Misty Watson: Cookie Monster, Sesame Street have lost their way

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Having a younger sibling and growing up with only basic TV (I had five whole channels) meant I watched the kids shows on PBS longer than the average child. I’m not ashamed of that.

In fact, I don’t even care to admit that I watched “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” while I was in college. A group of my friends would get together after lunch but before I left for my sailing class to watch it. What can I say? We genuinely enjoyed it.

So I was excited to start sharing “Sesame Street” with my daughter, Sophie, who will be 1 on Oct. 25. If Mr. Rogers still came on, I’d be excited to share that with her, too.

It’s not that I hadn’t expected some changes to “Sesame Street.” I mean, it has been 20 years since I last watched it on a regular basis so of course there would be changes.

But I’m having a hard time. This is not the “Sesame Street” I grew up with.

Cookie Monster was a cartoon character singing about a sandwich! Gasp! A sandwich?! Who was this new Cookie Monster? What happened to “C is for Cookie” and gobbling up everything in sight? And where is the Muppet?

The very next episode we watched featured Cookie Monster, thankfully in Muppet form, being referred to by Extra reporter Mario Lopez (who will always be A.C. Slater in my head) as the “Veggie Monster” because he was seen eating vegetables. He was trying to restore his reputation, but continually got caught eating vegetables instead of cookies.

My friends, who have already dealt with the shock that Cookie Monster has begun to say that cookies are a “sometimes food,” told me about the change to promote healthy eating.

I’m pretty sure my lifelong battle with weight has nothing to do with the Cookie Monster and everything to do with the lack of an emphasis on healthy eating in my house growing up.

Why couldn’t Cookie Monster’s grammar change when his diet changed? Can’t we teach him “I want” instead of “Me want”? That’s way more offensive to me than a Muppet eating a plateful of cookies and then often gobbling up the plate as well.

Bert and Ernie have a computer-animated segment and I’ve yet to see them in Muppet form. The main story doesn’t run the entire length of the show with other segments about the letter or number of the day weaving through it. The last 10 to 15 minutes is a segment called Elmo’s World, and there’s a magic-centric segment about a flying fairy school, which I could totally do without. What do magic flying fairies add to “Sesame Street”?

“Sesame Street” — which is produced by the nonprofit agency Sesame Workshop — and more specifically, Big Bird, have been a topic of discussion in political circles since presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said during a recent debate he wanted to cut government funding to PBS.

I’m not one to voice my opinions on politics. (I know some of you are shocked right now since I voice my opinions on basically everything else.) When it comes to heated topics, everyone wants to talk but no one wants to listen.

But just in case any of you are still with me out there … I’ve found that “Sesame Street” is making major bucks. Examiner.com reported “Sesame Street’s” government funding accounts for only about 6 percent of its budget and that in 2011 more than $54 million was paid out in salaries. The other numbers are just as startling to me, $44.98 million in revenue from royalties and $34 million raised from private funds.

I grew up seeing the pleas for donations from private citizens, where $500 could get you a “Sesame Street” umbrella and tote bag and save all my beloved “Sesame Street” characters. My whole life I thought PBS was on the verge of going under, that I might lose Oscar (my favorite character) any minute.

Apparently Big Bird is part of the 1 percent! What’s next? Appearances with the Kardashians? As one of my co-workers joked, maybe he has also dated Kim Kardashian. No wonder Oscar has such a large trash can. (Did you ever wonder how he had all that space down there?)

I don’t like to judge the way businesses operate. I’m not there daily and don’t know how their decisions are made.

But I don’t like what I see. In some areas it seems as though they’re trying too hard to be politically correct (e.g., Cookie Monster), but in some ways it’s as though they no longer value educational TV. Seriously, can we drop Abby’s Flying Fairy School and Elmo’s World? Can we give some of the other Muppets, maybe those whose dolls don’t go flying off the shelf or result in people being trampled, a little TV time? Is “Sesame Street” on the verge of becoming another Disney? (Oh, I just shuddered at the thought.)

People were outraged after the debate and began campaigns to save Big Bird and the other Muppets. There’s even a Facebook page devoted to a “Million Muppet March” scheduled for Nov. 3 on the National Mall.

No. It’s not my “Sesame Street” anymore. And I’m not sure I’m OK with it being Sophie’s “Sesame Street” either.

Maybe we’ll just stick to “VeggieTales.”