We've definitely rediscovered Sesame Street, and we have come to love Elmo as practically a member of the family. There's really a phenomenal amount of research that's gone into the character development (Elmo's three years old, Grover is six, Prairie Dawn is a precocious four-year-old, Baby Bear's lisp, etc.) and relationships (Telly & Baby Bear, Elmo & Zoe, Bert & Ernie, Baby Bear & Curly Bear, Elmo & Grover, etc.). You could do a fascinating PhD thesis on the whole structure; hell, you could write a whole encyclopedia, considering the show's history. They've structured the show a lot more now than they did when I was a kid; there's a pretty standard sequence of events (opening thematic skit, letter of the day, number of the day, Elmo's World, Trash Gordon), with bits and pieces scattered around. Even Elmo's World follows a very tight script (song, topic intro, musical topic interlude, Mr. Noodle, ask kids, ask a baby, counting, looking in the drawer, one kid's story, talking with a representative of the topic, Dorothy imagining Elmo doing something with the topic, ending song), most likely because kids thrive on routines. The first eight notes of the Elmo's World theme song are practically a national holiday in our house; all other activity immediately ceases. MiniWolf's not at a point yet where he demands his daily Elmo, but I'd bet that if he was older, he'd be confused if it didn't happen. FWIW, Sesame Street released a three-DVD "Old School" set recently, which is good for a laugh if you can find it at your local library. I don't know that I'd spend money on it, mostly because some of the characters are waaaay different than they are now (different Gordon, Oscar is orange, Big Bird's head is smaller), but also because the stories are dated (the whole story of the first episode is very timely for 1969, but would never happen today), and because, quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than watch 35-year-old episodes of Sesame Street.