No, it's not what you're thinking... And I don't want to hear any cracks about Bert and Ernie!

Apparently, the newly-released volumes 1 and 2 of classic Sesame Street episodes on DVD, "Sesame Street: Old School," come with warnings declaring them suitable only for adults! This according to the New York Times' blog "The Medium."  You can read the whole post here.

Apparently, children today in the age of "Elmo's World" and over-protective "helicopter parents" can't handle such edgy material as a the Cookie Monster (before he was reprogrammed as the Whole-Grains and Leafy Greens Monster, or whatever he is now) holding a pipe in his guise as "Monsterpiece Theatre's" Alastair Cookie. That's really the only thing cited as questionable by Sesame Street executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente in the NYT piece. Who knows what other unassuming sketches and animations from the early days of Sesame Street are regarded as unfit for viewing by today's impressionable toddlers? Oscar the Grouch seems like a prime candidate, and it's a wonder he hasn't been sent off to some PBS muppet gulag yet. Ditto Bert, who was also rather grumpy and out-of-sorts, although he seems to have been somewhat sidelined these days.

Honestly, my kids don't really watch Sesame Street much. Being a big fan of the show who grew up with it, I introduced them to it, but there just hasn't been all that much interest. Perhaps with the explosion of dedicated children's entertainment channels (Playhouse Disney, anyone?) and huge, diverse amount of high-quality educational programming, Sesame Street seems like just another children's show, despite it's illustrious history. Funny thing is, when I gather the kids in front of the computer monitor and we watch classic Sesame Street clips on YouTube, they're absolutely glued to them. Perhaps I'll get the DVDs, and indulge myself in a first-rate '70s nostalgia wallow. Better not show them in front of the kids, though.

If you don't mind your nostalgia in lo-res, YouTube has a huge amount of classic Sesame Street material online. Part of the fun is, while searching out an old favorite, stumbling across something you haven't seen since you were four years old. Here are a few of my faves. Feel free to link to your favorites via the comments.