Sesame Street/Heartwarming

• "Farewell, Mr. Hooper." While indeed a major Tear Jerker due to the real-life death of Will Lee, let it never be said there weren't heartwarming moments. Big Bird, Maria and Gordon hugging is one such moment. Another is Big Bird's drawing of Mr. Hooper. Unable to give it to his friend like he wanted, Big Bird kept it. It would ultimately be hung over his nest, where it has remained for nearly thirty years. As said on the main page, the loss is handled with honesty, dignity and respect - showing how much both Lee and his character were loved.
  • In something of a follow-up skit, Big Bird, Maria and David fondly remember him, which puts both the drawing and old footage on display.
  • Though not directly in the show, when Big Bird sings at Jim Henson's funeral.
  • During Mr. Hooper's tenure, there was a Running Gag of Big Bird mispronouncing his name - leading to a comically frustrated correction. Caroll Spinney once related a quote from the late Will Lee about why Big Bird was always being corrected:

"He once said to me, 'I will always correct Big Bird because I am proud of being Mr. Hooper.'"

• During Christmas Eve on Sesame Street Ernie stumbles upon one of Bert's lost paperclips. He identifies it immediately as a "1957 ACME." Now that's friendship. Ernie doesn't really care about paperclips, but Bert means so much to him that he has actually paid attention and learned enough about paperclips to make that identification.
• Again from Christmas Eve, Mr. Hooper has just returned the paperclips and Rubber Duckie. Bert and Ernie are upset that they don't have anything to give Mr. Hooper in return. But Mr. Hooper just smiles. He got to see how much the two cared about each other, and that was a gift to him.
• Cookie Monster asks his cousin to find something wonderful that starts with the letter "C." Cousin Monster keeps giving vegetables (corn, califlower, carrot). Then Cookie Monster gives Cousin a one more hint "first class sensational!", and Cousin Monster thinks about it and says "Ohhhhh, Cousin!" and gives Cookie a hug. It's not what Cookie Monster had in mind, but still wonderful. Awwwwwww.
• This troper's memory is fuzzy, but that one song where Cookie Monster defines a friend as someone you give your last cookie for.
  • Here ya go!
• The song "I Don't Want To Live On The Moon." All of it, really, but especially this part:

Though I'd like to look down at the Earth from above,
I would miss all the places and people I love.
So although I may go, I'll be coming home soon,
'Cause I don't want to live on the moon.

• "Cookie Monster isn't a letter of the alphabet!"
• Elmo singing "Proud" with his father, who is coming home from the Army. The video is interspersed with real pictures of military personnel and their little kids for extra effect.
• I Love My Hair. A Sesame Street writer adopted a daughter from Ethiopia, and after she told him that she wanted long straight hair like her white Barbie dolls, he wrote the song as a way to show her that she's beautiful just the way she is.
• Luis and Maria's wedding, with the entire cast's happy thoughts expressed in song. Luis's uncle and Maria's mother don't hesitate to share how proud they are. Linda and Bob both wonder how they would feel being married to each other, but they each keep it to themselves.
• Gabriella's birth, which Maria recalled as "a wonderful experience." And Oscar the Grouch is trying too hard to not care... but he can't repress it any longer.

Big Bird: Welcome to Sesame Street, and the world.

• Snuffy and Big Bird put on a play to recount the adoption of Miles.
• "One small voice can teach the world a song."
• For the finale of their 35th anniversary special, the main cast performed a song called The Street I Live On.

---

Back to Sesame Street