After spending decades living in the shadow of a certain aggressively cute colleague with red fur who refers to himself in the third person, Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster is finally breaking out and stealing the spotlight for himself—probably by grabbing it, shoving it in his mouth, mashing it up, and saying “om nom nom nom.” This February, he’ll be starring in his very own one-hour special on PBS, titled The Cookie Thief. According to Variety, the plot will revolve around a bunch of cookie-themed art—”Muncha Lisa” and “Girl With The Cookie Earring,” for example—being stolen from the “newly opened cookie art museum.” Naturally, Cookie Monster is the lead suspect, so he must go on the lam until he can clear his name and find the real cookie thief. Also, Rachel Dratch will appear in some capacity.
We don’t know very many other specifics about the special, but PBS did release a clip showing Cookie Monster getting cornered by the police while standing on a dam. It featured a thrilling exchange between him and one of the officers, where Cookie Monster shouted, “Me no steal cookies,” and the cop responded, “Elmo don’t care.” Then, Cookie Monster jumped off the dam, and it was awesome. Unfortunately, we made all of that up, but Sesame Street does have a tendency to sneak in references to things that kids wouldn’t understand, so that would be right up its alley.
Anyway, Sesame Street executive producer Carl-Lynn Parente says that the special will teach kids—and adults, we assume—about “impulse control, following directions, and managing emotions,” all of which match up with Cookie Monster’s modern “cookies are a sometimes snack” philosophy. Also, all three of those lessons are good to keep in mind when a cop has you cornered at the top of a dam, and you decide to jump off rather than do what he tells you to do. The Cookie Thief will also kick off an entire week of new Sesame Street episodes, all starting on February 16.