Le maudit Mo D.

oscar fucked me up

Oh, man...what a sad, sorry state of the world when Children's Television Workshop puts a WARNING on the DVDs of "Old School Sesame Street" (the original episodes from the '70s) stating “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” WHAT? So it was good enough for us, but somehow, the children of today would be damaged by a show that takes place on a gritty urban street where children of every race play with colorful monsters? The CTW rep in the article in the Times states that a character like Oscar "probably wouldn't be created today."

Yes. Isn't it terrible for a child to learn that not everyone in the world is going to think you're sunshine and lollipops 24-7? That you are going to run into plenty of rude, grouchy people whom you are going to have to deal with? I don't remember thinking that Oscar's behavior was to be modeled. He was just a character! I swear, kids of today are privy to the cheapest, most watered down entertainment and have to live in a padded, sanitized world. This just makes me sad. I never tore my Toughskins or got dirty much, but I did watch Sesame Street! And I never turned to gun violence of pipe-eating or om nom noming my cookies. Although I did live in a basement room with some lesbians once, but that was something else.

I'm sure plenty of parents are saying fuck you to CTW and showing these to their kids anyway. That's what I would do, at least. I find it odd that they would make a conscientious marketing decision to sell these DVDs to adults who loved these episodes and yet would be complicit in their advice to not show them to their children.