I checked if there was a topic for this, and there wasn't, I checked hard. lol.

Anyhow, this show is 35 years old this week, and this weekend thery are having a special primetime episode complete with one of those star studded music videos, a la Put down the Duckie and Monster in The Mirror"''

When it's on, I will watch a bit. "I kind of like Telly and Baby Bear.

It is the sworn duty of all decent, clean-living, right-thinking people to hate Elmo. I hate Elmo. Even when I was a kid, and he hadn't yet taken over the show, I didn't like him. I'm waiting for the special episode where Grover (yay Grover!) turns into Super-Grover and pummels the crap out of Elmo, making Sesame Street safe for entertaining characters again.

WORD giebergoldfarb2--Grover is where it's at. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with a deep, seething hate for Elmo. My aunt, who has younger kids, informs me that he takes up half of the show now with "Elmo's World." Dumbass referring-to-himself-in-the-third-person puppet . . . LOL.

Sesame Street and Mister Rogers were my early afternoons as a small tike. I have a lot of memories of eating popcicles with my younger sister while being entertained and taught something at the same time. Imagine!

I fucking loathe Elmo. Since when is he the star of Sesame Street? The third person speak is just annoying, and you know he thinks he's so cute. Grover, Telly, and the Cookie Monster are easily a whole lot cooler.

Every so often I flip by this show on PBS and it warms my heart that it is still on. I used to watch it and Mr. Rogers when I was younger.

Sesame Street is 35 years old? How is that possible?

Yes it's ONE!! TWO!!!!! THREE!!!!.........

I too think that Grover is wonderful, it doesn't matter if he's near or far!

Word to the Elmo hate...man he's annoying. I think the worst thing was when he was a guest on talk shows...him and Rosie O'Donnell make me wanna vomit.

I like Rosita the best out of the newer characters. The older characters, I love all of them. I heart this show.

I once watched an episode of The Isaac Mizrahi show where Elmo went to see the designer so he could make him a new suit. Very ODD.

Elmo sucks. Am I the only one who remembers that he was introduced to the show because he was the anonymous culprit putting graffiti all over Sesame Street? And then everyone had to teach him that "drawing is for crayons and paper?" I swear I vividly remember this and everyone always thinks I'm insane -- it's part of the cover-up to allow Elmo to take over the world!

Incidentally, I read somewhere that the show used to be geared to an older audience (4-7 year olds), so Big Bird was the star because he was in that demographic. As older kids switched over to cartoons and Nikelodeon programs, etc., the show became more for the REALLY young kids. Which is why Elmo took over -- his "age" is supposed to be about 3 years old, compared to Big Bird's 6.

However, I think by pandering to the really young audience, Sesame Street has lost a lot of its appeal for parents, as well as for the young elementary school kids. I know that Elmo annoys the crap out of me, so why would I want to sit and watch with my kid? When I have children, I'm going to make sure they watch the 1980s Sesame Streets on Noggin or on DVD (if they have them).

Elmo is 3? That I can believe. But Big Bird is 6? WTF?

Alas, Elmo does indeed appeal to the younger demographic, like my daughter, who lurves him. Fortunately, the show isn't completely Elmo-saturated any more, though there's a tragic lack of Grouch.

I like Rosita too. Though Zoe has grown on me, and Baby Bear's okay when he's with Telly. They have a great dynamic.

I miss the old waiter skits with Grover, though. Desperately.

I have to add my Grover lurve. My mom can do the voice and used to read me the grover books, in his voice!! I am 22 and still ask to hear the grover voice.
Elmo needs to go far, far away.

Oy! Whenever I baby-sit my cousin he wants to go to sesamestreet.com and then go to Elmo's World. I turn down the volume because that voioce just is plain annoying, and his LAUGH! His LAUGH! Oh my god I've never had such hatred for a puppet

I have always hated Elmo even before he took over the show when I was young. I miss the old format of the show where the story lasted all week and some arcs lasted all season. It was like a kiddy soap opera. I think the reveal of Snuffy being real actually set me up for soap opera teasers and reveals for later on in life.

The one character I hate more than Elmo is Baby Bear. That voice, ugh. I love Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, and Oscar. And is it my imagination, or have they quit thundering after the Count was done counting?

