The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can - By Gladwell, Malcolm Page 0,41
Street? The answer is that Sesame Street, as good as it is, has a number of subtle but not insignificant limitations. Consider, for example, the problem created by the show’s insistence on being clever. From the beginning Sesame Street was intended to appeal to both children and adults. The idea was that one of the big obstacles facing children—particularly children from lower income families—was that their parents didn’t encourage or participate in their education. Sesame Street’s creators wanted a show that mothers would watch along with their children. That’s why the show is loaded with so many “adult” elements, the constant punning and pop culture references like Monsterpiece Theater or the Samuel Beckett parody “Waiting for Elmo.” (The show’s head writer, Lou Berger, says that the reason he applied for a job at Sesame Street was because of a Kermit sketch he saw while watching the show with his son in 1979. “It was one of those crazy fairy tales. They were looking for a princess in distress. Kermit ran out to this female Muppet princess and said”—and here Berger did a pitch perfect Kermit—“‘Excuse me, are you a female princess in distress?’ And she said, ‘What does this look like? A pant suit?’ I remember thinking, ‘That’s so great. I have to work there.’”)
The problem is, preschoolers don’t get these kinds of jokes, and the presence of the humor—like the elaborate pun on “distress”—can serve as a distraction. There is a good example of this in an episode of Sesame Street called “Roy” that ran on Christmas Eve in 1997. The episode opens with Big Bird running into a mail carrier, who has never been on Sesame Street before. The mail carrier hands Big Bird a package, and Big Bird is immediately puzzled: “If this is the first time you have ever been here,” he asks, “how did you know I was Big Bird?”
MAIL CARRIER: Well, you have to admit, it’s easy to figure out! [Gestures broadly at Big Bird]
BB: It is? [Looks at himself]. Oh, I see. The package is for Big Bird, and I’m a big bird. I forget sometimes. I’m just what my name says. Big Bird is a big bird.
Big Bird becomes sad. He realizes that everyone else has a name—like Oscar, or Snuffy—but he has only a description. He asks the mail carrier what her name is. She says Imogene.
BB: Gee, that’s a nice name. [Looking to the camera, wistfully] I wish I had a real name like that, instead of one that just says what I am, as if I were an apple or a chair or something.”
Thereupon begins a search by Big Bird for a new name. With the help of Snuffy, he canvases Sesame Street for suggestions—Zackledackle, Butch, Bill, Omar, Larry, Sammy, Ebenezer, Jim, Napoleon, Lancelot, Rocky—before settling on Roy. But then, once everyone starts calling him by his new name, Big Bird realizes that he doesn’t like it after all. “Somehow it doesn’t seem right,” he says. “I think I made a big mistake.” He switches back. “Even if Big Bird isn’t a regular name,” he concludes, “it’s my name, and I like the way all my friends say it.”
This was, at least on the surface, an excellent episode. The premise is challenging and conceptual, but fascinating. It deals candidly with emotion, and, unlike other children’s shows, tells children that it’s okay not to be happy all of the time. Most of all, it’s funny.
It sounds like it should be a winner, right?
Wrong. The Roy show was tested by the Sesame Street research staff and the numbers were very disappointing. The first segment involving Snuffy and Big Bird did well. As you would expect, the viewers were curious. Then things began to fall apart. By the second of the street scenes, attention dropped to 80 percent. By the third, 78 percent. By the fourth 40 percent, then 50, then 20. After viewing the show, the kids were quizzed on what they had seen. “We asked very specific questions and were looking for clear answers,” Rosemary Truglio, Sesame Street’s research head said. “What was the show about? Sixty percent knew. What did Big Bird want to do? Fifty three percent knew. What was Big Bird’s new name? Twenty percent knew. How did Big Bird feel at the end? Fifty percent knew.” By comparison, another of the shows tested by Sesame Street at the very same time recorded 90 percent plus correct answers on the postshow quiz. The show simply wasn’t making