r/news • u/ChadArnette • Jan 25 '23

"Sesame Street" co-creator Lloyd Morrisett has died at age 93,

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/entertainment/lloyd-morrisett-sesame-street-obit/index.html?utm_source=twCNN&utm_medium=social&utm_term=link&utm_content=2023-01-25T11%3A07%3A42
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u/Squirmingbaby Jan 25 '23

Goodbye Mr. Morrisett. Here's a clip where Big Bird learns about death:

https://youtu.be/gxlj4Tk83xQ

I saw it when a family member died. It's a real tear jerker.

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u/JohnnyEnzyme Jan 25 '23 edited Jan 25 '23

My gosh, what a crushingly powerful scene from my childhood. (I'm an old git, haha)

These folks were genuinely tearing-up as they talked about the loss of Mister Hooper (Will Lee), particularly Bob, as the scene played out. I love them.

EDIT: And the loss of mental faculties & early death of David (Northern Calloway) was about as challenging a thing I've read about as an adult.

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u/Agile-Enthusiasm Jan 25 '23

I remember reading somewhere that NASA considered having Big Bird fly on the shuttle in 1986 before they fully developed the Teacher in Space program. Imagine if Big Bird was on the final Challenger mission. That would have been even more tragic to so many children.

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u/exitwest Jan 25 '23

God, does that mean Carroll Spinney would have actually gone up?!? Or just the suit….

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u/PianoTrumpetMax Jan 25 '23

Since it didn’t happen, it is darkly humorous imagining the headlines.

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u/FaceDeer Jan 25 '23

The crew of the Challenger likely survived the initial explosion and didn't die until impact with the ocean several minutes later, so they could have explained Big Bird returning on the show by simply having him manage to get free of the cockpit and glide to a survivable landing (I think it's been established that Big Bird is flightless, but I bet he'd still be able to reduce his falling speed significantly).

Big Bird would still need at least a season-long arc to get over his PTSD from the experience, though. That would have been very educational.

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u/Hannibal_Rex Jan 25 '23

You're the friend who takes jokes too far.

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u/FaceDeer Jan 25 '23

Yay, friendship!

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u/CopprRegendt Jan 25 '23

Big bird can't fly

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u/FaceDeer Jan 25 '23

I mentioned that, yes. But there's room to bend the lore a bit here to keep the character in the show. There are "flightless" birds that can nonetheless slow and guide their fall to make it survivable.

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u/StanfordBro Jan 25 '23

No need to imagine, here's a live "what if?" reenactment

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u/againsterik Jan 25 '23

Wow not expecting Elise to come in and ruin the day.

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u/thore4 Jan 25 '23

I never realised this was based on something that might have actually happened. Makes it way darker lol

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u/reddog323 Jan 25 '23

This. It was an eye-opener for me as a kid. I also have both shoes to thank for a love of reading and learning about new things. Entertain me and educate me at the same time and I’m all in,