WaPo
Sesame Street chief: Big Bird lives
Sesame Workshop executive vice president Sherrie Westin told CNN Thursday morning that the giant yellow creature will be just fine.
“The Sesame Workshop receives very, very little funding from PBS,” she said. “So we are able to raise our funding through philanthropic, through our licensed product, which goes back into the educational programming, through corporate underwriting and sponsorship. So quite frankly, you can debate whether or not there should be funding of public broadcasting. But when they always try to tout out Big Bird, and say we’re going to kill Big Bird – that is actually misleading, because Sesame Street will be here. … Big Bird lives on.”
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Duh. Sesame Street makes plenty off of merchandising alone(Elmo, anyone?). They don’t need our tax dollars.
Doughboy on October 4, 2012 at 4:23 PM
Uh, yeah. Plus, if Big Bird needs a job, I hear MSNBC is looking for a replacement for Chris Matthews. Bring your knives!
MeatHeadinCA on October 4, 2012 at 4:24 PM
And that’s the point isn’t it? Sesame Street can exist in the marketplace. Let PBS do the same.
lorien1973 on October 4, 2012 at 4:24 PM
pre-existing conditions
Steven McGregor on October 4, 2012 at 4:26 PM
so walk away from PBS then… nevermind, why give up the free funding
gatorboy on October 4, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Big Bird and Elmo pay their own bills.
Bill Moyers not so much.
forest on October 4, 2012 at 4:28 PM
This.
Bitter Clinger on October 4, 2012 at 4:29 PM
From Iowahawkblog’s Twitter account:
Betenoire on October 4, 2012 at 4:31 PM
What is this thing broadcasting that they speak of?
pedestrian on October 4, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Good! If they don’t need it then they won’t miss it. Problem solved.
Dingbat63 on October 4, 2012 at 4:41 PM
It doesn’t matter how much it is. The important question, as Mitt pointed out last night, is this: Is it so critical that we should keep borrowing money from the Chinese to fund it?
Any reasonable person would say, no.
UltimateBob on October 4, 2012 at 4:51 PM
How many times do they say ‘we receive very little funding’ but when you try to cut that ‘very little’ funding, they go nuts?
joekenha on October 4, 2012 at 4:53 PM
Because they don’t give a damn about BigBird. They want all the other shows that they hold BigBird hostage to pay for.
pedestrian on October 4, 2012 at 5:03 PM
Put Down the Duckie
Del Dolemonte on October 4, 2012 at 5:09 PM
So does GM. Man, is there anything China can’t do?
de rigueur on October 4, 2012 at 5:12 PM
Somebody better tell the liberals. After the debate I was inundated with stupid posts, photos and conversations about how Mitt Romney wanted to carpet bomb Sesame Street.
ButterflyDragon on October 4, 2012 at 5:31 PM
If PBS stopped broadcasting then it’s very likely that Sesame Street would cease to be aired. Internal politics would probably prevent it from being severed from PBS.
blink on October 4, 2012 at 5:35 PM
Maybe the people who want all those other shows could use some of their money to support PBS, instead of needing government money for it.
Here’s an idea… periodically, PBS stations could put on special programming (call it “Pledge Week” or something) where people who want to support the station could promise to make donations of a certain amount. They could even give away little things like DVDs or tote bags if people donate certain amounts.
Isn’t that a great idea? And I won’t even charge PBS for it if they want to use it.
malclave on October 4, 2012 at 5:38 PM
Everything the PBS ever was is what cable is.
Cooking shows
Nova
Children’s shows
Local programming
SouthernGent on October 4, 2012 at 5:54 PM
Yeah, but isn’t it weird that the history channel shows crap like “Ancient Aliens” and Discovery shows crap like “Mermaids”.
lorien1973 on October 4, 2012 at 6:14 PM
Lol. Also, those altruistic in the PBS “News Division”, who are very supportive of Odumbo and progressives, have probably gotten to the point where “they’ve made enough money.” Why not take minimum wage.
RedCrow on October 4, 2012 at 6:33 PM