It is a well-known fact that most children can be entertained rather easily. With that fact in mind, it is difficult to fathom how so many children's television shows have failed to establish a loyal following and thus have been taken off the air. The Igloo Show, for instance, was filled with witty banter from start to finish. However, the talking igloos never seemed to strike the fancies of children. But one show has maintained a loyal audience throughout the several years it has been on the air. The reason that Sesame Street is so popular with kids is the creative puppets and the way it makes learning fun.
The best way to help a child learn is to make the process fun. No show does this more effectively than Sesame Street. It is hard to imagine anything being more fun than learning to count with the Count. His display of love for counting helps children to understand that it is alright to know how to count. Another character that helps children to learn numbers is that mime fellow. He apparently has taken quite a fancy to painting numbers in all sorts of unlikely places, like garbage cans and on live squirrels. This was a very risky character for the show to use since so many children, and adults for that matter, find mimes disturbing. Nevertheless, the mime has successfully helped several children to learn numbers.
However, teaching is not the only thing that the show focuses on. Some portions of the show are for sheer entertainment. Several extremely creative puppets are utilized to entertain the vast viewing audience. Oscar the Grouch is one of the more well-known characters. Oscar apparently has no legs because he is only shown from the waist up. Nevertheless, he has enjoyed much success throughout his stint as a grouch on the show. Snupholuphogus is another favorite on the show. Some would say that he resembles a wooly mammoth. Other less intelligent people would say that he looks like a pterodactyl. There have been a few inappropriate puppets used on the show. Coco, the male exotic dancer, was the most controversial of this group. Coco was pulled from the show after just one appearance despite the heated protests of several female puppet viewers. But the show has persevered and learned from mistakes learned in the past.
Sesame Street has utilized several methods to attract young viewers. The show has flourished in an area where other shows have failed miserably. Although entertaining children is considered to be pretty easy, not many people or shows can do it effectively. The entertainment industry has yet to tap into the richest source of child entertainment, fuzzy eyebrows. When more characters on children's shows have fuzzy eyebrows, more children will be willing to sit down and watch television.