Sesame Street
Sesame Street started over 50 years ago as one of the first children's television programs that was research-based and set out to close the educational gap that began in Pre-k for children from low income families. The creators of Sesame Street sought to teach children about the world around them in a way that they could understand, one of the most notable the topic of grief. Young Jean Lee does a direct reenactment of this episode, "Goodbye Mr. Hooper", combining the themes of King Lear and the iconic world of Sesame Street to discuss how grief is the same no matter how old you are.
Sesame Street was especially important to generation X, whose parents, the baby boomer generation were not as open about challenging subjects, such as grief, like the parents of today.
Carroll Spinney - Big Bird
Carroll Spinney, the actor who played Big Bird during the episode, talking about what it was like to film the Goodbye Mr. Hooper episode.
The Episode
In the episode, "Goodbye Mr. Hooper", Big Bird draws pictures of his friends that he decides to give to them as presents. He passes them all out and when he gets to Mr. Hooper's picture, he is reminded that Mr. Hooper died, and his friends explain what death is.
Thanksgiving Day
The episode was aired on November 24, 1983 - Thanksgiving Day for children all over the United States. This date was chosen so that families could be together to talk about grief, and was never rerun. This episode is now known as a "landmark in children's television programming."