For a serious discussion of the good work Sesame Street is doing, see my diary at Booman Tribune
Culture Wars: How Sesame Street is Helping Save the World.
This diary is dedicated to speculating on what a right-wing Sesame Street would look like. For the record, I doubt that the Sesame Workshop (formerly the Children's Television Workshop) would allow dramatic changes to the values the show teaches. The Workshop stated in a fundraising letter I received a few months ago that merchandise sales in the U.S. could sustain production, so even if the CPB threatens to cut off funding for the show, the Workshop could continue productions and look for a new distributor. I would think they could find at least one network that would pick up the show.
Now on to the silliness...
Here are some things we might see if Sesame Street went right wing:
- Ethnically diverse cast is replaced by an all white cast featuring the Bush twins. Spanish language segments are never seen again.
- Kermit stops singing "It's Not Easy Being Green" and starts singing "It's Un-American Being Green."
- The Count comes out in support of private accounts for SS.
- Oscar the Grouch reveals he is the long lost twin brother of Dick Cheney.
- Mr. Snuphalupugus fights to keep his father's feeding tube in.
- Bert and Ernie get separate apartments and marry female Muppets, declaring, "Thanks to Jesus, we can be straight if we choose to be."
- Grover becomes an Army recruiter.
- Mr. Hooper's old store is taken over by Wal-Mart.
- Elmo denounces the U.N. as corrupt and anti-American.
What do you think might happen if the right-wing could take over Sesame Street?