Sesame Street has been teaching children about the world for approximately one million years (or 42 years). Along with lessons in numbers and letters the show has a proud history of teaching children about the cultural world that they and their parents inhabit. Over the years we have seen countless cameos from musicians and actors as well as parodies of popular movies, songs, and television shows all with an aim of bringing parents and children together in a mutual-ground celebration of the cultural icons they love most.
When I was a nipper I was tuning in to ‘Monsterpiece Theatre’ to watch the mystery of
Twin Beaks (stars Cookie Monster and muppet birds. Makes more sense than the original), and the television parodies continue today with
30 Rocks,
A’s Anatomy,
Are You Smarter Than An Egg Layer?, and a pretty great Oprah homage with Tom Cruise played by an Orangutan.
"You get an oboe, you get an oboe, everybody gets an oboe!"
The parodies are great, but the sources of some of them are pretty questionable. Amongst the shows
Sesame Street has parodied;
True Blood (True Mud), Desperate Housewives (Desperate Houseplants), CSI (RSI: Rhyme Scene Investigation), are unquestionably adult. The parodies, of course, are nothing but child friendly- they contain none of the sex, violence, or drugs of their original sources, but for a show that faced a furor over
Elmo chatting to Katy Perry’s cleavage, I’m surprised at how carefully and artfully Sesame Street manages to toe the line while still dealing with some fairly risqué material.
The way I see it, if
Sesame Street can parody something as adult as
Law and Order (Special Letters Unit), or
Mad Men then the sky is the limit! Nothing seems to be too grown up for the little ones these days. Here are just a few thoughts at what the future may hold for Sesame Streets television parodies…
Breaking Bat
Jesse is a fruit bat who just loves icy cold drinks. He wants to learn how to make ice to add to his favourite fruit smooties so his friend, Walter, helps him by teaching him that ice is frozen water.
6 and the City
If there’s any thing 6 loves more than shopping, having lunch with friends, it’s “doing her multiplication tables” with other hot numbers. 6 is proud to be herself but what happens when other numbers come along and want to add to her? The cute 8-den, or the handsome Mr 1; If she let’s them into her life it might just change who she is. She might become 86 or even 16. Can she still have it all? Is there room for double figures in the big city?
The Wire
McNulty and his friends are birds who like to sit on a wire above the street but one by one the birds fall off. It sure is hard sitting on the wire! A lesson in subtraction.
Big Love
Barb, Nicki, and Margie don’t know the difference between big and small. When their friend Bill brings home a gigantic foam word (LOVE) it’s far too big to fit in the door. Nicki suggests Bill might go and find a smaller, more practical LOVE, but Barb insists the big LOVE will do everyone just fine and they will find a way to cram it into the house no matter how uncomfortable it makes everyone. To be played by the Twiddlebugs.
Curve Your Enthusiasm
Larry is a square who hates everyone and everything, ESPECIALLY things that are curved, like circles. Every day Larry’s friends try to teach him to get along with circles and other curved things (bananas, the letter C, rocking chair legs) but Larry just can’t seem to. He’s the only straight edged shape in a world full of curves and it drives him crazy!
...
I was also playing with a
Sesame Street meets
Dexter idea (Texta- he just loves to colour in), but then I found out there has already been a Dexter on
Sesame Street- and he’s scarier than any TV serial killer I have ever seen.