Awesome / Sesame Street

• Sesame Street gets one for planning and filming "Goodbye, Mr. Hooper", as well as airing it on Thanksgiving Day so that parents could be home to explain death to the little ones.
  • What made it even more awesome is that the entire scene was taped in one take. The genuine show of emotion by the adults, who gently explain to Big Bird why the beloved Mr. Hooper was not coming back, showed to children that even adults feel sad and cry when a loved one dies. (There have been rumors that the producers wanted to scrap this take so the adult characters would keep their emotions in check, to show their strength to the disconsolate Big Bird, etc. ... but it would have killed the impact.)
  • Bob would later confirm that they did try to do another take... and only lasted a minute before they all broke down.
• Nearly 20 years after their first attempt fell flat, the production team gave the subject of divorce another shot. Who better than Gordon to help Abby?
• Patrick Stewart on Sesame Street delivering a Hamlet-style soliloquy about the letter B. Go ahead; watch it and try to tell yourself this isn't awesome. He went and topped himself later on with "Make it so, number one!"
• Big Bird finally proving that Snuffy is real.
  • The scene is kind of an awesome moment for Elmo too. The little guy really gives it his all in keeping Snuffy from wandering off, even if he's so tiny that Snuffy can swing him around with ease... and he still somehow manages to keep Snuffy there for long enough that the adults finally arrive to see him.
• Smell Like a Monster. It really says something for the series to parody something which would be entirely unfamiliar to the target audience. And it works.
• Basically, any time Oscar gets called out.
  • He questions Santa Claus in front of Big Bird, who decides to wait outside for Santa in the middle of a snowstorm. Maria severely dresses Oscar down.
  • Oscar thinks that the snowglobe incident in Elmo Saves Christmas is funny. Maria responds with one of the best things that she's ever said.
    Quiet, Oscar!
• In Follow That Bird, Gordon urges Big Bird to jump from one moving vehicle to another during the latter's rescue. Big Bird points out that he's not allowed to do anything that dangerous, leading to a Funny Moment.
  Gordon: Jump, I'll Catch You!
  Big Bird: Gordon, this is nuts! You should never jump from a moving truck! Why, I shouldn't even be standing up.
  Gordon: You have my permission! Just this once. Now come on!
• The parody of the disaster-prone Broadway show Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. When SESAME STREET is making fun of you, you know you've got problems.
• Stevie Wonder performing a mind-blowing, nearly seven-minute version of "Superstition" during the peak of his artistic powers in 1973 is something any program of the time would have killed for...and he did it for SESAME STREET. Later when Sesame Street did My Sesame Moments retrospectives for Season 40, singer Donny Osmond remarked in his retrospective that when he first saw Sesame Street, he only thought it was good... until Stevie Wonder, who was his musical icon, appeared, which made it great.
• While we're on the subject of special guests, the 30th Anniversary special Elmopalooza deserves points for not only getting Gloria Estefan to sing "Mambo I, I, I", Shawn Colvin to duet with Ernie on "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon", Kenny Loggins putting his sweet spin on "One Small Voice", or The Fugees to sing and rap on "Happy To Be Me", but getting the late great JIMMY BUFFETT to sing "Caribbean Amphibian" with Kermit! And as if that wasn't awesome enough, the music video for "Caribbean Amphibian" had special animation by Sesame cartoonist Sally Cruikshank, the person famous for animating musical shorts like "Above It All", "Island of Emotion", and "Beginning, Middle, and End" on the show.
• Not only was "Superstition" a major coup for Sesame Street, so was one of its signature songs from its early years becoming a huge hit for one of America's most popular duos. "Sing" was conceived and written as a children's song by Joe Raposo, a staff songwriter on the Children's Television Workshop staff; in late 1972, Richard Carpenter decided that he and his sister Karen should record the song (perhaps seeing an adult message in the song). With the Jimmy Joyce Children's Choir providing backing vocals, Sesame Street got its biggest mainstream hit ever — "Sing", a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1973.
• Sesame Street got its first mainstream hit in 1970 with "Rubber Duckie", performed by Ernie (the lovable Muppet performed by Jim Henson). The song reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1970, largely due to novelty airplay. Less than a year after Sesame Street debuted, the show began having an impact on mainstream popular culture, thanks to "Rubber Duckie".
• For the 25th anniversary special, Oscar stand his ground against to Trump parody Ronald Grump, refusing to leave his trashcan home which would be on city property, inadvertently saving Sesame Street from gentrification.
