There's a really interesting documentary, "The World According to Sesame Street" (http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestr...), about local Sesame Street productions attempts' to address HIV, ethnic tensions, and other major social issues in South Africa, Bangladesh, and Kosovo, while at the same time avoiding backlash and cultural imperialism. Those are mentioned in passing in the article, I'm surprised the documentary isn't.
I just recently started watching Sesame Street with my son and I forgot how great it was. Especially the old stuff, which is all up at sesamestreet.org (I can't vouch for the new stuff as I'm at work at 10am.) The jokes were good, the music was good, the voice acting was good (who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie?) We'll both sit there and watch for an hour and neither of us will get bored. All other children's programming on tv today is so vapid by comparison. Don't let your kid watch it if you can't stand it yourself.
> (who was the guy that used to do Kermit and Ernie?)
That would be Jim Henson, inventor of the Muppets themselves. It's a shame his company doesn't own the rights to them anymore. Sesame Workshop owns most of the SS roster, and Disney owns the rest. The Jim Henson Company now only owns a few smaller franchises like The Dark Crystal.
