Like I’m sure many people were, I was confused and surprise
when I heard the news that the beloved public television TV show, Sesame Street
would be moving over to premium HBO. Sesame
Street, home to childhood favorites like Big Bird, Snuffy, Bert, Ernie, Elmo
and Grover (and others I know) taught generations of kids their numbers,
letters, how to share, how to be nice and inclusive to other children, showed
scores of videos of real kids doing real things alongside cartoons of a more
whimsical nature. We sat in front of
that TV for a full hour, mesmerized. It was
a comfortable place we could both learn and be entertained. For me, watching it in the 80s and early 90s,
we didn’t keep coming back because of the technological achievements or for the
critical acclaim. We came back because
that’s where we could find familiar friendly faces with whom we sang and enjoyed
spending time.
When the news came that Sesame Street would be moving to HBO
along came the announcement that the show would be shortened to a half hour and
would focus mainly on Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, and relative newcomer Abby Cadabby. Having a 15-month old daughter who is already
obsessed with Elmo, I was relieved that Elmo would still be around, but
saddened by the omission of so many of the other beloved characters that are
getting pushed to the side for what – marketability? Merchandising?
I’ve been watching the HBO version with my daughter and for
comparison sake have also been going back to the older episodes to make sure my
nostalgia for the original format isn’t taking over my sensibilities. That being said, this new version of the show
is a far cry from where it originated. The
1/2 hour format feels very rushed and compressed. It starts with a 10-15 minute segment that takes
place on Sesame Street, usually featuring Abby and Elmo and 1-2 human
counterparts. Then there’s a song that
features all of the characters singing about what the letter of the day will be
(it’s a total earworm, I don’t recommend listening to it unless you want to be
kept up at night because you can’t get it out of your head) and then maybe
another small sketch, and then a song with The Count and the rest of the cast
of muppets singing about the number of the day (another, less offensive
earworm) and then the show generally closes with either Elmo’s World or Elmo
the Musical. It's a nice neat, predictable package that doesn't veer too much outside of it's schedule.
This new format leaves much to be desired, and feels, essentially,
like a dumbed down version of the original.
First of all, the letter and the number of the day are largely
irrelevant to the viewer. Whereas in the
longer format version of the show would be introduced to a letter and a number
and those would both be repeated in nearly all segments, there are so few
segments now that even if it were repeated it would only happen 1 or 2
times. Second, since the premiere there
have yet to be any sketches that I’ve seen (and again, I watch with my toddler
so full disclosure I’m occasionally distracted) that show real kids interacting
in real and meaningful ways that the viewers can emulate.
I lament the lacking educational component on this new shinier
version of the show as what used to be on public, educational television is now
on an entertainment channel vying for subscribers. PBS will get second run-rights to the show
after the 9 month exclusivity window closes, but the format will remain the
same. In the meantime, my daughter and I
are watching both the PBS and the HBO versions.
The differences are still stark. Even
though PBS has shortened the show to a half hour, probably to prepare for the
switch in a few months, they still manage to pack more education into each
episode, ensuring that Murray gets around town teaching kids the “word on the
street” or having a character interact with a celeb of the day to learn about
the word of the day. There’s more focus
on counting and learning numbers during the heart of the show.
