Last November, the 56th season of Sesame Street premiered on Netflix and PBS Kids with four brand-new episodes, and Sesame Workshop has since announced that more episodes are arriving on March 9. Lots and lots of viewers tuned in for the first batch of new episodes, with the show topping Netflix’s charts for kids’ programming, and I think we can safely assume the same thing will happen this time.
Last time around, I observed that many viewers were unprepared for a significant change to the show in season 56, and I’m sure we’ll hear about it again on March 9. I’m not talking about the addition of a new element in form of the animated “Tales from 123” segments. I’m referring to the the subtraction of an old element — namely, the fact that there are no letters or numbers of the day!
Here are some comments I found on social media (mostly Facebook) when the first batch of episodes was released:
“Please bring back the best Sesame Street songs: Letter and Number of the Day. They are sorely missed from the new Netflix episodes.”
“…I agree with someone who said [the show] dropped the ball… should have kept the letter of the day and number of the day.”
“We watched the first episode with our daughter on Netflix… what happened to all the educational elements of letters and numbers on this show?”
“No number or letter or the day. No count. What are they learning? My toddler was bored of the episodes.”
“…not doing the Letter/Number of the Day is definitely upsetting.”
“Bring back the letter and number of the day!”
I heard similar sentiments from my own toddler nephew, relayed to me by his spokesperson, my sister. Previously, my nephew has mostly experienced Sesame Street via YouTube videos on the family smart TV, and he’s really gravitated toward the letter-themed clips. I encouraged my sister to show him the new episodes on Netflix, and she did, and… he didn’t like it. He still digs the characters — he just digs them the most when they’re telling him about those groovy 26 letters.
Any longtime fan of Sesame Street understands that change is a constant on the show. Human cast members have come and gone, Muppets have been recast, and curriculum goals have been introduced and then laid aside. I don’t think anyone would be upset if the show went a few years without producing any new material about getting a haircut or the proper way to take care of plants. Those were curriculum goals that the show addressed only occasionally.
But it’s pretty natural that folks are taken aback by the absence of those old familiar alphabetical and numerical characters. If you ask the average person to name five things they know about Sesame Street, that list will probably include “It teaches kids counting” and “It teaches kids the alphabet.” (Some people will say “It’s the show that used to feature Granny Fanny Nesselrode and they should really bring her back.” But that’s not an average person. That’s an above-average person. But anyway.)
When Sesame Street is spoofed in other pop culture, the letters and numbers are among the most obvious elements to joke about, as seen in this bit from Mystery Science Theater 3000, and this weird thing from The Fairly Oddparents, and that “Sesame Street Stoned” audio sketch that was all over Napster in the early ‘00s that I am absolutely not going to link to. Even the Muppet Show Muppets have done jokes about it — in Muppets Most Wanted, Constantine assures Scooter that their friends are going to learn heartwarming lessons about “sharing, or waiting your turn, or the number 3.”
In recent years, letters and numbers haven’t been emphasized on the show as much as they used to be. And when they’ve been mentioned, it’s only been fleetingly, with little to no time devoted to explaining what M sounds like, or demonstrating how many monsters is five monsters. In 2022, Tough Pigs’ own Shane Keating discussed this trend in a swell article called “This Article Is Not Brought to You by the Letter Z,” which you should read right now.
Back in the day, an hour-long episode included multiple letter and number segments, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it resulted in the creation of some of the greatest songs of our time. Even looking past the most obvious tunes like “C Is for Cookie,” you have “Oh, How I Miss My X,” “I in the Sky,” “Gimme Five,” and a gazillion more.
Eventually, the show’s educational aims shifted. Today, Sesame Street’s stated goal is to make kids “smarter, stronger, and kinder.” And you can’t argue with that! There are way too many stupid, slovenly, mean adults in the world right now, so it would be great if the next generation grew up to avoid all that. But for better or worse, it means the current incarnation of the show is concerned with teaching life lessons and executive function but not the ABCs and 123s.
I do have a theory about why it’s so hard for today’s parents to say goodbye to letters and numbers. Over the past decade-plus, even as Sesame Street was emphasizing them less, most episodes included a “Letter of the Day” song or a “Number of the Day” song, or both. These segments were brief, but the songs were GREAT.
Here’s the excellent and catchy “Number of the Day” song that ran for several seasons:
And of course, there’s this absolute banger of a “Letter of the Day” song:
Dang. Every time I hear those I want to get up and dance. And I hate dancing. I can’t imagine how exciting they must have been to preschoolers who a) crave routine, and therefore looked forward to seeing these segments in every episode; and b) are fantastic dancers.
If only these songs had been mediocre, parents and children would have had an easier time letting go of them!
Fortunately, a ton of the classic sketches and songs devoted to reading and counting are still available on various platforms and across various media. And it’s not impossible that letters and numbers could return to the show someday by popular demand. I’m sure somebody out there has already started a strongly-worded Change.org petition to try to make it happen.
I know Sesame Workshop’s research department knows what they’re doing and has reliable information about the educational needs of tiny tots of the 2020s, but the question that lingers is this: If the children in the Sesame Street audience are no longer learning about letters and numbers from Sesame Street, where are they learning them? From their parents? From magnets on their refrigerators?
Or perhaps more likely, from YouTube videos with obnoxious music and sound effects, which they play at full volume on their tablets on the next table over at Red Robin while I’m just TRYING to enjoy my cheeseburger and bottomless steak fries in PEACE. But I digress.
What do you think? Is Sesame Street still Sesame Street without letters and numbers? Should they bring them back? Without them, are kids taking an L? Or will it B OK 4 kids 2 C them less than U and I did B4? And if so, Y?
Thanks to the Tough Pigs team for research assistance! Click here to dance nearby (whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh), dance far away, and clap your hands on the Tough Pigs Discord!
by Ryan Roe – ToughPigs.com
