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Rosewood
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The other day I was watching SS with my kids. We had watched the beginning scenario, "Journey to Ernie", Global thingy, letter and number of the day, Global Grover, and a short cartoon about a kid who had a pet iguanna. Then, (as I was telling my daughter "No, you may not have an iguanna for a pet!) I hear the "La,la,la,la!" that tells me "Elmo's World" is starting, and the smouldering bit of hope I'd had that they just might show 1 old skit or song today has once again been snuffed out for good (at least for another 24 hrs.) As Elmo sings and dances and laughs, I notice my stomach involuntarily
starting to tighten and my fingers starting to grip the chair arms. I try to calm down and be optomistic: "Maybe it will be something new and worth watching today" I think to myself. I start to listen again as the high falsetto voice asks "Can you guess what Elmo is thinking about today?" I mumble something under my breath as I glare at the T.V. "Right!" Elmo says, "Today Elmo is thinking about ...FEET! YEAH!!!!!!!!" At this point my kids have lost interest, due to the fact that this would be the "umpteenth" time we have seen this Elmo's world in less than a month. I get up and turn the T.V. channel to 3. As I am popping in a new SS DVD called "Alphabet Jungle", my 3 year old intentively asks me "Mommy, why do you hate Elmo?" I simply say to her "Don't worry about me, honey. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean you can't like it. Now lets watch the new DVD we just got." I sit back down and we start to watch, but as the DVD starts to play my mind is still asking me "Yeah, Mommy, why do you hate Elmo? He's cute, cuddly, sweet, adorable, and acts like he wouldnt hurt a fly. He's never done anything to you, personally. In fact, if he ever saw you, he'd probably kiss you! So, other than the fact that his repetative, high-pitched laugh can sometimes get annoying, what is it about this little guy that makes you hate him so much?" I ponder for a while, taking the time to really think all this over, and finally come to a conclusion: I don't hate Elmo. In fact, when it comes right down to it, I actually kinda like the little guy. I guess what makes me so irritated and tense when "Elmo's World" comes on is that I'm suffering from a form of "Muppet Variety Starvation" and am comming to a conclusion that there is nothing I can do about it. It brings on a feeling of utter helplessness! The shows that SS is putting out now are 50% or more just Elmo. Sure, they still show a beautifully re-enhansed old vintage clip now and then; enough to get your hopes up and keep you watching in hopes of seeing more. But you can only be fooled so many times. Whats the old saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?" Well, thats about where I'm at right now. You can dangle a carrot in front of a donkey and, sure it will make him walk and pull a cart, but even a donkey eventually knows when he's been had, and will stop pulling. No, I don't hate Elmo. Or Telly, Zoe, or Baby Bear. They are, to todays generation, what Kermit, Grover, Cookie, and Big Bird were to mine. It simply saddens me to think that over 3000 episodes of good old SS, a lifetime of work for Jim Henson and Joe Raposo, could possibly be sitting in some old archive room, letting time do its irreversable damage to them. I don't hate Elmo. But when someone gets forced into a place they really dont want to be in, (like Elmo's world in my case), you can't blame a person for instinctivly trying to resist, even if they know it's ultimately a futile fight. Its simply the nature of the beast.
starting to tighten and my fingers starting to grip the chair arms. I try to calm down and be optomistic: "Maybe it will be something new and worth watching today" I think to myself. I start to listen again as the high falsetto voice asks "Can you guess what Elmo is thinking about today?" I mumble something under my breath as I glare at the T.V. "Right!" Elmo says, "Today Elmo is thinking about ...FEET! YEAH!!!!!!!!" At this point my kids have lost interest, due to the fact that this would be the "umpteenth" time we have seen this Elmo's world in less than a month. I get up and turn the T.V. channel to 3. As I am popping in a new SS DVD called "Alphabet Jungle", my 3 year old intentively asks me "Mommy, why do you hate Elmo?" I simply say to her "Don't worry about me, honey. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean you can't like it. Now lets watch the new DVD we just got." I sit back down and we start to watch, but as the DVD starts to play my mind is still asking me "Yeah, Mommy, why do you hate Elmo? He's cute, cuddly, sweet, adorable, and acts like he wouldnt hurt a fly. He's never done anything to you, personally. In fact, if he ever saw you, he'd probably kiss you! So, other than the fact that his repetative, high-pitched laugh can sometimes get annoying, what is it about this little guy that makes you hate him so much?" I ponder for a while, taking the time to really think all this over, and finally come to a conclusion: I don't hate Elmo. In fact, when it comes right down to it, I actually kinda like the little guy. I guess what makes me so irritated and tense when "Elmo's World" comes on is that I'm suffering from a form of "Muppet Variety Starvation" and am comming to a conclusion that there is nothing I can do about it. It brings on a feeling of utter helplessness! The shows that SS is putting out now are 50% or more just Elmo. Sure, they still show a beautifully re-enhansed old vintage clip now and then; enough to get your hopes up and keep you watching in hopes of seeing more. But you can only be fooled so many times. Whats the old saying "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?" Well, thats about where I'm at right now. You can dangle a carrot in front of a donkey and, sure it will make him walk and pull a cart, but even a donkey eventually knows when he's been had, and will stop pulling. No, I don't hate Elmo. Or Telly, Zoe, or Baby Bear. They are, to todays generation, what Kermit, Grover, Cookie, and Big Bird were to mine. It simply saddens me to think that over 3000 episodes of good old SS, a lifetime of work for Jim Henson and Joe Raposo, could possibly be sitting in some old archive room, letting time do its irreversable damage to them. I don't hate Elmo. But when someone gets forced into a place they really dont want to be in, (like Elmo's world in my case), you can't blame a person for instinctivly trying to resist, even if they know it's ultimately a futile fight. Its simply the nature of the beast.
