Segments acceptable in 70s/80s, but now no longer the case

[Oscarfan]

“People in Your Neighborhood” with the original fireman/postman terms. Those are considered racist now, and more recent remakes have replaced the terms with “letter carrier” and “firefighter.”

Those aren't racist. Sexist, probably.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Personally I don’t see it being an issue if it’s specifically the sex the person is portraying the job in (could easily just as well be postwoman or firewoman) until someone on twitter decides to bring it up.

 

[YellowYahooey]

Personally I don’t see it being an issue if it’s specifically the sex the person is portraying the job in (could easily just as well be postwoman or firewoman) until someone on twitter decides to bring it up.

At least they introduced a cartoon segment on Episode 1463 (which is currently on HBO Max) in which a policewoman is used - it is the segment in which a narrator asks kids to identify where a fireman and a policewoman works. Unfortunately, that segment was only shown three times and was retired before 1983.

 

[YellowYahooey]

I discovered another segment that would not be acceptable for modern-day airings. It is the Herbert Birdsfoot M/W lecture, but it is not due to the rotating camera angle. I think it is more due to the uncooperative letter blowing a raspberry towards Herbert, which would be deemed inappropriate, or at least questionable, today.

There is at least one other Herbert Birdsfoot segment that would not be acceptable, and that is one where Grover slaps Herbert on the back upon arrival for the lecture - I am not sure what segment that is. There is also another segment where Grover comes in an says "Hey, Herbie, baby!" - that would sound very sexist nowadays, but I wonder if HBO Max ever aired any Kermit's lecture sketch where Grover comes in and says "Hey, Kermit, baby!"

 

[LittleJerry92]

I really don’t see how any of those would be an issue because they’re very minor instances, but sure.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

I discovered another segment that would not be acceptable for modern-day airings. It is the Herbert Birdsfoot M/W lecture, but it is not due to the rotating camera angle. I think it is more due to the uncooperative letter blowing a raspberry towards Herbert, which would be deemed inappropriate, or at least questionable, today.

There is at least one other Herbert Birdsfoot segment that would not be acceptable, and that is one where Grover slaps Herbert on the back upon arrival for the lecture - I am not sure what segment that is. There is also another segment where Grover comes in an says "Hey, Herbie, baby!" - that would sound very sexist nowadays, but I wonder if HBO Max ever aired any Kermit's lecture sketch where Grover comes in and says "Hey, Kermit, baby!"

Elmo in Grouchland literally had a scene where Elmo asked the viewers to blow raspberries. If anything that would be much more inappropriate. I recently watched that movie again for the first time in well over a decade and I was rather surprised by the amount of toilet humor they could get away with. Not to mention, now that I'm an adult, seeing the portrayal of Vanessa Williams as The Queen of Trash was certainly more "enjoyable" than I remembered, if you know what I mean lol.

Seriously though, I was shocked at how well Elmo in Grouchland managed to hold up. The pop culture references also finally made sense to me. I don't care how old you are, having a Grouch named Sharon Groan is quite the clever pun.

 

[sesamemuppetfan]

I wonder if HBO Max ever aired any Kermit's lecture sketch where Grover comes in and says "Hey, Kermit, baby!"

Yup. Several. And it's "Hey, Froggy baby!"

 

[YellowYahooey]

I had to return for this one, after seeing the segment on YouTube and its video description.

I am not sure if this was mentioned yet, but another segment that wouldn't be acceptable nowadays is "Five Purple Konkers" - in which all five of the creatures have hammers as hands, and they hit their own heads repeatedly. To makes matters worse, several of the Konkers commit suicide after their act, but the last two Konkers thankfully survived (and even had a baby honker - not the Muppet kind). Their actions could cause kids to mimic the Konkers' behavior in real life. Needless to say, the segment was edited out of at least one HBO Max release.

 

[Flaky Pudding]

I had to return for this one, after seeing the segment on YouTube and its video description.

I am not sure if this was mentioned yet, but another segment that wouldn't be acceptable nowadays is "Five Purple Konkers" - in which all five of the creatures have hammers as hands, and they hit their own heads repeatedly. To makes matters worse, several of the Konkers commit suicide after their act, but the last two Konkers thankfully survived (and even had a baby honker - not the Muppet kind). Their actions could cause kids to mimic the Konkers' behavior in real life. Needless to say, the segment was edited out of at least one HBO Max release.

There was another one too called Ten Little Greeblies.

 

[CoolGuy1013]

At least that one ended with all the Greeblies coming back.