Game of Thrones parody video takes aim at HBO’s partnership with Sesame Street
By Dan Selcke
Well, that didn’t take long.
Yesterday, it was announced that HBO made a deal with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization that produces Sesame Street, to air and stream new episodes of the children’s program months before they air on PBS for free.
As Sesame Street has run its new episodes on PBS for the last 45 years, the deal raised some eyebrows. The deal will allow Sesame Workshop to produce 35 episodes per year, as opposed to the 18 they make now, but critics worry it will exclude children from lower and middle-income families that don’t have access to HBO.
More practically, having a famous children’s program on the same roster as a show like Game of Thrones—which featured a suicide, a mutiny, an assassination, a bloody battle, and a naked walk of shame in its latest season finale—seems a little odd. That’s not to say that Sesame Street won’t be able to find a niche on HBO, but the network has to know that videos like this are inevitable.
I think my favorite part was when those terrifying wight children from “Hardhome” rushed Karsi as the kids sang about “friendly neighbors.” Also, we can’t bring up Sesame Street and Game of Thrones without posting the actual Thrones parody that appeared on the children’s show, Game of Chairs.
Who knows? Now that they’re under the same roof, maybe we’ll have a full Game of Thrones-themed episode of Sesame Street. True, that’s exactly the kind of corporate cross-promotion critics of the deal afraid of, but it would be fun.
Next: The Small Council: Who was the best actor of Game of Thrones Season 5?