Sesame Street DVD Deemed Adult-Only Entertainment

theodp writes "The earliest episodes of Sesame Street are being made available on DVD, but the NYT notes Volumes 1 and 2 carry a rather strange warning: 'These early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child.' So why are they unsuitable for toddlers in 2007? Well, in the parody 'Monsterpiece Theater,' Alistair Cookie — played by Cookie Monster — used to appear with a pipe, which he later gobbled. 'That modeled the wrong behavior,' explained a Sesame Street executive producer, adding that 'we might not be able to create a character like Oscar [the Grouch] now.'"

Comments

Also not suited for today's preschoolers:

[nofrak]

Life. The observant parent will keep their child shielded until about the age of 47.

Re:Also not suited for today's preschoolers:

[couchslug]

"Life. The observant parent will keep their child shielded until about the age of 47.

At which time he is ready to inherit the basemet he post from.

tobacco is a sometimes food

[jollyreaper]

Well, in the parody 'Monsterpiece Theater,' Alistair Cookie -- played by Cookie Monster -- used to appear with a pipe, which he later gobbled. 'That modeled the wrong behavior,' explained a Sesame Street executive producer I suppose that would represent a choking hazard.

I'm gonna start my own kid's show, Darwin Street. It will feature lots of colorful characters doing dangerous, emulatable things. If your kid kills himself doing something he saw on the show, we didn't need him in the gene pool anyway. Better yet, video tape whatever your kid did to off himself and you might win something in our sister show, America's Funniest Home Fatalities.

Re:Madness

[grub]

I'll be 42 in December. After having my mind polluted by Sesame Street as a youngster I started to gobble down cookies, hid in garbage cans and dreamt of living with a male life-partner when older.

Sadly, my life went to shit and I'm none of those things. I don't like cookies, dislike taking out the trash and live with a WOMAN and our child. Ick!

Re:Madness

[jollyreaper]

Oscar the Grouch was *grouchy*, as advertised. So what? Cookie Monster ate the pipe.... so what? It is as it was a vision of the time and a reflection on the changing times of a decade from the 60's to the 70's. And you'd think Cookie Monster would have been even more justified eating the pipe in this version, seeing as now it shoots first.

Re:Madness

[noidentity]

Sorry, you're wrong. I grew up with those episodes of Sesame Street and have learned awful behaviors from them. To this day I can't avoid eating pipes when I see them, and I still keep a garbage can around for those times when I must live in one. Think of the children!

Re:Madness

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't like cookies

There is something deeply wrong with you.

Sesame Street? Peewee!

[rueger]

Sesame Street? I give the kids in my life copies of Peewee's Playhouse. You want adult content? Innuendo? Sexuality? You got it! Best kid's show ever made.

Problem is that people forget that kids are actually pretty damned intelligent. Give them credit for smarts.

yes, they removed the pipe and gave him a shotgun

[taxman_10m]

But then released yet another version where they removed the shotgun and replaced it with a flashlight.

Re:Sesame Street Causes Lung Cancer???

[Anonymous Coward]

No. You can't smell. You smoke, remember?

Re:Risk aversion?

[badboy_tw2002]

Yeah, and apparently they're using these body armour shields in helmets instead of just biting down on some leather and cauterizing the wound with the cigarette they were chomping on as they mowed down bad guys with a minigun. What a bunch of pussies!

Re:Cause

[djh101010]

Video games, every kid having their own computer, dvd, etc. Being "sent to your room" is no longer punishment - the real task is to get them to come out except for meals.

Go to your room, and I'm revoking your DHCP lease for the next 3 hours!

It all makes sense now...

[NCatron]

I started smoking pipe tobacco when I was 24 (2 yrs ago). I had completely forgotten about that Sesame Street bit where Cookie Monster ate the pipe. I had wondered all along why I was tempted to eat my pipes after finishing a bowl, turns out it was Sesame Street's fault. Damn you Sesame Street!

Re:Madness

[toriver]

Maybe he's just very security-consciuos and have disabled...

Wait, you guys mean the other kind of cookies.

Re:Madness

[Macthorpe]

On the other hand, I'm gay, love cookies and taking out the trash leaves me with a deep-seated sense of accomplishment.

Now I know where it all went wrong!

Re:Madness

[kaizokuace]

I dont think cookie monster liked cookies either. He just terrorized the cookie community using his mouth to crush them leaving cookie crumbs behind, cookie crumbs and destroyed lives.

Re:Madness

[timmarhy]

did you turn out as the bert or the ernie though?

Re:Madness

[Macthorpe]

Depends on the day ;)

Re:Cause

[Anonymous Coward]

You sound eminently sensible, which means I'm at a loss to explain why you named your daughter "Sakura".

Re:This castration

[dj245]

Cookie Monster has serious issues that need to be addressed. Any character that simultaneously binges and purges probably has emotional problems stemming from childhood trauma.

Re:George Carlin was right

[Blakey Rat]

Could be worse, we're not as pussified as Europe is. Yet.

Re:Madness

[demi]

Now we deny simply smoking as though Cookie Monster was sexually molesting a 3 year old retarded parapalegic with a dead gay kitten.

This is true--Sesame Street never showed anything like that. Sid and Marty Krofft, though, made it a staple of all their shows.

Re:Madness

[elrous0]

Turns out that it was a glass pipe and the bastard was freebasing cookie dough. Who knew?