I had relied heavily on Steve Antonuccio's extremely persuasive message,
therefore both my message, and Steve's are reproduced further below.

Ms. Lewis rationale is SO convoluted, So contrived, SO creative that it 
stretches every fiber of credulity, and makes one hesitate to dignify such  
a "spinfest" with an answer, lest one would think it had any merit. 

However, respond I will.

Ms. Lewis justification is based on "Sesame Street's" desire to enhance 
the child's viewing experience by having the "care giver" share that time,
and to encourage that adult viewing, "SS" brings on adult celebrities.

I will not debate such dubious programming tactics. I will however point out 
that the celebrities Ms. Lewis cites, are affiliated with material that is 
"G" rated!!!
 
Ms. Falco, stars in "The Sopranos", and "Oz", which are NOT "G" rated!!!!!!
A rather obvious and important distinction!!!!

James Gandolfini, THE Star of "The Sopranos" refused an invitation to appear 
at a Kindergarten class, because he felt it inappropriate, lest it give an 
apparent "stamp of approval" to "impressionable" children. 

James Edward Olmos, the husband of "Dr. Melfi", (Lorraine Bracco), likewise a 
star on "The Sopranos", wisely and justifiably criticizes "The Sopranos" for 
being "Racist" (Anti-Italian). 

Have the producers of "Sesame Street" dumbed themselves down, to such a 
degree, in order to better "relate" to their "immature" audience, that they 
are 
unable make to make sensible "Adult" distinctions and decisions?  

The disclaimer that celebrity decisions are not shaped by relationships with 
corporate sponsors is so unbelievable that it insults one's intelligence.

Which of the following are deskplates of the Producers of "SS"??
"Get Me The Money" or "Greed is Good", or It's the Economics, Stupid!!!

It certainly is not "Spare the Children". 
=========================================================
January 11, 2002

Dear Mr. Annotico:

Thank you for your interest in Sesame Street.  We take the concerns of our
viewers very seriously and we appreciate your taking the time to express
your thoughts in writing.  On behalf of Sesame Workshop, I want to formally
respond to your inquiry regarding Edie Falco's upcoming appearance on Sesame
Street.  

Our research indicates that when parents or caregivers watch the show with
their children the learning experience is enhanced.  The use of celebrity
appearances on Sesame Street is intended to encourage adult viewing.  As you
may know, the show has been graced over the years with a wide variety of
well known celebrity appearances, ranging from Ray Romano, Christopher Reeve
and Julia Roberts to Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN.  These
celebrity decisions are made by our executive producers in the course of
their creative development of each season and are in no way shaped by our
relationships with corporate sponsors or partners.

In addition, while adults may be familiar with Ms. Falco's role on The
Sopranos, we believe they can make the distinction between the character she
plays and Ms. Falco herself.  Most importantly, our core audience of
pre-school children are not aware of the identity of our celebrities much
less the characters they may portray.

Sesame Workshop is committed to developing media content that addresses the
educational and developmental needs of children.  We certainly would never
intend to offend you or any of our audience and hope you can respect our
position in this matter.  Thanks again for writing.  

Sincerely,

Ellen Lewis
Acting Vice President, Communications
Sesame Workshop
Ellen.Lewis@sesameworkshop.org (Lewis, Ellen)
==========================================================
To: Mr. Michael Loman
 %  Sesame Street 

I am advised that you tersely responded to a compatriot, Steven 
Antonuccio, when he in a full and well reasoned manner, objected to 
your inviting Edie Falco, a star on 'The Sopranos' to "Sesame Street'.

You stated: "That if he had a problem with The Sopranos he 
should write the The Sopranos and not Sesame Street."

I would characterize your response as being in the very least, "curt", 
"rude", "dismissive", and totally "unresponsive". 

Since intellect, reason, and diplomacy brought on only sarcasm, 
allow me a bit more direct.

'Sesame Street' invited, or acceded to an offer to appear, from Edie 
Falco.

The question again is, WHY would 'Sesame Street' permit a person 
starring in a VERY ADULT TV Show whose Core Values were Violence, 
Misogyny, Profanity, and Racism be allowed to appear on a KID SHOW.  

A further question would be: Do you Mr. Loman, NOT have a problem 
with "The Sopranos" on "Sesame Street"?

