TV - Sesame Street

☻☻☻☻☻

(five smiley faces out of five)

Let’s start this blog with the mother of all children’s television shows. Debuting in 1969, Sesame Street is the longest-running children’s television show in U.S. history.

It’s also one of the absolute best. Mostly aimed at the pre-kindergarten crowd, Sesame Street airs on Public Television.

I loved Sesame Street when I was a child and continue to love it today, as did my child when she was pre-K. The writing is exemplary, the educational value is outstanding, the cultural diversity and sensitivity give me hope for humankind, and the performances of the actors and puppeteers are always top-notch.

Sesame Street has always managed to deliver all of this while being genuinely entertaining, both for children and adults. I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched Sesame Street as a grownup and found myself laughing out loud at the jokes or being delighted by a special celebrity guest. (And let’s face it, the guest celebrities are for us parents; most of the time, little kids don’t even know who those people are.)

Sure, some parents find Elmo’s high voice to be a bit annoying, but most people can give Elmo a pass when they see how their little boy or girl’s face lights up when Elmo appears on the screen. And then there was that flap several years ago when some moronic preacher declared that Ernie and Bert were gay (where’s your head at buddy?) but most of us non mouth breathers know that even if Ernie and Bert were gay, it just wouldn’t matter, because Ernie is freaking hilarious.

I sincerely hope that until the day I die I can remember the lyrics to this song whenever I need a smile:

One-two-three-four-five, six-seven-eight-nine-ten,
Ten tiny turtles on the telephone
Talking with the grocery man
(Ya da da da!)

We would like some lettuce,
Will you send us ten heads please?
And ten sweet potatoes
And ten rutabagas with the dimples on their knees.

And send us 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 artichokes;
Ten eggplants—over easy
That's one of our little jokes (ha ha ha).

Ten leafy, leafy collard greens
And please make sure they're washed;

Light up our eyes
Brighten our lives
With ten banana squash.

We'll need ten cans of black-eyed peas
They give you good strong muscles
Ten of those tasty sprouts—
The ones that they call Brussels
We'd also like ten mangos
They're the favorite of our sister Gert;
And one last thing,
Please do include ten apples for dessert.

TEN!