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I grew up watching Sesame Street. I love the colorful and funny muppets and the sweet human characters in that neighborhood. I still remember that a big smile would appear on my face whenever I heard the Sesame Street opening song that starts with the words …
Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street
I would instantly start singing along. That song was like a cheering anthem for kids like me. Many years have passed but I can still sing that song by heart.
I am part of the Sesame Street Generation.
Sesame Street was more than a children’s television show. It brought entertainment as well as knowledge to young and eager minds. It became a successful tool in learning. The program taught kids beyond alphabet and numbers. Kids were taught how to read, understand stories and at the same time appreciate the lessons learned. Sesame Street made kids feel that learning can be fun after all. Children learned how to count, add, subtract, multiply, read, spell, solve problems and much more through singing, chanting rhymes, solving puzzles and watching examples shown by muppets and their adult friends. Even parents found it entertaining to watch. The adults appreciated Sesame Street’s enriching program.
Sesame Street’s famous muppets include Ernie & Bert, Big Bird, Snuffy, Grover, Cookie Monster, Count, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo and many more.
A bit of history
Sesame Street was first shown on National Educational Television (NET) network on November 10, 1969 but within that year, the show was moved to the Public Broadcasting Service. It was produced in the United States by Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW).
According to Children’s Classics, Sesame Street is an education television program that uses a mix of muppets, animation and human characters to teach kids fundamentals of reading, math and basic everyday life skills. Sesame Street has achieved remarkable influence and hailed as one of the “world's most highly regarded educators” of young children. The original Sesame Street series has been shown in 120 different countries. There were also more than 20 international versions made. The program had been recognized and awarded by the prestigious Emmy Awards over the years. In 1979, nine million children under the age of 6 in America alone were watching Sesame Street every day. In line with this, studies showed clear positive educational impact on children.
In the 1990s, Sesame Street went through a transition because it was during this period when several of the original people behind the program died including Jim Henson (creator of the Muppets) and CTW founder and producer David Connell. The show also suffered low ratings during the 1990s due to increase of home videos which changed children’s viewing habits. Sesame Street adjusted its program over the years in order to flow with the changing times. By 2000s, the show shifted its target audience to a much younger set.
Over the years, Sesame Street has featured famous personalities to help bring positive messages to young children. Several famous actors, actresses, musicians and even political figures have made their mark on Sesame Street including the four First Ladies Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama.
Sesame Street is considered as one of the longest running children’s program on television.
My favorite Sesame Street characters
Ernie and Bert
I love the funny duo, Ernie and Bert. Ernie is the cute, orange muppet and Bert is the yellow one with an oblong-shaped head.
Ernie has an infectious laugh that made me giggle when I was young. I remember singing along with Ernie each time he took his favorite rubber duckie for a bath.
Rubber Duckie you're the one
You make bath time lots of fun
Rubber Duckie I'm awfully fond of you …
Bert is the more serious and intelligent one between the two. He might seem serious at times but he can also be very funny. I admire Bert for his unique collections particularly his bottle cap collection. My brother and I collected our own bottle caps when we were young. We even asked our Dad to glue them on a piece of plywood when we collected quite a few. I wish we had a picture of it.
I think it’s sad how some adults tainted Ernie and Bert’s friendship by suggesting that they are gay. They were created for children to love and look up too. Some adults just couldn’t accept things as they are and try to inject malicious things that have never been part of the concept.
Big Bird
I’ve always been fond of that tall, big, yellow bird in Sesame Street. He’s very sweet, kind and helpful. I don’t think he has a single mean bone in his body. He’s very talented too. Where else can you meet an 8-foot tall, talking bird that can sing, dance, write, draw, roller skate, ice skate and ride a unicycle? No other place but Sesame Street. Big Bird or simply Bird to his friends is an adorable main character of Sesame Street. He lives in huge nest and he has a cute little teddy bear that he calls by the name of Radar.
I love Big Bird’s inquisitiveness. When something catches his attention or puzzles him, he would go to amazing lengths just to find out what it is. Big Bird is like a walking sunshine. He’s always cheerful and he loves making the people around him happy.
Big Bird was one of my favorite characters in Sesame Street. I remember when I was in Grade 1, I asked my parents to buy me a lunch box and pencil case with a Big Bird design.
Big Bird’s “imaginary friend”
Big Bird has a sweet and loyal friend named Mr. Snuffleupagus or Snuffy for short. He’s a big brown fella that looks like a woolly mammoth but without the tusks. He doesn’t have visible ears and his nose or “snuffle” is so long that its end lies on the floor. He also has long, thick brown body hair. I love Snuffy’s very long eyelashes.
For many years, adults in Sesame Street considered Snuffy as Big Bird’s “imaginary friend.” Big Bird tried many times to introduce Snuffy to the people in his neighborhood but every attempted meeting ended up in vain. Kids and fellow muppets had better luck meeting Snuffy than adults. Every time Big Bird would go and get an adult to meet his best friend, Snuffy would suddenly find an excuse to leave --often times because of something he has forgotten.
I felt so sad for Big Bird because he always ended up disappointed. All he wanted was to introduce his best friend in the world to his other friends. Poor Big Bird … he was sometimes chastised for “not telling the truth." This never ending cycle of failed introductions dragged on for years.
Based on The History of Sesame Street on Wikipedia, the Americans became more aware of the threat of child abuse. As a result, producers decided to finally “reveal” Snuffy in 1985. The producers became concerned that it might be sending the wrong message to children. If children realize that adults didn’t believe Big Bird even though he was honest, they might be afraid to open up to the adults if something disturbing or unfortunate happened to them.
I cried when I watched that episode. I felt so happy for Bird Bird because the adults realized that he was telling the truth after all these years. The adults even apologized to Big Bird for not believing in him and they promised to believe anything he says from that moment on.
How about you? Who’s your favorite Sesame Street character?
Photos: Sesame Street logo from Sesame Street Facebook page; “Ernie-&-Bert” by Bert 23, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved.
Video: “Sesame Street – Snuffy Revealed,” c/o Youtube; “Ernie and His Rubber Duckie,” c/o Youtube.
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Rachel Yapchiongco, also known as Rach to her friends, is a Psychology and Marketing Management graduate of De La Salle University. She took up MBA at the same university. Rachel is a full-time mom to a charming young boy and married to an entrepreneur with a passion for cooking. She shares parenting experiences and slices of everyday life on her personal blog called Heart of Rachel.
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