We Are Hugh...

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We Are Hugh...

Hugh Casey

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Links:

My profile on FACEBOOK / "Teddy's Big Escape" - My first film / "Young Geeks In Love" - my second film / PrettyGeek - a blog I created to show that geeks can be pretty / PSFS: The Philadelphia Science Fiction Society

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Come and play... everything's A-OK.

[Nov. 10th, 2009|03:55 pm]

[	Tags	\|	kids, tv	]
[	mood	\|	thoughtful	]

On Monday, November 10th, 1969, I was five years old, and in kindergarten at a small Catholic school in West Philadelphia.

School ended at 3pm, and my mom would pick me up and we'd (usually) walk the four blocks back to our home near 46th St. and Chester Avenue. We'd get home, she'd give me some juice, and then sit me in front of the TV while she did housework (it was the '60's... this was pretty much the way parenting was done back then...).

Kids' TV at that time was... well, it was... hmm... I think "lacking" would be a good word for it. There was NO cable TV, so there were the three network channels, an assortment of local stations on UHF frequencies (in Philly, channels 17, 29, and 48), and PBS (channel 12)... and that's it. The network stations (channels 3, 6, and 10) were airing soap operas at this time (talk shows didn't become big in the afternoon until the '80's), so us kids were stuck with the UHF channels.

And, while Philly brought some of the greatest of TV's children's entertainers to the screen (Gene London, Pixanne, Sally Starr, Chief Halftown, Captain Noah and his Magical Ark, among many others), most of these were on early weekday mornings or on weekends. The afternoons were pretty much left to reruns of cancelled kid-friendly prime-time shows (Gilligan's Island, I Dream Of Jeannie, and The Munsters got played A LOT), and cartoon shows. Usually, around 4pm, I'd be watching "Wee Willie Webber's Colorful Cartoon Club" on channel 17, and getting my fill of classic Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera shorts, and other assorted bits of brain candy.

On this day, however, I was flipping through the channels (as I would do after each show, because (at least to my five-year-old mind) it seemed that the TV schedules would change randomly, and I found something new on Channel 12. It was a show that had KIDS on it. And not just as an audience, like on the cartoon shows, but DOING things, like singing, or talking to the other characters. And there were cartoons. And puppets. And songs. And it was FUNNY.

And so it was that I was one of the first generation of SESAME STREET, which is 40 years old today. The show was originally geared toward children ages 4-6, so I was right in their sweet spot. Later on, they realized that younger children were tuning in, and so they started to gear the show more for tots. I think the current mean age of the average Sesame Street fan is 3.

I learned a lot of things from SESAME STREET that I've carried with me through my whole life. And it's a lot more than my ABC's and 123's. I've learned:

- People come in all types and colors. Bob and Mr. Hooper were white, like me, but Susan and Gordon were black, Maria and Luis were Latino, and Buffy St. Marie was an Indian (we weren't using the term "Native American" yet). And they all lived together, got along, and were friends who cared about each other, even though they were all different. In fact, they call kept TEACHING each other new things, BECAUSE they were all different. So you can't judge a person by the fact that they're white, black, brown, yellow, or red. Of if they're orange, blue, green, furry, or made of felt, for that matter.

- I learned that It's Not Easy Being Green, It's Alright To Cry (even if you're Rosey Grier), and that if I felt down, I could always Sing A Song.

- It's OK sometimes to be grouchy, enjoy cookies, or pretend to be a super hero. It's also OK to laugh while you're doing common, everyday things... like counting (Ha-ha-ha!).

- You are supposed to ask questions, and it can be fun to find out answers.

- It's good to look at things with a sense of wonder and amazement... especially if you're a 7-foot-tall canary.

- It's no big deal if two single grown men are living together... even if they share the same bedroom.

And, maybe the most important lesson...

- It's possible to create a new and wonderful thing, like a television show, that does a great deal of good.

Here's to 40 more years of sweeping the clouds away. :-)