Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Happy 40th Birthday

to Sesame Street! Yes, I am older than Sesame Street. Sigh....

I was four years old when Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969. Prime viewing demographic! I don't know if I watched it or not. I asked my mother whether I watched Sesame Street when I was little, and she didn't really know. Of course I am familiar with Sesame Street, but I don't know for sure if that's from personal memory, or from institutional memory, from the ubiquitous existence of Sesame Street over the years.

My sister was one year old in 1969, and I'm sure, if I didn't watch on my own back then, I watched with her in later years. The characters I remember are the classics, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster (of course!), and the Count.* There are also a few skits and songs embedded in my memory... "One of these things is not like the other"... the (counting) antics of the Count ... the "sponsorship" of shows by various letters. I was trying desperately to locate another character that I thought was from Sesame Street, but I have finally figured out that I was looking for Letterman from the Electric Company (able to leap Capital T in a single bound!).

Sesame Street has had many other characters come and go over the years, and has changed and evolved with the culture, but just like Julia Roberts, Jennifer Anniston, and Halle Berry, is going strong and better than ever at 40!



*Kermit and Elmo came into the picture after my peak viewing years!

1 comment:

lifestudent said...

I remember the "old" sesame street when Cookie Monster ate cookies and smoked a pipe and Oscar the Grouch was just plain nasty to the kids. Now those were the good old days ;)