Your Thoughts: When Parents Are Deployed

[Phillip Chapman]

The new Sesame Workshop special "When Parents Are Deployed" will begin airing on PBS stations across the country this evening. It will be repeated at different times in different markets over the next few days so check your local listings for times in your area.

After you see the special post your thoughts here. Do you think Sesame Workshop is moving in a positive direction with this special or do you feel like they are becoming too political? Let us know your thoughts.

[MelissaY1]

I just checked TVGuide.com looks like they'll be airing it on New Year's Eve at 6 p.m. EST here in NY on PBS

[travellingpat]

Thanks...cause they aired some special on whales near me...how much of this special actually has to do with sesame street anyways?

[MelissaY1]

Originally Posted by travellingpat

Thanks...cause they aired some special on whales near me...how much of this special actually has to do with sesame street anyways?

You're welcome. Well it's supposed to be about how the Sesame producers have dealt with these topics recently on the show. I haven't been watching regularly but I think they did something with Elmo's dad going someplace...I'm sure it wasn't Iraq though LOL
I hope the new airdate I saw now is correct. this sounded real interesting to me...

[travellingpat]

Did anyone get to see it? Or was it just the East Coast that got pushed to another date? I wanted to see this as well

[Big Bird Fan]

MY PBS station aired it last night at 10:30pm. I came in here expecting everyone but me to see it. I guess no one in here saw it on Wednesday, or at least haven't posted yet.

Anyway, I thought it was a very good special. Not too much Sesame Street stuff, but it was very informative and showed a side of military life people don't think about too much. It didn't seem political at all, just trying to help families cope while a parent is overseas. It got pretty emotional at times.

They showed a few clips from the Elmo version for kids, and I thought SW did a great job as usual. I don't think anyone here has seen that, so I'll give a description of what happened.

It started with Elmo's dad asking him what day it was (He said Thursday. ) and it was the day where his dad had to leave. They made no mention of where. Elmo was sad of course, and would miss him tucking him into bed at night and saying goodnight to the moon. They solved this problem with each of them having a picture of the other, and at bedtime they'd both say goodnight to the moon and each other at their respective places. It looked like Elmo's dad was in a house, which didn't make sense, but I guess they didn't want to scare kids by showing him in a tent or whatever.

They ended it with Elmo's dad coming home, and while Elmo was happy to see him, he didn't know what to say since they'd been apart for so long. So Elmo's dad just said he enjoyed just being there with him. At the very end they sang a song about being proud of each other. I really liked it, and some real families said how much that song helped them too. Too bad it'll probably never be released.

[Erine81981]

It was just fine. I would love to see the other verison for the kids. It was cool to see all these parents and their kids. We need to know that those guys and woman are survering our country. So I give them the best wishes for all those familes that are having to go through this but knowing that their doing what they have to do. So thanks to everyone on that show for serving our country! Three cheers for the familes dads and moms!

[abiraniriba]

I saw it and liked it. Kind of interesting how in the homecoming segment Elmo almost walked right past his Daddy after seeing him and saying hi to him. I liked what one Veteran said about how with his triplets he won't be getting any second chances, when he misses one 5th b'day he's missed them all, kind of makes you think. Here's hoping we all live to find a better way.

[MelissaY1]

I recorded it but haven't watched it yet. Sounds interesting though...

[StreetScenes]

Here's a promo for "Coming Home: Military Families Cope With Change," which will air on PBS on April 1. Perhaps this is the one Kevin Clash was referring to when he mentioned once that they were producing a difficult special in response to miliitary families' requests for them to address the issue of when a parent doesn't come home.