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Why I Think “Bear in the Big Blue House” is a Better Kids’ Show than “Sesame Street”.

While I grew up with both shows, some might think I like these shows less as an adult. If these shows had the uncomfortable nature of the Teletubbies or Barney, then that would certainly be the case by a long shot. However, these two shows, Bear in the Big Blue House and Sesame Street, have maturity and respect to the audience to which they deserve to looked back on and remembered for the good they brought to our lives.

But, I will admit, the more I looked back on Bear and Sesame, the more I became critical between the two. I always like to analyze entertainment and be a critic of their material, and this mindset drew me more to compare and contrast these two kid shows. They both teach life lessons to kids. They both have enduring and emotional characters. Yet, with their similarities, there is one difference between the two shows that I feel honestly makes one superior to the other: the quality of learning.

Obvious from the title, I feel Bear in the Big Blue House is a better kids’ show than Sesame Street is. Looking back on Sesame, it had a formula that consisted of sketches and skits that taught children about the alphabet, numbers(specifically 1-20), and all while mixing in stories and more skits that would be played for either a moral to be presented or to tell comedy. Bear has some differences to this nature as it was more about learning life itself. The show would focus on components and activities in life that we all would do for fun or that we simply have to including going to the bathroom, sharing, the mail, shapes, cleaning, even an episode about learning numbers. Having to choose between a show that focused more on the alphabet and numbers along with skits for laughs and morals or a show that focused each episode on a crucial component in life that children would need to not only become smarter, but a better person in life, I would choose Bear(the second one).

Looking back on the older seasons of Sesame, I always felt that they would make the show an hour long to squeeze in what I feel is filler. While a lot of talented people worked on all of the skits of abcs and 123s, I feel it hammered it in a little too much given its amount of time. The show would sometimes put more focus on stories including Big Bird going to camp or episodes with the whole “Mr. Snuffleupagus is Imaginary” joke that would rarely lead to anything of valuable learning. Even if it did lead to lessons, they always seemed kind of rushed. Even with the episode explaining the death of Mr. Hooper, not only was that because of the show lasting for a long time(so death was obvious to come for somebody), but it was more in that it was what the crew members and other actors wanted: to explain something that cannot be changed. All of these stories and situations in Sesame are done well, but is a 3 or 4 year old really going to follow the concept of death very well? You should never underestimate what a toddler can understand, but someone at that age would not even be very skilled in what you intended to teach them to begin with(abcs and 123s).

Bear did have a death that really damaged the crew, Lynne Thigpen, the voice actress of Luna. You may think that because of this the show would end very abruptly, but the final episode of Bear was recently discovered and it was, in my opinion, one of the most satisfying ways to end a beloved kids show. “This is your Life, Bear” ended with two things that Bear said: “Well, Luna, before you go, would you sing the Goodbye Song with us, one more time?” and “I hope I have been one of the nicest parts of your life.” These few bits make it completely aware that it is the last episode, and that the crew wanted to end it on a great note of bear and his friends going on vacation and for Bear to realize how great of a person he is. This may even show that Bear is more mature of a show than Sesame is as it is much less on trying to get zany laughs and more on having a calm and relaxed nature for the audience to understand the message of an episode better.

The songs in Bear I feel are better than Sesame’s songs. Yes, “C is for Cookie” is a classic and is a catchy one, but all that tells you are two things: cookie starts with c, and Cookie Monster likes cookies. Compare “It’s not Easy, Bein Green”, with Kermit expressing his feelings about being a certain color to a song that Tutter sings called “What Kind of Mouse am I?” A song where Tutter analyzes himself as a person and thinks of all the possibilities that are open to him that can allow him to achieve his goals and feel better about himself. I feel that conveys a bigger message and is a better song than Kermit’s song. The song about Ernie’s Rubber Ducky is catchy and beloved, but what does it even teach you? Most of Bear’s songs are not only catchy, but they convey a moral to it that most kids can understand. Even the most popular one, the Bear Cha Cha Cha, it actually tells kids that it’s healthy to dance and be proud of it.

