Sesame Street Anniversary and Big Bird’s Birthday Raise the Question of Relevance

Happy Birthday, Sesame Street! Way to make us feel old. The venerable children’s show turns 40 today, and Google has celebrated with its homepage logo by putting Big Bird’s legs into the place where the “L” would usually be. I think this is a missed opportunity — now, not only does it spell “Googlle”, but they should have used Cookie Monster’s big googly eyes in place of the “O”s.

Regardless, how do we feel about the way Sesame Street is aging? I’d have to imagine that the general number of children sitting at home in the mornings watching TV has shrunk a bit for several reasons. First, many studies have shown a link between attention deficit disorder and prolonged television viewing. Second, the Internet offers a much richer interactive experience. Third, surely actual school has taken the majority of daylight hours away from Sesame Street watching.

Furthermore, I haven’t watched the show since I was a child myself. I remember enjoying it quite a bit, but I can’t speak to whether or not the format has changed significantly for the better. Arguably, the shorter-format skits and cartoons attributed to the ADD concerns, but how charming and lovable its hosts are! Those of us who grew up watching it remember characters like Mr. Hooper with fondness. If Sesame Street still has affective personas like these to help kids with their learning, then the show will always be with us. But whether or not that means transferring to an all-digital, streaming format over the Internet or simply residing in their usual PBS time slot remains to be seen.