November 11, 2009
Holy shit, I’m old. When an icon like Sesame Street is younger than you are, you are OLD. Maybe my dear friend Toby is right and I AM older than dirt.
Or maybe I’m lying about my age.
Doesn’t really matter. What matters is that Sesame Street turned 40.
I have vivid memories of:
1. Mr. Hooper. What a funny thing to think of first.
2. The street itself. The dirty, gritty street that was clearly not the TV set. I always knew it was shot somewhere else. The streets of New York? Didn’t matter. Those city streets were very different from my own suburban white-bread upbringing.
3. Oscar. Man, I love that grouch. Maybe there’s part of him in Trevor.
4. Cookie Monster! I remain envious at the sheer number of cookies that muppet has access to. In my next life, I want to be Cookie Monster.
5. The Count and his organ. I think I liked the organ better than I liked the counting. (See? Music junkie at a young age!)
6. Gordon and Maria. They were so nice. I think the lessons of their different ethnicity were lost on me. Or maybe that explains why I don’t get the fuss about people of other ethnic backgrounds.
7. Bert and Ernie. Gay? Fuck no. Best friends.
8. Big Bird. Big, yellow, feathered … and while others may say he’s a true innocent, I always sort of thought he wasn’t that smart.
9. Grover. I never really got Grover. I just sorta tolerated him, the way you tolerate a goofy friend.
10. “Sh..” “..eep” Remember those word mashes? And the lips that spoke them?
11. MUPPETS. Oh, man. Nothing on that show impacted me more than the muppets did. I adore the muppets. I adore all they stand for: making life a party, and laughing, and caring. Dance your life away, worries for another day… or however the Fraggle Rock song goes. I shouldn’t even be singing it ’cause it wasn’t on Sesame Street.
12. Hi-ho! Kermit the Frog here! Those of you who recall my character of Kermitt Ladd, intrepid rock reporter, will maybe, hopefully, finally get the joke.
13. Rubber Duckie. Enough said.
Happy birthday, Sesame Street. Here’s to 40 more years of you raising our kids right. Assuming you all think I came out right…
bunnygirl
November 12, 2009 12:27 am
I remember when Sesame Street was new. It was a big deal from the very beginning. People who complain about merchandise tie-ins to popular shows and movies forget that they did it with Sesame Street almost from Day One.
.-= bunnygirl´s last blog ..Monday Bunday: Sleeping In =-.
Devilish Southern Belle
November 12, 2009 1:30 am
Oooh! Count von Count & Big Bird were always my favorites! I used to watch this and Electric Company every day.
Robin
November 12, 2009 2:22 am
Never really “got” Grover? Just tolerated him? Oh Susan…
.-= Robin´s last blog ..Cactus Jack =-.
Shelley Munro
November 12, 2009 5:52 am
Hmm, I know most of the characters so I must have watched the show a couple of times, but it wasn’t my favorite. Was Miss Piggy on Sesame Street as well? I always liked her on The Muppets.
.-= Shelley Munro´s last blog ..Spice Up Your Life =-.
Anne
November 12, 2009 7:48 am
I am older than Sesame Street too, but I never thought of myself as old as dirt (although there are those who would say I probably should). I loved Sesame Street. My kids never got into it the way I was.
.-= Anne´s last blog ..What the Hell? Hair, Mice, and the 80s =-.
Adelle Laudan
November 12, 2009 9:17 am
Wow does things bring back a couple flashbacks. My personal favorite is Animal, the drummer.
Happy T13!
.-= Adelle Laudan´s last blog .. =-.
Harriet
November 12, 2009 10:06 am
Grover was way cool 🙂
Loved your list this week.
http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/11/does-bubble-gum-lose-its-flavor-on.html
Spice
November 12, 2009 10:48 am
Love your TT list! I loved Fraggle Rock and the Muppets! I tried getting my kids to watch Fraggle Rock not too long ago and they laughed at me. LOL
Tracie
November 12, 2009 11:08 am
I never did get to watch much Sesame Street (my dad had strange tv rules…) but I remember how happy the opening credits were (the new ones aren’t as good) and I, too, loved Cookie Monster and would like to be allowed in the room where his cookie stash is hidden!
Grover was annoying, and you are right about Big Bird too….I never got the whole Elmo thing (although my daughter did love him when she was younger)I liked Gordon and Maria, and Bert and Ernie were definitely best friends!
Happy TT!
CalicoCrazy
November 12, 2009 11:26 am
My mother bought her first TV just so I could watch Sesame Street. It was my favorite show for years. It’s also the first and only show my daughter watched for a long time.
.-= CalicoCrazy´s last blog ..Thursday Thirteen #15 =-.
Ann
November 12, 2009 11:35 am
I loved Sesame Street. Bert & Ernie are best friends. I don’t think Miss Piggy joined the group until The Muppet Show, but I could be wrong. 🙂
P.S. Send the arc, please?
.-= Ann´s last blog ..Weekend Update =-.
Hazel
November 12, 2009 12:17 pm
Sesame Street was what I always noticed on TV when I was a kid. I especially remember Big Bird and Kermit the frog.
.-= Hazel´s last blog ..There I fixed it =-.
Miriam
November 12, 2009 1:24 pm
I loved Sesame Street as a kid and am so happy that my girls always ask to watch the Old School DVDs.
Alice Audrey
November 12, 2009 1:31 pm
Its. Only. Fourty?
Great. Now I feel old.
.-= Alice Audrey´s last blog ..116/365 Mr. Al Hard at Work =-.
Dawn - She is Too Fond of Books
November 12, 2009 2:29 pm
Welcome to the Older Than Dirt club!
My strongest SS memories: Mr. Hooper, Oscar (when he was orange!), Ernie & Bert and that crazy baker who would could down a number, then fall down the stairs carrying “four banana cream pies!”
.-= Dawn – She is Too Fond of Books´s last blog ..Advice for NaNoWriMo participants (vlog) =-.
carol
November 12, 2009 2:36 pm
Add me to the list of Muppet lovers, especially Kermit. Actually, I have my Kermit bag right here beside me.
Journeywoman
November 12, 2009 5:04 pm
The lips were from The Electric Company–not Sesame Street. That being said, I am a huge muppet fan.
.-= Journeywoman´s last blog ..Thursday Thirteen–Thirteen ways I’ve been saving money =-.
Nessa
November 12, 2009 7:24 pm
Oscar the Grouch was always my favorite.
Thursday Thirteen – Me & Music
.-= Nessa´s last blog ..Thursday Thirteen – Me & Music =-.
Tina
November 12, 2009 9:26 pm
I grew up watching sesame street and then my oldest watched it! what great memories – I can still sing a lot of those songs from the show!
.-= Tina´s last blog ..Thursday Thirteen =-.
Julia Smith
November 13, 2009 12:18 pm
We used to have Sesame Street Live at the theatre where I used to work, and what an experience that was. It was like a rock concert for toddlers and 3-year-olds. All of the house rules weren’t in place for this show – we could seat people throughout, and have little dancing people in the aisles. It was pure delirious rapture for two hours. I always got teary as I was seating people at the top of the show, because when I went back up the aisle, looking at the audience, the expressions of wonder and joy on the parents’ faces were even more touching than the expressions on the kids’ faces.
.-= Julia Smith´s last blog ..I’m blogging at Popculturedivas today =-.
Leah Braemel
November 13, 2009 1:36 pm
I didn’t discover Sesame Street until my eldest was born (mid 80s) although I’d heard of the muppets before then. (Muppet Show anyone? Stadler and Waldorf?)
LOL about the “Hi Ho” reference to Kermit, that evokes such a clear memory of him. Love it (and Kermit too)
.-= Leah Braemel´s last blog ..Happy Birthday, GG (treats for all!) =-.
Celticlibrarian
November 13, 2009 2:48 pm
“…So you take the golden “an” and you put it in the tan van…”
Oooo! And how about the aliens who hide behind their own lips?
I love Sesame Street.
Anyway, the reason that my T13 was so short is that I’m on vacation currently, but I still have to do by blogging duties…And I was out sick the last two days before I had to leave…you get the idea. If you get bored, you can keep track of me on vacation on Twitter @calliope.
.-= Celticlibrarian´s last blog ..Was it a cat I saw? and Other Palindrome Madness =-.
she
November 13, 2009 3:57 pm
i started watching around the time Mr. Hooper died. I have TONS of ss memories!!
Jennifer
November 14, 2009 8:50 pm
I, too, am older than Sesame Street: by exactly one month! I remember it well, in addition to the Electric Company, with Jennifer of the Jungle (I identified …)
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Away from here =-.