Thank God for PBS Sprout on demand. Literally. I thank you, God, for ensuring its place on the Time-Warner digital cable roster. I figure if baseball players can thank you for giving them home-runs, I can thank you for giving me six episodes of Sesame Street at my beck and call while I watch my daughter.
This weekend were viewing an episode in which Telly Monster realizes his hamster Chuckie is not only a a she, she’s pregnant. This revelation leads into to a nice little show themed around pregnancy and newborns, including a song about a new baby at Katie’s house; show and tell with Ernie in which a 4 year-old boy brings out a pair of baby booties; and a funny little bit where Telly calls a taxi for the expecting hamster.
While the episode was charming enough, it didn’t really take on the topic of pregnancy with the insight I would have liked.
Here’s how I might have pitched a show with the same theme:
SESAME STREET EPISODE 10455: Knocked Up (2007)
Premise
A pregnant mom-to-be named Liz moves onto Sesame Street. The gang all gets together to throw her a baby shower, while learning about pregnancy.
Segments
-Alan stocks up on Colace in preparation for Sesame Street’s newest resident.
-Special musical guest Laurie Berkner sings The Bladder Song and She Doesn’t Hate You, She’s Just Hormonal
-Cookie Monster eats all of Liz’s cookies after which she goes ballistic and rips off his left eyeball.
-The Count counts skin tags revealing the number of the day: 137.
-While the neighborhood kids make shower decorations, Gladys the Cow introduces an animated sequence about milk production
-Maria and Zoe look through Liz’s purse for items starting with the letter of the day, P. They find a pregnancy book, Pop Tarts, peanut butter cookies, Pringles crumbs, and potato skins with cheddar cheese, sour cream and bacon (which is made from pigs).
-Journey to Ernie sequence in which Ernie hides from Big Bird in Liz’s bra, never to be seen again
-Oscar makes a dollhouse for the new baby from discarded items he finds in Liz’s dumpster including empty tissues stained from nosebleeds, uneaten but spoiled fruits and vegetables, and discarded underwear with disturbingly stretched-out waistbands.
-Elmo’s World: Elmo hears the familiar refrains of “Elmo has mail, Elmo has mail” and opens his computer to find 246 unread Babycenter weekly emails. Elmo asks a baby about meconium. Mr. Noodle and Mr. Noodle attempt to adopt a child together in a red state.
Wrap-Up
The show concludes with a big baby shower sequence incorporating the entire cast along with special guest stars Harry Connick Jr. and Charo who together sing a beautiful duet of Sunrise, Sunset. Liz opens her gifts and gets weepy when she learns her new friends made sure not to order a cake with fruit filling in it. She leaves the party early to get a head-start on her thank you note-writing, but ends up just reading blogs and taking a nap.
48 shards of brilliance… read them below or add one
I love it. Mainly because Harry Connick Jr. is there. And Oscar.
Gladys the cow. BwahahahaThe letter P! BwahahahaOscar’s dollhouse…hey that’s a big trend. But the recycled materials (to put it kindly)…bwahahahahaHarry and Charro! Sunrise Sunset. BwahahahahaI say send this right on over as a teaser…they should start production immediately.
Available on DVD when? Hillarious … with all of todays cut and paste / photoshopping tools at our fingertips, I think you could actually make some of these segments and put them up on youtube (to be then sued by viacom or whoever for 1 Billion $$$)
Holy hell, you’re funny.
Excellent concept – I’d buy it.Elmo’s fish friend needs some kind of role too. Maybe she introduces a series of friendly on-call nurses and ER docs that parents will shortly meet with their newborns.
Oh my goodness… this is HILARIOUS!!! Thanks so much for a GREAT start to my day!!
Ah, realism.
That was so funny and I laughed so hard that I think a little pee came out. And I’m not even pregnant. Oops.
I wish Laurie had been around our house to sing “She Doesn’t Hate You, She’s Just Hormonal.” I would’ve been able to understand things so much clearer!
Charo? Sounds like an episode of Sesame Street meets the Love Boat!I’d watch in a second.Fabulous and funny. It would be a popular YouTube hit!