Big Bird, Grover and of course Cookie Monster were my main three for Seasme Street growing up. I do catch and episode here and there if I'm sick or have a day off from work. I agree on how Elmo took over, I can still tolerate the little red seed of evil. However, when I have kids, God willing. They'll look to Cookie and Grover and of course Big Bird then Elmo.

You have to look at Elmo as the introductory drug. Now my little one lurves Bert and Ernie. Thank goodness (though she still loves Elmo).

I have unlimited hate for Baby Bear. Lisps are NOT CUTE! Jeez. And he's even dumber than Elmo. How is that possible?

I'm all about those weird little dishtowel-alien things. Am I the only person who knows what they are? They sort of have googly eyes and antenna and look like dishtowels, and run across the screen going, "Yipyipyipyipyipyipyip, ya-HAWNK." I've been dying to know what their names are since I was about four. They're just "the weird little dishtowel-alien things" to me.

I always thought of them as Martians.

No all-caps in thread subjects.

The "yipyip" aliens are called the Martians in Sesame Street Unpaved.

If they're sure enough going to show clips from back in the day, I will make a point to watch the anniversary show. But why does Elmo have to be the focus yet again? Geez....

When my nephew was two, and started watching "Sesame Street," I remembered why I loved the show so much when I was little. Part of it was the music: "C is for Cookie," "I Love Trash," "Rubber Duckie" and "The Aardvark Song" are terribly infectious and singable. And then I learned, through my nephew's watching, that catchy songs had come along in the days since I'd outgrown the show (i.e. since around 1975): "Fuzzy and Blue," "Monster in the Mirror," "Put Down the Duckie." (I adore "Fuzzy and Blue"! But then, Broadway show music, particularly classic Broadway show music, is my favorite musical genre.)
But then there is the Odious Red One. I agree that he should be regarded as the Introductory Drug; he was my nephew's favorite Muppet when he first started watching, and now he's my niece's favorite. Sooner or later, however, their wits kick in and they realize how much funnier and cooler such characters as Grover (my hero!), Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie, and Oscar are. Oh, and Kermit. Can't forget Kermit. His "Sesame Street News" segments are, along with Cookie's "Monsterpiece Theatre," some of my favorite segments on the show.

Who else loves these segments?
Kermit trying to interview the Seven Dwarfs: "We've got the wrong dwarfs again!"
"The King and I" (really i) on "Monsterpiece Theatre": "I, your lovable and cute King, wishes to dance with you!"
Rapunzel of Brooklyn: "Git me oudda heah!"

I too, hate Elmo. I know loads of grown men and women who like him. I'm so ashamed of them. I wouldn't hate him so much if it wasn't for the merchandising. And the way he refers to himself in third person. And the baby voice.

I used to love the Monsterpiece version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which was literally a two flying over a cuckoo's nest.

I was once compared to Oscar the Grouch, not, as you'd think, because I'm grouchy, but because "[I'm] green and live in a bin". I assure you, none of that is true.

I love Sesame Street! I can't wait to watch the anniversery special tomorrow night. I think they need to spin Elmo off and leave Seseme Street to the best Muppets. I learned to read early thanks to Sesame Street and the Electric Company. I miss Kermit the Frog so much.

Feeling the Rosie/Elmo hate. But I do have to laugh when he's a 'guest' on Martha Stewart Living. It's like the puppet guy is trying to piss her off!!

Can't stand Zoe. She was a 'guest' last week on the Today show and I had to change the channel.

I still like "yipyip" aliens better. LOL

I need to throw in a vote here for Cookie Monster. Loved him since I was a small child, and with Animal, Daffy Duck & Beetlejuice is one of my favourite characters.

I do hate the 1/2 hour format of the show that they show down here in Oz. I would also like to find a large stick for Elmo however he is Andrew's favourite muppet - MoMo - and Baby Bear and HeroGuy is rather pointless. They have spun Elmo off, but like a bad case of mold he just keeps on reoccurring.

I hate how a lot of the older characters e.g. Guy Smiley, The Amazing Mumford and YES Kermit have been relegated to obscurity.

Why was Zoe on the Today show? Noone has mentioned the best part of Sesame Street the music. Classic songs like I Love Trash and C is for Cookie, I've lost count of the great musical acts that I've seen on Sesame Street especially Smokey Robinson and James Taylor.

They had a couple of the characters on to celebrate the 35th anniversary. Zoe, Big Bird & some others that I didn't recognize. Katie & Matt tried to 'interview' them while they were in 'make-up', but that Zoe thing just kept babbling and babbling - even worse than Katie Couric.

