Here's a bunch of tweets collected by Current on the news: http://current.org/2015/08/c-is-for-capitalism-reactions-to-the-sesame-street-hbo-deal/
Several tweets mention the irony of the fact that a series that was created to teach the poor basic letters and numbers skills is now only available "to the rich" (which is not necessarily true, but hey). The comment in the top post from the PBS station manager in Seattle makes a more important point--that the bulk of PBS Kids programming over the last decade has become animated instead of live-action, which is a big change from the PBS lineup many of us knew and loved. I realize that at least most big city PBS stations are now wall-to-wall kids from early morning to BBC/"NBR"/"NewsHour" time and that animated programming is cheaper than live action, but the PBS difference outside of the emphasis on education WAS Mister Rogers, The "Sesame Street" humans, "The Electric Company" cast and the "ZOOM" kids. That's gone now (not to mention the fact that credits are now squeezed back for promos--and I realize that the target audience can't read 'em anyway). Mark Jeffries Saints Spotlight Editor spotligh...@gmail.com On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 9:06 AM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote: > I was relieved to read your last paragraph. The story sounds like the kind > of thing we are supposed to respond to with something like outrage that > they are screwing with an iconic cultural tradition. But based on my SS > experience, extensive but now about 12 years removed from my last real > exposure, it sounds to me like this story could be headlined: "PBS Fixes > Sesame Street". > > > On Thursday, August 13, 2015, <jdi...@juno.com> wrote: > >> Last fall, PBS quietly unveiled a half-hour edition of "Sesame Street" >> that aired hand-in-hand with the original 60-minute version. The >> 30-minute edition was essentially a condensed version of the original, with >> most of the show's second half (primarily "all Elmo, all the time") removed. >> >> Now, the 60-minute version will be gone altogether come mid-November, as >> PBS and Sesame Workshop have opted to go just with the 30-minute version, >> citing the usual "changing viewer habits" and "positive affiliate reaction" >> reasons ... >> >> >> http://current.org/2015/08/pbs-will-drop-hourlong-sesame-street-from-fall-schedule/ >> >> I'm the father of a soon-to-be pre-kindergartner, and she lost interest >> in "Sesame Street" over the course of the last year. But when she did >> watch, I noticed she did not have any interest in watching the full hour. >> Her preference was watching segments that interested her -- she was more >> enthralled in watching, say, a two-minute lesson on letters and numbers >> than a 20-minute "Elmo fest". When Elmo or another character/segment she >> didn't care for popped up, we'd leave the room to color, read, or some >> other activity. >> >> >> JD >> >> >> -- >> -- >> TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "TV or Not TV" group. >> To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
