long before coach’s death was shamelesly covered up and procrastinated over on cheers, sesame street taught all us young ‘uns how life is fleeting. or maybe it was at the same time. i dunno. c’mon, i was only alive for seven years of the 80s.

anyway, sesame street took charge when the guy who played mr. hooper, will lee, died of a heart attack. they used it as a great opportunity to teach kids that death is natural, and that grieving is too. i applaud that. but i’m not sure i applaud big bird being a big dummy about it.

you’d think watching big bird struggle with the concept of death is as rough as it gets. he kept thinking mr. hooper’s gonna open up that little store of his, throw out candy to all the little muppets and go do whatever he did when he wasn’t working. that’s pretty sadsville. but then again, big bird couldn’t even pronounce mr. hooper’s name! some friend! he had no right to grieve. so what does he do when he finds out his friend is dead? he draws a crappy picture of mr. hooper and mispronounces his name again! even a horrible, foreshadowing joke about not “hanging with mr. hooper” would have been tolerable, if impossible. just say his name right, you dodo.

thankfully, mr. hooper lives on not only in sesame street dvds and merchandise, but this commercial for pac-man on atari.

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