Nothing sucked harder than "Worms in Space" that they seemed to show over and over and over again a few years ago.

My kids love Dora, Blue, JoJo and the like ~ but they always come back to good old Sesame Street.

I loved the skits with Grover as a waiter and the blue-headed guy, especially when Grover would go back to the kitchen and yell at Bernie or Frankie or whoever.

And what about the greatness of Smokey Robinson and U Really Got a Hold On Me? The Beetles and Letter B?

I kind of feel bad for little kids nowadays since the show has to keep up with pop culture quicker than before. According to MuppetCentral, they'll be introduced to Joe Hundred Guy, Dr. Feel, and TriangleBob Trianglepants.

Sigh.

I wonder if they still show Teeny Little Super Guy? Remember when his nephew wanted to get a pet spoon?

I think a while back they did a special with just the music videos -- but I missed it :( I would love to get a tape of: "I would like to visit the moon," "C is for Cookie," "Do the Duck," "Sing a Song," "Letter B," "I Love Trash," "Cereal Girl," etc. I wonder if there's one floating around somewhere...

Just had a total flashback with the guy with the ten pies falling down the stairs

That letter U holding on to him really freaked me out when I was a kid. To this day, I still get tense when I hear that song.

Another scary skit was when Bert sneezed and his nose came off. I would leave the room every time they showed that one.

Ahhhh....

I'm such a baby. I bawled every time they mentioned or showed Mr. Hooper. BAWLED, people. If only I were an actress, I'd be able to cry on cue as long as I kept a photo of him around. Sigh.

Of course, they really dropped the ball by making the anniversary special an ELMOversary. The best parts were the 2 minutes they spent going "back in time" to before Elmo was born -- as I screamed out HALLELUJA -- the GOOD YEARS! They should have spent a lot more time on that. Also, the last 5 minutes, when they showed a couple of shots from each year since 1969... awesome. But, they should have shown at least two more music videos -- all they showed was "C is for Cookie" and Ernie's bugle bedtime song. And what about clips of "Big Bird in China" or "Follow that Bird" or "Sesame Street Christmas"??

My kids rarely watch Sesame Street, which I think is a shame, but for the love of all that's holy, I can't listen to that whiny Elmo! My kids, however, have tons of Sesame Street books, but mostly the ones from the Golden Age (Mr. Hooper era) , in fact, I have books where Bert says "Groovy!" and Mr. Hooper is alive! My favorite alltime book is "The Monster at the End of this Book" with Grover and I too miss the Grover waiter skits. I think what I hate most about the current SS is that when I was watching, Cookie Monster was the only one who didn't speak correct English. Now, we've got Elmo talking in the third person, Baby Bear not speaking clearly (wook for look, my son has trouble with this too, but I don't want to reinforce it) and Cookie Monster.

I loved that special especially when they showed Kermit and the flashbacks for each year of sesame street. Since Noggin is no longer televising Sesame Street Unpaved maybe PBS could air the episodes. I agree that there was too much Elmo. Nicole check Amazon.com for the videos that you are looking for.

I havnet watched this since Mr Hooper died (I was 13).....but when did it get so trippy? Elmo lives in some alternate dimension where he doesnt know how to get back to the Street? The Fix-it shop is a Mailboxes etc? Everyone can see Snuffy? Where did the bears and elephants come from? What happened to David? dear god, help me!

I loved that book when I was little! Grover rules because he represents the spaz in all of us, I think. The lovable spaz, I mean.

I was so touched by the Grover waiter skits that I once dictated it on construction paper, complete with pictures of the hamburger (I can't remember off hand what the skit was, but I think I still have the construction paper).

I was born the year Hooper died on Sesame Street, so the only time I ever saw him was in the Christmas special run every year. Still, at least Sesame Street didn't try to talk down to its audience then. *sigh*

Aw, they showed a quick clip of Madeline Kahn singing with Grover. That's one of my all-time favorite segments. I still sing that "Follow the Leader" song sometimes.

Yeah, waaaaaay too much Elmo. It's not all about you! Best part was definitely the year-by-year clips. Ah, memories....

daidouji, that clip of Madeline Kahn just about made me jump up and down. Love that song! I went to the Museum of Television and Radio after her death to look up things she'd done and to see if my memory was right and she had been on an episode of Sesame Street. Of course, it turns out they reran her song during the Mr. Hooper dies episode. So, I watched her sing with Grover, then saw the incredibly sad scene with the adults and Big Bird. So many tears. When I told my mom I had watched MK on Sesame Street, she said "The echo song, right?" And this was 17 years later. Adults really did watch and remember that show!