Maybe Mr. Conick Jr. could also singe a little ditty about hemorrhoids. That way, the kids wouldn’t get the idea stuck in their head that we’re going to the pool when they see mommy’s inflatable donut pillow.
Do Mr Noodle & Mr Noodle get the baby??? I’d love this episode! Hilarious. Maybe Elmo could get a baby fish ‘sister’ for Dorothy and then Dorothy could eat the other fish to open up a discussion on sibling rivalry?
Can you tell me how to get…how to get to Sesame Street?Great post! I laughed out loud at work and then pretended to ignore the stares…
Now THAT I would TiVo.
Mr. Noodle and Mr. Noodle attempt to adopt a child together in a red state.That made me spit my coffee! Thanks for the laugh this morning!
That has definite potential. I say send it to PBS.
I would learn how to use my VCR for that show.
Does Harry DO baby showers? Weddings? BACHELORETTE parties? Because I am SO calling him right now…
LOL! I love the twist you would put on the show…
Very cute, I tell ya, TV is getting more interesting by the day! I think you should pitch it, you never know!Oh, and odd how all of MY fruit and vegetables go straight into the fridge crisp and fresh and by the time I reach in for something, they are soft and moldy too. HOWEVER, if a chocolate chip cookie were to go stale in my house, the WHOLE world would come to a crashing end. HA, what am I talking about, that would NEVER happen in a million years!
That’s the best episode. Evah!
We are all about On Demand as well. And what a perfect name when it’s your child who is DEMANDING Wonder Pets, Dora or Teletubbies. It was funny to read this post because I purposely avoided that Sesame Street episode when I saw the summary. We are not discussing the pregnancy with the toddler until 6 weeks ahead of delivery, ie May. This is our made up amount of time that he needs to understand something in advance. You have to love living with someone who hasn’t noticed that you’ve gained 25 lbs in four months.
You are definitely on to something. I think you may have found your calling. Love the muppets, but love your pitch more.
That’s hysterical. I always knew Sesame Street was educational, I just never realized how much.
And then Gaby and Miles decide that pregnancy looks like so much fun, they can do it too! (Maybe that should be saved for another episode…)Stop being so funny, or I’ll have to nominate you for another ROFL.
The milk sequence…”Milk…mii-hilk…” I remember something LIKE that on Sesame Street! It started with the cow-milking, then showed a crying baby & the truck taking the milk to the bottler, and at the end of the montage we have the baby being fed a bottle. Anyway, I digress. I love the idea. (Skin tags…Hahahaha!!!)
“Mr. & Mr. Noodle adopt a baby in a red state. Hilarious!” Thanks for the laughs.
<>Gahhhhhhh<> — it’s been so many years but Bossy can still hear that song reverberating inside her giant skull: “There’s a <>Brand New Baby<> at <>Katie’s House<>… There’s a <>BRAND NEW<> baby at <>Katie’s house<>…”
I think we are currently leading frighteningly similar lives. Except I would trade Charo for Patty Griffin.
ok. I cannot get the Elmo voice asking “Whass MecOni-Yum?” out of my head.And yes. Praise be for Sprout on Demand. Praise be.
Is Sesame Street hiring? Because… Um… HELLO GENIUS!?
One-two-three-FOUR-FIVE-six-seven-eight-NINE-TEN-eleven piles!I got skin tags in pregnancy. (And, yes, piles.) I was a joy to behold. I found one web site that said they could remove skin tags with a laser and a lot of my money; I found another web site that said I could remove them myself by tying cotton around them and waiting for them to drop off. (Still talking about the tags, here, not the piles.) I went with the cotton. It worked. Hooray!This post was comic genius.
“Mr. Noodle and Mr. Noodle attempt to adopt a child together in a red state.” Bwa! I’d pay a whole lotta money to see that episode! Skintags, oh those menacing skintags. I used to clip mine off with nail clippers. No really.
Now that is an episode of Sesame Street that I would Tivo and watch again and again.
