Before Snuffleupagus, Imaginary vs. After Snuffleupagus Real

BFF has a dear friend back in Philly (maybe) named Sparks. I have heard about Sparks this and Sparks that and well, Sparks seems like a pretty cool guy. But for the fact I don’t think he really exists…

Not on Facebook? Is this possible?

Ok, it’s not just the Facebook part. It’s the Sparks is coming up for a concert…or not. Sparks is coming to the game, well…not. Sparks is…NOT.

I’ve decided to call Sparks- BFF’s Snuffleupagus, you know his IMAGINARY FRIEND!

Only…when saying this around some of my friends at work they didn’t know that Snuffy was imaginary. “But, Snuffy is real!”

Um, no…IMAGINARY. Big Bird’s IMAGINARY FRIEND.

Except. Well, we realized there’s an AGE divide.

Those who watched Sesame Street when Snuffy was imaginary (pre-1985)—me and BFF. And the youngsters POST-1985 where SNUFFY WAS OUTED AS REAL!

LOOK!

Character biography from Wikipedia

For many years, Big Bird was the only character on the show who saw Mr. Snuffleupagus. The main adult characters teased Big Bird when he said he had seen the Snuffleupagus, because they did not believe there was such an animal…This concept was meant to echo the existence of imaginary friends some young children have.

By the late 1970s, the storylines had the adult characters becoming increasingly frustrated with Big Bird using Snuffleupagus as a scapegoat whenever something went wrong while they were out of the room…

This running gag ended with the Season 17 premiere of Sesame Street, episode 2096 (first aired November 18, 1985, following the release of the Sesame Street film Follow that Bird). Big Bird is sick and tired of not having the grown-ups believing him when he tells them about Snuffy, so he decides to arrange for them to come to his nest when he yells the signaling word, Food… After Snuffy introduces himself, Big Bird does an “I told you so” routine to the adults.

Alright…alright…

But really? THIS FAR? Oh the 1980’s.

In an interview on a Canadian telethon it was revealed that Snuffy was finally introduced to the main human cast mainly due to a string of high profile and sometimes graphic stories of pedophilia and sexual abuse of children that had been aired on shows such as 60 Minutes and 20/20. The writers felt that by having the adults refuse to believe Big Bird despite the fact that he was telling the truth, they were scaring children into thinking that their parents would not believe them if they had been sexually abused and that they would just be better off remaining silent.

I mean…really? People had nothing else to worry about, eh?

Oh and in other news…I still am not sure Sparks is real.