Sesame Street Will Be Cut Down To 30 Minutes In The Fall... NOOOOO

The hour-long version of Sesame Street will soon be replaced by a 30-minute version, because nothing is good or right in the world.

PBS will discontinue the hour-long version of Sesame Street in the fall in response to positive viewer feedback on some half-hour shows they’ve been testing. Really? So there are actually a large number of parents saying, “Yes please, I’d like less of the most awesome kids show, ever.” Who are these people? Probably the parents who pretend they don’t let their kids watch more than a half hour of TV a day. I hate those people.

How are they going to squeeze What’s the Word on the Street, Word of the Day, Number of the Day, Abby’s Flying Fairy School, whatever Elmo wants to whine about, the celebrity spot, Cookie Monster’s daily foible and all they other awesome stuff that happens on the show into 30 minutes? They can’t, that’s how.

The new version will take effect November 16 in the 10am slot. From the public broadcasting industry site, Current:

“Both versions are doing well in ratings, according to Craig Reed, executive director at public TV audience research company TRAC Media. Ratings for childrens’ programs are generally higher in morning timeslots, Reed said. While the half-hour show’s numbers are slightly lower than the hourlong program’s, the shorter version “does very well at growing its audience over the lead-in — just what we would expect for a program that is performing at a high level,” he said.

PBS will undoubtedly create more awesome shows to put in that extra half hour they now have. But Sesame Street is so special because of the use of humans and puppets instead of animation. They way it just seemed to go on forever was pretty awesome. Also, it’s never shied away from difficult subject matter, like death, divorce, and equal rights.

This news ironically comes on the heels of a study that showed kids who watch Sesame Street do better in school. From CNN:

“Our analysis suggests that ‘Sesame Street’ may be the biggest and most affordable early childhood intervention out there, at a cost of just a few dollars per child per year,” says Phillip Levine, an economist at Wellesley College who co-authored the research paper with University of Maryland economist Melissa Kearney.

It’s especially beneficial for “boys, African-American youth and children from low-income families,” the study found.

What a bummer. First Maria retires, now this.