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How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

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Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#91

Post by hcayless »

nzealand wrote: post #74

Adults are no longer the target audience for these shows. Malcolm Gladwell touched on this in the Tipping Point. Sesame Street pioneered the use of TV to entertain and educate toddlers. But a lot of the original content was beyond the comprehension of younger children. While Elmo is annoying to us, he is perfect at keeping the attention of a young child, and while he has their attention he can teach them things.

I dunno. I remember loving Sesame Street as a kid, but it never clicked with either of my children. Neither of them could stand to watch a whole episode. Elmo was briefly popular in our house, but only briefly. Kids mostly aren't stupid. And the smart ones in particular know when they're being pandered to.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#92

Post by pipermerriam »

aczerepinski wrote: post #89
bitwize wrote: post #52

I'd rather a million Elmo-centric Sesame Street episodes than even one episode of Barney or Caillou. That said, every kid needs some old-school, Elmo-free Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. (No, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is not the same; it's insipid and dumb by comparison.) Also, back in the day, Square One TV had a police-procedural parody called Mathnet that was still loads better than network TV's attempt at a…

Peg + Cat is a fairly intelligent PBS kids show. Lots of exposure to math & music concepts.

Cannot recommend this enough. Strong female lead character. Entertaining enough for adults to watch. Math!

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#93

Post by norea-armozel »

jessaustin wrote: post #82
norea-armozel wrote: post #33

Hah, I always preferred Grover. Then again Elmo wasn't a thing in 1983.

For me, Oscar was always the best. Not only did he get to live in a garbage can, but he also disagreed with everyone all the time. My hero.

I liked Oscar too, but I'm weird too.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#94

Post by mfoy_ »

nzealand wrote: post #74

Adults are no longer the target audience for these shows. Malcolm Gladwell touched on this in the Tipping Point. Sesame Street pioneered the use of TV to entertain and educate toddlers. But a lot of the original content was beyond the comprehension of younger children. While Elmo is annoying to us, he is perfect at keeping the attention of a young child, and while he has their attention he can teach them things.

>while he has their attention he can teach them things.

The author's point was that he isn't, though-- at least not good things. He's self-centered and immature; he avoids things that are "hard" and acts selfishly.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#95

Post by guelo »

Republicans killed funding for public TV so now the shows have to earn their own money which means the primary concern is no longer teaching but how to make money via toys and DVDs, etc. which leads to finding the most addictive character and making him a star. Because capitalism ruins everything.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#96

Post by wdr1 »

bitwize wrote: post #52

I'd rather a million Elmo-centric Sesame Street episodes than even one episode of Barney or Caillou. That said, every kid needs some old-school, Elmo-free Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. (No, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is not the same; it's insipid and dumb by comparison.) Also, back in the day, Square One TV had a police-procedural parody called Mathnet that was still loads better than network TV's attempt at a…

> It literally couldn't get any better for a kid than PBS in the 70s or 80s.

Well, except for, you know, books.

I don't really buy any of this "need" stuff when it comes to TV (or that one form is significantly better than another).

If you drop your kid in front of anything and they turn into a slackjaw zombie (as my son tends to do), that's bad.

If you drop your kid in front of anything that you watch, engage, and use as a jumping off point for interaction, that's fine.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#97

Post by KirinDave »

bitwize wrote: post #88
JeremyNT wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is an astoundingly well envisioned show, and I'm really disappointed that the top comment here speaks ill of it. It expands upon the core of what Rogers was trying to teach and I find it to be a wonderfully fitting, modern successor. One of the joys I've experienced as a parent is in observing how well crafted and thoughtful DTN (and some other notable shows on PBS) have become, and how my…

I don't think DTN is necessarily bad on its own merits at all. Certainly there is much worse: Dora, Barney, Caillou, to name three. But compared to its predecessor it pales, significantly.

While I remember MRN fondly, it was as complete mess compared to what we have now. We need to accept that there was almost no actual rigor put into the creation of our kids shows, at their genesis.

I remember them fondly and praise them regularly, but I try to keep this in mind. Modern kids shows are optimized for kids. Even Dora is specifically optimized for very young children. It appears insipid because it's repetitive to us. But to a child, it's carefully tuned.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#98

Post by soylentcola »

oddevan wrote: post #75
JoshTriplett wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, back in the day, Square One TV had a police-procedural parody called Mathnet I remember that; it was awesome . Drenched in cheesiness, but it served its goal, and it did manage the "tainment" part of "edutainment".

The story you're about to hear is a fib, but it's fact.

Don't wanna be pedantic but I think the line was:

"The story you're about to hear is a fib, but it's short. The names are made up but the problems are real."

Honestly surprised I remember that gag since it's been ages since I watched that show but I did love those segments. It was like the Square One answer to 3-2-1 Contact's "Bloodhound Gang".

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#99

Post by gohrt »

bitwize wrote: post #88
JeremyNT wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is an astoundingly well envisioned show, and I'm really disappointed that the top comment here speaks ill of it. It expands upon the core of what Rogers was trying to teach and I find it to be a wonderfully fitting, modern successor. One of the joys I've experienced as a parent is in observing how well crafted and thoughtful DTN (and some other notable shows on PBS) have become, and how my…

I don't think DTN is necessarily bad on its own merits at all. Certainly there is much worse: Dora, Barney, Caillou, to name three. But compared to its predecessor it pales, significantly.

It's true, nothing is better than what we enjoyed when we were kids.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#100

Post by gohrt »

wdr1 wrote: post #96
bitwize wrote: post #52

I'd rather a million Elmo-centric Sesame Street episodes than even one episode of Barney or Caillou. That said, every kid needs some old-school, Elmo-free Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. (No, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is not the same; it's insipid and dumb by comparison.) Also, back in the day, Square One TV had a police-procedural parody called Mathnet that was still loads better than network TV's attempt at a…

> It literally couldn't get any better for a kid than PBS in the 70s or 80s. Well, except for, you know, books. I don't really buy any of this "need" stuff when it comes to TV (or that one form is significantly better than another). If you drop your kid in front of anything and they turn into a slackjaw zombie (as my son tends to do), that's bad. If you drop your kid in front of anything that you watch, engage, and u…

By painting all of television with one brush, you underestimate the importance of a friendly face on a caring adult.

https://www.google.com/?#q=mr+rogers+latchkey+kids

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