Sunny Days

I've been watching Sesame Street long enough (and I'm now old enough and set in my ways!) to be irritated when it changes. Not so much the two-minutes-of-sponsor-messages at the beginning and end of each program (that I find deeply disappointing), but the small changes in pace and format and content. I know, I know, it's all done with the best of intentions — but it's just not my Sesame Street, and I miss seeing favorite segments I remember.

(You can't imagine how overjoyed I was when DVD collections became available. I was amused, though, to find a disclaimer to explain that the older episodes no longer reflect commonly accepted practices in preschool programming.)

I'm watching the first show of the 40th season, as I write this — complete with that familiar feeling of discomfort. (I'm also underwhelmed, but that's another matter.) It looks as though favorite segments I'd come to love over just the past several years (watching with my son) have already been replaced. But not "Elmo's World." People tend to complain about "Elmo's World," but apart from that it seems to take over about a third of every show, I grew to enjoy it. In many ways "Elmo's World" now seems like the only link to the Sesame Street I remember.

A few years ago, there was a very self-aware parody called "Cookie World" — with Cookie Monster, of course — that was lots of fun, particularly in that Cookie Monster was the only character aware of the segment, leaving other characters confused, even indignant! It was Sesame Street at it's best, gently making fun of itself instead of a popular TV series.

And the more I think on it, that's what often seems to be missing these days — fun, simply for it's own sake. That's not to say the series isn't entertaining and full of wit (even to a parent in his mid-40s), but the Sesame Street I remember placed it's teaching moments among parody, nonsense, and general silliness. There's not nearly enough of that now. It all seems too earnest — a trend that, I think, has made PBS' kids programming bland and dull over the past several years.

(And please, don't get me started on the new version of The Electric Company. Ugh.)