Fairy Tale Sighting on Sesame Street

Has anyone watched Sesame Street recently? My daughter and I watch a LOT of Sesame Street. They've been doing lots of clever things lately with fractured fairy tales, and I love it. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Little Red Riding Hood thinks everyone is her grandmother. She sees Elmo, hugs him, and cries "Grandma!" This is the best explanation for why Little Red falls for the wolf-in-grandma's-clothing trick that I've ever seen. Brilliant.

2. Baby Bear's favorite game is Porridge-Ball. To play, you shout "Porridge!" as you toss the ball and "Porridge!" again when you catch it. (He LOVES porridge.) While he's playing, Cinderella's fairy godmother appears and says that the ball is actually Cinderella -- the godmother mixed up the spell and turned Cinderella into a ball instead of sending her to a ball. She transforms the ball back into Cinderella, who then stumbles around the street mumbling "Porridge! Porridge!" in a wonderfully deranged fashion.

3. Another time, the Big Bad Wolf auditions a replacement. He needs a vacation, you see, because he's working two jobs: chasing the 3 little pigs and disguising himself as Little Red's Grandma.

A big thank you to the writers of Sesame Street for introducing kids to fractured fairy tales -- and thereby preparing them to enjoy INTO THE WILD. :)