I was wondering where Ernie had gone.Now I know. IN YOUR BRA.Maybe he’ll leave Bert for Bertha. If anyone (or her boobs) could turn Ernie straight, it would have to be you (or them).
That was BRILLIANT! That’s a classic episode of Sesame Street, and I LOVE “There’s a brand new baby at Katie’s house”. Katie and her Daddy making a sign for mommy with Katie putting the scotch tape on, Katie going to Grandma’s and waving goodbye as Mommy says “come visit me and the baby in the hospital, Katie”, Katie practicing how she will hold the baby. I LOVE it, can you tell??
Too funny! What a great learning episode!
when does snuffleupagous eat someone?
Cookie Monster meets his match!Before I had kids, I worked in an office with a very (like 9 months I think) pregnant woman and one day I walked into the kitchen to find her standing at the freezer with a leftover icecream cake, just shovelling it in as fast as possible (freezer door open and everything). At the time, I was like, what a lunatic — but now I sympathize!
LMAO! You’re hilarious!!
ROFL! Now why didn’t pregnancy hormones make me this funny?!Harry Conick Jr. and Charo …!
That show would be awesome! I never really watched Sesame Street when I was younger, but I prefer to imagine it in my head the way you’ve laid it out.
“Cookie Monster eats all of Liz’s cookies after which she goes ballistic and rips off his left eyeball.”With today’s PC world, I doubt that sequence would get made. Hell, that’s why the Street’s own producers said the older episodes that they made that were child-friendly would be too adult for the modern spoonfed-Elmo preschooler.“(which is made from pigs)”Uhh…you do know that Miss Piggy is a pig & that her performer, Frank Oz, was a cast member on the Street, right? As such, they WON’T show animals being BUTCHERED on a show FOR KIDS.“Journey to Ernie sequence in which Ernie hides from Big Bird in Liz’s bra, never to be seen again.”Once again, the Street is FOR KIDS, and thus, no cleavage shots.“Mr. Noodle and Mr. Noodle attempt to adopt a child together in a red state.”As much as I am okay with anyone wanting a child, a lot of others still are against gay couples, hence why this segment wouldn’t air.And speaking of gayness, Ernie IS NOT gay! How many times must we Muppet fans drill that into people’s heads? Yes, he lives with Bert, but back in the day, before the Street became all PC perfect, the reason they lived that way was because they couldn’t afford anything else and because they are best friends.“And then Gaby and Miles decide that pregnancy looks like so much fun, they can do it too!”Again, the show is FOR KIDS, and thus, there could be references to adult behavior, but nothing truly depicted, because–as young as kids learn about sex nowadays–kids STILL aren’t ready to understand it until they are taught it and actually are of that age where they comprehend what goes into love-making (and obviously, preschoolers do NOT comprehend any of it).
Anon 2/22 from Emporia, Kansas:You just gave new definition to the phrase “internet loon.” Thanks for the laugh this morning, however unintentional.
You should definately take up writing screen plays.
With the recent writers strike being over, you’d made fantastic pay. I love your ideas.I’d like to link your blog on mine to keep updates on your posts. I just happened upon it browsing through others, but I never link others without permission first. If you do a blog roll, would you mind linking mine as well?I’m a divorced mom of three, working from home, so I enjoy keeping up with other moms. Nice blog and wonderful posts. 
Rachelthe Soap Makin’ Mamasoaps-n-suds.com
Tears running down my face – my aunt is Exec VP of HR at PBS, maybe I can get you an in.But seriously you missed Grover. He was invented just for the pleasure of parents. Watch the SS 25th Anniversary DVD (which I can recite in full from memory) and you’ll catch my meaning. “History is fascinating!” – Grover (in response to Elmo’s revalation while they travel back in time to see the Sesame Street of the past, that Mr. Hooper’s store is named after Mr. Hooper.
That was HILAROUS! I love it!
“What’s the word on the street?”EpiduralMurray: “What is an epidural?”Random kid on the street: “It’s something the doctor does to mommy to keep daddy’s testacles safe.”