Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration is the best Sesame Street thing to ever be produced. I watched it multiple times after its release, I made a list of 12 things that made it so amazing, I even put it as the definitive best Sesame Street moment on my top 55 list, so I’m gonna try not to sound like a broken record here.
Now, first I want to address some complaints that I found some people saying online. Now if you feel that the criticisms I’m about to dissect are right, that’s totally fine, but I’m just trying to offer my take on them.
The first one I wanna talk about is someone who said that they wish more characters got more to do than just their “remember me” moments, and while I’m sure that would be nice, I think how they structured it is perfect for the kind of show Sesame Street is. Think about it, Sesame Street is a neighborhood, and all of the characters are technically neighbors with each other, so a block party where these characters, many of which, mind you, haven’t appeared in over 20 years, all make appearances, is probably the most ideal way they could’ve incorporated them into this. It’s like a family reunion, you’re getting to see faces you haven’t seen in such a long time, even if it’s for a little while. The same thing applies to the celebrities, since I heard some people complain that some of them were unnecessary, and again I get where they’re coming from, but it doesn’t really matter to me, because like I said, this is a party, and these were people they decided to invite, and for what it’s worth, they all look happy to be there. (Besides, whether it was necessary or not singing “Count Me In” was exactly the kind of thing Meghan Trainor would do.)
Another thing I heard people saying was that there was too much Joe, I say he appeared just enough. I’ve said it before, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the Walter of Sesame Street, he is THE definitive Sesame Street fan. Just the way he interacts with all of the characters just feels like he gets them on a whole different level, and his talk with Cookie Monster at the Kennedy Center Honors just cemented that idea even more. But also, he’s the stand-in for all of us Sesame Street fans, because he’s reacting the same way I’m sure many of us would react if we were at a 50th-anniversary celebration for this show, and because of all of that, I’ll say he’s my favorite Sesame Street Anniversary host, with Bill Cosby at a close second.
But the one criticism I will whole-heartedly agree with is that I wish that there was more of the special for us to consume, more characters, more songs, more of the intro, more references, this is the curse of having such a great 50 year show, with so much great content, you just want more and more and more.
But that does not mean in any way that what we DID get was not amazing. This special manages to appeal to both young Sesame Street fans AND old ones, too. It manages to allot time to both its main and popular characters, as well as its minor and retired ones, it has a plot that’s simple and easy for kids to follow, it has gags and references that all land, even if not all of the main characters get something to do, they, at the very least, appear, it features many of the classics we know and love, as well some other ones that still feel like a great fit, it features my favorite version of “Sing” in the history of ever, it features Kermit for the first time in god knows how long, it features a credit sequence that has so many animated characters in it, there’s just so much this special does, that if I tried to list all of it, we’d be here all day.
But I will tell you the biggest reason I love this special so much: The experience I had viewing it, and my experience with Sesame Street’s year-long 50th anniversary, in general. I will never understand people who say that 2019 was the worst year ever, even before the 2020s happened. I mean, it’s okay to not like it, and if bad things happened to you during it, I get that, but, the worst year ever? Hello! We had a year-long anniversary for one of the greatest TV shows of all time! Doesn’t that raise it up, just a little bit?
But anyway, 2019 was probably my best year. I was still in West Ranch, the Coronavirus didn’t exist, I was going to the Paseo regularly, and I was enjoying all of the Sesame Street that was being pumped out, I distinctly remember preparing for viewing this special by getting my Sesame Street stuff, baking cookies to watch during it, and rounding up my family to watch it with me, and you know what? They actually enjoyed it, too! And even though I didn’t get all the references, that just made me want to look into them so I COULD get them. You’re getting my point right, this special enhanced my love for Sesame Street even more. So in a way, I have this special to thank for that. Without it, I probably wouldn’t be typing these words you’re reading right now.
So there you have it. Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is not just an excellent tribute to 50 years worth of educational and entertaining content, but it’s also the spark that ignited my love for Sesame Street even more than I did before, and for that, it will always hold a special place in my heart.
While all of the other specials on the list range from okay, to good, to even great, none of them will ever reach the same amount of perfection that this one achieved I still truly believe that this is the peak of Sesame Street content, and nothing before or after it will ever ever EVER come close to its awesomeness.
So it is with great pride, honor, and 0% shame that I, Noah Darden say that Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Celebration is the best Sesame Street special in the history of ever. PLEASE check it out if you haven’t already.