The One Episode of Sesame Street That Was Banned From TV

Almost everyone at one point grew up watching Sesame Street. Learning our ABC's and Numbers from the likes of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and countless others. Sesame Street was the best educational show for children on TV. That was until one episode of Sesame Street that was scaring kids so much, parents wrote into the network to get the episode pulled from syndication.

#sesamestreet #thewizardofoz #nerdstalgic

Written by Chris Teregis
Edited by Nick Murphy

[Gabriel-sqyq]

What I find so cool about this is that shortly after this controversy, Mr. Rogers invited Margaret Hamilton onto his show to show kids that not only was the witch not real, but that Margaret was a kind and nice person.

[natesamadhi]

The thing I love about classic Sesame Street is that they never "talked down" to kids. They understood that children were still people and respected that children still faced real challenges & struggles, despite being "young".

People love acting like kids don't have problems just because kids don't pay bills, but [being a kid] trying to navigate social environments with potential bullies, abusers, and toxic home environments still affect children deeply. I hate how out-of-touch people are with kids.

[pixelpastiche]

Sesame Street: “Face your fears.”
Everyone: **CONFUSED SCREECHING NOISES**

[s.m.mannix]

Mister Rogers had Margaret Hamilton on as a guest star around the same time, and did a much better job of keeping it wholesome and assuaging children's fears. It would be nice to see a video comparing how the two shows handled the character since they tended to air in a block on the same channels.

[phinyo]

The funniest thing about this episode is Big Bird dual wielding and ready to throw down with the Wicked Witch.

[sean_mccadden]

Such a good actor she got her episode of Sesame street banned from circulation 😂

[MatthewHoogstra]

I love the aspect ratio/old TV effect, it really adds a lot to the feel of the video.

[zEropoint]

they could have done this concept with a muppet witch. if the witch had been a muppet, i think the whole thing would have been salvageable. i realize the whole point is "it's margaret hamilton, " but the story itself would have worked the way they wanted it to if the witch character hadn't been a real person.

[TheAtoll]

I love Nerstalgic's deep dives into the lost and forgotten. Channels like this inspired me to create an entire channel dedicated to the cult classic Waterworld (1995).

[CaptainMarvelsSon]

It's amazing that this footage was only recently discovered/recovered after years of investigation by Internet sleuths who dedicate themselves to find lost/hidden/banned material.

Credit where it is due!

[rtlthemusician]

This episode definitely scared parents more than the kids

[Aflay]

Blameitonjorge made a video covering this as well. While Nerdstolgic covers the cultural impact of the show, Jorge covers the lost media aspect of this episode. Love seeing both your takes back to back.

[babyrodent]

After watching the episode, or rather the Wicked Witch storyline, this got me thinking how Sesame Street could have taught the value of facing your fears and standing up to people that want to do kids harm. Seeing the Witch disguise herself as a nice old lady actually provided something of an unspoken lesson for kids- in this case, sometimes the worst of personalities can often be in the form of seemingly nice or trustworthy people. This episode could have been beneficial for kids to help them show that they can be the bigger person and show that the worst of personalities shouldn't hold them down.

The reason why I said this is because, unfortunately, I had to go through a situation like that as a child with a few teachers that seemed nice and trustworthy on the outside, but were truly the nastiest people in reality (one was a first grade teacher, the other two were a couple of daycare teachers). Had I seen this episode when I was a kid, then it would have taught me the opportunity to tell my parents what was going on.

[TheDukeofMadness]

Sesame Street has been a staple of educating children, about life as well as numbers and letters. The episode where they talk about Mr. Hooper's death was my first experience with it. It still resonates with me 40 years later.

[cousinmajin]

"Kids these days are so soft and offended by everything!!!"

Parents in the 70s: "The wicked witch is too scary for my little baby!!! 😱"

[TheRealBlackarrot]

I love how Oscar's like "How You doin'?"

[hazukidarkside]

You should do the banned Teletubbies episode next. Considering it's a show for even younger audience than Sesame Street, It's far more traumatising!

[stev]

We had the VHS of The Wizard of Oz when I was a kid and I don’t know if it was the “old timey” feeling of the movie but I was deeply terrified of the wicked witch of the west. She gave me a feeling of dread at that age. This would have ended me.

[KidFresh]

Margaret Hamilton founded the preschool my daughter attends. She was an incredible woman. Her acting in The Wizard of OZ scared the crap out of 5 year old me; but her appearance on Mr. Rogers undid the "damage."

[kingofravens]

I kinda find it really fucking sad that irl a lot of kids were afraid of Margaret because of her role as the wicked witch especially because she was a former teacher 😞