Bert, Ernie, what hast thou wrought?

Via Virginia Heffernan in the NYT magazine:

“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.

Nothing in the children’s entertainment of today, candy-colored animation hopped up on computer tricks, can prepare young or old for this frightening glimpse of simpler times....

Well, that explains a LOT. Good thing our toddlers have more understandable fare to watch these days.

Soccer Dad: Critical Mass on Sesame Street

One of the first musical purchases we made after Mase Marvelous was born was Songs From the Street: 35 Years of Music from Sesame Street. It was fun to listen to all the old tunes that kept us 40 year olds stuck in front of the TV. I distinctly remember songs like "Rubber Ducky," "C is for Cookie," "Mnah Mnah" and all that. I found myself digging ones I had totally forgotten.

But now that he just turned two — and working the FF/RW buttons to get to his favorites — we're so over it now. He's big on Elmo, too, so the novelty of the boxset is gone. Evaporated. It's become background music. In fact, if we have to hear Big Bird do his freaking "Ab-cdef-ghijkl-mnop-qrstuvxyz" thing one more time, I'm gonna lose my Mnah Mnah Mind.

But sometimes, when Mace is playing contentedly and humming the songs to himself or starting to dance, I think the boxset was the best investment. It doesn't drive me half as crazy as something like the other mass marketed kids musics (Winnie the Pooh, you are the scourge of my long-term memory). And I begin to listen again. Grover, for example, was the cameo king back in the day. He was the monster version of Busta Rhymes.

The late Madeline Kahn doing her thing with G-Unit:



My personal favorite is Lena Horne helping Grover overcome shyness:



And Stevie Wonder...being Stevie:


Maybe it's ennui that draws me back, but after watching those three vids (all songs are on the boxset) I wish they made kid's music this cool today!

Anybody else go through a love/hate/love relationship with Sesame Street?

SD