Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sesame Street: 30 Rocks vs. Twin Beaks
Posted By Brandon Burt on April 19, 2011, 11:39 PM
The PBS educational program Sesame Street has been in continuous production for more than four decades. Yes, it's changed over the years, but it's left its indelible mark on multiple generations.---
Despite the Street's history of generational betrayal[1], its continued popularity may be due to the fact that it makes an effort to remain accessible to parents. The show's pop-culture parodies are often brilliant.
But not always. 30 Rocks falls short, despite the likable "Liz Lemon" character:
A couple decades ago, Sesame Street felt the need to frame these parodies as "Monsterpiece Theatre" episodes -- which didn't always make sense. Still, Twin Beaks[2] was much better:
[1] Angry divisions have been clearly drawn: The O.S. "Original Streeters" still passionately reject Elmo as a blatantly commercial and unnecessary Johnny-come-lately to the Sesame Street pantheon (or perhaps "panteron"?). Elmo wasn't the first Muppet who failed to grasp the basics of English pronouns (Cookie Monster's grammar wasn't so good, either) but, with his shrill, grating baby-talk, Elmo was the first Muppet to become universally despised by one generation while universally beloved among another.
[2] Those of the post-Elmo generation may not remember Twin Peaks as the crazy-ass surrealistic David Lynch series that started out good and then degenerated into inconceivable nonsense (involving "white" and "black" lodges) during its second season. Today, it has been reconceived as a straightforward crime drama with AMC's watchable The Killing.
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