Differences

My kids hate Sesame Street. It has become stupid, though I don't know when.  There's no more counting, no more letters, no more grown-ups guiding the kids--the grown-ups are friends, not authority figures. 

And my kids don't like it. 

Odysseus found that Amazon Prime streams classic Sesame Street.  Season 1, even.  Gordon has a 'fro, and mutton chops attached to a mustache. 

I pulled it up this morning, and the theme song came on--the song remains the same, even if nothing else does--and the imp whines "Can we please watch something else?  This is stupid."

I got him to give it a chance, and he's now entranced.  It's a lot better, a lot more advanced, than the Sesame Street he's used to.  I'm hoping it helps him like it did me when I was little.  Although, I will freely admit that this particular episode (season 1, episode 1) is way before my time.  I watched in the early '80s. 

One difference that I'm already seeing, that the kids like better, is that Gordon is leading a little girl around, teaching her.  And he's acting as an authority figure, not as a friend.  That grants a security to children that the newer episodes totally lack.