4 ms·

How Sesame Street Changed the World

22 points by iamelgringo 17y ago

silentbicycle 17y ago
There's a really interesting documentary, "The World According to Sesame Street" (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestreet/ http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestr...), about local Sesame Street productions attempts' to address HIV, ethnic tensions, and other major social issues in South Africa, Bangladesh, and Kosovo, while at the same time avoiding backlash and cultural imperialism. Those are mentioned in passing in the article, I'm surprised the documentary isn't.
chancho 17y ago
I just recently started watching Sesame Street with my son and I forgot how great it was. Especially the old stuff, which is all up at sesamestreet.org (I can't vouch for the new stuff as I'm at work at 10am.) The jokes were good, the music was good, the voice acting was good (who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie?) We'll both sit there and watch for an hour and neither of us will get bored. All other children's programming on tv today is so vapid by comparison. Don't let your kid watch it if you can't stand it yourself.
- DLWormwood 17y ago
  > (who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie?) That would be Jim Henson, inventor of the Muppets themselves. It's a shame his company doesn't own the rights to them anymore. Sesame Workshop owns most of the SS roster, and Disney owns the rest. The Jim Henson Company now only owns a few smaller franchises like The Dark Crystal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson
- iamelgringo 17y ago
  Who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie? It was Jim Henson himself for quite some time, and then Steve Whitmire took over after Jim's death.
pohl 17y ago
I can't believe this article didn't mention the raging battle this show had with the censors... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM ;-)
aswanson 17y ago
This song will be with me until I expire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x72GXEgAnGA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x72GXEgAnGA
- ggchappell 17y ago
  Wow. Same here.

22 points by iamelgringo 17y ago

There's a really interesting documentary, "The World According to Sesame Street" (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestreet/ http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestr...), about local Sesame Street productions attempts' to address HIV, ethnic tensions, and other major social issues in South Africa, Bangladesh, and Kosovo, while at the same time avoiding backlash and cultural imperialism. Those are mentioned in passing in the article, I'm surprised the documentary isn't.

chancho 17y ago

I just recently started watching Sesame Street with my son and I forgot how great it was. Especially the old stuff, which is all up at sesamestreet.org (I can't vouch for the new stuff as I'm at work at 10am.) The jokes were good, the music was good, the voice acting was good (who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie?) We'll both sit there and watch for an hour and neither of us will get bored. All other children's programming on tv today is so vapid by comparison. Don't let your kid watch it if you can't stand it yourself.

DLWormwood 17y ago
> (who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie?) That would be Jim Henson, inventor of the Muppets themselves. It's a shame his company doesn't own the rights to them anymore. Sesame Workshop owns most of the SS roster, and Disney owns the rest. The Jim Henson Company now only owns a few smaller franchises like The Dark Crystal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Henson
iamelgringo 17y ago
Who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie? It was Jim Henson himself for quite some time, and then Steve Whitmire took over after Jim's death.

pohl 17y ago

I can't believe this article didn't mention the raging battle this show had with the censors... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM ;-)

aswanson 17y ago

This song will be with me until I expire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x72GXEgAnGA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x72GXEgAnGA

ggchappell 17y ago
Wow. Same here.