The Stuff

Thanks to The J-Man for passing along this article, by Virginia Heffernan, about the early years of Sesame Street: Sweeping the Clouds Away. Apparently the first years of Sesame Street are now available on DVD, but they come with a warning, as they aren’t appropriate for the children of today:

Just don’t bring the children. According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

Say what? At a recent all-ages home screening, a hush fell over the room. “What did they do to us?” asked one Gen-X mother of two, finally. The show rolled, and the sweet trauma came flooding back. What they did to us was hard-core. Man, was that scene rough. The masonry on the dingy brownstone at 123 Sesame Street, where the closeted Ernie and Bert shared a dismal basement apartment, was deteriorating. Cookie Monster was on a fast track to diabetes. Oscar’s depression was untreated. Prozacky Elmo didn’t exist.

The article is worth reading if you were born between 1965 and 1975, and remember the early ’sodes, especially if you have children of your own. The world has really changed since the early 1970s. I don’t think the children of today will be prepared for the misery they’ll face later in life.