Sesame Street censorship

[Boober_Gorg]

Censorship? Not what you'd expect on a show like Sesame Street. But think again. Throughout the years I've watched Sesame Street (since 1986), I've noticed a couple of edits in re-airings of certain segments.

THE CARROT - this is a cartoon segment where an old lady says all kinds of things about carrots. It dates back to the mid-70s, if I'm not mistaken.
There's a part where the old lady says: "Some important don'ts: don't eat a carrot with mittens, don't put a carrot in your bellybutton, and don't write on walls with your carrot." On the mention of each don't, we see someone disobeying her, then receiving a mallet on the head (rather gruesome, no?). from memory, I notice that in subsequent airings of this segment (from 1995 onward), the mallets are removed. I have a copy of the original version.

WANDA THE WORD FAIRY INTRODUCES THE TELEPHONE - Wanda stands in front of a telephone booth and, with a wave of her wand, a giant wood sign with the word TELEPHONE on it appears in front of the booths, making it impossible for anyone to make a call. When one of the phones starts ringing, Wanda struggles to remove the sign. In the original verison, after she introduces the word STUCK, Wanda exclaims DARN IT! (two words!), then she eventually becomes exhausted, gives up, and calls out, "Does anyone have a hammer? ..." Re-airings of this segment end abruptly after the word STUCK.

If anyone else knows of other edits on Sesame Street that I failed to point out, post all replies to this message.

 

[Clean Gultch]

Ive heard that Everybody Eats originally had a black kid eating a watermelon. When they air it now it is cut out. Yet they still leave in an Asian person eating with chopsticks.

 

[ssetta]

I actually heard someplace that the "Kermit News: Rapunzel" sketch originally had Prince Charming yelling "SHUT UP!!" I don't remember if he said it to Kermit or Rapunzel, but it definitely was edited out.

And also, the most infamous counting series with the baker. From about 1981 on, they edited out the part with the baker falling down the stairs.

I'm sure there were others, but some of the ones you mentioned, I never even knew those existed! But what's wrong with the phrase "Darn it?"

 

[punkNpuppets]

that fact that it's a 'clean version' of '**** it'. that's what it's like on kids shows (i think). You can't say 'heck', 'darn', 'fudge' (unless they mean chocolate fudge). but they ARE aloud to say 'gosh' and 'geez'.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

ssetta, the baker was NEVER removed from the counting segments. When they thought it wasn't the right kind of humor anymore, they just retired the entire segments...

 

[Boober_Gorg]

Wow. I didn't think there'd be so many replies to this thread. Only my first day and I'm already enjoying myself! Thanks a lot, guys!

 

[TravellingMatt]

Don Music was retired for similar reasons. Apparently too many kids were emulating his habit of banging his head against his piano keyboard. It's a shame...Don truly was a terrific character. I wish they had moved him to "The Muppet Show"...he would've worked great with Kermit and Rowlf in particular, and his reactions to Gonzo, Statler, and Waldorf would be priceless. (Gonzo would say Don was talented, claiming he loved it whenever Don banged his head against the piano keys.)

Another incident was a classic E & B skit (I think it was the one where Ernie counted to 10 but kept getting distracted) where Bert banged his head against a table out of frustration. This part was subsequently edited out.

Glad they eliminated mallets from that carrot bit. Don't want to encourage Marvin Suggs.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Reply

I remember that carrot sketch, but I didn't know these sketches had parts edited. It's hard to believe the phrase "Shut up!" was used on Sesame Street. About Don Music on the Muppet Show that would be a good idea, in fact TravelingMatt or somebody wrote an outline of that happening on the Classic Muppets forum. Also, I think "heck" and "darn" have been uttered on Sesame Street. Remember the Monsterpiece Theatre sketch where Cookie Monster kept saying "darn fine pie" or something like that. Also, in Elmopalooza when Oscar said that Slimey could help open the door to the dressing room, when the host was locked in there another guy said, "How the heck is worm going to get him out of there?" What I'm trying to figure it is exactly what Oscar said on "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" when he started with "You are without a doubt the stupidest..." Then that dang train came by and I couldn't hear him over that sound. Lol.

 

[Drtooth]

Now that's just stupid. This occured back in the 1960's with Bullwinkle. In one Fractured Fairy Tale, they say "darn", or "Darnit." This was deleted because someone thought it would lead on the road to swearing. (Bet she was a foul mouth herself!)

I think that the voilence on Sesame Street was completely phased out in recent years. I remember sketches where things fell on people, people hit eatch other, and it was like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Now, it's confined to stuff falling on Elmo when he opens the closet!

 

[Clean Gultch]

Re: Reply

Originally posted by Daffyfan2002
I remember that carrot sketch, but I didn't know these sketches had parts edited. It's hard to believe the phrase "Shut up!" was used on Sesame Street. About Don Music on the Muppet Show that would be a good idea, in fact TravelingMatt or somebody wrote an outline of that happening on the Classic Muppets forum. Also, I think "heck" and "darn" have been uttered on Sesame Street. Remember the Monsterpiece Theatre sketch where Cookie Monster kept saying "darn fine pie" or something like that. Also, in Elmopalooza when Oscar said that Slimey could help open the door to the dressing room, when the host was locked in there another guy said, "How the heck is worm going to get him out of there?" What I'm trying to figure it is exactly what Oscar said on "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" when he started with "You are without a doubt the stupidest..." Then that dang train came by and I couldn't hear him over that sound. Lol.

Oscar says nothing in particualr. He just reverdabro, rarara and stuff like that.