Sesame Street Old School DVD's: Not For Kids

[Jyllian]

Old School Parental Warnings?

That "original Sesame Street Episode DVDS" will come with a warning for parents..
Of course then they said "coming up later on the new at 10pm" but i wont be here to find out what its about...

does anyone know what this is about? are there new dvds being released of classic sesame street besides Classic sesame 1 and 2?


anyone hear about this yet? thanks Jyll

 

[CherryPizza]

The frenzy over the Old School DVDs (my two cents)

It seems that Australian TV's beloved Channel 10 has pretty much lived up to its own dodgy news standards.

Not only is it jumping on the bandwagon of making unwarranted fuss, it is also jumping on it somewhere in the region of a month or two after US media decided to kick up a stink about it. In short, the Old School DVDs were mentioned on the news with the introduction of "The Sesame Street episodes that children weren't meant to see", with the typical tone of voice of someone abusing his position as a newsreader.

Frenzied members of the media have jumped right on this, citing everything from political correctness gone mad to the trippier content of 70s Sesame Street being "drug induced". Now, the time must come for people to take a deep breath, settle down, and just look at the bare facts.

It is a fact of life that times change. If Sesame Street is going to be doing its job properly, it has to change with the times. The whole point of Sesame Street in 1969 was (as it has been in the years since) to use the popular television techniques which always engrossed kids, and get them interested in using the television to learn. Television has changed a lot since those days, so it must be acknowledged as a possibility that using early-70s television gimmicks may not be that effective for today's children.

Have I always supported the changes to Sesame Street? No. In my opinion, is the show as good today as it used to be? No. Do I think that the Sesame Street of today would be better if it learnt from its former, more vibrant, more character-driven, Elmo-less self? Absolutely.

While I do not philosophically agree with every change the show has seen, it is still a simple fact that the show has changed, and in many ways needed to change. Sure, sometimes Children's Television Workshop/Sesame Workshop has got it wrong in some people's opinions. Sure, healthy debate and commentary on the issue is needed. But please, anyone who is going to fuss over it, fuss over it for the right reasons, and not because of an exaggerated interpretation of a necessary disclaimer.

 

[CherryPizza]

Um, why was my post moved here? I made a deliberate decision to make it a separate post.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Good points, it's just that not everyone thinks the disclaimer is necessary. It puts the Old School material in a undeserving bad light. Carroll Spinney even said the changes to SS are greatly due to the money Tickle Me Elmo brings in. That's largely what it comes down to. That's one problem with doing education on TV, the show is subject to the ratings system.

 

[CensoredAlso]

They just want another generation of kids that expect to have everything handed to them. And the people who run companies were raised like this, so you can see where that leads.

I agree, that's where education is going now. It's not something anyone will thank us for later on, heh.

 

[CherryPizza]

Carroll Spinney even said the changes to SS are greatly due to the money Tickle Me Elmo brings in... That's one problem with doing education on TV, the show is subject to the ratings system.

That's very true, and unfortunately much of the debate doesn't cover this issue of the effect of commercialisation on education. I still live in fear that one day in the not-too-distant future high schools are going to open McDonald's canteens on campus and the syllabus will mysteriously change to pamper the corporate buddy.

 

[Drtooth]

Actually, we have several threads about this already. What it boils down to is thus:

• There are segments that only don't work today do to one or two little things- i.e. a segment where kids were playing in a junk yard, and another skit where kids were riding bikes without Helmets (as helmets weren't required back then).
• Something involving SW, child Psycholigists, parental groups, or some such feel that kids would be more accostumed to the stricter formula present today.
• Noise makes news. Remember the debacle that the "Veggie Monster" rumor caused? A lot of unfounded Panic, just made for the news so they could get more viewers.

I think I figured it out. The "warning" is more like a mild advisory towards parents that buy anything and everything SS to quiet their too young to be watching TV kids. However, now that it's become big news it looks like big sales for cureous people with enough dispossable income to buy them without even watching the set the whole way.

Other than a few little things, I call bullox on the whole thing. I mean, some older episodes could be slightly off without a little explaination, but there is nothing even slightly objectionable with the second set.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I agree about the helmet thing, they should be showing kids wearing helmets nowadays. But I'm still not sold on warning against the junkyard. Plenty of kids even today have no place else to play. All of our complaining and sanitizing won't change that.

 

[mikebennidict]

Actually, we have several threads about this already. What it boils down to is thus:

• There are segments that only don't work today do to one or two little things- i.e. a segment where kids were playing in a junk yard, and another skit where kids were riding bikes without Helmets (as helmets weren't required back then).
• Something involving SW, child Psycholigists, parental groups, or some such feel that kids would be more accostumed to the stricter formula present today.
• Noise makes news. Remember the debacle that the "Veggie Monster" rumor caused? A lot of unfounded Panic, just made for the news so they could get more viewers.

I think I figured it out. The "warning" is more like a mild advisory towards parents that buy anything and everything SS to quiet their too young to be watching TV kids. However, now that it's become big news it looks like big sales for cureous people with enough dispossable income to buy them without even watching the set the whole way.

Other than a few little things, I call bullox on the whole thing. I mean, some older episodes could be slightly off without a little explaination, but there is nothing even slightly objectionable with the second set.

Kids playing in a junkyard.


Are you sure there was an actual film of that?

 

[Drtooth]

I agree about the helmet thing, they should be showing kids wearing helmets nowadays. But I'm still not sold on warning against the junkyard. Plenty of kids even today have no place else to play. All of our complaining and sanitizing won't change that.

that's more of a grey area for me. I don't think it's good, but I don't think it's bad. And even still, if a parent would actually take the time to explain what the kids are doing there's no real problem. Even still, other than a few kids asking "where's Elmo?" I think this is just an odd comprimise. I don't care for the "warning" (and even still, calling it a warning is a little harsh a word... more like a recomendation, if anything).

Funny thing is, CBS did a fluff story about it, and (in the news story) they tried to rationalize how "Dangerous" it was for kids. They even got Cookie Monster on the Cookies thing. I watched Old school sets 1 and 2, and even then, he ate Lettuce and Apples (amongst other things). They even talked about the one time he "Smoked" a pipe which isn't on either set (as it was an 80's skit). And that was a satirical prop, if anything. he Chomped it more than smoked it. (If we want to get into hypocracy, I swear there was a Popeye antismoking campagne at one point) But the great thing about the story is the parents they interviewed passed over and said the "warning" was rediculous.

As I restate, I think it's more for first time parents, who never watched the show before, who buy anything and everything with the SS lable on it. I can see a bunch of Amazon reviews saying "My 3 month old kid refuses to sit through it as he is a little kid who doesn't sit through anything more than 5 minutes of Elmo anyway." (If they wait a few years, when the kid can actually grasp things, they may enjoy it better) Personally, I'd rather have a pointless, ignorable reccomendation than no box set at all.