Sesame Street is like a fossil record or tree cross section for attention span in television. Some of the older Sesame Street clips like the one about milk, are trippy long format art pieces. Very very different than the quick cuts / short segments that happen today. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you. I suspect the old style simply wouldn’t compete for viewers today.

A bonus: Stevie Wonder playing Superstition on Sesame Street might be my favorite “music video” of all time. https://youtu.be/_ul7X5js1vE

Here's a recurring segment about counting, with vocals by Grace Slick no less: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WSHvbGM6oE

The new animated show "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" is a rare example of a successor that is true to the spirit of the original. My kids love it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Tiger%27s_Neighborhood

We've been able to work through issues where a related Daniel Tiger episode helped. A few months ago, one of them was having difficulty with us leaving them with a babysitter and we put the episode about Daniel being left with a babysitter on, talked about it, and it really made an impact.

I think it's helped much more so than other PBS shows, but that might be because they're at the right age to be able to relate to some of the content.

Grooowwn ups come back

You're welcome. /evilgrin

God. That sometimes comes into my head unbidden by any humanly comprehensible reason. It’ll be in my head the rest of the evening now (as you intended!).

I think it does miss out on some aspects of Mr. Rogers's humanity, though. I think it's harder to learn from abstract characters.

I agree. There's a lot to be said for a kindly human figure explaining these (to a child) weighty topics. An anthropomorphic tiger seems to undercut the message.

(Mind you, this is not intended to be a heavy slam on the show, which in my limited experience is head and shoulders above what passes for children's TV now.)

The show isn't entirely animated. Each show intersperses live action cuts, although with rotating characters relevant to the episode, not a star character like Mr. Rogers.

But too be honest...these parts are terrible. It's what inspired by 2.5 yr old to learn how to use the fast forward button on the remote control.

I think most of PBS's offerings are all really good on this front.

I completely agree. I can't stand the hyperactive, high pitched activity and voices in most kids shows now. I wonder how much effect it has on behaviour.

I’m not sure if it’s related to the anxiety epidemic, but my stress levels spike through the roof when there’s modern kids programming on near me.

He always reminded me of the James Stewart character in Harvey:

Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be" – she always called me Elwood – "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

Sesame Street took a few years to figure out what they wanted to be, though:

http://theweek.com/articles/454359/10-classic-sesame-street-...

I think the best years were 1973 through 1994 or so, but that's very subjective.

Sesame Street's best years are definitely behind it.