I'm gonna step away from Thailand news for a minute because there really isn't much to report. No one is really allowed to travel for pleasure at the moment and I haven't been seeing any new things. Basically I am catching up on some video games, working online, and eating food every day... that's basically it. I am doing nothing to better myself during this time of limited activity.
Therefore lets focus on something that for the most part has only brought people joy over the past 50 years
The other day I watched a documentary about the voice behind Elmo and during this they touched base on how it is that Sesame Street came to be and how while they had intended that it was going to be somewhat popular, Jim Henson and Frank Oz had no idea that it was going to become such a phenomenon that is broadcast in just about every country around the world.
I grew up on Sesame Street and I think a majority of other people did as well. While I didn't watch it beyond the 80's, there were some recurring skits that always had the same format and some of those were my favorites. These are in no particular order.
Guy Smiley
Guy Smiley had a couple of shows that he would do. One was a news broadcast and the other were various game shows that were meant to be educational. One of the game shows were "Here is Your Life" and "This is your lunch" (both parodies of actual game show "This is your Life") and "Let's make a word" (parody of "Let's make a deal.") Dubbed as "America's favorite game show host," Guy Smiley was always boisterous and loud.
He was created by and voiced by Jim Henson, and has been performed by several others over the years and is still used to this day. Jim apparently enjoyed doing Guy the least out of all of his creations because the voice hurt his throat. Because of this, most of the voices for Guy were pre-recorded so that Jim wouldn't choke or cough while doing the puppeteer work.
The answers to the questions are obvious to an adult but it kind of showcases how much effort the creators over at Sesame Street put into making the show educational as well as entertaining. I can still remember 5 year old me being glued to the screen, probably lying on the floor 4 fees away from the TV even though my mother probably specifically asked me to not do exactly that, and trying my best to guess the answer before my brother and sister.
Guy did a wide variety of game shows and not all of them were based on something that was real, but they all had some sort of educational value. Another one of the shows he did that was dubbed "Everyone's favorite game show!" was called "Beat the Time" and I am pretty sure this was a one off. It featured another one of my favorite puppets called The Count and basically all he did was count to 20.
Whatever, it was hilarious when i was young.
That made me chuckle even 25 later.
On "Here is you life" his guests would be certain things that require growth or being built. One time there was an oak tree and I think the most memorable one was when the guest "contestant" was a loaf of bread that could talk.
These segments were particularly educational because to a very young kid you probably just know only that tress are just THERE, not how they came to be and the same would be true of bread. If you asked a little kid "where does bread come from" they would probably answer "the store."
Sesame Street was a regular part of my day, every day, after school and since it was on public television and had no commercials, parents would have no problem with letting every child watch it.
I haven't watched the show in many many years but the memories stick with me forever. It truly is an amazing show.
By the way the documentary that inspired me to dig into my past and have this trip down memory lane (the doco about Elmo) was called Being Elmo and it is a lot of fun.