• Bert gets sucked into playing Ernie's silly drum game, and you think it's going to be a typical "Ernie drives Bert crazy" sketch... and then Bert just keeps winning, getting every sequence right, and Ernie is so flabbergasted he gives up.
  Bert: Well... I can't lose 'em all. (laughs)
• The 1983 TV special Don't Eat the Pictures has the Sesame Street gang trapped in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art after it closes. Big Bird meets the ghost of a young Egyptian prince cursed by a demon, to never be with his parents in the afterlife for 4000 years unless he solves a riddle. Big Bird helps him solve it, and then when Osiris, god of the Underworld (filling in for Anubis, apparently) appears and judges the prince not worthy, Big Bird tells him off and his support actually changes the nature of the child's soul so that it can ascend. Yes, Big Bird overruled a god's judgment.
• For those of us who are too young to have experienced The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and Elmo's World are proof that it is possible to make a Muppet version of anything.
• Big Bird responding to threats to cut PBS funding (from Mitt Romney, then trying to run for President again) by appearing on Saturday Night Live. Rather than taking sides, he lets his presence speak for itself. His arrival nearly brought down the house.
• Cookie Monster shrinking to win a cookie from two Anything Muppets. He'll do anything for a cookie.
• Casey MacPhee, played by Cookie Monster, conducts a trainload of cookies and sweets that are supposed to be delivered to a birthday party elsewhere. When the train gets swamped by an avalanche, Cookie contemplates eating the cookies, but he realizes that the kids would be unhappy without their cookies, and determines to get the train through by eating the snow that stranded the train!! Aw, he's got his priorities set.
• The operatic remake of "C is for Cookie" by Marilyn Horne (complete with melody snippets from Aïda and Egyptian staging to match) is epic.
• In a sense, Carly Rae Jepsen's Approval of God of "Share It Maybe":
  "Sesame Street, man. It doesn’t get any better than that!”
• The entire "Slimey to the Moon" story arc of season 29. Very young children may be hard to keep their attention on something, but the fact that Sesame Street; a series known only for its number counting, alphabetical teaching, shape and color recognition, social studies for children, and comedy for children and parents alike, decided to tackle an overarching idea as complex as space missions, training, scientific knowledge, the unknown of science and the universe (brought down to just the level of the moon), and the very real dangers involved, for children from 3 to 5 years old, and treat it as seriously as adults would (as seriously as ''Sesame Street'' could within its own boundaries), is pretty big and heavy stuff! Plus, this was not just a one-and-done episode deal. This was spread out non-consecutively over approximately one-third of a YEAR (18 weeks!), with frequent callbacks in the form of "Worms in Space" interstitial segments (to teach alphabet, number, and shape recognition), or even entire episodes based around the event, and after each episode in the season, in the vein of Battlestar Galactica (1978), the Wiggleprise's progress to the moon before landing, and its progress back to Earth afterwards!
  • Every single story plot point may have been heavily simplified for children, but it's no less serious:
    • Slimey becoming interested in going to the Moon, signifying his desire for scientific knowledge, just as many have done before exploring Earth.
    • An agency looking for worm individuals to train for a mission that requires skill, stamina, courage, and... the ability to hold onto a spinning platform going faster and faster in the Worm-O-Hold-On-Tight-O test (much like a High-G-Force centrifuge in real life), and the ability to not get dizzy and find their footing after being bounced around like a Slinky in the Upsy-Downsy-Every-Way-Aroundsy-Wormsy-Bouncy test. (Much like real-life prospective astronauts do in the Vomit Comet OR underwater with a spacesuit)
    • The fact that the late Lynne Thigpen played the WASA Official.
    • Sesame Street being the locale for the launch, with a launch pad, hangar, and command center, with EVERYONE in the neighborhood here to see Slimey and the other worms off!
    • Although very simplified for children, it's no less poignant for describing what adults do in real-life for scientific knowledge:
      Telly: So let me get this straight. These five very brave, very smart, very cute little worms are going to get in that tin-can-looking thing there, lift off the ground, and go up, up, as up, as up as you can get?!
      WASA Official: [proudly, looking to the sky] Yes.
      Telly: Well, here's my question: WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS?! WHY?!?!
      WASA Official: [aghast, including some bystanders] Ah— Uh— Why?! ["The Planets, Jupiter Suite" begins to play as a slow contemplative fanfare] Because it's there! [bystanders agree] Because they want to explore space! They want to explore the moon!
      Telly: B-, B-, B-B-But what do you mean "explore"?
      Oscar: That sounded like another question!
      Telly: It is another question! What's "explore"?
      WASA Official: It means they're going to travel through space,... and land on the moon, to find out what it's like.
    • Plus, it's not just a stereotypical thin bottle rocket firework shape, its a freaking miniature mobile space station, much like the Space Shuttle was, or the International Space Station! (including a library bookshelf, beds, freeze-dried pizza, and a zero-g bowling alley!)
    • The emotional tension/separation anxiety of Oscar being concerned for Slimey's safety, and not being able to see him for a long time! Many, many, MANY weeks, as said in the show, much like those who are on real-life space missions, and are away from Earth for as long as... well, as long as this season aired as previously mentioned; 18 weeks, or in more-human terms, 100 days or more!
    • The additional plot points that, yes, even the big things can go wrong (As the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and multiple other launch missions aborted on the launch pad, or Aborted-To-Orbit, have shown us). First, the rocket does not lift off. Then, when it's fixed, it still doesn't lift off, and it's stuck on the launch pad, even though it's giving all the thrust it can give. (Because it's being weighted down by a chicken hiding in the engine, but not fully known by the characters until later.) Thankfully, Snuffy's allergy to the smoke from the rocket is enough to send it roaring off into the wild blue yonder!
    • The fact that the successful launch is treated with revered celebration, and not just a goofy event that's temporary; everyone in and around the block is cheering wildly, to a triumphant "The Planets, Mars Suite" fanfare, finishing off in an equally-triumphant orchestral of the Sesame Street theme instrumental.
    • Even though the idea of worms going into space is silly, again, it's no less treated with importance, as the launch commander intones in the final words of the episode, taking a page from Star Trek, as the rocket flies through space:
    Launch Commander: Space, the final frontier. This is the voyage of the Wormship "Wiggleprise" and its crew of five very brave, very smart, very cute little worms, whose mission is to explore space and the moon, and... to wiggle where no worm has wiggled before!
    Launch Commander: Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the letter G, and the number 5. Sesame Street is a production of the Children's Television Workshop.
    Launch Commander: Good Luck, Slimey.
    • The fact that Slimey's mission inspired many children and, verily, even the adults in the story! First, a group of children, monsters, and characters get together to form a club called the "Spaceketeers", who play around as if they are in space or astronauts. On a later episode, many residents of Sesame Street get together to go night-sky-watching.
    • Again, a few episodes later, there's another plot point that highlights that even the big things can go wrong (in this case, like Apollo 13 in 1970), as an emergency alarm sounds at WASA Mission Control, because the worms are fighting over a bowling ball! Despite WASA's, Maria's, Oscar's, and Telly's efforts to calm the situation down, the worms' fight causes an accident that veers the rocket off-course (the ball hits the "Wrong Way" Button on the controls!), and Slimey has to go out on a realistic spacewalk to press the "Right Way" Button, at the tippy-tippy-top of the rocket!
    • Bringing in the late great Tony Bennett to sing a rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon", titled this time as "Slimey to the Moon".
    • The event of the worms landing on the moon was so big in the story that: it brought Kermit the Frog back to the show in his former capacity as the News Flash roving reporter, who had not been seen on the show in any new official form in almost 8 years! (Since 1990) Also, former PBS NewsHour anchor Robert MacNeil anchored the in-universe news coverage (he retired about three years prior to the storyline)!
    • At the end of the storyline, the rocket has made it back to Earth orbit, the return capsule separates just fine, and begins to enter the atmosphere. However, the Count accidentally sends the capsule veering off-course (with his thunder after laughing), and at first, everyone freaks out on learning that they're not landing in the Atlantic Ocean, but on SESAME STREET! Telly spells out that they'll crash on the concrete with no water. Then the worm scientists tell the humans they "need to secure a portable mini splashdown facility" (Translation: A water-filled wash bucket) to catch the worm capsule, and fast! Maria remembers that there is a wash bucket by her garage. She, Gabi, Lynne, and Gordon go to grab it, fill it with water, and carry it around Sesame Street to soften the landing. They keep moving around as the crowd gives them directions and the capsule zigzags on its parachute. The end result is the humans get splashed, but the worm astronauts are safe and Oscar goes to check on Slimey. Lynne wipes her face with dignity, looks into the camera, and says, "We have splashdown." Everyone cheers, for a good reason. Now that is Heroic Bystander, and Rank Scales with Asskicking for Lynne Thigpen as WASA commander.
