...

Xer Ping

Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.

Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.

16 posted on 11/20/2007 12:31:45 PM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Steely Tom

I guess I’m old, I remember when Oscar the Grouch was orange.


17 posted on 11/20/2007 12:34:07 PM PST by waverna
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To: Steely Tom

I was born in 81. Only watched the show a bit, but Oscar was definitely my favorite.


18 posted on 11/20/2007 12:41:36 PM PST by JamesP81 ("I am against "zero tolerance" policies. It is a crutch for idiots." --FReeper Tenacious 1)
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To: waverna

I remembered him when he was a shade of Gray...B&W ;)


19 posted on 11/20/2007 1:22:01 PM PST by libertarian27 (Land of the Fee, Home of the Shamed)
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To: trisham

Woe, for a minute their I thought it was a Lion! LOL!!!


20 posted on 11/20/2007 2:12:07 PM PST by 444Flyer ("Oly Oly Oxen Free!" Matt 3:1-3,Rev 22:17,John 3:1-36, Jeremiah 29:13,Jude 9, Eph 6, Rev 12:11)
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