The muppets have gotten so complicated since my childhood....

[sharishort]

So these days I am watching a lot of Sesame Street with my son. He is obsessed with "melmo", big bird and although he loves "The Count", he thinks his name is "ah-ah-ah-aaaah". But there is this newer muppet you should all know about named Telly. He causes me great concern. He is highly neurotic, extremely fearful and a bit paranoid

Comments

Telly is the only good post-Henson Muppet!

[malfred]

Telly is the best Muppet since Grover. He predates Elmo (the Great Bouncing Irritant), Zoe the too-nice girl Grouch, and Zoot the sax-playing owl. He's been around so long he probably grieved for Mr. Hooper. He was once a terrific foil for Oscar. He'd hang around Oscar, being optimistic and friendly and didn't really notice when Oscar continually pointed out that Telly was stupid and life was shit. He's the only muppet a real kid can relate too. Of course he's neurotic...we all are. It's a good foil to the false perfection and nicey nice that has crept in. Remember when Sesame Street was about Gangs?! The Alphas (black) & the Numeros (hispanic)? And Gordon, who was a cop back then (he retired early after he got injured--that's why you never see him going to work, not because he's unemployed as some stereotype-spreading bloggers would have it) and Mr. Cooper and Luis the TV Repair guy (when's the last time you saw Luis fixing the Vertical Hold on an old Zenith, eh?) would keep the gang members from having a rumble by getting

I was wrong...Twice!

[malfred]

Okay, it turns out that Telly joined the Street in 1984, the year after Mr. Hooper died, so he never knew him, but he's still been on the show for 21 years. Elmo, as a minor character, apparently made his first appearance in 1979!

And I slipped on the owl (squak!). Hoots was the saxophonist owl (get it?). He's also a reference to Charlie "Bird" Parker.

While I watched the show regularly throughout High School, the rise of Elmo The Annoying has made it almost impossible for me to watch now. And has anyone checked Teletubbies lately? What happened there?! They don't show the little film twice anymore. That was the Whole Point!