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Almost everyone at one point grew up watching Sesame Street. Learning our ABC's and Numbers from the likes of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and countless others. Sesame Street was the best educational show for children on TV. That was until one episode of Sesame Street that was scaring kids so much, parents wrote into the network to get the episode pulled from syndication.
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Oh, hello there! I am so glad you are here. Today is going to be so much fun
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This is Sesame Street, a children's show centered around education and puppets
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Well, my little pretty, I can cause accidents too! This is the Wicked Witch of the West, an evil and vengeful sorceress
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Now, you wouldn't think that these two would have any reason to share a screen together
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but in 1976, Sesame Street featured the Wicked Witch of the West as a guest star
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which resulted in terror, outrage, and the subsequent removal of the episode
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Going so soon? I wouldn't hear of it. In 1976, Sesame Street was a relatively new show
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It was in its ninth season, and it was very clear that the show was going to be a cultural mainstay for decades to come
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By this time, the show was finding success in bringing celebrities to interact with the cast of colorful puppets
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The first celebrity guest to ever appear on Sesame Street was James Earl Jones
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who delivered a slow, baritone recitation of the alphabet. B. C. Some other famous faces, like Johnny Cash, Stevie Wonder, and Carol Burnett
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were all guests on Sesame Street during this time. The allure of guesting on Sesame Street is a door that swings two ways
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Having established entertainers appear on the show wasn't necessarily aimed at children
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After all, there aren't many four-year-olds who know the lyrics to Folsom Prison Blues
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Aren't you Johnny Trash? Cash. Cash, cash. Have a rotten day. Having established entertainers appear on the show
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was mostly for the adults who were watching the show with their children. It gave them something to engage with
1:35
and also likely helped families find interesting ways to connect with their children
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As far as the performers go, working in Hollywood can sometimes be a stressful endeavor
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but there's something about being able to connect and inspire children that feels wholesome and important
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The Wicked Witch of the West was essentially the Darth Vader of the 1940s
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Margaret Hamilton's performance in The Wizard of Oz captivated audiences and drove the primary conflict
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of one of the most groundbreaking films of all time. She was colorful bright and every single nuanced detail of her performance sticks with you as it has been doing with audiences for the better part of a century In 1976 Sesame Street asked Margaret Hamilton
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to reprise her iconic role on an episode in which one of the primary lessons being taught
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was centered on getting children to face their fears, while at the same time demonstrating the value of planning
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and how to respectfully retrieve misplaced items. This sounds really great on paper
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The Wizard of Oz was, after all, a movie families had been watching with their kids for nearly 40 years at this time
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Having Margaret Hamilton reprising her role was something that would have drawn a lot of families
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into watching the show together while teaching children a valuable lesson about bravery and responsibility
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That isn't what happened at all. Big Bird, there is a wicked witch on Sesame Street
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No kidding. A witch? A witch. You sure? Yeah. Up until this episode, Sesame Street had built its reputation
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on being a safe and magical place where children were free from any sense of danger or fear whatsoever
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In this, they had earned something that is extremely difficult to actually acquire
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Children's trust. Children who had been watching the show had never, ever seen the character's face
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an actual threat of any kind, and the Wicked Witch of the West is essentially a monster
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For starters, her visage is terrifyingly inhuman with her green skin and elongated nose
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She has the ability to seemingly appear out of thin air. Showcasing the Wicked Witch's signature means of transportation works fine in a film like
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The Wizard of Oz, where the point is to demonstrate that the witch could show up at any time to
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terrorize Dorothy and company. In the context of a children's show, however, all this demonstrates is that a monster can
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show up at any time. This is a terrifying concept to put into the minds of a four-year-old who is just trying
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to stimulate their mind with their puppet friends. As far as the content of this episode goes, it really doesn't seem like anything happens
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that is necessarily horrible or terrifying. The interactions with the witch are spread out
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over the course of the episode in five distinct sequences that are broken up by various educational segments
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All of the sequences that feature the Wicked Witch within this episode seem to fail to execute
