Sesame Street censorship

[Hays]

Funny how easy it is to deal with another language if it's the preschool version! My son is in a Spanish-Immersion school, and I'm really picking stuff up from him...

 

[Katzi428]

I'm sorry, but I don't care much for character's fainting either. I don't know why, but I've just always had a problem with it.

Daffyfan & others...thanks for reminding me about Muppets fainting on Sesame Street. I was thinking about it last night & thinking that it's a bad influence on little kids.I mean....what if a little kid "pretends" to faint,but winds up hitting his/her head on something hard? That would cause the kid to get hurt .
JMHO

 

[Xerus]

How about in that song, AB-C-DEF..., where Big Bird sings that line? "But somewhere in the middle, it gets awfully QR to me!" I wonder if they'll censor that song too?

 

[Boober_Gorg]

How about in that song, AB-C-DEF..., where Big Bird sings that line? "But somewhere in the middle, it gets awfully QR to me!" I wonder if they'll censor that song too?

They sort of did when Big Bird performed it on the Flip Wilson show: "but somewhere in the middle, it gets QR, Q-R, to me!" (with a big Q R on the screen)

 

[MuppetDude]

They did that song for season 34 and it was still left in.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

They sort of did when Big Bird performed it on the Flip Wilson show: "but somewhere in the middle, it gets QR, Q-R, to me!" (with a big Q R on the screen)

I hadn't really thought of that before. It is sort of strange to hear a Muppet say that something is 'queer.'

 

[SesameMike]

I can think of two sketches that had their endings changed since their debut. Was it censorship? Not sure.

1. The rolling ball that weaves down a maze of ramps, flags, rollers, etc., occasionally counting 1-2-3. Originally, at the end, the ball rolled off the track and bounced into a metal box with a hand crank. A boy came by and turned the crank while counting to 3, and wound up with an orangy powder in his other hand. By its color, we assumed the ball was ground into this powder. But in later years, the ending was redone to have the same ball land in a machine that dropped cherries on top of ice cream sundaes as part of an assembly line. Was this changed because they thought it was too sad (I'm not going to say traumatic) for the kids to see the ball reduced to sand? Or was it to give the whole thing a sense of context: a cherry dispenser makes more sense than some powder grinder.

2. The number 12 sketch featuring multicolored balls that roll around in the sand. You know how at the end, when the twelve balls roll off to the right (to keep from getting trampled by the crowd) and form themselves into a number 12 shape while counting off? After that they turn into real digits to the sound of an organ chord. Then the numerals fade away to an eerie sound reminiscent of wind blowing. I was told that the sketch now ends before the number disappears. Was it considered too traumatic to see the number, apparently composed of sentient beings, just vanish into thin air?

 

[mikebennidict]

well i'm not sure about that. i think both ending were done at the same time because i can always remember it sometimes ending with the ball in pieces being cranked out of the whatever that thing was called and others times it being turned into cherries landing on the ice cream sundaes. > also those were rocks in the 12 film and i think the idea of the 12 fading away being tramatic for kids is utterly rediculous. i only saw the film ending before the 12 fading away once. i've seen clips being cut off others times and doubt there any special reason for it.

 

[Stupendous Man]

Someone mentioned before that some other Jazzy Spies animations besides #2 and #5 were discontinued later (I think it was #7 and #9). Does anyone know the reasons why?

 

[ssetta]

I know that Jazz #s 6 and 10 were used as late as 1991, when they finally retired the entire series.