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How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

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Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#161

Post by hyperpape »

McGlockenshire wrote: post #156
Shorel wrote: post #147

Are you telling me Cosmos was not a kids show ?

It entirely depends on the kid. Nova did a series on the formation and geological history of North America, and the local station happened to air it following their Sunday morning children's programming. My six year old sat through each episode entirely enraptured with it, and he asked all sorts of questions after. My younger kid, not so much. I know Cosmos is going to be above his ability to completely understand, b…

Anecdata: my not-quite 6 year old daughter has watched Cosmos repeatedly in the past few months. She likes it a lot.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#163

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

douche wrote: post #102
KirinDave wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 repet…

It's a little disturbing to hear all of this praise of a model of children's television that's A/B tested to hell and back and engineered for children. Then again, I grew up watching (and loving) Loony Tunes. There's a depth there that this modern-day pap doesn't possess. The Teletubies never did Wagner or the Barber of Seville; Bugs Bunny did.

Loony Tunes were made partially for adult consumption before the main feature or between double features in a theater which is why they have more sophisticated themes, particularly the censored ones that aren't PC today.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#164

Post by marshray »

forgettableuser wrote: post #162
marshray wrote: post #154

So Elmo is basically the Jar Jar Binks of Sesame Street.

Actually, the article made me think Elmo is Nermal, The World's Cutest Kittycat from Garfield. We just need Oscar the Grouch to start mailing Elmo to Abu Dhabi all the time. Problem solved.

Elmo in Caliphate-Land.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#166

Post by alexandercrohde »

Yhippa wrote: post #79
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…

Speaking of Mathnet they had another segment on there called Mathman. I got so into it when I was younger that I really rooted for Mathman to not lose to Glitch. They did a good job of gamifiying math for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yd3tA4wMPI .

Haha, forgot about Mathman, that show always freaked me out, that creepy tornado guy always kills him...

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#167

Post by dang »

grogenaut wrote: post #140
delecti wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admit to having never watched much Sesame Street, but I think that's a pretty inaccurate characterization of the article. There are several convincing examples of the point the author's trying to make.

Sure, except Sesame Street and it's impact is incredibly well researched and this article is based on one guy's book and Kotaku trying to generate page views. I'd rather read the studies.

It's a fine article, and no doubt the studies are fine studies. There's lots of room for both.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#168

Post by interpol_p »

KirinDave wrote: post #73
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…

> "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is not the same; it's insipid and dumb by comparison.) Funny, because DTN is a award winning show with excellent writers and a body of research and consulting experts backing up their approach. It's only "insipid" if you try to analyze it as an adult. For kids, its engaging and important. Compare and contrast to other popular shows like Pororo that, while charming and well executed, re…

As a parent I dislike DTN because of the heavily auto-tuned singing and horrible music. It makes the entire show feel very manufactured and hard to watch.

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#169

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

guelo wrote: post #95

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.

Because capitalism you get to play with nice computers - socialism was never good at that. You also get to buy things that customers want, not stuff that some detached bureaucrat thinks that you should buy.

However you do have a point - they do have to sell toys and a ten year old will probably not buy a big bird doll. This requirement causes them to invent more addictive characters, so as to spin off dolls that younger kids will wish to own. On the other side they may have tried to push Ernie and Bert dolls to teenagers, this might have created a more diverse offering.

Another point is that the principle that work with consumer markets are not very good when applied to education: the target audience here still has a limited ability to evaluate your effort as an educator...

Re: How Elmo Ruined Sesame Street

#170

Post by KirinDave »

ArtDev wrote: post #158
KirinDave wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These rules are considered to be outdated and very few pediatricians suggest "0 screen time" anymore. Please see various MODERN materials and their sources at: http://www.zerotothree.org/parenting-resources/screen-sense/...

That is because so few parents do the right thing.

No, the 0 screen time reflects research from a time before real work on educational television and its effects was done.

Please read the material before speaking up. Much of it is sourced to actual data, unlike your casual dismissal of my parenting skills.

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