On top of that, I always felt that, even for the 70s, the running time of Sesame Street for kids was a little too long being nearly an hour. I feel it is a little too much screen time for kids, whereas Bear is only around 20-25 minutes. Sesame even ran twice a day, was that really needed? You could argue that Bear may have been run with multiple episodes at a time like a marathon almost and my argument here might be invalid because of that, but that’s more of a problem for the parents with not limiting their children’s screen time. Plus, remember what I said about Sesame’s filler? If Sesame Street took out the parts that focused too much on the alphabet and numbers, limited that, took out stories that were not needed to teach or even help kids and set it to a shorter main story that conveys a strong moral? It would only be around half an hour, which is the one thing I like about how Sesame Street is nowadays.

What I don’t like about it though comes to another one of my points: the time each character has on the show. Elmo has WAY too much screen time on Sesame Street, and Abby Cadabby is catching up to him. Bear’s show was aware that Bear himself knew he was the main character, but there would never be too much screen time on him as the show had a strong formula to it. Sesame Street doesn’t exactly have a main character, they are all supposed to be balanced; however, they’re not nowadays, and I think that really damages the show itself when all I would see running on HBO are 80% of the time about stories with Elmo and Abby as opposed to Big Bird, Snuffy, Telly etc.

Speaking of the characters, while Big Bird is my favorite Sesame Street character, I don’t think he compares to how great of a character Bear is. Even the other characters are so likeable and connect with you(or, at least me) more than the Sesame Street characters(with the exception of Big Bird). And, in my opinion, Bear is the greatest muppet of all time. Known as the anti-Barney(perfect description), he acts like a loving parent, and because of that, the other characters that Bear interacts with have the appropriate amount of screen time as it’s almost like they’re all his children(even if they all don’t live there except Bear and Tutter) to see if they’re ok or simply what they’re up to for the day. So, judging from that, Bear sounds like a more organized show than Sesame does. I do believe Sesame Street has gone in production for WAY too long. Why didn’t anyone just think to show reruns of the material from the 70s, 80s, and 90s? Did they think they would become dated? Did people fear they would lose their jobs? Why not just make a new show about something completely different and original? I wonder if that’s how Bear started, and it came out to be fantastic material.

You might think that Bear may not have much comedy or a sense of humor to work with compared to Sesame Street. That’s actually not the case. There’s an episode where Bear gets a clock the shape of a bear(so he thinks), but it turns out to be a skunk instead. The delivery and timing came out to be hilarious. There’s a bit where Bear acknowledges the night by saying “The crickets, the wind...” then Ojo comes to say hi and Bear says “Ojo.” as if she was a part of the night’s beauty. This does remind me of something else that too reminds me of Ed, Edd n Eddy: an original soundtrack and score.

Similar to the Eds, Bear has an original soundtrack, instrumental score, and style of music so distinctive and so engaging that I’ve never heard it anywhere else. That doesn’t mean the songs all sound the same, the crew was clever to actually have a variety of music styles Bear could use for his song to explain a part of life or a moral. The Sesame Street theme sounds great, but the scenes are often quiet most of the time, which is not a bad thing(in fact, you could argue it’s more mature that way), but it makes me wonder if children are going to be as engaged with quiet scenes. And to Bear’s credit, if it sounds great and is not distracting to where you can’t hear what the characters say, there’s no problem.

I would certainly love to visit Sesame Street, but if I had to chose where I would prefer to go and visit for a day, I would honestly prefer the Big Blue House. The reason being that I can compare Sesame Street to an actual street in New York, where would I stay? Certainly friendly people around, but I don’t feel welcomed enough. In the Big Blue House, it would make me feel like I’m at home for a day, where the people I come to see care about me and love to teach and help me with life.

I feel this show doesn’t get enough credit and, in terms of today, is very underrated. I think Sesame Street has a bigger and better reputation than Bear in the Big Blue house simply because it’s an older show and because of the time it was released, it captivated the public at the time so much that it would evolve and keep growing with it. Though, I do feel Sesame Street has lost the charm it once had, whereas Bear knew when to begin and when to end. Both of these shows are an absolute treasure, but Bear has always been one of the nicest parts of my life, as we have always been one of the nicest parts of his. Simply for being there as children and engaging in the show, it really does pain me to know the show is not on television anymore.