In 1981, Sesame Street marked its 12th year on the air. Now that the show is just about to hit 50, twelve years seems like a drop in the bucket. But most shows are canceled after a few years or less, so at the time Sesame Street was considered to be a long-running hit.
That’s something to celebrate, so Sesame Street aired another of its signature anniversary specials. But the creators didn’t want viewers to think they were resting on their laurels, so they decided to look towards the future rather than focusing on the past. Consequently, his special doesn’t feature any clips of past sketches. Classic Muppets like Big Bird, Grover, and the Count show up, but only for brief cameos.
To show that Sesame Street remained vital even as it became an elder statesman in the world of preschool TV, the bulk of the special was turned over to the show’s most exciting new stars. The Muppets who would surely be the superstars of the 1980s. They even got their name in the title. That’s right, almost two decades years before “Elmopalooza”, we got:
As you can imagine, it wasn’t very good.
Click here to remember that Deena and Pearl exist on the Tough Pigs forum!
by Anthony Strand
