Well. All right then.
Not sure why they picked Big Bird for their scapegoat. These days, it seems like Elmo is Sesame Street. When's the last time they made a Big Bird movie?
Regardless, it's nice of MSN to suggest the death of a children's television character, isn't it?
Here's the article. It's by Brockenbrough!
(Thanks to Sean for the heads up.)
10 comments:
GAH!!
Oh, okay, I see what you mean, now.
That's harsh. At first, I thought it meant that Big Bird was slated to die, to help children learn how to cope with death/dying/grieving, at which point I'd fervently argue that when Mr. Hooper, of Hooper's Store died, Bert and Ernie, especially, dealt with his death, and what it meant to them/how it made them feel. Yes, I'm ol skool Sesame Street, and damned proud of it!!
Not being able to retrieve the exact article, though, upon further examination of the subtitle, I take it to mean that there's debate over whether or not the whole PBS educational tv programming is worth it or not.
I for one, would say that it is, actually. If parents are going to let the television babysit their kids --which I DO NOT CONDONE-- which seems to be a popular choice with some, then at least let it be something that's trying to teach the children something, whether it be a Spanish word, their vowel sounds, the letter "f," or the number 7.
I still maintain that my dream job would be script writer for Sesame Street. I have a degree in Education, an extensive background in infant and child psychological development, not to mention experience with the educational needs of special needs children in the current US public school system, and a degree in English. It's my keen interest, though, in the correct teaching and development of children, which I feel is paramount to those degrees, and would serve to compliment my abilities to do exactly that through Sesame Street. However, this isn't a job interview for Sesame Street, this is merely my passionate opinion about the need for quality children's television, seeing as the use of television as a sitter of children is NOT going to stop anytime soon.
Bleh, I should have linked to it, because once an article is gone from MSN's homepage, it's impossible to find.
Found it, added it to the post.
I <3 Brockenbrough!!
Me too, although her old picture was much better, with the short hair and geek girl glasses :>
That was an AMAZING article!!
Bravo, Brockenbrough!!
Yes, I agree, but she'll ALWAYS be a lit geek to me.. ;D
Sesame Street is Babysitter TV at its best - at least so far as my family is concerned. The kids don't play Sesame Street games, rarely choose Sesame Street books at bedtime, and literally never request to watch it.
When it is on, it's because it happens to be on, and more than most of the time, there are requests to put something else on instead.
I'm not really going to sit here and debate the Television Babysitter ideology, but I'm starting to wonder if it really even exists anymore.
When I considered it, it was basing watching television for more than a half hour per day vs. how I grew up in those initial years with little to no television.
More time outdoors, more time spent with a pencil and paper, a book or my toys.
Back then there wasn't a whole lot of television programs focused on children. I guess we kind of grew up in the years where all that changed. But Sesame Street was there, and it was a special treat to get to watch it at school or at home, even if the characters were awful "young" for a kid playing sports or swinging sticks around like swords.
But times change. Television - the internet - technology in general is where things are right now, with kids having an interest in seeing more things, experiencing the technology. They are able to choose shows that they want to watch instead of just enjoying whatever they can get.
Sesame Street is running out of life anyway. A lot of the old voices are dead, some are simply quits, and even Maria looks as if retirement isn't so far down the line (Didn't she used to be HOT?).
The show has been trying to gain more viewers by going the route of introducing more Spanish to our children, which I guess is okay but the general feel of the show these days doesn't seem as free and fun as it used to be.
There is or was open debate about making Cookie Monster stop eating cookies and eat fruit or something instead.
Basically, the show is just getting lame, and my kids see it too.
With children's shows being more and more desired, better shows are on the air.
So far as my family is concerned, Sesame Street is the ultimate Television Babysitter. They don't ask for it, they don't care to watch it unless there's no other choice, and I wouldn't turn it on unless I needed them to concentrate on something for awhile.
But even then, I usually find them to have trailed away to their toys or books. Sesame Street just doesn't *hook* them. Despite my observations, maybe the show really is as good as it used to be, but my kids were born way after the 70s, and thirty years is just too long to keep up the "same old thing" even if it holds a special place in parents' hearts.
My final bit on the Television Babysitter, though. Basically as I stated, kids have choices too. They have shows they want to watch, just like adults do. Slotting time during the day to allow children their preferred shows, be they at a certain time or on tape, is much different than just dumping them in front of PBS and hoping that the programmers put decent enough shows on during that time block.
If there were no tapes or DVDs, I'd back PBS more. But the non-profit public broadcasting station tends to air shows for adults that are much more slanted towards whatever political base they want, basically using their funding to show bias when it shouldn't be there at all.
Their saving grace is their kids shows, which while indoctrinating our children to the reality of the influx of Spanish speaking people into the United States (which feels an awful lot like "learn their language, don't force them to learn ours), at least does give us shows that we can mostly trust our kids to.
But my boys tend towards other interests. Logan with Thomas, Connor with Thundercats (booyah!), He-Man, The American Dragon (blech) and other "big kid" shows.
Television, for us, is just another ball to juggle when raising kids. Find time for that in their rather busy schedules, without letting it become the center of their day.
Tapes and DVDs are where it's at. Not having the same television time every day keeps each day a bit more fresh, and less centered on the tube.
I guess there could be some people that still record Sesame Street for the same reason, but I can't think of any kid I know that'd actually sit down to watch it if they had any other choice.
And finally, if they are going to keep it going, could it just be in reruns? God, that new Big Bird's voice sucks. ;p
I just watched a CNN thing about some dude who looks like one of "The Others" driving his SUV through a mall in Augusta.
And all I could think was, "Hey, I know someone in Augusta!"
What the heck happened down there?
haha!
Dude got drunk, drove through one door and through the mall and out through the food court.
Mall was closed, fortunately, though there was apparently a janitor in there.
Outside, he beat on a deputy and tried to run before he was finally pepper sprayed and hit with a stick into submission.
Apparently he told somebody that his wife was being held captive in the mall, or at least that was in an early report about the incident. But he was also raging drunk, so who knows?
If you want to watch the full surveillance video, just click here and scroll through the video player on the top right until you find "Car in Mall: Surveillance Video". There's also a regular story about it in there, called "Man plows SUV through Augusta Mall". (How do you like my mad headline writing skills? I've had a year to master them ;P)
The guy managed not to plow through the railing and fall down to the first floor of the mall, which is pretty impressive considering how drunk he had to be to drive into the mall in the first place.
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