Though Sesame Street is aimed at young kids, the show knows that tons of parents are watching too. That’s why every once in a while, they throw us grown ups a bone with smooth parodies of adult-skewing content like Game of Thrones and Mad Men.
Next up for Sesame Street is Netflix’s prison dramedy Orange if the New Black.
“Orange is the New Snack” centers around Morello (as played by Yael Stone on the series), Red (originated by Kate Mulgrew) and Crazy Eyes/Suzanne (Uzo Aduba) as they welcome newbie Piper Snackman (i.e. Piper Chapman, as played by Taylor Schilling…yeah, we know these puns are starting to lose steam).
Unlike other pop culture parodies from Sesame Street, “Snack” makes wholesale changes to the source material’s basic premises. Rather than being locked up in prison, the characters here are simply attending “Litchfield Academy” which explains the uniforms. I guess it’s understandable that the powers that be didn’t want to transplant Sesame Street to a maximum security prison.
Then again, the series did introduce the character of Alex, a Muppet whose father was in prison, a few years ago. Meanwhile, it’s not exactly a Shakespearean plot twist that the character of Pornstache (played in human form by Pablo Schreiber on the series) is renamed “Mr. Mustache” for the preschool set. We can support that change as well.
One similar strand of DNA between the two – Piper remains the most insufferable character of all.
Netflix’s Orange is the New Black premieres season five on Friday, June 9. The Sesame Street version is right here.
