the buzz log

A very special day is coming soon, boys and girls. Next week marks the 40th anniversary of the first episode of "Sesame Street." Four decades later, the PBS show is still going strong, a testament to the enduring power of pro-education monsters and catchy tunes.

Throughout the day, lookups on "sesame street birthday" posted triple-digit gains. Also huge were various stars of the show. Big Bird, thanks in part to a clever call out on Google's front page, boasted huge search spikes. Another biggie: Our personal favorite resident of "Sesame Street," Cookie Monster. Web searches on the ravenous beast surged 325%.

We also noticed some curious related searches on the blue-furred monster. The ominous-sounding "Veggie Monster" jumped from zilch into breakout status. Is he Cookie Monster's evil twin? Thankfully, no. A few years ago there was a vicious rumor that stated Cookie Monster was going to be renamed Veggie Monster, in an effort to help curb childhood obesity. The horror! Thankfully, this was false, but the Monster has gone on record as saying cookies are a "sometime food."

Blogs throughout the Buzz have covered the looming anniversary. CNN hosts an intriguing article on how the show has changed over the years. For example, Oscar used to be a heckuva lot grouchier, and orange. Gather.com lists four of the show's most memorable tunes ("Rubber Ducky" is included). WowOwow lists 10 of the show's best moments, including the time when James Earl Jones recited the alphabet. It's good stuff, but we would have preferred that the voice of Darth Vader said, "Elmo, I am your father..."

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