Sesame Street "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce" (partially found episode of children's puppetry TV series; 1992)

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Screenshot from the episode, taken from Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street.

Status: Lost


Originally intended to air on April 10, 1992 as Sesame Street’s 2895th episode was "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce"; the episode was pulled before going to air after extremely negative reactions following multiple test screenings and is notorious for being the only installment of Sesame Street to have never been aired, even to this day.[1][2]

As the title suggests, the episode attempted to deal with the sensitive subject of divorce, by depicting Snuffy's parents going through a separation. Many children allegedly came away from the test screening confused and with mixed messages; some of them interpreted the episode to mean that their parents no longer loved them while others were lead to the impression that their parents, like Snuffy's, were also going to get a divorce. It was decided that the topic was simply too difficult for children of that age to fully comprehend and the episode was scrapped entirely; episode 2895 was shortly thereafter replaced with an episode focusing on Oscar the Grouch getting a visit from his brother Ernest.[3]

blameitonjorge's countdown video containing the recovered footage (starts at 11:18)

Aside from the aforementioned test screenings, the episode has never been shown in public, despite being fully complete. For roughly eight years, the only physical evidence of the episode's existence available is a lone screenshot as found in the 2009 publication Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street. Video footage of the episode did appear in a video by YouTube user blameitonjorge titled "9 Episodes of Kids Shows That Dealt With Serious Issues"; the footage lacks audio to make way for Jorge's commentary. It is unknown where this footage was obtained, as its source is not listed in the video's description.


Notably, Sesame Street eventually tried tackling the topic of divorce once more in late 2012, with the production of a limited audience video and resource guide, (the first in their Little Children, Big Challenges series), in which Abby Cadabby discusses her parents' prior divorce.[4]

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