Britain Won't Air Sesame Street. Rest of the World Not Surprised

Sesame Street, the show that's responsible for nearly every American under 45 learning to read, is celebrating its 40th year in production.

It's a milestone so popular that Google has been running cute little graphics celebrating it.

It's also no surprise that the Nanny State won't air the program, believing it to be outdated, not very competitive in the pre-school market, and that puppets are just out of date, said an article on the BBC website.

Nick Wilson the know-nothing in charge of children's programming for a show called Over at Five, says there are other shows that have similar learning themes, so Sesame Street got squeezed out because of xenophobia in favor of having home made shows instead.

Because, says the BBC, "it's preferable to put British voices on imported programmes."

Oh really? So who's doing the overdub on BBC America then? I don't recall hearing Gordon Ramsay's F-Word show being redone so Ramsey sounds like a Texan. The show might be interesting then.

"The style of the programme is a tad out-dated - there are very few puppet shows around now. Perhaps LazyTown, but that's a very different tempo, although it does have the overt educational message," said Know-Nothing Wilson.

You know, the sheer fact that Sesame Street is on in 140 other countries tells me that 140 other program directors are smarter than you. The rest are just getting warmed up.

So you can keep your Numberjacks and Tikkabilla and other pap. The rest of the world and I will stick with the world-loved pioneer in children's educational programming.

Today's rant was brought to you by the letters "B B C," and by the number "can suck it."
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