15 Things You May Not Know About Sesame Street
By Kristi HarrisonThe people at Medical Billing sent over this awesome infographic about everyone’s favorite childhood learning tool — Sesame Street. Some of the revelations in it are downright fascinating. So, despite being a site built on a foundation of cursing and debauchery, we decided to post it anyway.
(Source – Medical Billing)
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Saturday, August 7, 2010 2:32PM
White text on a light blue background rocks.
Saturday, August 7, 2010 3:12PM
you know they really need to return sesame street beck to its original form. It's not OK to have Bert and Ernie or Oscar the grouch on the show and the cookie monster is too unhealthy; but it is alright to have an Aid's character.
Saturday, August 7, 2010 5:30PM
The HIV positive character (or "Aid's" as you so incorrectly put it) is only in the South African version of the show, where knowledge of the virus is essential. Remember to read things properly before you comment.
Saturday, August 7, 2010 5:45PM
Yes, it is OK to have an AIDS character. It's only on the South African version because around 1/3 of South Africans are HIV positive and children need to know how to cope with that. If Sesame Street helps those children who the hell are you to argue?
Sunday, August 8, 2010 6:19AM
ashley actually responded that, to use her own word,s "but it is alright to have an Aid's character."
She merely complained about the older characters, although I don't necessarily agree with that either. The cookie monster does indulge himself with cookies, but what children's show doesn't have characters stuffing their faces with treats? And Oscar the Grouch may live in a trash can, but neither does he encourage others to do the same. Most children would not be attracted to such living conditions, so it doesn't present a problem. Third, why in the world should they remove Bert and Ernie? They are merely friends, not partners, and many men room together without having relations.
Sunday, August 8, 2010 6:20AM
I would tell you to do the same. She wasn't against the HIV positive character. In fact, she supported it.
Sunday, August 8, 2010 11:06AM
And they made a TON of money on licensing rights for clothing, coloring books, spin-off videos and every imaginable tie-in they could. I don't think ONE DIME of the proceeds went back to pay for the government investment in developing, producing and airing the show.
Sunday, August 8, 2010 12:19PM
I think Ashley meant that sarcastically. Cookie Monster no longer eats cookies, he eats vegetables and fruit (or characters try to make him eat them instead of cookies); Bert and Ernie don't live together anymore because it was "sending the wrong message" (even though kids dont think "Those men are in love", they just think they're best friends… and even if they did, who cares? There can be straight couples on children's TV but not gay ones? … Anyway I'm ranting about the wrong thing here.). I don't know if they've done anything to Oscar, but yeah. They've changed so many things because apparently it's bad for the kids, even though it was never bad for them before…
Sunday, August 8, 2010 8:46PM
no, she didn't support it. She was being sarcastic. I think you also need to go back and read comments properly.
Sunday, August 8, 2010 10:07PM
My son currently watches Sesame Street, and I have never seen the Cookie Monster eat anything other than cookies, and I don't recall the other characters pressuring him into eating them. Also, not only do Bert and Ernie live together, they sleep in the same room. My PBS channel tends to show the same few episodes over and over, so maybe we are just watching old versions…
Monday, August 9, 2010 12:45AM
Well, not back to the government per se, but it is a non-profit and the money funds the Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children's Television Workshop) which has put out educational curriculum and funded other children's shows in the past 40 years. The investment by the government was well worth it when you look at the effect Sesame Street has had in our culture. This was the advent of educational programming and definitely the beginning of multiculturalism on TV.
Monday, August 9, 2010 1:48AM
Ashley was being sarcastic
Monday, August 9, 2010 3:29AM
You missed the season where they gave Ernie leukemia, which I guess was designed to teach children about terminal illness.
Monday, August 9, 2010 8:33AM
putting an AIDS character in the show is wholly stupid. It brings the message of sex to children that are way too young to learn about that. Stupid decisions by stupid people.
Monday, August 9, 2010 11:29AM
Why did they have to make a new character?…I already assumed Bert and Ernie were the HIV advocates.
Monday, August 9, 2010 11:51AM
That's because the money was a government grant…
Monday, August 9, 2010 6:16PM
Stupid assumptions by ignorant people!
maybe if they had that character here in the U.S. when you were a kid, you would know that AIDS/HIV doesn't always get spread by having sex.
obviously, if the character is 5, and her parents died because of AIDS, she was BORN with HIV!
In places like South Africa, where AIDS/HIV is an epidemic, children need to be aware. Sooner or later they will more than likely have to deal with it themselves or a family member,or friend.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 3:56AM
You are incorrect. Ashley is saying that the show needs to go back to its original form. In recent years Cookie Monster has been criticized for promoting obesity, so he now shown eating fruits and vegetables and "Cookies are a sometimes food". She is being sarcastic… basically she's saying "It's okay to have an HIV positive character, but not an unhealthy cookieaholic character?"
I'm not sure what she's talking about with Bert and Ernie or Oscar because as far as I know they are still on the show and nothing about their characters has been changed, but I don't make a habit of watching Sesame Street, so I may be out of the loop.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 3:57AM
You're watching reruns.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:03PM
@meiliken So, apparently, sex is the only way you can get HIV? How about the kids that are born with it from an HIV positive parent? Or the people that got it from a faulty blood transfusion? If you bothered to read that particular fact and actually comprehend it, you would have seen that character was on the South African version of the show and HIV and AIDS (and yes, they are two different diseases born of the same mutation) runs rampant on the continent of Africa. Sesame Street is no longer a "USA only" program. It goes out to several different nations, and I applaud the producers who made that decision. Informed children grow up to be informed adults, which can only make the world a better place.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 8:48AM
EXCEPT…. you can contract AIDS through many other avenues besides sex. So no, they aren't bringing a message of sex.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:25PM
Oddly enough, I didn't watch this show very much growing up.
I generally thought it was stupid and overly simplistic.
Thursday, August 12, 2010 12:06AM
In fact, let's see a little bit of proof here. Where did you get this info, and how do you know it's truth you tool?
Thursday, August 12, 2010 8:35AM
@mrsleep
Yeah, when my mom flipped this on for me when I was two years old I told her "What is this overly simplistic garbage?! Don't we have yesterday's news on TiVo?"
Thursday, August 12, 2010 9:04AM
There are like 25 sources listed at the bottom of the graphic you fucking imbecile. Do you know what sources are? They are the information provided to tell internet goddamn morons like yourself where information comes from. So before you start calling people tools, maybe do the goddamn work yourself you lazy piece of internet commenter shit.
Also, no more comments will be allowed on this post on the grounds that you are all a bunch of sad morons who should be taken out to pasture and put out of your dullard misery with a fucking rock.
Thanks,
The Management
Saturday, February 19, 2011 8:42AM
this is great. I learned how to spell the word love on sesame street.
Sunday, April 17, 2011 8:51PM
If you really love Sesame Street you might enjoy these 25 "best" videos.
http://chimac.net/2009/11/12/25-classic-sesame-st…