Sesame Street For Grown-Ups Is A True Dud

Sesame Street has been educating pre-school children for over 4o years. In that time there has been a lot of changes and a constant stream of celebrity guests, but the show was always been about the kids.

I wonder if that is changing.

A guest spot by Katy Perry was pulled after parents complained about her modest cleavage on display. To my non-parental eyes there doesn’t seem much wrong with the dress, but it is clear that it was picked more with her fans in mind than the kids.

This hilarious send-up of True Blood appears to teach children rhymes. As a fan of the show I thoroughly enjoyed the in-jokes but I have to wonder whether they muddied the message.

Perry’s song is probably something that kids have heard on the radio, but I hope none of them are watching adult vampire sagas. Without that frame of reference, the joke was surely over their heads — confusing things rather than helping to explain them.

Sesame Street has always been great at balancing the educational needs of children with some content that their carers would be interested in. It shouldn’t be about entertaining the parents or making the writers look cool.

Pre-schoolers don’t do ironic chic.