Sesame Street censorship

[Mister Fred]

It is a parents job to let kids know what's appropriate and what's not. If we expect kid's TV to represent perfection, then we're going to wind up with something dull and unimaginative.

For instance, there's a cute Twix commercial where they take a CD and smear it with peanut butter and put it into the CD player - and it turns into a Twix bar. As a parent, I could campaign to Mars and my local TV station to have the commercial removed, or I could be reasonable and talk to my kid about how what he sees on TV is pretend and he'll break the CD player if he does that (and hide the peanut butter)

There is certain language that's inappropriate for children's TV, but extending this rule to all behaviors and language kids might imitate is crazy. I don't want my kid throwing his food around like Cookie Monster (a problem I admit we have, as it's his favorite character) but I'm absolutely not going to ban Cookie Monster from our TV.

This is an excellent example of an outstanding parent (the quote listed above). I think it was ridiculous to retire the counting segment with the baker falling down at the end as well as Don Music. I also noticed that the song / segment everybody eats has been edited. There was a kid eating food with his/her bare hands that should be eaten with a spoon or fork. This has been edited out. Another edit was in the song / segment everybody sleeps. There was a man who yawned while sitting in a chair, fell asleep and fell out of his chair onto the floor. This was edited out as well. If any editing is done it should be to get rid of that cookie monster song healthy food. The clothes cookie monster is wearing are stupid. Another edit should be that live action with Ernie's poetry readings. Ernie has a hat on backwards & some torn clothing ( a vest I think ). The quality of Sesame Street in recent years has gotten very bad. Being honest, the show is totally dominated by Elmo & is primarly for black & hispanic kids. My mom watched Sesame Street alot with me when I was a kid in the 1970's. I would laugh at lots of stuff & learned it was not right to eat like the cookie monster. I especially know not to say anything bad & talk like oscar the grouch such as " ding dong your wrong ". I loved all the Don Music segments. I liked the baker falling down at the end of that counting segment. My mom liked alot of stuff on Sesame Street as well. She even sang along with some of the songs. Her favorite was the "Pockets" song / skit. Whenever it was on, she sang along. She even sang it around the house as well. A good parent that shows there kids what is right & wrong is fantastic

 

[Censored]

If any editing is done it should be to get rid of that cookie monster song healthy food. The clothes cookie monster is wearing are stupid

But, what about edits in your own message? Originally, your message said, "The clothes cookie monster is wearing are stupid; he is dressed like a ******. (I will not use the word I'm thinking of cause it is not nice)." That line is no longer in your message. We all know what word you were thinking of and I think it's pretty shameful that you would go there.

Furthermore, Sesame Street was originally geared towards inner city children of various ethnic backgrounds. The message has also been about racial understanding and tolerance for ALL races. If this message is lost on someone, then they really have no place in the world of Sesame Street anyway.

Racism, albeit ever so subtle, does not belong on this kind of message board.

 

[Hays]

Thank you for the compliment, but I agree with GeeBee. One of the things I value most about Sesame Street is its ability to present a wide range of differences, be they fur, language, height, ability or culture.

I found a great article on the roots of SS, and how central cultural diversity is to its mission here: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street

 

[Censored]

Thank you for the compliment, but I agree with GeeBee. One of the things I value most about Sesame Street is its ability to present a wide range of differences, be they fur, language, height, ability or culture.

I found a great article on the roots of SS, and how central cultural diversity is to its mission here: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street

Thanks for sharing that link. And yes, Hays, I certainly agree that your points were valid. It's just a shame that haters have to put their prejudice into everything. Mister Fred's comments were extremely out of line. It's a shame that racists have to ruin nice communities like these. Don't they have enough groups of their own to join?

 

[Drtooth]

This is an excellent example of an outstanding parent (the quote listed above). I think it was ridiculous to retire the counting segment with the baker falling down at the end as well as Don Music. I also noticed that the song / segment everybody eats has been edited. There was a kid eating food with his/her bare hands that should be eaten with a spoon or fork. This has been edited out. Another edit was in the song / segment everybody sleeps. There was a man who yawned while sitting in a chair, fell asleep and fell out of his chair onto the floor. This was edited out as well. If any editing is done it should be to get rid of that cookie monster song healthy food.

Now why the *&^Y would they edit footage of Babies eating with their hands? That's what babies and younger kids do! I mean, come on! Isn't it the job of the parent to teach those kids things, and that you shouldn't mimic the TV?

I mean, parenting has been slack, I agree. People leave their kids to watch TV while they go to their 2nd job to buy selfish things for themselves (there are some who actually have to work 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet, but I'm talking about the yuppies who carry cell phones in their SUV's, and have 3 SUV's in the house hold).

And yes, I know that you cannot stand the culture and deversity of the show... BUT IT WAS ALWAYS CULTURALLY DIVERSE! Some racists didn't like it because of Gordon, a nonwhite that didn't have 2.5 kids and promote white capitalist yuppie whatever! I think that you were waaaaay out of line on that! Sure, I can admire you're peved that Sesame Street doesn't have the good stuff thanks to ACT, millions of Child Psycologists (most work for the show), and other censorship crazed nuts, but don't take it out on anyone but those guys!

 

[Mister Fred]

I am sorry. I was wrong expressing my remarks about cookie monsters clothes. I should be more polite. Once again, I'm sorry. Let's all stay on the same boat and be the best of who we are regardless of color, gender, height, or weight.

 

[Drtooth]

Thank you! We all appreciate it!

But this does bring to mind something.

There was an old cartoon where 2 kids watych a spagetti TV western and they talk like TV Indians. A boy speaks out, "Real Indians don't talk like that!"

To which another boy says, "How do you know?"

The kid replies, "Because I'm an Indian..."

 

[Drtooth]

Would you believe I forgot to finish the post?

Anyway, my question, was this segment dropped because of the refferences to violence, or the fact that t\Indian was replaced with Native American?

 

[Boober_Gorg]

Another example of Noggin censorship I just noticed ...

The "Fisherman Song" sequence with Judy Collins appears to be edited. After the 2nd chorus, the camera pans across the dancing crowd, and that pan is repeated again, indicating that something has been omitted. Also, listen closely to the dialogue during the bridge: it sounds like they censored a joke that ends with "he cut off his nose!"

Has anyone seen this unedited? Please let me know.

 

[drmusic_99]

A line I'm surprised got through to begin with was in Oscar's song "I Hate Christmas" from "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street." (Referring to Santa "I'll tell him where to put his toys"