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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 04-10-2005, 01:03 AM:
 
Please tell me I'm dreaming!
Can't they just leave my childhood icons the hell alone?!

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Quoted from www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/07/tv.cooki.lessmonster.ap/

Has Cookie Monster given up sweets?
'Sesame Street' advocates healthy eating habits

Thursday, April 7, 2005 Posted: 6:42 PM EDT (2242 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Something must be wrong in the land of Muppets.

First PBS announced that "Sesame Street" would kick off its 35th season this week with a multiyear story arc about healthy habits. No problem there; childhood obesity rates are soaring. Then I learned of changes that turned my "Sesame Street" world upside-down.

My beloved blue, furry monster -- who sang "C is for cookie, that's good enough for me" -- is now advocating eating healthy. There's even a new song -- "A cookie Is a Sometimes Food," where Cookie Monster learns there are "anytime" foods and "sometimes" foods.

"Sacrilege!" I cried. "That's akin to Oscar the Grouch being nice and clean." (Co-workers gave me strange looks. But I didn't care.)

Being a journalist, I did the only thing I knew how to do. I investigated why "Sesame Street" gave Cookie Monster a health makeover.

The answer would lead me into a world where television producers worked with health experts and politicians, a place where Cookie Monster does care about his health, and by association, the health of children.

The first place I headed was the Internet. On the Sesame Street Web site, little had changed. There was Cookie Monster, in all his blue furriness. He was holding a plate of cookies. He was chomping on a cookie. He still looked the same. But as we all know, looks can be deceiving.

So I searched the site for news on Cookie Monster and up popped a press release about the show's "Healthy Habits for Life" emphasis. Buried near the bottom was a one-sentence mention about Cookie Monster eating fewer cookies.

But what did that mean? Scarfing one plateful instead of two?

Talking vegetables

I picked up the telephone. "What's going on with Cookie Monster?" I asked the "Sesame Street" press office. "Why are you doing this?"

They sent me to Dr. Rosemarie T. Truglio, the show's vice president of research and education.

She said the show changes every year, focusing not just on teaching numbers and letters but also emotional and physical health. With the rise in childhood obesity, Truglio said "Sesame Street" is concentrating on the need to teach children about healthy foods and physical activity.

This season, each episode opens with a "health tip" about nutrition, exercise, hygiene and rest.

Truglio said "Sesame Street" also will introduce new characters, such as talking eggplants and carrots, and offer parodies, such as "American Fruit Stand." Even guest stars will address healthy activities, such as Alicia Keys talking and singing about the importance of physical activity.

Even politicians have gotten into the act, filming public service announcements with "Sesame Street" residents. In one taping, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist taught Elmo to exercise -- jumping up and down. In another, Sen. Hillary Clinton and the small red monster discuss the various textures and tastes of foods.

But what about their position on Cookiegate?

"Even Cookie Monster is learning to control his cookie cravings," Frist told me by e-mail. "His sage advice opened our eyes to the simple joys of a tasty cookie and now reminds us that moderation is the key to healthy living."

Cookie Monster was not available for comment. (I'm hoping he hasn't gone too Hollywood.)

"We are not putting him on a diet," said his spokesman, Truglio. "And we would never take the position of no sugar. We're teaching him moderation."

'Sometimes food'

The furry one also plans to try different kinds of cookies(read: healthier cookies) rather than his just staple, chocolate chip.

But will he still scarf his food? "Yes, plus the occasional object.", Truglio said.

But isn't that unhealthy? Her reply: "He's still Cookie Monster."

Cookie Monster appears to be happy with the new "sometimes food" song, because at the end he warbles: "Is sometimes now?"

"Yes," he's told.

So there it is. Cookie Monster still gobbles Cookies, he's just a healthier version of his old self. His eyes are still googly, his fur is still scruffy and he's still messy.

Even "Sesame Street" recognizes that we all need guilty pleasures.

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What's the literary techniqe called, whereby a character's traits are *SO* exagerated that they become an arguement for the opposite point of view?

Parody? Lampoon?

Say, for instance, you wanted to illustrate the horrors of war. You portray a character who is violent and warlike. His violent actions "teach" the viewer/reader that war is a bad thing.

Isn't cooky Monster supposed to be the same thing? He illustrates the idea that we need to eat healthy food by his extreme eating habits? Either I was a child genius or today's kids are idiots because *I* got that concept when *I* was young!

Furthermore, Cookie Monster has pitched a healty diet in the past!

I distinctly remember a PSA with Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog, pitching the Four Major Food Groups!

[ 04-13-2005, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: Randy Stankey ]
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-10-2005, 08:00 AM:
 
This is ridiculous. They should leave Cookie Monster and his chocolate-chip cookies alone and bring back this guy (Time for Timer) to tell us about healthy eating and how he "hankers for a hunk of CHEESE."


