The first two volumes of a Sesame Street DVD have been deemed unsuitable for children. The episodes feature bad role models such as the binge-eating, chain-smoking Cookie Monster. And then there was depressive Oscar the Grouch who lived in dustbins. According to the show’s current producers, this is all too much for today’s kids.

Surely, Sesame Street is preparing kids for real life. They’re more likely to encounter a miserable guy who lives in a skip, than alien Teletubbies with a pet hoover called Noo Noo. Aren’t they? And, in Sesame Street they speak English, spell and count - rather than just incoherently jabbering and making farting noises à la In The Night Garden (we love the Pontipines, by the way).

Next they’ll be changing Sesame Street’s name so as not to exclude children with seed allergies…here's a quick blast from the past. Remember the characters?

(Image: from I y e r’s flickr stream)