Sesame Street creates Orange is the New Black parody; why?

Sesame Street is a show that at its core about learning. However, at the same time it’s a show that needs to find some new ways to generate publicity for itself as well as a way to encourage parents to want to watch the show with their kids instead of just plopping them in front of the TV set. Therefore, we get things like the new video spoof of Orange is the New Black entitled “Orange is the New Snack.” You can see that in full below.

Basically, the premise of this entire parody is to tell a story about how the show’s version of Piper is intent on making sure that oranges are the new snack. Consider this a way for the show to teach a message about healthy living while also augmenting a popular Netflix show in order to suit its narrative.

With this said, the show really had to stretch the Orange is the New Black concept so much further than they did some of their other recent spoofs about Downton Abbey, True Blood, and Sons of Anarchy. For one, there was clearly some hesitation on the part of the show to make it clear that these characters were in prison, so it moved more to a classroom setting. One of the only real commonalities that was present here was that the same characters  from the show were present in one form or another … minus all of the killings and some of the other inappropriate content that kids shouldn’t be allowed to see.

Let’s get back to why Sesame Street does this, since the last thing they should want is for kids to think about wanting to watch Orange is the New Black or talking about going to prison. The show and the producers behind it know that most of their viewers are too young to really know what Orange is the New Black is to begin with, so they won’t be tempted to find or watch it. They know, meanwhile, that there are plenty of parents out there who probably need to be encouraged in order to be engaged with their kids while watching TV instead of using it as a babysitter. Creating sketches like this gives adults something familiar, and that’s huge for encouraging them to watch and creating an interactive learning environment. It’s a valuable tool, and we’ve seen it used by Disney for years now where parents get the adult jokes thrown in here and there and it goes over the heads of the kids – like the scene in Zootopia where Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps end up at a nudist colony for animals.

What do you think about this new parody, and do you think that Sesame Street should keep spoofing adult TV shows? Share below!

Meanwhile, head over here to get some other news pertaining to Orange is the New Black prior to its premiere episode airing on Friday! (Photo: Sesame Street.)