    • All of the worms get a genuine ticker tape parade, with Slimey at the forefront!
    • Topping it all off at the end is a touching tribute to the late Jon Stone (1932-1997), one of the head honchos on Sesame Street from the first season to the mid-1990s'.
• There is something to be said about the Cookie Monster playing Blue Oni to Stephen Colbert's Red Oni, that he still taught a lesson about self control and even called out Colbert on his Manchild tendencies (on Colbert's own show no less) was just more awesome.
• For your Oscar consideration: Big Birdman.
• The House of Cards (US) spoof House of Bricks.
• Keeping the spoof theme going, might we interest you in Game Of Chairs? The fact that it seeks to parody the darkest show ever means it makes the grade, but it covers the highlights up to when it was made as well.
  Melisandre: The monster is blue and full of errors! (Oh my!)
  Robb: Can we hurry this up? I've a wedding to get to. (Oh, lordy!)
  Grover: I'm sorry, it looks like you choked Joffrey. (Oh by the Old Gods and the New!)
  Grover, again: Do not lose your head over this Neddy baby! (Oh dear.)
• The classic, Law & Order Special Letters Unit.
• 2015: The show's 1995 best-of compilation Sesame Street: Platinum All-Time Favorites is one of the year's inductees for the National Recording Registry. This means that memorable (if not naggingly catchy) childhood hits such as "Rubber Duckie", "C Is For Cookie", and "Sing" (as well as lesser-known gems like "Lambaba" and "Little Things") will be preserved forever alongside some of the best albums and singles ever written. This alone demonstrates how far the show has come since 1969.
  • It was also reissued on vinyl shortly afterwards!
  • And for those who feel that the Platinum cover doesn't look good on a vinyl sleeve, for Record Store Day's 2016 Black Friday event the 1993 Sesame Road album (which primarily consists of spoofs of popular songs from the then-recent past) was given a limited-edition vinyl reissue, complete with its still snazzy-looking Abbey Road Crossing cover.
• A new initiative for kids with autism introduced Julia, a Muppet with Autism, and teaches children about the difference between kids who have autism and those who don't. They also partnered with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network instead of the much-maligned Autism Speaks. Upon her introduction, Julia (whose actress herself has an autistic son) was widely praised for providing both a sensitive and accurate portrayal of the condition, and another excellent way for parents to broach a tricky subject with their kids.
• The show spoofs yet another decidedly adult series with Orange is the New Snack.
• This stereotype-busting cartoon skit shows two boys playing a stereotypical Cowboys and Indians game, when an actual Native American boy shows up:
  Native American Boy: Indians don't talk like that.
  Boy Pretending to be Native American: What do you mean Indians don't talk like that? Indians talked just like that on TV, didn't they, Rick?
  Native American Boy: Well, no matter what you saw on TV with all those 'ugh's and 'me wannum's, I'm telling you, Indians don't talk like that.
  Rick and His Friend: Oh yeah, well how do you know?!
  Native American Boy: (matter-of-factly) I'm an Indian! (leaves)
  Rick and His Friend: Oh.
• The Homeland parody Homelamb is not only incredibly funny for those who know Carrie's mad on for Brody, but accurate.
• The very fact that in 1976, almost 40 years after The Wizard of Oz was released, Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West was still able to evoke terror in children despite being in her seventies, to the point of her episode still being banned and unavailable forty-something years later (see the Nightmare Fuel page), is quite an accomplishment.
• On an episode talking about racism, Gina gets a phone call from a racist person who tells her that she and Savion shouldn't be friends due to their races. Telly, who saw it happen, is a bit shaken up by the whole thing, but Gina and Savion assure him that they are still friends no matter what. When Telly worries that the person might call again, Gina and Savion show him what they'll do if it happens:
  Savion: (Pretends to answer the phone) Hello? What? What's that you say? You don't think me and Gina should be friends? Gina. This person on the phone thinks that you and I shouldn't be friends. What on earth do you think we should reply? (They both blow a huge raspberry into the phone, causing Telly to laugh and cheer.)
  • At the end of the episode, Gina and Savion are about to head home, but they start to believe that the racist caller is watching them. They decide to walk home together and start singing a "best friend" song that Telly and Baby Bear sang earlier, just to show the caller that they are still friends no matter what they say.
