Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce
A never-aired episode addressing divorce through Snuffy's family.
"Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce" is a 1992 Sesame Street episode that was never broadcast. It was produced to address the topic of divorce but was shelved after testing revealed unintended negative effects on young viewers. The decision not to air it is considered a notable instance of the show's producers prioritizing child welfare over production costs.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Sesame Street
- Season
- 23
- Episode
- 19
- Writer
- Norman Stiles
- Production
- 2985
- Air date
- Unaired
Facts from the source article.
Background
Sesame Street, which debuted in 1969, was the first children's television program to employ a detailed curriculum with both cognitive and affective goals. Initially, cognitive skills were emphasized, but after the first season, critics pushed the staff to address affective goals more directly, following extensive research and planning. During the 1980s, the curriculum began to overtly tackle affective topics, such as grief after the 1982 death of Will Lee, who played Mr. Hooper. The show also addressed love, marriage, and childbirth through the storyline of Luis and Maria in the 1988 and 1989 seasons. Real-life disasters were covered as well, including the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
Development
The Children's Television Workshop considered addressing divorce for many years before developing an episode. In 1989, writer and director Jon Stone expressed interest in writing a script about divorce, but executive producer Dulcy Singer vetoed the idea in 1990, believing divorce was irrelevant to the show's target audience of inner-city and financially disadvantaged families. She suggested focusing on a single-parent family instead. The topic was revisited the following year after U.S. Census Bureau statistics indicated that 40 percent of all children in the United States would soon live in divorced households. The episode was written by Norman Stiles, who had also written the 1983 Mr. Hooper death episode.
Reception
After filming, the episode was screened before a test audience of 60 children in four daycare centers. The results showed several unintended negative effects. Children believed that arguments between parents would lead to divorce and did not understand that arguing is normal in marriage. They were unsure that Snuffy and his sister Alice's parents still loved them after the divorce and were confused about where the parents lived, especially the father, who had not appeared on the show before. Many viewers thought Snuffy and Alice would never see their father again. Based on these findings, the Children's Television Workshop decided not to air the episode despite the expense. Research director Valeria Lovelace recommended scrapping it and going back to the drawing board. Producer Michael Loman recalled that the cost was absorbed and the episode never aired. It was the first time the CTW had produced an episode that, after testing, was found not to work. The episode was cited as an example of the CTW's practice of listening to children and putting their needs first.
Legacy
Sesame Street did not address divorce again until November 2012, when it produced Little Children, Big Challenges: Divorce as part of its resiliency initiative. In November 2019, footage from "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce" was featured in an exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image and also aired during the 2019 documentary Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days.
More in Sesame Street
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced