Sesame Street not appropriate for children?????

I use to watch the old shows all the time. I think they are crazy for saying they weren't for children....why because it was in a ghetto tyoe setting? Many people live in places like that. Not everyone has the luxury to living in a big house out the country on a farm.

What a load of crap! Cookie Monster and Alistair Cookie was one of my favorites. I never once thought of Bert and Earnie's relationship being anything but brotherly. Nor, did I ever find the Grouch offensive; he was just a grouch - aren't we all sometimes? In addition, I never thought Big Birds was weird because I couldn't see Mr. Snuffleupagus. It's called innocence. I think that parents have become hyper sensitive about a whole lot of nothing.

I think it's because the very early Sesame Street videos - you know, the ones we grew up on - aren't sanitized to the currently level of "bubble-wrap your child so s/he doesn't ever see or hear anything that might scar them for life." Like invisible friends (snuffleupagus) and grouchy neighbors (Oscar the grouch) and some clearly (at least now, to adults) drug-fueled psychedelic animated sequences.

yes, get it. Show it to your kids. There's nothing bad there, it's just not sanitized for angsty millennial "helicopter" parents.

I agree totally. I think this is so ridiculous! Sesame Street isn't a harm to any kids, it's the parents who shelter their kids from the real world that are the problem!

Ack, this makes me sad AND angry. I watched this show every day, and my two older kids did as well; of course, I am a terrible parent because I let them watch Teletubbies (also on PBS), which was supposedly some show created in order to promote the Gay and Lesbian Platform. Funny, my kids just thought the songs were catchy and the little aliens funny. Same with Sesame Street. The way I look at it, people who have to pick apart innocent tv shows in order to find political reasons to avoid showing them have way too much time on their hands. I don't pretend to understand why we can't show the "old" Sesame Street, Bugs Bunny, etc...yet at the same time allow Bob Dole to talk about erectile dysfunction during Prime Time. All kids have to do to notice economic disparity, racial issues, pverty, etc..is watch the news. I fail to see how Sesame Street-well. I will just say that when I watching it as a child, it never once occurred to me that where it was portrayed was a ghetto; I would have had no idea what that meant anyway. I just thought it was a really cool pace to hang out for awhile. As for Mr. Snuffalupagus (sp)? Hell, I had an imaginary friend clear up until I was toll old for it to be "okay." So I related with Big Bird.

I still watch it and that Elmo is still my favorite! My kids grew up with Sesame Street starting in 1972 when cable channels came to our city and my grand children too. They're just fine.

This is definitely ridiculous. I watched Sesame Street all the time as a kid.

Nonsense! The show is too sophisticated for these adults.

What will they censor next??? Poor Big Bird and crew...

I think that's ridiculious.

Are they nuts? I loved the show. And all that stuff they are saying, well that is what helped to shape me into the person I am today. A kind, caring human being. Granted I can be mean when I have to be, but I still love everyone.

It's not easy being green.......

what has happened to our generation that we have become so regulated?

I just saw that and had to laugh. A pipe that Cookie Monster smokes and Cookie Monster being diabetic and Oscar having untreated depression?

Give me a break! There are worse things on TV now than that.

i need an excedrin.

Corinne is right, a load of crap.

Sanitizing the world is preventing our children from making their own value judgements on anything. Their children, not transistors.

Yes - I just read this on another article here on gather. Rory (quoting Corinne) said it all - Load of Cr*p!!

I would rather my kid watch Sesame Street than anything they offer on Cartoon Network (Which I WILL NOT - let my child watch BTW) or any of the junk they put out in theatres these days (Like Shreck - which in my opinion is crass, gross & disgusting - another thing NOT allowed into my home).

It's so sad really -

I think maybe it's a marketing ploy. Now we'll all want to get the DVDs to make sure we didn't miss anything.

My son wasn't born until 1984, but he started watching Sesame Street then - plus Reading Rainbow, Mathnet and Mr. Rogers - all when he was 9 months old. (I was really a bad parent. But he loved them.) At 18 months he giggled hysterically at Oscar. At two, he came rushing into my computer room (with my mother's helper trailing behind apologizing) so excited. He sang a counting song all in Spanish. Sesame Street taught him some Spanish words. (Not a bad thing since we lived in TX and FL.)

I think the whole thing is bs. Totally ridiculous. It is one of the shows that I prefer my son to watch.

I think this goes along with the whole politically correct movement. I think you can carry things to far and this is a great example of that.

I think it is the most ridiculous article ever published in the NY Times (my favorite newspaper). My son was watching Sesame Street when he was born! From 1995-1997 he watched it everyday. He is an extremely smart boy, who just loved Count Von Count and Snuffleufugus. I don't see how they would think that the old-school version was worse for you. I watched it and I was 9 when it began. I watched that and Electric Company and Zoom - all wonderful shows. They made me what I am today - a caring, intelligent, person. This makes my son the same! They are insane!

BTW, my son thinks that the Shrek movies are the funniest things he has ever seen and just saw Shrek 3 for the 2nd time at a sleepover the other night. See nothing wrong with a little body noise humor! My dad used to sing the "Musical Bean Song" to me for years-on-end and that is just a more intelligent way of going about it!

It's not easy being green....