• Gordon and Mr. Snuffleupagus each successfully completing the NY Marathon, despite Gordon's limp and Snuffy going way overtime. Gordon and Susan try to wait up with Big Bird for Snuffy, despite it being dark out, but are exhausted from the day's events and pass out in their car just before Snuffy arrives. Big Bird is eager to wake them up and show them Snuffy's real, but Snuffy decides that wouldn't be very nice, and so instead the two add yet another awesome moment to the episode, and push the car all the way back to Sesame Street.
• Pretty much the entire 50th anniversary special, with special mention going to Kermit the Frog making his first major appearance in Sesame Street-related media after being acquired by Disney in more than a decade.^note His last appearance on the show was in 2009, where he briefly appeared in an Elmo's World episode about frogs. He even gets the chance to sing his signature song "Bein' Green" with Elvis Costello.
• The simple fact that the show is still going after more than 50 years. Most shows don't last anywhere near that long. LEGENDARY.
• The 1991 Celebrity Edition of "Monster in the Mirror", particularly the unexpected appearance of The Simpsons.
• One cartoon sketch shows some kids playing superheroes, but then a racist boy named Kevin tells a black boy, Brandon, that he can't be a superhero because "superheroes are supposed to be white". Brandon is initially discouraged, but then he perks up, puts on his superhero costume, and says, while doing a dynamic pose, "Superheroes can be any colour, and my superhero is black!". The girls are pleased to be getting another "superhero" and Kevin takes back his statement.
• The infamous episode 847, with the Wicked Witch of the West:
  • Witch accidentally drops her broom on Sesame Street. David picks it up and decides it will be a good use for sweeping. When the Wicked Witch comes and demands it back, David refuses. Why? Because she was rude and threatened people on Sesame Street. No matter what tricks she conjures, he's not going to give leeway to a bully. The Witch, after she spends the whole episode playing tricks and casting spells on him, is befuddled and forced to politely ask for her broom back. Only then does he do that, with no hard feelings.
  • Big Bird of all people goes Let's Get Dangerous! when the Witch threatens him and David; he says he's not scared of her threats to turn him into a feather duster. Later he guards Hooper's store with a stick and recognizes the Wicked Witch in disguise. He warns David and Maria to be careful.
  • Oscar freaks out the Witch. Let us repeat: Oscar the Grouch out-scared the Wicked Witch of the West. How does he do it? By proclaiming that she's beautiful and he likes her methods. The Witch can only tell him to shoo.
  • Witchy actually has a good disguise: Margaret Hamilton as a "sweet old lady" without her makeup. She gives a little cackle, but you can't otherwise tell that it's the same person. Even so, everyone recognizes her.
• Elmo's moments of being the Only Sane Man:
  • His epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech at Zoe for letting "Rocco", the rock that she's been lugging around all day, dictate their playtime and ultimately blurting out the number of the day, the one thing that Elmo wanted to do that day, right after Zoe said he could do it. When Zoe refuses to apologize and shrugs off his anger with a nonchalant "Oh, well", Elmo puts his furry red foot down, stating that he's not going to play with Zoe or Rocco anymore, and storms off to play by himself. When Gina sees Zoe guiltily looking at a sullen Elmo, she says that regardless of Zoe's intentions or pretending, she hurt Elmo's feelings and Zoe has to fix that.
  • The episode where he calls out Zoe for Moving the Goalposts when he asks politely to try out her Zoemobile, and she keeps making up new rules and tests for him to follow rather than say "no" outright. Once again, Zoe has to admit that she didn't want Elmo driving her car and as an apology finally gives him a license and a turn.
  • When Baby Bear shows up exhausted to a playdate since for the Bear family it's hibernation nap time, Elmo encourages him to go home and rest because they can play tomorrow. He keeps telling Baby Bear as the latter falls asleep, to the point of snoring on Elmo's shoulder. When Alan convinces Baby Bear and sings him to sleep, Elmo says, "Finally!" in a relieved tone.
• In "Your Name Is Important", Rosita becomes extremely frustrated when her coach keeps calling her "Rosie." She explains that she's named after her mother Rosa, and as such the name means a lot to her. Gabrielle says that she should correct the coach, but Rosita is understandably reluctant about speaking that way to an authority figure. Gabrielle agrees that challenging a grown-up can be scary, but says that it's worth it, because adults make mistakes and kids are able to correct them when that happens. Not only is this awesome for empowering children to speak up for themselves, but it also honors Rosita's Mexican heritage and tells BIPOC children that it's OK to request that their full names be used.

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