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their intended function. And it's primarily due to the fact that the writers of the episode thought it would be fun for the witch to demonstrate her powers All of these sequences fail because no matter what the content of the episode ends up being the messaging is very clear that Sesame Street is in danger
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And furthermore, I'll turn you into a basketball. Boats, boats, boats in a basket
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In one sequence, Big Bert enters the scene and starts rationalizing what it would be
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like to actually physically fight the witch. If I'm gonna help fight off a witch or something, I guess I'll need a stick
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He grabs the broom as a weapon before the witch shows up. Big Bird actually threatens the witch with a bludgeoning
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before she threatens to turn him into a feather duster. How would you like to be turned into one of these
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She disappears in a plume of smoke, leaving a feather duster on the ground
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The sequence is designed to demonstrate the strength of standing up to bullies. But the conflict and threatening manner of it delivers the message
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that the residents of Sesame Street are actually in physical danger. Another sequence imagines the witch disguising herself as a helpless old lady in an attempt to trick everyone into giving her the broom
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And although this attempts to teach a valuable lesson about perception, it delivers the message that a witch could actually be anyone, anywhere, at any time
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There's a short sequence at the end of the episode in which the wicked witch drops her broom one final time and David picks it up stating that he doesn't want to go through the situation again
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But ending the episode like this just tells children that the witch
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a.k.a. the monster, is coming back. I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too
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Sesame Street didn't go into this episode with the intent of creating a boogeyman
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who can transmogrify themselves, apparate, and control the weather while manipulating the laws of space and time
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But that's exactly what the Wicked Witch is. Children's Television Workshop and PBS didn't have to wait long before parents began writing
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into the show, complaining that the witch scared the children to tears
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One letter stated that their children were waking up in the middle of the night screaming
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because they didn't want the witch to turn them into a basketball. Letters began pouring with claims ranging from sleepless children to others becoming
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paralyzed out of fear. Some letters were from children begging PBS to not air the episode again and some were from very angry parents all with the same desperate plea Stop airing the episode with the witch A major point that was hard to explain to children is that
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actual humans on the show are grounding point for the puppets. Having humans interact with
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the puppets makes the show feel real, and because of this, the human characters on the show feel
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even more real than they do on a typical show or film centered around humans. Another factor
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involved in getting the show removed from the air was the fact that witches are an occult symbol
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And in the late 1970s, satanic panic was on the rise. Many letters outlined concerns over the
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occult symbology and the implementation of witchcraft into a show that was normally so
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wholesome and safe. Never mind the fact that Sesame Street syndicated the episodes on a daily
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basis, so children were granted the opportunity to relive their nightmares for weeks. Eight weeks
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after the episode aired, Children's Television Workshop held a case study in which they observed
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children watching the now infamous episode. It was through this research that PBS made the decision
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to remove the episode from syndication permanently, and it was removed from any and all re-releases
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until 2019, when an archived version of the episode was made available through the American
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Archive of Public Broadcasting. And Big Bird, I told him I'd turn him into a feather duster
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including the wicked witch of the west was a well-intended attempt to teach children the
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valuable lessons of bravery and the importance of treating your possessions with care not having the
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foresight to understand how the introduction of a witch into the sesame street universe
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would affect children was a mistake that could have broken the show entirely sesame street isn't
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built on a narrative that supports conflict of any kind let alone the introduction of one of the
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most iconic villains of all time. Sesame Street is a safe and magical world where people and puppets
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get along in harmony without any threat of danger or malady. Children aren't able to understand
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messages of responsibility when they feel afraid of being turned into household objects. It's a
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reminder that when you create something pure and wholesome, you have to be able to look at your
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decisions objectively to mitigate risk, because kids pick up on the smallest things. Thankfully
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Sesame Street was able to bounce back and has been educating kids through entertainment ever since
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