I watched the special, but was disappointed. I guess I was expecting more of a retrospective than a regular episode starring Elmo. I wanted some Kermit and the fairly tales, bad '70s and early '80s hair and clothes, Guy Smiley's game shows, Roosevelt Franklin, the guy who banged his head on the piano, Mr. Hooper. Maria and Luis's wedding was the last episode I watched. I had outgrown it by that point, but my dad read about it in the paper and so they taped it for me while I was at school. Would have been nice to see more of those moments, with sound and without Elmo in the foreground (well, okay, Elmo was ringbearer at the wedding, but I can overlook that). I was a total addict and watched this show twice a day (it was the same episode both showings but I didn't care) for about 5 years and I wanted more nostalgia.

Count me on with the Elmo hatred. There was way too much Elmo on the special. I loved the end when they had the retrospective from 1969 - 2004. Though, it was freaky - I was born in 1967 so bascially, that is my entire life. But when Susan said that Mr. Hooper wasn't coming back - I bawled like a baby. I still remember the day he died - I will in high school so I wasn't watching any longer but a sad sad day.

But, no mention of Jim Henson? At least there was the clip if him singing Rubber Duckie.

I also agree with the too much Elmo. My mom was all excited for this special, and my sister and I (who are both in college) were hoping it'd be good, and we watched it together.

But we were so disapointed. Why would a 35th anniversary show about Sesame Street take place in Elmo's World? That made no sense.

I thought things were going better when Grover was taking him back through time, but what was a five minute segment should've been the whole show, you know? That's the format they should've done.

I don't care about Elmo's fish thing, or his crayon world. I wanted my Fix-It shop, Guy Smiley, Harry the monster, Bert, Ernie and Bernice, and the real Sesame Street.

I still have that book!
It's one of my favorites...

I remember watching SS after Mister Roger's Neighborhood. That was some good tv right there! I remember Maria & Luis, Susan & Gordon, Bob (ambiguously gay?), Mr. Hooper and the deaf lady. (What was her name?)

They had Guy Smiley, Kermit the Frog here.... (roving reporter) and it was actually very educational! Most of the puppets had normal voices - no high pitched giggles or any smack like that.

I have the funniest sound file - it starts out with the stupid, "This is the song, la la la la, Elmo's song...." and then the stupid music, then you hear four blasts from a shot gun and a little kid voice - "shut the fuck up!" Priceless!

I've been trying to remember her name since last night when I noticed she wasn't around. It's been a while since I watched SS regularly, did she leave? Why? She and Bob were nice together.

My favorite SS book is Hide and Seek with Grover (not the actual title). I loved reading when I babysat. It was fun to get the kids to play along and pretend that they couldn't see him hiding behind tape or a badly constructed wall.

Me too. Nothing like having your 6 year old laugh at you too while you're singing along :)

That part was my favorite part of Sesame St. growing up (and I grew up in the good ol' days seeing how I just turned 39). Good God! I just said "good ol' days"
*sigh*

Oh, and Grover rules!! I like SuperGrover myself :)

The deaf lady was Linda. I'd forgotten her name too and had to look her up in my handy copy of Sesame Street: Unpaved.

Does anyone know if the Sesame Street anniversary thing will air again soon? And for those of you who saw it, did they show Jeremy Irons on it at all? His name pops up as a guest on SS, but I don't recall from what segment, etc.

It came on today at 11:00

I know that Jeremy Irons was in the Put Down the Ducky song (which is awesome) but he wasn't shown in the special last night.

snip

It WAS??? Wow!

There were hints that Linda and Bob might get together during Luis and Maria's wedding, when they were Maid of Honor and Best Man. I always thought it was so sweet, because she was deaf and he was a music teacher, yet they got along splendidly. However, I think I read somewhere that the actor who plays Bob didn't want to go down that road -- never understood why...

BTW, I just accidentally broke someone's heart by telling them Maria and Luis aren't married in real life... I kind of feel bad about that!

Also, Bob has REALLY aged -- that kind of upset me last night. And Susan kinda looks ... strange. Plastic surgery??