 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 04-10-2005, 01:44 PM:
 

quote: CNN Journalist guy

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"C is for cooky...Being a journalist...I investigated why "Sesame Street" gave cooky Monster... a place where cooky Monster... different kinds of cookys (read: healthier cookys).. cooky... cooky... cooky Monster...

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This guy must indeed be a "journalist." Not once did he spell cookie correctly.
 

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Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 04-10-2005, 02:04 PM:
 
Sure, let's have cookie monster changing his diet.
He's Cookie monster for crying out loud! How is a cookie monster supposed to be a cookie monster if cookies become a "sometimes food"!?

While we're at it, let's make Kermit only a frog on weekend.
Oscar the grouch is only full of humbug around Christmas time and the count only counts on Friday!
Let's give the whole damn thing a makeover.
Sure, it's great that they're pitching healthy habbits, but cookie monster is still cookie monster. Let's try a simply, less obvious, skit.
Perhaps CM gets a stomach ache? Or maybe he gets fat(ter) and has to cut down on the cookies? Etc.
I don't consider myself to be a rocket scientist but most kids are smarter than their parents give them credit for. If the kids can't figure it out it's cause the parent's don't let them think.
 

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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 04-10-2005, 02:40 PM:
 
This PC shit kills me. I watched 'The Green Hornet' when I was a kid, but I didn't grow up thinking all Asian people would be able to kick my ass. I mean, maybe they can, but I'm not worried about it!
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 04-10-2005, 09:46 PM:
 

quote: Tim Reed

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This guy must indeed be a "journalist." Not once did he spell cookie correctly.

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quote: Randy Stankey

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Truglio said "Sesame Street" is concentrating on the need to teach children about healthy foods and physical activity.

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Um, really, it should occur to the show's producers that the kids don't have control over the checkbook and choices made in the grocery store. It is the lazy ass parents doing the damage.

Some types of cookies are pretty unhealthy; a fistful of Oreos has as much fat as a Big Mac. Still, cookies are not the problem. High fructose corn syrup is the problem. It is in all those fake fruit juice drinks marketed dishonestly to parents as being healthy. Fruit roll ups, candies, sodas and most anything else with any kind of sweet value has that high fructose corn syrup shit in it. The human body cannot metabolize that gunk properly like it can normal sugars. It just goes straight to the gut. Your body also produces an increased amount of insulin to break down that processed sugar. That process scars your arteries and promotes heart disease.

If the Sesame Street producers wanted to do something a little more relevant, they ought to have cookie monster getting horribly sick from eating a plate full of cookies made from lard and high fructose corn syrup.
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 04-12-2005, 06:32 PM:
 
Man, I read this and I thought, What the heck?!? I loved Cookie Monster when I was a kid, and I turned out ok........O Crap so I like cookies and I am a bit over weight..........STUPID COOKIE MONSTER made me FAT...
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 04-12-2005, 06:53 PM:
 
You should sue. It's the right thing to do in this day and age.
 

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Posted by Jason M Miller (Member # 2597) on 04-12-2005, 10:36 PM:
 
O, yea I can see it now....On the front page of the paper: "MAN SUES SESAME STREET BECAUSE OF WEIGHT PROBLEM"
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 04-13-2005, 03:03 PM:
 

quote:

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According to Webster's Dictionary, "Cooky" is a legal variant of "Cookie".

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quote:

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Fruit roll ups, candies, sodas and most anything else with any kind of sweet value has the high fructose corn syrup shit in it.

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I've been bitching about that for years too. My finace has two kids from a previous marriage and when I met her, the kids wouldn't do shit without their "fruit snackies". Those things tasted like crap 25 years ago when I was a kid and it doesn't look like Sam Walton improved the recipie in any of his suck-ass brands since then either. She still sends fruit snacks in their lunches to school, but I refuse to give them anything like that after dinner . . . especially if they didn't eat the meal provided for them in the first place.

quote: Bobby Henderson

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It is in all those fake fruit juice drinks marketed dishonestly to parents as being healthy.

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Nothing turns my stomach more than some fat ass kid running around with his freakin "sippy cup". The Pennsylvania WIC voucher enables a four-person family with income under $40,000 to free juice products at local grocery stores. Most stores around here give you Libby's Juicy Juice as part of their deal with WIC. The lable claims 100% natural, but it too tastes like shit. I don't believe in starving kids because today's snacks are too overly processed for consumption, but I do think little Johnny is at higher risk for diabetes or misdiagnosis of ADHD because of a sugar high. Hell, sometimes I swear junk food lobbies and the medical industry are secretly working hand-in-hand for a new crop of tommorrow's "victims".
 

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