Or put more pointedly, do you have NO SHAME for approving her 
appearance, and does AOL have NO SHAME for requesting,  
suggesting, or permitting such an appearance. 

By inviting her, Sesame Street is implicitly CONDONING "The Sopranos", 
and ALL their conduct. The Violence and Mayhem, the Misogyny, the 
Profanity and the Racism!!!! 

On the Sesame Street Web Site, 
<<http://www.sesamestreetlive.com/privacy.asp>>
The Producers state:  Actually, we've found that most children have 
"graduated" from Sesame Street by age nine.

By Falco's appearance, YOU therefore are "promoting" 'The Sopranos' 
to YOUR audience of UNDER the age of NINE year olds!!! ???

You are featuring a person, whose TV Show would NOT be allowed to 
be SEEN, by the children of Responsible Parents!!! ???  

The FTC is exerting great efforts to discourage R-rated movies, to stop
advertising where teens and children are likely to comprise a large part 
of the audience. 

On one hand, the FTC is concerned about BLATANT Advertising of 
Inappropriate Films on TV in time slots exposing children. 

Here, we have an INSIDIOUS Promotion of one of the MOST Inappropriate 
TV Shows, 'The Sopranos' , TARGETING a KID Show!!!!!!!

Falco was ONLY invited because of her starring on the Sopranos!!!!
(and 'The Sopranos' appear on HBO, owned by AOL/Time Warner who 
contribute to 'Sesame Street').

Using Elmo, Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Oscar, and Grover to "Shill"
'The Sopranos' to Kids is beneath contempt!!

You are engaging in the worst possible form of Prostitution, engaging 
in the Victimization of KIDS. That puts you in the same category as 
PEDOPHILES!!!!

Words alone can not express the degree of disgust I have for these 
actions.

Richard Annotico
trimtantre@aol.com
========================================================
To: Sesame Street Productions
From: Steve Antonuccio

Once in awhile you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say what
is important to you.  What means something to you?  What are your
priorities in life?  For almost my entire life I have supported public
television as an enthusiastic supporter.  I believe in public
television, I believe in the value of programs like Sesame Street, and I
certainly believe in the first amendment and my freedom to express
myself financially by endorsing the things I philosophically support.
After twenty-five years of supporting PBS, and after raising my two
daughters on Sesame Street, I have to ask myself an important question
and I need your help.  Do I continue to support public television?  Are
the honor and respect of the people who came before me, poor peasant
immigrants who sacrificed their entire lives so that I could pursue the
American dream on a level playing field, more important to me than my
support for public television?   Let me explain.

It has come to my attention that Edie Falco, an actress on the series
The Sopranos, has been invited to appear on Sesame Street.  As an
Italian American, as a human being, I have several problems with the
choice of talent and the show she represents.

Edie Falco represents probably the most racist, misogynist, and violent
program on television.  Until she became a lead actress on The Sopranos,
the body of her work included playing a sadistic prison guard on another
extremely violent and dehumanizing series on HBO called "OZ."   She is
not a singer, she is not a musician, and she is not even a parent.  She
is part of a racist series that has made a concerted effort to soften
their image by peddling their stars to programs that are respected like
Sesame Street.  Let's be honest, Edie Falco does not elevate the image
of Sesame Street by being on the show, Edie Falco and The Sopranos
elevates their image by appearing on Sesame Street.  There is no
question who benefits from this relationship.

Now lets talk about The Sopranos, shall we.  I force myself to watch the
program; I have seen four episodes, because I don’t think it is fair to
criticize a show without watching it.  I recommend that you all watch
the program, so that you can agree or disagree with the points I'm about
to make.  I'll give you three reasons why The Sopranos is a destructive
and negative show.

THE RACISM

Since the show first premiered, The Sopranos has been universally
condemned by every major Italian American organization in this country
for its racism and stereotyping.   Although there are a few positive
Italian American characters, the vast majority of the Italian American
men on that series, including the lead character Tony Soprano, are
despicable low lifes.  Tony Soprano is a pimp, a drug dealer, a
murderer, a gangster and he physically and emotionally abuses women.
Hardly someone I want to represent my proud Italian heritage being
cablecast into millions of households.  The series is without much
argument, a racist and hurtful portrayal of Italian Americans

THE VIOLENCE

I don't know how you feel about the use of guns as a way for people to
solve problems.  I don't think that is something you ever promoted on
Sesame Street.  You have to go no further then the logo of "The
Sopranos" to get an idea where that show is coming from.  Instead of the
letter "R" in the word Soprano, the series producers have replaced it
with a gun.   The show very openly teaches young people that they can
solve their problems with guns.  This is not a subtle message; it is
right in the damn logo.   Exceedingly violent, the show uses violence as
a very effective tool to develop an audience.  In almost every episode
Italian Americans, primarily using guns, murder people in graphic detail
and rarely find themselves in prison.  In fact they are rewarded,
honored, and respected for their use of violence.  My daughter just
graduated from a very typical suburban school in Colorado, in the past
two years she has known two male friends who were murdered with handguns
by other teenagers in separate incidents.  I don't have to tell you how
destructive that type of behavior is to the kids who were murdered and
to the families and friends that were devastated by it.  Now murder has
been around since the beginning of time, but why do we have to promote
it and romanticize gun violence in a program like The Sopranos?
Certainly HBO has the first amendment right to do a show on almost any
topic they want, but does Sesame Street have to lower themselves by
legitimizing a series like this by featuring one of their stars.  And
yes...by featuring Edie Falco you are giving your endorsement to the
series.  Again I ask, who benefit more?  Sesame Street or The Sopranos?

THE MISOGNY

Even if you disagree with me that The Sopranos is a racist and violent
show, how about the Misogyny?  The man who created the show, David
Chase, had a very difficult time with his Mother and I'm convinced is a
misogynist and reflects his feelings about women in his program.  Tony
Soprano's Italian American Mother tried to kill him.  All the female
characters on The Sopranos are either evil, victims, or sexual objects.
In the past season, by far the most violent of the three, David Chase
features a woman graphically being raped and in another incident shows a
pregnant stripper graphically being beat to death.  Now I am sure that
there are people who watch that kind of behavior and are repulsed by
it.  I'm certainly one of them.  But you and I both know there are also
people who watch that kind of behavior and get off on it and try to
duplicate it.  The show features in almost every episode the Bad-a-Bing
club, a strip club filled with women who are prostitutes and are
exploited as sexual objects, this allows the producers to give their
predominately male viewers plenty of gratuitous sex to watch.  Now I
don't have a problem with nudity or sex, except when it is demeaning to
woman and gratuitous.  Why do you want a misogynistic show associated
with Sesame Street?  Sesame Street, a program created by a woman and
certainly a show that features the creative talents of many capable
women?  Again, who benefits more from this relationship, The Sopranos or
Sesame Street?   I would hate to have some young child flipping through
the channels and then stopping on The Sopranos because it has the same
nice lady he or she saw on Sesame Street.  That is the message you are
sending to children, the actors of  The Sopranos are to be respected, so
why shouldn't the show be respected as well.

THE FINAL QUESTION

As I stated earlier, I believe in the first amendment.  I appreciate you
reading my letter and letting me express my opinion on why Edie Falco of
The Sopranos should not be on Sesame Street.  If it were just the
appearance of Edie Falco on Sesame Street I would be happy to express my
opinion and continue my support for PBS.  PBS has featured some many
fine programs that promote Italian Americans and Italian American
culture and I appreciate that.  The big question I am asking, and have
yet to have answered in this.

DOES THE APPEARANCE OF EDIE FALCO ON SESAME STREET 
HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT AOL IS A MAJOR 
UNDERWRITER OF SESAME STREET?

Here is the problem.  AOL Time Warner owns HBO and HBO produces The
Sopranos.  AOL is an underwriter of Sesame Street.  This is why I
question my support for PBS anymore.  If program underwriters on PBS are
dictating the content of a program, I think that is a serious ethical
question and conflict of interest.  If that is the case, I will never
support PBS again.  If the appearance of Edie Falco was just something
that happened without some sort of friendly suggestion from AOL then I
will continue to support PBS.  As of today I have not gotten an answer.
Please at least be honest with me when you respond.  Again, I ask the
question.

DOES THE APPEARANCE OF EDIE FALCO ON SESAME STREET 
HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT AOL IS A MAJOR 
UNDERWRITER OF  SESAME STREET?

I look forward to your prompt and honest response to my questions.