By Dave Itzkoff
As generations who grew up on “Sesame Street” prepare to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary, an article for BBC News Magazine by Tom Geoghegan and Megan Lane attempts to explain why British viewers regard the occasion with an Oscar-like “phooey.” Though “Sesame Street” is broadcast in 140 nations worldwide, they write, it has not been shown in Britain since March 2001; a variation called “Sesame Tree” is seen in Northern Ireland, and spinoffs called “Elmo’s World” and “Bert and Ernie’s Great Adventures” are broadcast on Britain’s Five channel.
Back in the day, “Sesame Street” had a hard time breaking into Britain: the BBC initially rejected the show, believing that it had “authoritarian aims” in trying to change children’s behavior. (The BBC’s head of children’s programming at the time said, “This sounds like indoctrination, and a dangerous extension of the use of television.”) When it finally had its premiere in 1971, a television critic for The Times of London wrote that it was “neither good enough nor bad enough” to justify all the fuss.
Today, Nick Wilson, the director of children’s programming at Five, says that an hour-long program like “Sesame Street” is too difficult to fit into a schedule, and that the channel prefers to put British voices on imported shows.
Mr. Wilson says, “The style of the program is a tad out-dated — there are very few puppet shows around now.” He adds that some of the celebrity guests “Sesame Street” are not familiar to British viewers, and that the “glory days” of cameos from performers like Stevie Wonder are long gone.
But Tim Teeman, a television critic for The Times of London, comes to the show’s defense, telling the magazine:
I don’t know if I learned anything but I felt like I was learning something. If you grew up in a boring, white British environment, it showed you a place with black faces, different cultures and creeds and people living together in harmony. … It was the first time I ever saw New York and it looked like this really cool place. This street where everyone knew each other’s names. It introduced all kinds of things to kids, like community, getting along with different kinds of people and learning about issues.
Track Artist Title
1. The Kids Sesame Street Theme
2. Roosevelt Franklin & His Mother Roosevelt Franklin Counts
3. Pointer Sisters Pinball Number Count
4. Bob & The Anything Muppets People In Your Neighbourhood
5. Ernie Rubber Duckie
6. Oscar I Love Trash
7. Bob & Susan One Of These Things
8. Bert Paper Clip
9. Cookie Monster C is For Cookie
10. Kermit Bein' Green
11. David, Susan, Luis & Bob My Name Is David
12. Mick Swagger & The Cobble Stones (I Can't Get No) Co-operation
13. Ernie I Don't Want To Live On The Moon
14. Cookie Monster One Of These Things
15. Sesame Street Beetles Letter B
16. Bert Doin' The Pigeon
17. Bud Luckey Ladybugs' Picnic
18. Cookie Monster C is For Cookie (Sesame Street Fever Version)
For Those Who May Remember Kermit Only On The Muppet Show:
Kermit was one of the original Muppet characters on Sesame Street. Though he was intended to be removed from the cast after the first season, he returned as a full-time character in the third, and remained a regular character for many years. Closely identified with the show, he often appeared as an easily frustrated lecturer, a straight man to the humorous antics of another Muppet, or a news reporter interviewing storybook characters for Sesame Street News. He most often interacted with Grover and, to a slightly lesser extent, Cookie Monster. The various songs he sang on Sesame Street tended to be meaningful in nature, most memorably his song "Bein' Green".
Following the death of Jim Henson, Kermit was used less frequently on Sesame Street, but still made new appearances until 2001. Unlike the rest of the show's Muppets, he was not created for the exclusive use of Sesame Workshop, and has rarely been a part of the show's merchandise. All Muppet characters originally belonged to the Jim Henson Company, but when the opportunity came for Sesame Workshop to buy its characters for $180 million, Kermit was not included in the deal. The character now belongs to The Muppets Studio; however, Sesame Workshop does have permission to use old sketches featuring Kermit.
In The Muppet Show television series, Kermit was the central character, the frontman and the long-suffering stage manager of the theatre show, trying to keep order amidst the chaos created by the other Muppets. Jim Henson once claimed that Kermit's job on the Muppet Show was much like his own: "trying to get a bunch of crazies to actually get the job done." It was on this show that the running joke of Kermit being pursued by leading lady Miss Piggy developed.
On Muppets Tonight, Kermit was still a main character, although he was the producer rather than frontman. He appeared in many parody sketches such as NYPD Green, City Schtickers, Flippers, and The Muppet Odd Squad, as well as in the Psychiatrist's Office sketch.
Kermit also served as the mascot for The Jim Henson Company, until the sale of the Muppet characters to The Walt Disney Company. A Kermit puppet can be seen at the National Museum of American History.
Kermit has also played a central role in most of the Muppet movies except for Muppets From Space which was focused on Gonzo the Great.
Making Of This Mix:
As soon as I heard that Sesame Street was celebrating its 40th Anniversary, I ran up to the attic, grabbed the old Califone 1410K (record players the grade school teachers used in the States years ago!) and dusted off a few Sesame Street/Children's Television Workshop record albums. I made a compilation of my most favourite tunes over the years using the conference:memo feature on my cellular phone.
Use info below to create your own muppet mix:
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/cookiedisco.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/ssfevercisforcookie.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/eatincookie.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/oneofthesethingscookiemonster.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/dointhepigeon.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/idontwanttoliveonthemoon.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/holdyourear.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/lalala.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/paperclip.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/rubberduckie.mp3
http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_dancer/sssounds.html#songs
UPDATE!!!
Watch Mr. Patillo play the flute and beatbox your favourite melody:
