After introducing an impoverished Muppet in 2011, Sesame Street will continue to help America's preschoolers cope with society's ongoing collapse by introducing Alex, a Muppet whose dad is in jail.
For the moment, Alex will not appear on Sesame Street itself, but in an online series called "Little Children, Big Challenges," which began in December with an episode dealing with divorce. The series was introduced as a way to help children cope with difficult situations that weren't deemed appropriate for the broader Sesame Street audience. And as America continues to jail more and more of its citizens, even as crime rates drop, one in 28 children now has a parent behind bars, so producers wanted to tackle the subject. The "Incarceration" episode was released this month.
As of yet, it hasn't been revealed whether Alex's father committed a serious crime, or was simply locked up as part of the NYPD's controversial "stop and frisk" initiative, which critics say unfairly target African-Americans, Hispanics, and other minority groups, possibly including Muppets. Meanwhile on Sesame Street, cookie theft remains rampant.